Something Wicked

Trumpism is destroying democracy in the United States. Michael  Harris writes:

Who could have imagined a traditional political party like the GOP standing for the Big Lie that Joe Biden and the Democrats stole the 2020 election, especially after that allegation has been thoroughly debunked in every official recount and court case that looked into the facts?

Who could have imagined the need to fence off the Capitol Building in Washington to protect it from an insurrection of American citizens bent on bringing down a duly elected government? Five people dead. For weeks in Washington, it was National Guard democracy at best.

Who could have imagined any candidate in the U.S. primary season banning reporters from their meetings, and eschewing public debates? That is what happened in more than one Republican primary.

Who could have imagined the wife of a justice of the U.S Supreme Court exchanging 29 text messages with Trump’s chief-of-staff in the wake of Biden’s victory, asking him to overturn the result of the election?

And Harris warns that Trumpism -- the political equivalent of syphilis -- is heading our way:

The risibly named Freedom Convoy was Canada’s capital insurrection without the deaths. The nation’s capital was high-jacked by people whose idea of freedom was pissing on the tomb of The Unknown Soldier, waving Confederate flags, costing their fellow taxpayers $36-million, closing businesses, and robbing Ottawa residents of the use of their city and enjoyment of their property for more than three weeks.

Why did they keep everyone awake all night for over three weeks? They didn’t want to follow any mandates during a pandemic that has killed more than 40,000 Canadians and more than six million people worldwide.

Not long afterwards, came Rolling Thunder, which rumbled into Ottawa on motorcycles in a feckless attempt to gum up the city the way the Freedom Convoy did. After the 350 uneasy riders attended a biker’s church service as their last event of their three-day protest, they rolled out again. Nine people had been arrested, dozens of vehicles were towed, and almost 1,000 traffic and bylaw violations were enforced by police.

Make no mistake about it. The police did a good job. But it didn’t bring much joy to see a massive police presence on the beautiful streets of Ottawa, as the only way of preventing another fiasco in the downtown core. And it’s not just an Ottawa problem. Similar disturbances have taken place in Toronto, Québec City, Winnipeg, and Coutts, Alta., where four anti-mandate protesters were charged with conspiring to murder police officers.

The Conservative Party of Canada legitimized this dangerous and illegal activity by standing with the 10 per cent of truckers who showed up in Ottawa, rather than the 90 per cent who recognized the importance of vaccines in fighting COVID-19; the ones who stayed behind the wheel doing their jobs.

Pierre Poilievre, who is promising “freedom” to Canadians if he becomes prime minister, took selfies with the truckers and tried to extract political benefit from a lawless situation. Candice Bergen made the stunning statement that there were good people on both sides of the occupation of Ottawa.

That was virtually the same sentiment Donald Trump expressed after a Unite the Right rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, turned violent. It ended with 19 people injured and the death of Heather Heyer. Despite that, Trump said there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Now the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario has candidates in both Sudbury and the Nickel Belt in the provincial election who are skipping debates and shunning media questions. It might just be time to Unite the Left against the rising tide of populism that is transforming American democracy into a metaphor out of The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats.

Something wicked this way comes.

Image: The Hill Times