By Aly Kamadia, Editor-In-Chief, iDose Magazine
Who will I vote for in Canada’s upcoming federal election?
Before naming the candidate, we must comment on the 100,000-pound orange blob in the room: US President Trump.
While he’s not physically with you, Trump’s presidential pen has authored the anxieties and frustration of countless people, many of whom will be negatively impacted by the political and economic uncertainty that Trump 2.0 is unleashing.
Following his so-called “Liberation Day”, those believing that Trump might be partially sane kept raising questions about what might be motivating him. Why declare war on the entire world, and wage a war on your own citizens and supporters, through imposing indiscriminate tariffs?
One category of intellectuals responded by emphasizing that large structural changes were occurring in the world well before Trump’s political ascendancy. US President Trump, some argue, is merely a manifestation of these larger changes.
A variation of this view is well-articulated by Mark Blyth of Brown University, whose article is posted as of today.
Worth noting here is that even people such as yours truly, who agree that the ‘world order’ was undergoing changes prior to Trump’s rise, nevertheless stress the importance of observing Trump’s actions.
After all, the most powerful political office in human history is occupied by a democratically elected clown. One who is continuously waging a full assault on American democratic institutions (e.g., the media, academic institutions, law firms etc.), while dying to transform himself into the nation’s first King.
Intellectuals are therefore compelled to raise questions about Trump’s psychology and motivations, and the broader context within which they operate.
In that vein, the legal scholar Richard K. Sherwin provides a powerful indictment of Trump. He paints America’s President as pathologically obsessed with power, while also detailing the larger context in which Trump is operating.
(If the article was authored more recently, perhaps it would have mentioned that the Trump administration is blatantly ignoring a formal 9-0 decision by the US Supreme Court.)
To state that this may very well be a unique moment in Western history is to note something both fundamental and obvious. But it doesn’t hurt to remind readers that the current situation merits your full allegiance to rationality and wisdom.
Meaning Canadians would do well to exercise their highest levels of judgment when voting in the upcoming election.
I hope that I can be a constructive voice on this, when I reveal my choice next week.
Aly Kamadia
Editor-In-Chief, iDose Magazine
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