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Mark Kolke's avatar

Diane, the difficulty separating the long-standing 2nd-amendment/freedom to shoot people issue and 'what drives MAGA enthusiasts' is the thing the MAGA movement and Trump's revival-tent mania and pandering the judge-stacking of courts with qualified and otherwise magnificently capable pro-life conservatives is not the culmination of a 50-year relentless effort to overthrow Roe v. Wade, it's about race. And by that I don't mean fear of shapes/sizes/heritage or religion, it's the 'America is white controlled' feeling of Republicans and maybe a lot of independents too, is about white rights, white privilege, white wealth and white power (and Jews too if could co-opt them) ... and they got what they quite literally paid for with NRA, Republican, Pro-life, and church-collection-plate donations (from the masses + recently exposed billionaire's buying Supremes (or renting them at least!), they have their conservative courts, they have their abortion victory (fortunately that's been eroded state by state) and they THINK and HOPE they'll keep white control of their country. White atrocities against minorities is as historic and American as their flag and tea party - and laws are supposed to protect people. BUT, they don't change white-think and the only places that white-think is politically correct is in the KKK, the NRA and the MAGA club. It plays out on TV as political theatre, the 4-year cycle of endless gag-worthy politics we must listen to on networks left and right and centre.

As a Canadian I fear guns very little, I fear my weak prime minister very little and I fear nothing from my fellow Canadians.

My message to Americans is this - we love you as neighbours and trading partners, we love you as tourists and we welcome your investments; we love to visit your country and holiday in warm places when it is winter here, but we are very much a 'community of communities' (to channel Joe Clark) and we have the Quebec v. the rest of us we've had from the beginning, so we are not smug and problem free, but really ... AMERICA, get your shit together.

Britannia once ruled the waves, and America once ruled the world without question, but these are different times.

Trump should be jailed - and I think Guantanamo might be a good place because that's where American as stored its enemies.

But Trump is a fool, he saw where the Republicans were parading and he rushed out front to say, "Follow me, I'll be your leader", and they did.

Republicans are, sadly, way out of touch with the times and their time to get their shit together may have passed.

Even if Republicans could re-unite their name with principles, they are pretty severely infected with too many bad things and bad people, so if anyone can right that ship and rid the party of Trump, you have to ask whether - if Trump started a 3rd party how many Republicans would leave that party for his?

Trump-fandom is a pop-culture phenomenon and social media plague - and whether or not Americans can figure out their country again, it might one day be great again, but not if it's underlying unspoken mantra is to be white controlled - that ship has sailed.

A Canadian wrote this and feels this way. I don't for a moment believe my views are not shared by many Canadians.

Thanks Diane for producing a prescient article, as you regularly do.

Cheers,

Mark

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Rene St. Cyr's avatar

Excellent summary of the dangerous situation in the US. It's a powder keg is ready to explode. Trump along with his MAGA supporters are blind to the world wide implications of not being able to trust or rely on the United States to act in a democratic and rationale manner. Their leader, Mr. Trump, has no respect for any Rule of Law, it's all about him. As you reported previously, the World Order is in danger and not just because of Putin. I believe the Trump tyranny needs to be tested now at whatever the cost. If I was the CEO of a major corporation, I would be discussing at the Board level "what is our disaster recovery plan?" in the event of civil unrest in the US. What happens to the financial markets? Trump will never accept losing any election and assuming he runs in 2024 only to lose again, may God help the US and the World. Trump has become the most dangerous and irrational man in the World because he sees himself as a victim. Let's remember what he said about Senator John McCain, he doesn't like him because he was POW and loser.

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