Perceptions, By Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

A crazy man will soon be occupying the White House. He’s making menacing statements about Canada and other parts of the world. Despite this, I’m certain the great majority of Americans don’t agree with him. Yet he continues to roar and spout his venom like a deranged dragon.

But strangest of all, the people around him seem paralyzed and inert. They make no effort to stop him. At a news conference last week in Mara-a-Lago, they stood by silently as President-Elect Donald Trump referred to the Canadian/American border as an “artificially drawn line” that he can change by whim. That’s not true and they know it.  But if they’re not going to advise him of this, why are they there at all other than to support an inveterate liar?

Or is bully Trump using these intimidating threats as a negotiating tactic? He’s done it before. Many times before.

So what’s next on Trump’s agenda? Annexing Canada? Doing the same injustice to Mexico? He’s mused about taking over the Panama Canal and grabbing Greenland while he’s at it. I’m not making this up.

He’s blurting out these dire threats in public and at news conferences without as much as a blink. Few people believe he’ll do any of these things, but his trash talk has got to be deeply unsettling for those affected. And he’ll be taking over the Oval Office in less than two weeks.

What will we do then? Or is all this just a bad dream? I hope it is, because if it isn’t, all hell is going to break loose Jan. 20 when Trump is sworn into office.

And, with a couple of notable exceptions, I’m not impressed with how our Canadian politicians are dealing with Trump’s terrifying threats.

BC Premier David Eby says he’s working on a “strategy” to deal with Trump’s threats but provided few details. However, Ontario Premier Doug Ford didn’t pull his punches saying, “we can’t just roll over.” Even outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau got into the act saying “there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell” that Canadians won’t fight Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state and impose a 25% tariff on all countries trading with the US.

But if Canada doesn’t stand up soon to the bellicose US Commander in Chief, statehood for the Great White North could become a possibility and higher taxes

At least in the mind of Donald Trump.

And this brings up an issue that most politicians will only whisper about. Is Trump completely sane? He’s fast approaching 80 and dementia eventually catches up with most of us.

Trump often accused outgoing President Joe Biden of being unfit for office because of his age and dementia. Could Trump himself be dealing with the same debilitating process? It’s impossible to say, but Trump rigorously denies it.

Whatever the case, the 25^th Amendment to the US Constitution says the president can be removed from office and the vice president appointed president if the sitting president is considered “unable to do his or her job.” Can you imagine the political uproar if this happened to Trump?

This is extremely unlikely of course but what will happen if he continues to threaten the sovereignty of other nations, issuing threats against them? Afterall, it’s the US that invented modern democracy. Now it’s threatening it. What’s going on here? Are there no Americans willing to standup to this deranged demagogue?

As said at the beginning of this piece, we’re living in extraordinary times. Just how extraordinary we’re soon going to find out.

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist, who wonders how it all came to this.

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