Here’s what I’ve been saying to people who defend him, like you do.
Go to your office lunchroom. Wait until it’s crowded. Then stand up and do exactly – no more, no less – what he did. Twice.
Do that. Then, if you are still employed or not in a hospital, drop me a line.
Sincerely,
Etc.
People can make their own decisions. But Canadians who enthusiastically defend Trump and his retinue of grifters and bigots?
You are way, way offside Canadian public opinion (up to 90 per cent offside). And you – and your cause – are going to regret your enthusiasm. Believe it.
To us Catholics, there are sins of “commission” and “omission.”
Sins of omission happen when we know we should have done something right, but didn’t. A sin of commission is one where we actually take some action – in thought, word, or deed. Those sins can be intentional or unintentional.
Politically, there have been an awful lot of sins happening this week. Sins of commission and omission, everywhere.
The American ones are well-known. Newly-reinstalled President Donald Trump pardoned about 1,500 convicted rioters who stormed Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. Among them were white supremacists and neo-Nazis. One, Robert Keith Packer, became well-known for wearing a sweatshirt that read “CAMP AUSCHWITZ” and “work brings freedom.” On the back, it said “STAFF.” He got out, which is Trump’s sin of commission.
Trump’s top unelected advisor, Elon Musk, also was arguably sinful, too. Musk got onstage at Capital One Arena in Washington, where Trump was holding a rally. Musk thanked the assembled MAGA folks for “making it happen” and then – twice, not just once – made a stiff-armed salute.
A debate immediately commenced as to whether Musk made a Nazi salute or not. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who is a history professor at New York University, said on X: “Historian of fascism here. It was a Nazi salute and a very belligerent one too.” Israeli academic and activist Shai Davidai wrote on Instagram that “doing a Nazi salute is never okay…you’re normalizing that which shouldn’t be normalized.” The Anti-Defamation League, which used to take issue with Nazi symbols, posted a much-maligned message saying “this is a delicate moment,” can’t we all just get along, blah blah blah.
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New one. Shadows, but hope of sun breaking through again.
Dear Canada:
Everything changes tomorrow. It’ll be bad.
Sincerely,
Etc.
The best thing about being a writer is being somewhere and someone quietly comes up to you, and they say something you wrote affected them and stayed with them. Happy, sad, anger, remembering: whatever.
That’s the payoff.
**
In politics, the job is always hiding a lot of the unattractive things about the candidate – usually anger and impatience. Poilievre is fascinating because he doesn’t do that. He just is what he is.
That’s a big gamble.
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For the last few years, when I hear “never a dull moment,” I say to myself “I could really go for some dull moments”
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The thing about the carbon tax is that everyone was in favor of taxing polluters until they found out they were included in the list of polluters and then they were against it
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Carney’s problem is that he’s never been a politician and it shows. Freeland’s problem is that she’s been a politician and it shows.
Poilievre’s problem is Trump.
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The politics of this era is the politics of cruelty.
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Fans of CBC need to reflect on the fact that Poilievre has said he’ll defund the CBC about a million times, and he’s gone up in polling. If fans of CBC want to save CBC, they needed to do more than they’ve done.
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Carney: fail to launch.
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Carney and Freeland abandoning the carbon tax. Quoth the Bard: “God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.”
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Gladiator II: you be glad if you never watch it.
#WarrenMovieReviews
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This feels like the last regular weekday before everything gets way worse.