“Perceptions,” by Gerry Warner

Op-Ed Commentary

I still can’t believe it. And I wouldn’t be surprised if many of you can’t believe it either.

Donald J. Trump has been in power for barely a month and the world is already irrevocably changed. What was once a democracy for almost 300 years is now teetering on the edge of authoritarianism and outright fascism is waiting in the wings.

This is not a horror movie. It’s actually happening and it’s happening at warp speed while those who oppose it either quake in their shoes or rush to board a train they believe will take them to a new utopia. But it’s really catching a runaway locomotive to hell.

Think I’m exaggerating? Well, take off your MAGA hat and think about this.

Canada is the third biggest trading partner of the US. Only China and Mexico trade more with Uncle Sam. This means literally millions of people – Canadians, Chinese, Mexicans and Americans alike — depend on the billions in trade that flow across the borders of these four mega-states and have done so in ever increasing numbers the past century.

According to the Wall Street Journal killing this golden goose would be “the dumbest trade war in history.”

But this hasn’t deterred Trump who’s trying to tear it apart for the benefit of his plutocratic friends only. Such “friends” as Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and other greedy tycoons who would join him in the greatest wealth grab in history. All of them are ruthless financial oligarchs willing to bend the knee and fly to Mara-a-Lago whenever Trump beckons. This isn’t democracy. It’s a rape of democracy for the benefit of the predatory few.

Such are the dreams of the “MAGA Man,” who if we allow him to get away with it, would annex Canada making the “Great White North” the “51st State,” seize the Panama Canal, tear off a chunk of Greenland and turn the tragic Gaza Strip into a Mara-a-Lago-like resort for the super-rich.

As for the Palestinians, who have been trying for 2,000 years to make a homeland out of the most barren and blood-stained soil in the Middle East, they can just walk away. Trump, never one to hide his towering contempt for anyone not white or rich is callously saying, ‘who needs them?’

That’s now the state of the world folks whether we like it or not. And how is all this fiscal anarchy going to happen?

Simple, says Trump as he sits in the Oval Office issuing executive orders forcing exploitive tariffs on a hapless US trading partner like Canada, whose brave soldiers fought and died in two world wars years before a single Yankee Doodle showed up to fight. Nevertheless, we welcomed them as friends as they fought beside us to win those wars.

Now Trump is paying us back with the possibility of crippling financial tariffs that could destroy Canada’s very nationhood.

Obviously, we have to stand up to the bully or prepare to learn the words to the “Star Spangled Banner!”

Personally, I’ve always liked Americans and been in awe of the great republic on our southern border. But with Trump in charge, the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave is rapidly morphing into an authoritarian empire bent on becoming a new Babylon and reducing the rest of the world’s countries into vassal states.

Call me paranoid if you want but look at what Trump and his minions have done in his first month in office. If he’s not reined in soon who’s to say how far he’ll go?

Mars, are you ready?

– Gerry Warner is a retired journalist, who’s glad he doesn’t live in DC.

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