There were at least three significant events in the United States this past week that could have serious consequences in the years to come.
In my view, United States President Donald Trump hit a new low a few days ago when he called for the execution of six Democratic members of Congress because they took part in a video directed at America’s military, urging them not to obey illegal orders.
Certainly, the video was unusual, but we live in unusual times. The video was not a seditious act. United States law requires service members to refuse unlawful commands, and the U.S. Constitution is the source of that legal structure.
Donald Trump, however, described the video as “seditious behavior from Traitors,” called for them to be locked up, and implied that they should face execution. Some folks will applaud that, but we all need to think about it.
This is a man holding one of the highest political offices in the entire world, calling for the death of six elected members of Congress, all veterans of the armed forces, including former astronaut Mark Kelly. One can whitewash it if it makes them feel better and they can say that was just Trump’s style and he really didn’t mean it.
The fact remains, however, that it came out of the mouth of the President of the United States and that, also in fact, means a great deal. There are plenty of nuts out there who will take the President at his word.
Mark Kelly, an American hero and now a United States Senator responded to Donald Trump’s threats saying, “I never expected after serving 25 years in the Navy, flying combat missions over Iraq and Kuwait, flying the space shuttle, that now I’ve got to worry about my personal safety and that of my wife, Gabby Giffords who was already nearly assassinated because of something the President said.”
President Trump has demonstrated pretty effectively that the rule of law means very little to him, unless of course, he can use it to destroy his perceived enemies.
In relation to military matters, the President has authorized attacks on Venezuelan ships in international waters believed to be carrying drugs to the United States. He is now threatening to actually attack Venezuela. There is no evidence that due process has been followed, and these attacks amount to an act of war on another country, which requires the approval of Congress.
The legality of deploying United States troops on U.S. soil for domestic law enforcement is also questionable and currently before the courts.
The problem that not only the United States faces, but also many other parts of the world, especially Canada, is that Donald Trump believes in his heart he can do whatever he wants and that court orders and any other opposition to what he wants to do are simply minor inconveniences.
That is why the constitutional requirements of Congress to provide oversight of the Executive Branch of government are so important. It is sad indeed when the majority of these members sit on their duffs because either they are too frightened or too amply rewarded to curb the excessive use of power exercised by Donald Trump.
Donald Trump’s call for the execution of sitting members of Congress, on top of his penchant for revenge politics, actively using his position in an attempt to put his perceived enemies in jail, are by themselves, enough to recognize that he defies democracy and leans toward despotic leadership.
To top that off, another bombshell came this past week when the president presented a proposal to Ukraine to end the war against Russia. It came with an ultimatum from Trump that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy must accept the proposal by this coming Thursday.
The so-called peace settlement, supposedly drafted by the United States, could well have been produced in Moscow. It heavily favours Russia, ceding a large portion of Ukrainian land to them and imposing serious restrictions on what is left of Ukraine related to their security and ultimately their sovereignty. It completely ignores the fact that Russia started this war, was the aggressor and defied international law.
So, after paying lip service to Ukraine, why has Trump turned the tables on them so dramatically? There are two reasons, I believe.
No matter what comes out of his mouth from time to time, Donald Trump will eventually do what Russia tells him to. Whether the relationship is formal or informal, in my view, you can count on it. As well, the way Donald Trump thinks, if Russia is allowed to invade and occupy part of a neighboring country, that leaves a precedent and a door open that he himself may someday want to go through. Canadians should be very concerned about that.
It is also interesting to note that a couple of cracks appeared in the MAGA organization last week.
Donald Trump effectively booted Marjorie Taylor-Greene out of the MAGA movement by withdrawing his endorsement of her and threatening a primary challenge before the next House election in November. Greene then one-upped him by announcing she would resign from Congress in January.
In an instant, Marjorie Taylor-Green went from hero to zero among the MAGA crowd, where she was known as a ferocious pit bull not only for Donald Trump but also for their movement.
It will be interesting to see where this goes. From Trump’s perspective, because Taylor-Greene became outspoken about areas where she disagreed with him, it may be that he believes he is sending a message to every Republican in Congress, that this is what happens when you oppose him.
On the other hand, while I doubt that Marjorie Greene-Taylor has had an epiphany, it will be interesting to see what she will do next. Will she run for president in 2028? Will she take on Trump and the MAGA machine? One thing I am pretty certain of: she won’t be sitting at home working on a ball of wool.
And finally, the week ended with an extraordinary meeting in the Oval Office between President Trump and the far-left socialist and Israel opponent, the Mayor-elect of New York City, Zohran Mamdani. What was expected to be fireworks turned out to be a lovefest. I wonder how that went over with the MAGA folks?
Bottom line here is that it is almost impossible to guess what Donald Trump will do next. One minute he loves you, the next minute you could be the scum of the earth. He is unreliable and unpredictable. He will say one thing and do another. He appears to believe that loyalty to him is more important than loyalty to the Constitution. He kowtows to dictatorial regimes like Russia and China. He thrives on revenge politics and cares little about the safety of the people he publicly attacks. He is a bully who loves to threaten, and Canada is one of his targets.
This is the person whom, for their own reasons, Americans have elected as their president. I respect that, but I can’t help wondering when they will say, ‘Enough is enough.’
Perhaps the mid-term elections, less than a year from now, will give us a hint about 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.
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Mr. Rob Adams,
As you are definitely a Russian troll, I as a proud Canadian will happily contribute towards your one-way ticket to live in either Moscow or Washington. Good luck to you sir!
Donald Trump is undoubtedly an easy target in opinion columns in part because of his dysfunctional personality. He’s an arrogant bully, full of his own self-importance, and certainly not a person that people warm to. Perhaps because of this, many narratives about him have become biased, in my opinion, and those in the Doppler are no exception.
While there are some valid points made in the commentary, there are examples of these biases too. For example, it says that Trump thrives on revenge politics. This is not a trait unique to Trump. In Canada, not too long ago, our Liberal government was challenged for their harsh covid mandates. This took the form of a trucker convoy. As a result, those taking part in the trucker convoy had nuisance charges brought against them. It was, for the most part, a peaceful protest. Their ‘crimes’ were not serious. However, as a result of challenging our Liberal government, those people had their bank accounts frozen, they incurred a disproportionate amount of jail time and are now, many years later, still under house arrest. We have hardened criminals that do not get punished so severely. They are being punished harshly because they challenged the Liberal government. That was Trudeau, supported behind the scenes by Carney. This is our Canadian government and this should concern us far more than Trump’s antics. Yet no mention of this by the Doppler.
That wasn’t the only time the Liberal government used revenge politics. Remember Jody Wilson-Raybould? After that, no Liberal MP dared challenge Liberal policy for fear of being expelled from the party.
The commentary mentions the Ukraine/Russia conflict and how Trump appears to favor Russia in the proposed peace agreement, while ignoring the fact that Russia started the war. Russia did start the conflict but the Doppler ignores some important facts. When the Berlin wall came down, promises were made to Russia that NATO would not advance any further east towards the Russian border. Those promises have been repeatedly broken by successive US Presidents and NATO. As a result, several former eastern bloc countries have joined NATO. When this happened US missiles were moved closer to the Russian border. When Ukraine rose to the top of the NATO wish-list, after the western puppet Zelensky was installed, Putin drew a line in the sand and proactively put a stop to that. Most world powers, especially the US, would have done the same. If we add to that the growing number of bio-labs being set up in Ukraine, the corruption, the human trafficking and the brutal victimization of Russian speaking Ukrainians, I think it’s understandable that Putin made a stand. I don’t think Putin is a good guy, but his actions are completely understandable in my opinion. Let’s face it, the US and the UK have done worse, the war in Iraq for example, but the media have conveniently forgotten about that. The Ukraine conflict has escalated due to NATO funding, including billions of dollars from Canadian tax-payers, an absolute waste of our money in my opinion. It was all intended to destabilize Russia. The Liberal government in Canada never once took the initiative to broker any form of peace agreement. They took us from peacekeepers to war-mongers and ran up massive debts in the process. Yet now we criticize Putin for taking a stand against broken promises, and we criticize Trump for trying to bring peace to that region. If Ukraine cede any territory as a result it should serve as a lesson to the west that they can’t just do whatever they want without consequences. Our Liberal government has been right in the middle of this conflict stirring up trouble.
The commentary says that Trump is unpredictable. which seems to draw further criticism. But being unpredictable isn’t necessarily right or wrong, it simple means we don’t understand how he thinks. He doesn’t do what we think he should do and he’s criticized for that. In a lot of ways that’s far better than the politics being practiced in Canada where promises are made and then constantly broken – deliberately. It seems to be the new western style of governing. Promise to do one thing, then do the opposite. We see it with the current government in the UK and we’ve seen it in spades over the last 10 years with our Liberal government. Yet, the ones that should be holding our government accountable, the Canadian media, including the Doppler, are all predictably mute.
I can’t help but wonder when Canadians will say ‘Enough is Enough!’.