I am writing again this week about the Trump regime in the United States, especially related to events that have recently unfolded. To those who would say, ‘Oh, not again, what does that have to do with Canada?’ let me remind you of the old maxim, ‘one horse one rabbit.’ Think of Russia versus Ukraine, China versus Taiwan, and the United States versus Canada, all superpowers with covetous eyes on sovereign entities close by.
In terms of Canada, what happens in the United States inevitably casts a shadow on what happens, or what could happen, here on Canadian soil. We must never forget that.
Recently, a front-page story in the Toronto Star was headlined, “America’s most cherished freedom under threat.” This was followed by a sub-headline that stated, “Silencing of Kimmel following Kirk comments follows pattern seen in authoritarian regimes.”
In the article, Allan Woods, the author, says, “U.S President Donald Trump didn’t silence late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, not directly. But he is the architect of a political climate that contributed to the popular comedian’s show being pulled off the air by broadcaster ABC and its parent company Disney.”
Kerry Kennedy is the niece of former President John F. Kennedy and the sister of Robert F. Kennedy Junior, currently Secretary of Health in the Trump Administration. Just a few days ago, she said, “I’ve been working on human rights issues for 45 years and all around the world the first target of autocrats is always free speech. That’s what is happening in our country right now and it’s the most dangerous thing that can happen in a democracy.”
Last week, Sally Barnes, a renowned journalist and political strategist, wrote a guest article for Listen Up! where at least one subsequent comment accused her of comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. She did not do that. What she did do, however, was compare the public complicity of that time in Germany and elsewhere to the comparable complicity in the United States today.
And that complicity today, in less than a year, has led to an authoritarian government in the United States of America. The umbrella for Canada’s safety and security by being next door to what was the largest democracy and defender of the free world, has disappeared, almost over-night.
An overstatement? I don’t think so.
George Conway, a political commentator, a Lawyer, a Republican, and a fierce critic of Donald Trump, made no bones about it. “What we have isn’t traditional conservatism. It isn’t traditional republicanism. It is authoritarianism. But I think a better word for it would be gangsterism. We don’t have Ronald Regan anymore. We have Tony Soprano.”
So, let’s look at what an authoritarian wannabe can do when they obtain power.
First of all, as has been pointed out here, freedom of expression or free speech comes under attack. People who exercise that freedom by criticizing Donald Trump immediately become a target for the President. In the United States, the latest example is Jimmy Kimmel being kicked off the air because he dared to raise the possibility that the assassin of Charlie Kirk could have had some connection to MAGA based on the political persuasion of his family. Is that hate speech? No. It is conjecture, a legitimate facet of free speech.
Donald Trump does not hide who he is or what he wants to accomplish. He lays it all out front. He makes it clear that he will do whatever he can to attack and punish people who oppose him and stop them from exercising their rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
He has not hesitated to say that he will seek revenge on his perceived enemies, and he has started that ball rolling by publicly “ordering” his attorney general to indict former FBI Director James Comey and others on his hit list of revenge. He has said plainly that there are more to come.
Ty Cobb, a former Trump White House lawyer, raised the alarm about this when he said, “We have a president ordering his Attorney General to indict his enemies and the Attorney General says, yes sir, how fast can I get it done for you?”
Donald Trump has supported efforts to redraw congressional districts to help ensure that Democrats never hold office again. He claims to be a Christian but says right out loud that he “hates” Democrats and will destroy them if he can. Hardly Christian-like.
Just as Trump and his MAGA supporters have infiltrated the Republican Party, they have also infiltrated some parts of the Christian Church.
Former President Jimmy Carter, who was a member of the evangelical church, has said, “Evangelical Christianity has been hijacked by people who would have given Jesus himself the boot if he knocked on their door.”
Donald Trump also shows little support for international law or agreements. While Vladimir Putin is sending armed drones into European countries, the Trump administration is shooting at ships in international waters and threatening to launch attacks inside Venezuela. All of these are illegal acts of aggression that have the potential of leading to war. In addition to that, Trump has not hesitated to use military forces against their own citizens, another tactic reminiscent of earlier global confrontations.
Trump’s recent speech at the United Nations, seen by most world leaders, friendly or otherwise, showed an American president who appeared almost unhinged, denying climate change, criticizing his allies, calling out traditional institutions, and making little to no effort to avoid lying when it suited him to do so.
What more needs to be said to define an autocrat? And what more needs to be said about complicity when Congress in America could stop this, yet does absolutely nothing about it?
Donald Trump and his MAGA movement want to redefine free speech to conform only to reflect what they want to do. In my view, and from their perspective, they have built an autocratic regime in the United States and are prepared to take whatever steps they deem necessary to protect it.
Expressing strong or even aggressive opinions about what the government is doing is not hate speech. It is free speech and must be carefully guarded.
The United States Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protect even deeply offensive or unpopular expressions of speech unless they cross the line into direct threats, incitement, lawless action, or obscenity. Then it becomes hate speech.
A news host suggesting that 700,000 Americans should be killed by involuntary lethal injections or another news host advocating the bombing of the United Nations building in New York City could well be seen to have crossed that line and become hate speech.
But standing up to tyranny, authoritarian governance at your doorstep, or threats to your sovereignty, is not hate speech. It is free speech, fundamentally important to a democratic society, for without it, citizens lose both their voice and their power to hold political leaders accountable. That is the lifeblood that separates a free people from obedient servants.
We can not, and we must not, lose sight of that.
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.
Don’t miss out on Doppler!Sign up here to receive our email digest with links to our most recent stories.
Local news in your inbox six times per week!
Click here to support local news
Rather than persecution of the lwader of the USA,maybe look at the results that will come. Violence and evil decrease. The right to speak debate something that our local representatives District Council are taking away with the development of a hotline for emotions hurt people can call and report issues. This brings no area for debate something that a brave young man stood for in the USA. People are looking for peace in all the wrong area’s.
I admit, I am one of those people who say ‘Oh, not again …..’ It seems that all the columnists at the Doppler are obsessed about Trump, to the point that the commentaries are rather predictable. No matter what the topic, the narrative always includes some anti-Trump rhetoric. For the record, I don’t like Trump as a person. He’s arrogant and full of his own self-importance. However, the reality is that no matter how much we rant, or editorialize about him, there’s nothing any Canadian can do to change him or his agenda. He doesn’t care what we think, and using our media to sway Canadian public opinion against him even more serves no purpose whatsoever. I am very close to being a proud octogenarian, and in my lifetime the US has always been the economic and political bully of the world. They have been for decades, they are today, and they are likely to be for the rest of my natural days. There is nothing that you or I can do about that. So, I think that our media should be providing an analysis of Canadian issues, and holding our Canadian politicians accountable. I see that as their most important job, and it’s something we have historically relied on them to do. We need that today more than ever, as we have a government in Canada that feels they are above public scrutiny and unaccountable to the Canadian public. For example, we have unprecedented debt that’s increasing daily, no budget to hold them accountable for future expenditures and a long list of unfulfilled promises. This is, or should be, the most important issue for Canadians and the Canadian media. Writing constantly about Trump is just creating a distraction about the issues we can have some control over.
For example, I realize the topic of your commentary was free speech vs. hate speech. What you fail to mention is that the Liberal government in Canada has essentially taken control of all our main-stream media. They have introduced censorship laws to restrict opinions being shared on social media, and are now looking to make these laws more restrictive. When Canadians protested in the trucker convoy, the Liberal government brought in goons to intimidate Canadian citizens, and even froze the bank accounts of those that dared challenge the government. That was a deliberate action to act as a deterrent and ensure that we should think twice in the future before daring to challenge this government. That’s not encouraging free speech. Around the same time, we had the Toronto Star, one of Canada’s main newspapers, saying that unvaccinated Canadians deserved to die. Whether you believed in the vaccine or not, this is quite clearly hate speech. Yet our PM, Trudeau, not only didn’t comment on this but he encouraged this division in our society. What did you have to ay about that?
So, yes, I do say ‘Oh, not again ….’ because we have more than enough serious issues in Canada of our own making that should be addressed by Canadian media before we obsess about a president of a different country that we have absolutely no control over.
.
So very true, Hughie. So pleased you have written this. Just wish it was national news.