“A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” — American Declaration of Independence.
“When a clown takes over a palace, he doesn’t become King, It’s the palace that becomes a circus.” — French Senator Claude Malhuret. (Referring to U.S. President Donald Trump)
Hard as it is for me to believe, it was former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau whose remark a few years ago was the catalyst for what I decided to write about this week. Referring to an issue of ongoing violence and lawlessness, he said, “It is important to get to the root of the problem.”
That maxim, in my view, applies in spades to United States President Donald Trump. What is the root problem here? What is it that drives his ambitions, his attitude and behaviour toward others and his insatiable thirst for recognition and praise?
In my view, the root of the problem with Donald Trump is his inherent belief in his own infallibility. He believes in his soul that he cannot be wrong. If something does go wrong, it is someone else’s fault. Trump believes first and foremost in himself. That belief covers everything he says and does. Figuratively speaking, it is etched into his DNA that he never loses and that he is always right.
I have mentioned before that decades ago, the Government Relations and Strategic Communications firm, of which I was the founding partner, represented the Trump organization in their bid for a casino in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Eventually, the choice was narrowed down to two, of which the Trump proposal was one, and those proponents were called to Toronto for a final interview.
Donald Trump sent his in-house lawyer, who, instead of promoting the Trump proposal, accused the Selection Committee and the other remaining proponent of bias and all sorts of other shady practices.
I am not sure that the Trump Casino Proposal would have won in any event, but that performance put a cap on it, and the other guy got the contract. I don’t know whether Donald Trump just threatened the winning proponent with a lawsuit or actually sued, because by then I had lost interest. I do know he did one or the other. It was clear that in Donald Trump’s mind, he had won and the process had been stacked against him.
It was only in retrospect, due to events since Donald Trump entered politics, that I realized that even then, at the time of the casino competition in Niagara Falls, he could not lose. It was always someone else’s fault.
It is that mindset, that belief, that he can never be wrong and that he always wins, that still drives Donald Trump today. He truly believes that he won the 2024 presidential election in the United States, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, because he never loses and he never concedes. He thrives in that belief.
And it is that belief that makes Donald Trump a narcissist. It’s all about him. He has an obsessive preoccupation with himself and an insatiable thirst for recognition. Everything comes back to that.
Hence, he unabashedly and embarrassingly lobbied for the Nobel Peace Prize. When he didn’t get it, he wrote to Jonas Gahr Store, the Prime Minister of Norway. “Dear Jonas: Considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped eight wars plus, (a complete fabrication) I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace.”
Trump renamed the John F. Kennedy Center to give top billing to himself. He excels at placing his name in large lettering on buildings, hotels and even consumer products. While in office, there is a well- documented pattern of self-promotion that goes beyond what is typical, even by modern political standards. Some of that is his classic branding instinct of the Trump name, and some of it edges into the use of public office to reinforce his personal image as he believes it to be.
Donald Trump will never allow anyone to overshadow him. No one can be greater than him. That ingrained belief covers everything he says and does. That is why he constantly mocks, bullies, and threatens people he wants to discredit or destroy.
In my view, nothing demonstrates more clearly that Donald Trump is a legend in his own mind than his unilateral declaration of war on Iran, whatever else he may have called it. He believes he has the power and the right to say and do whatever he wants, without restriction.
There was no consultation with his allies about Iran, nor any warning about what he intended to do. He ignored his own intelligence leadership, which told him there was no present and immediate danger that the United States would be attacked by Iran. By his own admission, he listened instead to his son-in-law, who urged him to attack Iran.
Now things have changed because the war is not going as Trump would like. He signalled regime change to wipe out a terrorist and antisemitic ruling class in Iran. That has not happened. When one leader is killed, another one pops up, like targets in a shooting gallery.
Iran has demonstrated more military strength than Trump anticipated, and his administration grossly misinterpreted the consequences to the world economy related to the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which is controlled by Iran. It is a war that was to last a matter of days and is now into its second month. It is also a war that remains unauthorized by the Congress of the United States.
In my view, because he is always right, Donald Trump will do one of two things. He may double down in Iran, put boots on the ground and escalate the confrontation to the point where a much greater and more horrific conflict could result.
More likely, Trump will declare victory in a war that never met its objectives; perhaps with some concessions, but with no real regime change and indeed, leaving behind a wounded animal with the capacity to recover and seek increased revenge upon all of its opponents, especially those in the Middle East.
In that event, a strategic withdrawal, Trump will blame everyone but himself. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, will be the first to have their heads on the chopping block. The President is already laying the ground for that.
Next will be America’s allies, who did not immediately jump to attention when Trump, without consulting them or asking for their help, decided to attack Iran. He forgets that it took America two years to join its allies in World War II.
Trump will accuse Western Allies of never coming to the aid of the United States. He will forget that the only time NATO itself has gone to war was to help protect the United States after the September 11 attacks on that country. He will also ignore the fact that 1,148 non-U.S. troops gave their lives in the U.S. war in Afghanistan and that 318 non-U.S. troops paid the ultimate sacrifice when the U.S. invaded Iraq.
If things continue to go badly for Donald Trump in Iran and the Middle East, he will either pretend that they didn’t or he will blame everyone else. He will double down at home. He will do everything he can to disrupt the mid-term elections and maintain control of Congress if things are not going his way. He will increase tariffs and threats against NATO and America’s allies. He will continue to turn the White House into a palace fit for his exalted stature. That is simply his nature. Donald Trump does not lose. He wins.
That is at the root of who Donald Trump is. His egotistical omnipotence makes him one of the most dangerous men on earth. Everything is predicated on what is best for him. If he has to be a despot or dictator to accomplish that, so be it.
Western leaders, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, need to come to grips with who Donald Trump really is and recognize that what is at the root of his character and indeed his very existence will make it impossible for him to change. There may be wisdom in trying to placate the leopard, but it is not going to change its spots. The problem is not the people of the United States. The problem is an unhinged Donald Trump.
The Western World needs to move on from the world of Donald Trump and find other ways to flourish or suffer the consequences.
A tough nut to crack, I agree, but bordering on necessity, if not reality.
Because Donald Trump never loses.
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.
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The Grand Illusion: Misdirection, Cognitive Dissonance, and the Global Petro-Dollar
Let us see Trump for who he is: the “court” jester being used and tolerated only so long as he serves a purpose—and that purpose is distraction and obfuscation.
Is Trump an out of control narcissist – of course he is. That is not the problem, it’s much worse.
In the world of professional prestidigitation, the magician’s greatest tool is not the trapdoor or the hidden pocket; it is misdirection. By forcing the audience to fixate on a flourish of the left hand—a flash of silk, a loud bang, a sudden shout—the magician ensures that no one sees the right hand slowly sliding the coin into a pocket. The audience experiences a form of “controlled cognitive dissonance”: they know they are being fooled, yet the spectacle is so demanding of their attention that they lack the mental bandwidth to trace the mechanics of the deception.
Today, the global “court” of elites—the Silicon Valley titans, the Wall Street hedge-fund barons, and the multi-national industrialistas—have mastered this theatrical art. They have found their perfect flourish in the form of this Jester, a leader whose every tweet, trial, and tirade serves as a high-decibel distraction. While the world is locked in a cycle of outrage over the performance, the “court” is busy behind the “nothing to see here” veil, quietly restructuring global wealth, dismantling regulatory safeguards, and harvesting the spoils of a planet in “rupture.”
The Cult of the Ledger: Wealth as Misdirection
Central to this illusion is the “Cult of the Ledger”—the cultural obsession with tracking the “Richest Man on the Planet” as if it were a harmless sporting event. This daily scroll of billionaire wealth, dominated largely by American entrepreneurs, is no coincidence; it is a vital component of the “nothing to see here” strategy. By reframing systemic power as individual “merit,” the “court” transforms the public from citizens into spectators. We are fed a narrative of fun-loving, jet-setting innovators to mask the “back-room” reality: a take-no-prisoners approach to wealth accumulation that relies on aggressive lobbying and the erosion of the social contract.
The Emerging Threat: Physical Entrenchment
As the global community begins to pull at the threads of the financial system, the “court” has pivoted to a more dangerous form of misdirection: Physical Entrenchment. Under the guise of “Continental Security,” we are witnessing an extra-territorial seizure of strategic assets. In nations like Canada, the “court” is using American government leverage to claim ownership of rare earth minerals—the “new oil” of the 21st century.
This is the ultimate hedge. If the world finally pulls the lever on the Petrodollar, the “court” intends to already own the ground beneath the feet of its neighbors. By securing equity stakes and offtake agreements in foreign soil, they are moving from controlling the currency of trade to controlling the matter of existence. For sovereign nations, this represents a new colonial frontier where “security” is the veil for a massive, permanent resource grab.
The American Divergence: New Monroeism and the Resource Grab
It is telling that the U.S. remains the primary holdout in these global strategies. By resisting the UN Tax Treaty and maintaining loopholes that favor “Liquid Wealth,” the U.S. has signaled its commitment to protecting the “court” at the expense of global stability.
Most alarmingly, the U.S. is now reviving Monroe Doctrine-era thinking to justify this global resource grab. By framing the control of critical minerals in Canada and the Americas as a matter of “Continental Defence,” the U.S. is asserting a sphere of influence that ignores international law and global interests in favor of a narrow, “America First” extraction policy. This is not cooperation; it is an extra-territorial claim on the future. The world must call out this strategy for what it is: a unilateral seizure of the global commons under the pretext of security. This divergence has created a “Rupture” that leaders like Mark Carney are now navigating with Values-Based Realism.
The Strategic Portfolio: Acting as One
To break this spell, the world must recognize that a direct, uncoordinated assault on the Greenback is a “nuclear option.” While it would evaporate the “court’s” consolidated wealth, the resulting fallout could devastate the global economy. Instead, the Petrodollar must be viewed as a strategic deterrent, while nation-states “act as one” to deploy more surgical, high-effectivity tools:
Unified Fiscal Perimeters: 147 nations have moved toward a Global Minimum Tax, ending the “Race to the Bottom” and “stapling” capital to the ground so it can no longer flee for geographic advantage.
The Transparency Strike: The UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation is bypassing elite-friendly groups to create a democratic forum for taxing High-Net-Worth Individuals, making “hidden wealth” an impossibility.
Resource Sovereignty Blocs: Sovereign nations must form “Buyer’s Clubs” and “Sovereign Resource Protocols” to ensure that strategic minerals remain under national export control. By dictating that these commodities be traded outside the dollar-clearing system, nations can dilute the “court’s” power surgically.
Conclusion: Turning the House Lights On
The magician’s trick only works as long as the audience agrees to look where they are told. By shifting our gaze from the Jester to the “court,” and from the “Richest Man” lists to the physical entrenchment in our own soil, we strip away the veil.
We must alert the elites that the world has seen the right hand moving. The misdirection is failing. Through a sophisticated portfolio of regulatory responses and the quiet, strategic dilution of the Petrodollar, the audience is finally talking to each other during the intermission. The house lights are coming up, and the world is ready to hold the “court”—and their Jester—accountable for the spectacle they’ve sold.
Hugh…..I heartily agree with just about everything in this piece with one exception.
Mark Carney 100% understands who Donald Trump is, and is meandering through the minefield better than any leader in the free world.
There’s a lot of understandable frustration right now, especially around trust. But stepping back, this moment is also exposing something important.
When a major partner becomes less predictable, it’s often a sign of deeper internal strain. We’re seeing the bigger picture of how grievance and division can reshape politics, often through a style that favours simpler, more forceful approaches to leadership. That doesn’t stay contained within one country. It affects how others engage and how stable relationships feel from the outside.
Canada’s strength in this moment isn’t in reacting louder or taking sides in that cycle. It’s in not being pulled into it. We have disagreements, as every country does, but we’ve largely kept our focus on institutions, continuity, and moving forward together even when we don’t agree on everything. That’s what allows Canada to stay steady while reducing exposure, expanding trade relationships, and strengthening our own economic base.
The U.S. will remain an important partner, but it isn’t a single voice. Many businesses and institutions depend on stable ties with Canada and have an interest in keeping that relationship working. As Canada expands its partnerships and reduces overdependence, that shift is being noticed. It doesn’t break the relationship, but it does change the balance, especially when stability becomes more valuable.
Unity doesn’t mean the absence of disagreement. It means not letting grievance define the direction of the country. And in a moment like this, that difference matters.
I’m done with the world trying to rationalize the antics of a fool. A powerful one indeed, but a fool just the same. Here on Doppler some really knowledgeable people have written of and suggested a modus for dealing with ‘the donald’. All power to them, but I find it a fool’s errand to try and rationalize the contortions of a mental cripple. There is no logic, reason, compassion, argument or subjugation that can be offered to or by him to penetrate the darkness of his world.
And his moments of decision can lay waste to vast areas, bringing death and destruction to people who really just want to be free from fear and have a chance of just getting by. The greatest fear I have now is that he, along with Hegseth and the chicken-hawks will put young American lives in harm’s way. Americans have already learned that a ‘standoff distance’ is great in the conducting of a war. They just refuse to accept part two of that lesson. Push comes to shove, it’s the grunt on the ground who will carry the day.
The ability of Iran to fight has been compromised for sure, but no one knows what the regime will risk to survive. Can they be any less resolved than Israel who will risk it all, including tactical nuclear. “Never again” is not just for the sound bite. ‘the donald’ once vowed that he (the USA) would “totally destroy North Korea”. The N. Korean foreign leader compared ‘the donald’ to a barking dog. Because China will not allow the possibility of tactical nuclear being used on another Asian people. The American leadership is facing the prospect of having to go ‘boots on the ground’ in Iran.
Logistics never won on Vietnam. Logistics never won in Afghanistan. Logistics is taking a beating in Ukraine. Iran is like the “Revenge’. Sir Richard Grenville’s ship which stood against the Spanish fleet. In the words of Tennyson the enemy “lay round us all in a ring. But they dared not touch us again, for they feared that we still could sting.” And how badly can Iran still sting? Boots on the ground and we will find out. I have no love of the regime in Iran, but for me the actions of the US were the actions of a coward. How do you cheer for either.
I was taught to never wish ill upon anyone. I’ve strove to adhere to what I was taught and at times it’s been tough. But I don’t think anything like ‘the donald’ was contemplated by my teachers. His affront to my sensibilities is outside the box. So I’ll humm to him a little ‘Masters of War’ by Dylan. “And I’ll stand over your grave ‘Til I’m sure that you’re dead.” Pretend you’re hearing Eddie Vedder.
Surely a little music can’t hurt.
Remember Trump’s reign of terror is temporary. The future can only get better.
All the next presidential candidate has to do is say they will reverse all of Trump’s ridiculous moves.
Trump’s reign of terror may actually be over this year.
“Democrats only need to flip three more seats to win the House, and according to the non-partisan Cook Political Report, a whopping eighteen races have shifted into the blue column.”
I understand it’s down to one now.
Trump could lose Congress even before the midterms where it’s practically guaranteed he will lose the house and the senate.
The Supreme Court has ruled Trump’s tariffs are illegal and the US has to pay back billions.
Trump’s ridiculous moves are already being reversed.
I believe things will go back to the way they were after Trump is gone.
Could be starting before the next US election.
Trump’s reign of terror is temporary.
Right on Hughie…..
Hugh…..I heartily agree with just about everything in this piece with one exception.
Mark Carney 100% understands who Donald Trump is, and is meandering through the minefield better than any leader in the free world.
It is ironic that it was a remark from Justin Trudeau, himself an unbearable narcissist, that was the catalyst for this commentary. But I agree with this assessment of Trump. He does himself no favors with his dysfunctional behavior. It makes it very hard for people to warm to him. His own narcissistic behavior, and his heavy-handed approach in the execution of his duties, overshadows what could otherwise be seen as well-intentioned policies. However, his irrational actions, especially with the latest Iran debacle, inevitably cast doubts on his motives. At a time when honest, ethical and principled political leadership is in such short supply around the world, this is a lost opportunity for the leader of the free world to set an example for others to follow.