Years ago, when I was a kid, there was a popular toothpaste commercial circulating with a catchy tune. I can’t replicate the tune here, but the lyrics were: “You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.”
There must have been something political going on at the time because some wag changed the words, with the same tune, to read, “You’ll wonder where your father went when you talk against the government.” It caught on.
I hadn’t considered that revised version for decades until recently when it has played over and over in my head for the last few weeks. I think I know why.
We are dangerously close to the real possibility that Donald Trump, committed to locking up his enemies and getting even with those who disagree with him and who is quite prepared to use the military against Americans, will again become President of the United States. Why should we care, many Canadians ask. It won’t affect us. Well, I beg to differ.
Canada, being right next door to the United States, is in no better position to protect its sovereignty against the United States than Austria, being next to Germany, was during the Second World War, or Ukraine, being next door to Russia, is to this very day.
An overstatement? That will never happen, you say. Well, maybe not. But as we draw near to the American presidential election, let’s take another hard look at the man who could be president.
Donald Trump makes no bones about admiring despots and dictators. He praises leaders like Vladimir Putin, President Xi Jinping of China, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. He is soft on NATO and has encouraged Putin to invade some of those nations. He has boldly told Americans that if they vote for him now, they will never have to vote again. What kind of a message does that send?
He believes that if he becomes President, he will have total immunity and can do whatever he wants with impunity. He has never been a friend of Canada.
Trump denigrates his generals. He has little or no respect for soldiers who were wounded on active duty. He once said, “No one wants to see them.” He stained the memory of former Senator John McCain, one of America’s war heroes.
Trump is convinced that he won the presidential election in 2020. I don’t think he is lying about that. Sadly, I think he really believes it, in spite of every state in the Union and all of the courts of law that were consulted saying he didn’t win.
Trump has no trouble with lying. He really believes that the more you lie, the more people believe you. He actually said that in a book he wrote a number of years ago.
Donald Trump has said that people who don’t vote for him should have their heads examined. He has vowed to get rid of “the enemy within” and labelled the left on the political spectrum as “evil”. His favourite and most used letter in the alphabet is the ninth one. He only cares about himself.
To top all of this off, Donald Trump is a convicted felon, sanctioned for tax evasion, and found to be guilty of sexual abuse.
Wow. And this is a man within a hair’s breadth of again becoming President of The United States.
Bob Costa, a prominent American broadcaster, summed it up like this: “You have to be in a toxic cult to believe that Trump has ever been emotionally, psychologically, intellectually or ethically fit to be President.”
More than two dozen people, all Republicans, who worked in senior positions for Donald Trump when he was President have since turned against him and said he should never be near the White House again. Here are just a few of them:
Former Vice President Mike Pence. “Anyone who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.”
John Kelly, a retired U.S. Marine Corps general who was the longest-serving Chief of Staff under Trump. He was also Secretary of Home Security. He said this about Trump: “A person who has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our constitution and the rule of law, should never be President of the United States. There is nothing more to be said. God help us all.”
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Miley: “He (Trump) is the most dangerous person ever—a total fascist.”
John Bolton, former National Security Advisor under Trump: “I believe foreign leaders believe he is a laughing fool.”
Nickey Haley, former Ambassador to the United Nations, who challenged Donald Trump in the primaries: “A terrible thing happened on January 6th and he (Trump) called it a great day.”
James Mattis, Secretary of Defense under Trump: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite American people, does not even pretend to try, instead he tries to divide us.”
Bill Barr, attorney general under Trump: “Someone (Trump) who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system, shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”
And on and on…
Finally, there is the question of Donald Trump’s mental acuity. Anyone who has watched the American election campaign in recent weeks will have seen signs of concern: rambling answers, sometimes no answers at all, confusion, and an inability to recall names and events. Ridiculous and racist statements like saying refugees in Springfield, Ohio, are eating dogs and cats, consistently denying reality. Swaying to music on stage at a rally and staring at the audience but not saying a word for over half an hour. Saying nice things about Hanibal Lector, the movie character who ate humans. And again, on and on…
It is hard for me to understand how so many people believe that a man with Trump’s flawed record, character, and demeanor is fit to be president of one of the world’s superpowers, where the nuclear code is at his fingertips. But there you go—that is where we are.
I know some Republicans are so concerned about what they believe to be left-wing policies of the Democratic Party that they will hold their nose and vote for Trump and damn the consequences. I tend to agree with Republican Liz Cheney that you can live with bad policy for four years, but you cannot survive four years with someone who plays fast and loose with the Constitution and seeks power for the sake of power and an opportunity to get revenge on those who have not supported him.
I have spoken to other Republicans who fully understand who Trump is but believe once he is elected, it will not be long before his own people will find him incompetent and invoke the 25th amendment to make JD Vance the new president. That will allow them, conspiracy theory or not, to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming election.
If anyone thinks that Vance would be a better choice for President than Donald Trump, they should listen to what he said on CBS News recently. The commenter said, “Hungary’s Viktor Orbán seized control of universities, rewrote the Constitution, and neutered the courts. Is that what you are advocating for the United States?” Vance: “I think Orbán made smart decisions that we could learn from in the United States.” Enough said.
A former confidant of Donald Trump recently said that the concept of Donald Trump back in the White House “scares the hell out of me.” As a Canadian, it scares me, too.
Former President Jimmy Carter said some months ago that he wanted to live long enough to vote against Donald Trump. Days ago, after he celebrated his 100th birthday, he voted. He can now go in peace. Others will just have to hold their breath.
I echo the words of General John Kelly. God help us all.
Hugh Mackenzie
Hugh Mackenzie has held elected office as a trustee on the Muskoka Board of Education, a Huntsville councillor, a District councillor, and mayor of Huntsville. He has also served as chairman of the District of Muskoka and as chief of staff to former premier of Ontario, Frank Miller.
Hugh has also served on a number of provincial, federal and local boards, including chair of the Ontario Health Disciplines Board, vice-chair of the Ontario Family Health Network, vice-chair of the Ontario Election Finance Commission, and board member of Roy Thomson Hall, the National Theatre School of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Canada. Locally, he has served as president of the Huntsville Rotary Club, chair of Huntsville District Memorial Hospital, chair of the Huntsville Hospital Foundation, president of Huntsville Festival of the Arts, and board member of Community Living Huntsville.
In business, Hugh Mackenzie has a background in radio and newspaper publishing. He was also a founding partner and CEO of Enterprise Canada, a national public affairs and strategic communications firm established in 1986.
Currently, Hugh is president of C3 Digital Media Inc., the parent company of Doppler Online, and he enjoys writing commentary for Huntsville Doppler and South Muskoka Doppler.
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Donald Trump was an excellent president. He brought peace to the world and even went to North Korea. The past 4 years under democrats have been a disaster economically, militarily, socially and every other metric that government is responsible for. It is time for Mr. Mackenzie to get over his TDS. Maybe he should read Conrad Black’s column on Trump and inform himself instead of promoting untruths and misinformation.
This is another anti-Trump rant from Postmedia. There are many, myself included, who feel 4 more years of Democrats will be a disaster for the world. The Democrats want war. In the last 4 years they’ve fueled the conflict in Ukraine, a conflict that has come from broken NATO promises, and they’ve sent millions to Israel to facilitate the atrocities there. They have also occupied an area in Syria and refused to leave, despite Syria’s request that they do. It’s an illegal occupation and they are not being held accountable. The Democrats want war and Harris is a puppet. If she wins, we can expect WWIII.