It would all be so funny if it weren't so deadly serious.
When this started, you could hear cynical Republicans going 'well, that's just Trump being Trump. He's playing five-dimensional chess to get a good deal.'
No, he's not. He's a fucking moron who doesn't know how anything works and doesn't give a flying flamingo what you pay for eggs -- or anything else about you, either. And he means to destroy Canada, retake the Panama Canal, annex Greenland and make Vladimir Putin great again.
And those Republicans are just cowards and wormtongues.
I'm afraid Democrats are cowards, too. I see no effective actions, protest, outrage, opposition against all this madness; Democratic politicians, including former presidents are silent. One exception is dear old Bernie Sanders (well in fact, he is no Democrat ..)
Bush said zero about the election in November. I was disgusted. I remember so well how his mother, Barbara Bush, said quite openly that SHE was voting for Hillary Clinton -- NOT the orange sadist, back in 2016.
Gdubya didn't have anything to say as prez. He has always been useless and the real prez Cheney did the work. Like illegal wars and torture. The fun stuff.
They're all illiterate as to our humanities, particularly those in touch with our working classes:
films like “The Florida Project,” "Knives out,” and “Winter’s Bone”;
novels like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” Walter Mosley’s “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned,” Tom Hanks’ “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” and many by Richard Russo and Stephen King;
memoirs like Mary Karr’s “The Liars’ Club,” Jeannette Walls’ “The Glass Castle,” and Erin Gruwell’s “The Freedom Writers Diary,”
essay collections such as Arlie Russell Hochschild’s “Stolen Pride,” Sarah Smarsh’s “Bone of the Bone, and George Packer’s “The Unwinding”;
poems such as Philip Levine’s Detroit factory poems;
songs like Tim Grimm’s “Broken Truth,” Bob Seger’s “Feel Like a Number,” Carsie Blanton’s “Rich People,” and any number of Bruce Springsteen or hip hop Ari Melber will cite.
Hmm 🤔. All the obsession with our ex-presidents’ whereabouts and silence is concerning as well. Seems to be wishful thinking that they are required to solve the mess we’re in? Perhaps a bit of unrecognized scapegoatism in your queries? They are all private citizens now who are leaving the current government folks to do THEIR job and not interfere ( unlike private citizen Musk).
They are retired, sure, but have spoken up before . What's so sorely missing is a moral compass which could only be provided by morally decent and integer people like the Obamas e.g.
Where is Kamala Harris? Hunkered down and thinking about running for Governor in CA. I'm very disappointed in her. For all her past warnings about protecting democracy, she's turned her back.
What do you want her to do? What can she do that you cannot? Trump is a singular and crazy person to deal with, yes. But individuals and Dems, if you can’t figure out the answers why do you think they will?
Or he wants to be a version of Putin and take over other countries to expand the US. Either way these are disastrous.
My instincts are that a military draft may be implemented as Hegseth is firing women, Blacks, the LGBTQ communities. That leaves white, maybe only Christian, males to populate the military into their White Christian military.
I'd like to see the US try to invade Canada with no "DEI" people. The military would get wiped out, except, of course, with our weapons of mass destruction.
DEI is "code" - simplistic code - for racist, white supremacist, misogynistic. I convert everything to that when Trump's people say it. Every Black, woman, LGBTQ, trans person, no matter how excellent, is worse than the least qualified, dumbest, most ignorant, useless white man. Trump's people are the lowest form of scum. Evil, sociopaths/psychopaths without a shred of decency.
You’re preaching to the choir Michael. Aa a feminist, lesbian woman who grew up in the Jim Crow South ruled by white Christian Evangelical hetero men. I’ve known what these words mean however they have been said. It’s sad and meant to demean but we are proud and internally strong.
Young white males anymore, nearly all "involuntary celibates," nearly all doing video games for more hours a day than they sleep, nearly all still living with mom & dad, nearly all who've never had a date with a girl, nearly all who've never read a full, whole book in their lives.
Might clean up the gene pool a bit. Maybe even give trad wives a glimpse of freedom. If that happens, while males will become majority incels. Does anyone really care how to bring them into a tent??
Here is Dean Blundell. He is a recent Substacker from Canada. It is so refreshing to hear the bit of Carney talking, a real adult, after having to listen to Jr. High level conversation from our leaders on a good day, and on a normal day, more like petulant kindergarteners. I already enjoyed this difference listening to leaders talk at the Munich Security Conference. After listening to a few adult people talk, you start to notice how much listening to US politics is a drag on ones' mental acuity.
As an NFL fan, I like to look at 'home and away' results. The last away game that the US won was WW II, quite some time back. Since then, although fielding a superior team on paper, they've performed poorly in all away games.
A Civil War would def. be a 'home game',; def. produce a 'w'. Coming soon?
Professor Snyder states "The way that this fiction is formulated is strangely Putinist..." NO, NO NO, it's NOT "strangely" Putinist. It is straight out of Putin's playbook. Essentially EVERY decision that Trump is making can be predicted by asking oneself WWPD - What Would Putin Do?
Trump is a Russian asset whether Trump realizes it or not.
If Trump KNOWS he is a Russian asset, that's EVIL.
If Trump DOESN'T KNOW he is a Russian asset, that's WORSE!
Republicans in the House and Senate need to wake up and stop being such cowards. Or our democracy will soon be gone...
If "Ignorance is bliss", Trump must be the most "blissful" person on the planet. Maybe it only works if you are ignorant of your ignorance? That certainly fits.
" To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant"
--Amos Bronson Alcott, American educator
( Wikipedia sezs: "...As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and avoided traditional punishment. He hoped to perfect the human spirit and, to that end, advocated a plant-based diet..." {Died, none-the-less, at the young age of 88})
Soon? Dear god I hope not! Panama doesn’t have an army. After a 20 year military dictatorship and the invasion of Panama on December 20th 1989 we have not had an army. Even if we did we are certainly no match for the US military might. It didn’t go well for Noriega in 1989. His army fell in less than two weeks.
Wikipedia:
On February 10, 1990, the government of then President Guillermo Endara abolished Panama's military and reformed the security apparatus by creating the Panamanian Public Forces. Panama is the second country in Latin America (the other being Costa Rica) to abolish its standing army.
Heck, trump says that Panama was 'more or less America's, all along'...maybe the world should just not overreact, and let things go their own way. I'm following the thinking from a little while back: Alsace, Ruhr, Sudetenland, Austria....
The worst occupy the highest elites, especially our dehumanized who've killed our schools.
The wisest insight into making the U.S. moronic comes from Hannah Arendt in a later book of hers, “The Human Condition,” where two sentences sum it up:
“The only way to protect and nurture human distinction, she argued, is to let plurality flourish. This means letting reality and human frailty in.”
This summation comes from Lyndsey Stonebridge’s recent book, “We are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience.” It contrasts Arendt’s decency to the lies built into our greatest systematic indecency: standardized testing.
Where our novels, films, and other arts allow us to admit the interplay of reality and frailty, testing excludes both. Testing lets all aspire to perfection, to getting the highest score. Life reduces thus to all the numbers, all the hierarchy of aiming for the top – perfection, domination.
We could return to the arts of seeing the interplay of both reality and our frailties. We cannot do that so long as testing maintains its grip.
A breathtakingly-insightful response, Phil; THANK YOU for your commentary on the arts and on testing (or its proxies). I had never thought of it this way but my eyes are opened!
I would like to thank Prof. Snyder for defending us Canadians. This essay is one I will read again and again. Some days, I can only take comfort in remembering that the Canadians burnt down the White House the last time the Americans invaded Canada. I also take comfort when I shop for groceries, everyone in the store is looking at labels and putting down American produce/products, even something like four stems of spring onions. We feel truly insulted and angry.
I'm not sure it's well understood by the bulk of America just how very deeply angry and insulted...the Orange Freak could die tomorrow; the disgust will not die with him: the disgust we Canadians have for Reich Wing Amerika.
Decent America needs to keep screaming-- screaming much louder.
As a Brit I can assure you that Trump is seen over here as a complete and massive arsehole. So much so that no one here can take it seriously. Canada is Canadian, full stop and end of. King Charles 111 is fully up to speed.
Quiesence is not aquiesence. But Prof Snyder does warn us, and Brit ears are listening…..we are with you.
I'm British too. I haven't heard a single word from David Lammy about these verbal and economic threats to Canada, and while I understand it, I do wonder if silence is really the best policy where Trump is concerned. I'd like at least to see some symbolic gesture - like sending Prince William to Ottawa on a visit to greet Mark Carney!
Mark Carney making his first trip, not to Washington DC, but to meet with other Canadian allies who don’t threaten domination, gets his message across with the perfect diplomatic gesture.
Great idea! I think the silence is linked to the Ukraine situation. The quicker Starmer accepts that Trump is all in for Putin, the quicker the UK can get fully real. Here’s hoping…
Excellent idea. I'm not sure why our government in the UK is being so quiet about Canada. The only excuse that I can make is that they are fully occupied in coordinating European support for Ukraine following Trump's appalling treatment of President Zelenskyy.
You'd be astonished to find out how many Americans think trump has restored respect that Biden lost. They equate fear with respect; the rest of the world knows trump is unhinged and unchecked in our system, and they are worried. That is NOT respect.
From their lips to the ears of The Almighty. There are videos where he is dragging one of his legs. It portends no good. The White House physician will undoubtedly say that he is in stellar health - lies.
He was performing simulated oral sex on a microphone....and he still won the popular vote and the election. Worse, in new polling, voters who say they are sorry they voted for him still say they would not vote for Harris. We have a problem in the USA, and it is racism and sexism.
This Minnesotan loves Canada. I gave a speech once in Calgary and said “I come from a place where we are considered ‘Minnesota Nice’”but I also said: “Canadians are just like us, only nicer.” Our president has dementia. He was never nice and has become nastier than ever.
I live 30 min from the border, and have not crossed it since 2017 (once thr process of transformation into an illiberal, pre-autocratic state was becoming established).
I still believe the bulk of Americans feel as you do, and am saddened that the Moron Minority is hogging the show, outshouting the truth, and decency.
You are losing soooo much equity on the global stage. ( 'throwing it away')
Vito, they are a minority but a very dangerous one. They have studied at the feet of Orhan,Putin, etc, and have incorporated tactics from Stalin, Hitler, and even Pol Pot. Propaganda, spread by oligarchical control of an overwhelming proportion of the media, plus this administration’s overt support for violence and gun ownership (he is ordering the Justice Dept to restore gun ownership to convicted felons and domestic violence offenders),along with blackmail and threats against dissenters families suggests what is to come. This old, handicapped liberal may end up crossing your border - for sanctuary!
They are not a minority; trump won the PV as well as the EC; 90 million did not vote, so they were ok with him winning. This is who Americans largely are. has any good come from the two most recent R presidents? No, and I'd argue Reagan and HW were not much better, but constrained by some respect for the law. HW still put us in a recession and started an unnecessary war ( all he had to do was tell Saddam to back the hell off, and no invasion of Kuwait would have happened; then, once he went to war, he stopped short at a time when the Allies would have been ok with him taking all of Iraq. In short, just another incompetent republican ).
It’s still a minority of the American voters. And staying home didn’t necessarily mean that they were OK with Trump. It could have been anger over what was happening in Gaza or not wanting a Black female president. A protest vote isn’t a backhanded vote for trump.
I agree with you that Republican presidents have been largely responsible for a lot of shit.
This is not dementia; this is pure psychiatric illness, not physical pathology. That would excuse him to some extent; being just plain nuts and evil don't excus him.
You can believe that if you want. Personally, I think he was evil before dementia was added to the mix (which included malignant narcissism). I’ve met plenty of dual-diagnosis folks; he could be a first: tri-diagnoses of personality disorder, dementia and pure evil?
He'd be making more obvious blunders with dementia; it would be hard to hide; Bruce Willis, for example, was wandering around sets confused as to why he was there. But they could put him in front of a camera and with an earpiece, he could mumble some dialogue. He did that for about a dozen films. But trump is clearly unhinged in some way we would call NOS in the mental health business.
He’s deteriorating. Makes sense only when reading a teleprompter or repeating his own stories. He likely doesn’t even know what his shadow presidency is doing…or care. Soon they will be keeping him out of the public eye as much as possible and/or making sure the news feeds edit out the crazy talk. Sane-washing has been quite effective. Finally, when he does talk, I’d love to know what meds/chemicals he’s on when doing public appearances. You can see the difference in his face and energy level.
GloriaF - We hope that you will know that a definitive majority of Americans are on your side & are angry at our current WH Resident & thoroughly ashamed of his verbal attacks against Canada. We regular citizens despise him & are doing what we can to bring him & the nepo baby, Ketamine addicted, South African down. We are protesting in greater numbers every day & boycotting the big corporations who support him.
My apology for Trump doesn’t even express how horrifying it is to have the person supposedly representing the US. I love Canada, vacation there often - east, west and in between - and one of my bucket list trips is on the trans-Canada railroad.
I can’t even fathom why we’re having a conversation about this 51st state nonsense.
Why doesn’t he just try to annex Russia? Let’s see how that goes.
Besides, Canada would be 16 states, not 1. Ah, 16 new blue states!
It’d be better if Canada would erase that artificial line and annex us. They could teach us a thing or 100.
Here in the U.S., I also check labels and just yesterday bought a massive jug of maple syrup -- which I didn't really need -- because it was a product of Canada!
Be comforted by the fact that the great majority of Americans are supporting Canadians in anything they do to preserve their sovereignty. Trump and his minions are cowardly idiots and we are so embarrassed by our current regime.
The other lie about Canada ostensibly permitting the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States is that Canada is not in charge of who or what crosses into the United States over the U.S. border! That is the job of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). So if fentanyl is coming into the U.S. over either of our land borders, that means that CBP is not intercepting the people (mostly U.S. citizens) who are doing the smuggling.
When trump warned Canada that he would institute tariffs if we didn’t stop the flow of fentanyl, I called it BS for the sane reason you’ve outlined Careen. When Canadians travel to the US the only border patrol they will encounter is the USA’s border patrol. We’ve never had to check ourselves out of our country to declare whether we‘re taking personal goods out of the country before entering the US. Time to put this asinine view back into trump’s empty head.
It seems the only person that Trump listens to is Putin so we’re going to have to convince him to educate Trump about migrants seeking asylum. Cold day in hell is what I think!!
Prices in the grocery stores for milk products and fruits and vegetables might not provide sufficient incentive to design and implement a workable solution. What is it going to take?
You have to wonder if the bipartisan immigration reform plan that Senators Murphy, Langford, and Sinema developed in early 2024 would’ve changed any of these problems.
All I know is that a lot of Canadians are revising plans to visit the US. Our only power is the power of our wallet. After trump took power in 2017, we sold our winter home and decided to be in charge of our future and have refused to set foot in the US until he’s 6 ft under as well as his acolytes. Even Biden could change our mind.
Bravo Careen. And everything I've seen/heard about drugs coming not across the desert or wilderness, but through the borders managed by CBP, is that no "border wall" will contain the issue. DOGE should eliminate that waste and fraud, don't you agree?
Yes, that is a fact. The vast majority of illegal drugs are smuggled through legal ports of entry in vehicles, through sea ports in shipping containers full of legal goods, & through the postal service.
It is absolutely not being smuggled by undocumented migrants seeking asylum or just wanting to work here; despite what T wants everyone to believe.
My brother got a BB gun for Christmas in 1957. Wonder if he still has it? And if he would lend it to me? Surely I can get someone to point me in the right direction. I could become a weapon of mass destruction.
Maybe. Spoke with an Apple rep the other night and she said that her friends still love us and know that Trump is nuts. April 5 is coming, folks. Get ready to march for democracy and sanity.
So, the numbers appear to be all of Canada and half of the US against the aged, overweight, decrepit forces of MAGA. I hope JD and Elon are in the front line but I realize they won’t be.
Enjoy this if you haven’t seen it. I think it’s better than the original.
So JD Vance says addiction is a personal responsibility yet RFK Jr. wants “camps” for drug addicts and mental disease. Can’t these Nazis get it together?
For some, consuming big lies is itself an addiction--providing, awe, pleasure, giddiness, etc.--especially if the "enemy" can be identified on the same planet.
I'm sure the Orange Turd would resent that! Sure, he loves all dictators, but he has just one Puppeteer Supreme, and his name is Vladimir Vladimirovich.
I am not surprised that you, professor Snyder, understand the truth behind Trump's threats to Canada. Indeed it is almost like he has been taught by Putin. I live in a small community alongside the US/Canada border. We have friends and family living in the United States and just last year had 3 very meaningful trips down there. We have many fond memories connected to the United States. However all of that has now suddenly changed. I am a student of history and know well that we have had disagreements and even disputes with our much larger and more powerful southern neighbour in the past. Yet I have never really felt threatened as I do now as a Canadian. The Canadian response, after the initial shock, has been to rally together as a nation. Just listen to how our politicians speak - they are articulate and clearly state how hurt and betrayed we feel. But we have steeled ourselves in our resolve that we will never willingly become the 51st state. Indeed we may be taken over by our larger southern neighbour and we will not be able to resist in the same way as the Ukrainians have resisted the Russian aggression. But Americans would be very naive to think that we will welcome them with open arms. The exact opposite will be the case. I turn 70 next month and other than being a scrawny cadet as a young teenager, have no military training and have very little experience with firearms. Yet just yesterday my wife and I were talking about how we could fight in resisting this American aggression. I know I would happily and willingly lay down what remains of my years on earth in the attempt to prevent my children and grandchildren from living under the American flag.
I'm so grateful for this article. We certainly do take the threat seriously, and, personally, I get frustrated when some Americans say "it's never gonna happen". I also get frustrated at the notion that we Canadians would ever be an actual state and have voting rights, so I'm glad Professor Snyder addressed that myth. We would be an oppressed and occupied people, as the hostile takeover would be about our "stuff" not us. Our access to the northern passage, our water and resources, our rare earths - which Greenland and Ukraine also have large reserves of and seem to be something desired by the regime. It's needed for tech, so maybe that's a thread, I don't know.
I find it hard to believe that anyone in this country would fall for the STUPID conspiracy theories about Canada....except for the ignoramuses in the Felon's cult....who will fall for anything, of course. We will never stop drugs from coming into this country as long as there's a market for them. If you've ever watched the tv show "To Catch a Smuggler," it's easy to see the incredible challenge border officers everywhere face!! Drugs are coming in by people, planes, boats, cargo ships, mail, you name it. If the Felon REALLY wanted to DO something about drugs in America, he would hire many more DEA officers to track down the distributors HERE and get rid of them!!
That does nothing to decrease the demand. Job creation for the inner cities & in the rust belt, prevention efforts like after school programs in both cities & rural areas, affordable, effective treatment programs for those already addicted, etc, etc.
Prevention & treatment programs are the only way to decrease the demand.
Aside from blaming external factors for internal problems and the disastrous implications of the Canadian warmongering rhetoric, I can't help but wonder if these dark days in the United States will lead to more widespread issues with addiction. Here we are, less than two months in, and I look around and see how many are filled with existential despair in this moment. Coupled with massive job losses resulting from the decimation of the federal government and inflation resulting from tariffs, it doesn't seem far-fetched to assume this will take a toll on many a psyche for whom it is just too much to bear. (Consider the Great Depression.) And if that is the case, will Trump's refusal to look within and to cast irrational blame on Canada get more emphatic? He could be sowing a multi-front psychological war on Americans that gives him the pretext he seeks for a real one. I hope I am wrong, but I put nothing past this administration's dangerous games.
The Mump Regime is DEFINITELY waging a multi-front psychological war on Americans. We must support each other, support those who are most marginalized, and support legitimate journalism (truth-telling). I no longer worry about offending MAGAts with my icky liberalism. To paraphrase Margaret Atwood, I'm too busy worrying that the MAGAts are going to kill me. I speak out to everyone I encounter against this Regime now. If that makes me unprofessional, so be it.
On the subject of fentanyl. This is not a cheap drug. I may be wrong, but it seems the Americans that are taking the worst hit right now are mostly ones who can't afford the stuff. I live in an upper middle class USA community and see almost no concern over the current actions of the Trump administration.
I suspect that most of the fentanyl users are his own supporters.
Fentanyl is cheap in practice because of its extreme potency. If it weren't, why would street drug manufacturers be adding it to everything else they sell?
Thank you for this comment on one of the most terrifying things currently going on in the US. Judging from the statements by Canadian politicians, I am sure they will defend themselves vehemently in case of an invasion. Would the Commonwealth of Nations provide security / help?
NATO nations don’t need to debate Article 5 to assist Canada if US invades. United Kingdom would mobilize, King Charles would give a St. Crispin’s Day speech, and a military leader would accept command of the joint forces.
I'm sure Trump has never heard of Mary Simon or her office - I can think of several reasons why he would disrespect her - and fear that the word "Governor" in her title would set him off on one of his demented rants. "King" seems to be a word he is happier with.
I live an hour from the Canadian border and was in Montreal this past week. Canadians are indeed polite, but if you start talking with them, as we did in limited numbers, they're horrified by what's going on here - and to a man and woman would never, ever join this country. This is an outrageous assault on a best friend and ally that we've had for generations. How could any U.S. leader in his right mind torpedo our relations with this wonderful country. We should be so lucky to be more like them. Only our demented, deluded, gangster, mafia madman president could conceive of this - and the catastrophically stupid and blind idiots who support his regime. They are all traitors, traitors and have no legitimacy to run this country. The question is how do we get rid of them - and hold them accountable.
The fentanyl crisis is also partly due to a lack of hope in the younger folks. They see no pathways from youth to adulthood that appeal to them. America actually makes it difficult to succeed. It is also at root, a spiritual problem, NOT RELIGIOUS, spiritual. A person who has a sense of connection with their ground of being, can weather deserts of hope from the external realm and can draw upon perseverance toward manifesting a life congruent with their skills and dreams, and aligned with integrity. But unless a child is privileged with a solid nugget of affirmation from a relatively safe parenting and financial ability to evolve one’s leanings into skills, be it free tradeschool or free community college and then state college and viable apprenticeships and paid internships, what do kids have to look forward to? Being a walmart cashier? Hell no. Are people wishing for the 70s when marijuana was the more prevalent substance available? Wouldnt kill you unless it was laced with PCP. Pain relief from fentanyl is meeting a spiritual pain and void.
I tend to agree with you. People need a spiritual base and that is definitely not white Christian Nationalism. That is a farce. People, especially children, also need education, including art, music, science, and imaginative inquiry. There are wonderful things going on in the world today that have nothing to do with the politics of fear and domination. Our job is to keep those alive while ridding ourselves of the butchers.
Exactly what I wrote before seeing your comment, just not as eloquently. I highly recommend the Bryan Tyler Cohen podcast “No Lie” particularly the very recent one when one of his guests was James Talarico. James is a Texas state representative who is deeply faithful to the true teachings of Jesus & is strongly opposed to Christian Nationalism. He says the same things that you did, that we need a faith, not of any particular religion. He’s one of the few Christians that I care to listen to.
Opioid addiction is a brain disease. It can happen to anyone at any age. It is not due to bad parenting, a personal failure or an immature sense of one's place in this life. It hits every single demographic.
The functioning addicts are not what make news. Your and my normal looking neighbors can be addicts and we would never have a clue.
Medical science doesn’t have all the answers. If you doubt that young people who are directionless aren’t more susceptible than their peers and contemporaries who are engaged and feel they have a sense of belonging and purpose in being alive, than you are just choosing to be ignorant, myopic. R. Buckminster Fuller described how specialists are too mired only in their small pond of knowing and beliefs. Go ahead be a specialist. You will continue to only have part of the picture. If you feel like expanding your knowledge you can read Dr Gabor Mate’s book about addition, In The Realm Of Hungry Ghosts.
Great piece. I hate conspiracy fantasies but every day, the darkest of them seems most credible. Create chaos, roil the markets, massive civil unrest , martial law, Trump stays, Kakistocracy serves the Oligarchy, Putin/Xi/Trump divide up the world and support their back ups: Orban, Kim Jong Un, etc. Utmost respect , Mr. Snyder, tell us why this is wrong.
It would all be so funny if it weren't so deadly serious.
When this started, you could hear cynical Republicans going 'well, that's just Trump being Trump. He's playing five-dimensional chess to get a good deal.'
No, he's not. He's a fucking moron who doesn't know how anything works and doesn't give a flying flamingo what you pay for eggs -- or anything else about you, either. And he means to destroy Canada, retake the Panama Canal, annex Greenland and make Vladimir Putin great again.
And those Republicans are just cowards and wormtongues.
I'm afraid Democrats are cowards, too. I see no effective actions, protest, outrage, opposition against all this madness; Democratic politicians, including former presidents are silent. One exception is dear old Bernie Sanders (well in fact, he is no Democrat ..)
I, too, am wondering about our former presidents. Where is Obama???? Where is Clinton ??? Even, where is George Bush?
Bush said zero about the election in November. I was disgusted. I remember so well how his mother, Barbara Bush, said quite openly that SHE was voting for Hillary Clinton -- NOT the orange sadist, back in 2016.
Gdubya didn't have anything to say as prez. He has always been useless and the real prez Cheney did the work. Like illegal wars and torture. The fun stuff.
He really was a dummkopf.
They’re probably staying silent so that their security isn’t taken away like it was taken from General Miley.
Whew! What a thought! And far worse: you're probably right.
I don’t know for sure but their silence is unexcusable.
Milley-my apologies…
Pamela, you may edit your post- click on the 3 dots to the right.
This baffles me too. Is there some vow of silence?
Pretty much. Former Prez's usually don't weigh in on current Prez's. Obama is an exception.
Isn't it time to do away with such nonsense?
Simple, Karen.
They're all illiterate as to our humanities, particularly those in touch with our working classes:
films like “The Florida Project,” "Knives out,” and “Winter’s Bone”;
novels like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” Walter Mosley’s “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned,” Tom Hanks’ “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” and many by Richard Russo and Stephen King;
memoirs like Mary Karr’s “The Liars’ Club,” Jeannette Walls’ “The Glass Castle,” and Erin Gruwell’s “The Freedom Writers Diary,”
essay collections such as Arlie Russell Hochschild’s “Stolen Pride,” Sarah Smarsh’s “Bone of the Bone, and George Packer’s “The Unwinding”;
poems such as Philip Levine’s Detroit factory poems;
songs like Tim Grimm’s “Broken Truth,” Bob Seger’s “Feel Like a Number,” Carsie Blanton’s “Rich People,” and any number of Bruce Springsteen or hip hop Ari Melber will cite.
What the hell are you talking about?
Hmm 🤔. All the obsession with our ex-presidents’ whereabouts and silence is concerning as well. Seems to be wishful thinking that they are required to solve the mess we’re in? Perhaps a bit of unrecognized scapegoatism in your queries? They are all private citizens now who are leaving the current government folks to do THEIR job and not interfere ( unlike private citizen Musk).
They are retired, sure, but have spoken up before . What's so sorely missing is a moral compass which could only be provided by morally decent and integer people like the Obamas e.g.
Terrified that trump will remove their security details.
Me too! And don’t forget we are paying their retirement no doubt.
Where is Kamala Harris? Hunkered down and thinking about running for Governor in CA. I'm very disappointed in her. For all her past warnings about protecting democracy, she's turned her back.
What do you want her to do? What can she do that you cannot? Trump is a singular and crazy person to deal with, yes. But individuals and Dems, if you can’t figure out the answers why do you think they will?
Because she has the connections, resources and funds the rest of us do not.
Or he wants to be a version of Putin and take over other countries to expand the US. Either way these are disastrous.
My instincts are that a military draft may be implemented as Hegseth is firing women, Blacks, the LGBTQ communities. That leaves white, maybe only Christian, males to populate the military into their White Christian military.
I'd like to see the US try to invade Canada with no "DEI" people. The military would get wiped out, except, of course, with our weapons of mass destruction.
You might get your wish. DEI is their fav cuss word
DEI is "code" - simplistic code - for racist, white supremacist, misogynistic. I convert everything to that when Trump's people say it. Every Black, woman, LGBTQ, trans person, no matter how excellent, is worse than the least qualified, dumbest, most ignorant, useless white man. Trump's people are the lowest form of scum. Evil, sociopaths/psychopaths without a shred of decency.
You’re preaching to the choir Michael. Aa a feminist, lesbian woman who grew up in the Jim Crow South ruled by white Christian Evangelical hetero men. I’ve known what these words mean however they have been said. It’s sad and meant to demean but we are proud and internally strong.
Can't imagine how difficult that was.
Oh, great, incels.
Young white males anymore, nearly all "involuntary celibates," nearly all doing video games for more hours a day than they sleep, nearly all still living with mom & dad, nearly all who've never had a date with a girl, nearly all who've never read a full, whole book in their lives.
Might clean up the gene pool a bit. Maybe even give trad wives a glimpse of freedom. If that happens, while males will become majority incels. Does anyone really care how to bring them into a tent??
Trump is showing off for the world's strongmen.
Here is Dean Blundell. He is a recent Substacker from Canada. It is so refreshing to hear the bit of Carney talking, a real adult, after having to listen to Jr. High level conversation from our leaders on a good day, and on a normal day, more like petulant kindergarteners. I already enjoyed this difference listening to leaders talk at the Munich Security Conference. After listening to a few adult people talk, you start to notice how much listening to US politics is a drag on ones' mental acuity.
https://open.substack.com/pub/deanblundell/p/mark-carneys-bold-eu-pivot-building?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Wonderful rant, Corbin!
As an NFL fan, I like to look at 'home and away' results. The last away game that the US won was WW II, quite some time back. Since then, although fielding a superior team on paper, they've performed poorly in all away games.
A Civil War would def. be a 'home game',; def. produce a 'w'. Coming soon?
YES, Corbin!
Professor Snyder states "The way that this fiction is formulated is strangely Putinist..." NO, NO NO, it's NOT "strangely" Putinist. It is straight out of Putin's playbook. Essentially EVERY decision that Trump is making can be predicted by asking oneself WWPD - What Would Putin Do?
Trump is a Russian asset whether Trump realizes it or not.
If Trump KNOWS he is a Russian asset, that's EVIL.
If Trump DOESN'T KNOW he is a Russian asset, that's WORSE!
Republicans in the House and Senate need to wake up and stop being such cowards. Or our democracy will soon be gone...
If "Ignorance is bliss", Trump must be the most "blissful" person on the planet. Maybe it only works if you are ignorant of your ignorance? That certainly fits.
"...if you are ignorant of your ignorance?"
Nailed it , Sandra. 1000%
" To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant"
--Amos Bronson Alcott, American educator
( Wikipedia sezs: "...As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and avoided traditional punishment. He hoped to perfect the human spirit and, to that end, advocated a plant-based diet..." {Died, none-the-less, at the young age of 88})
Panama here. This is from a local English language online news magazine:
https://newsroompanama.com/2025/03/13/trump-white-house-has-asked-u-s-military-to-develop-options-for-the-panama-canal-officials-say/
'special military operation'
'develop options'
The first euphemism has been put to good use; that second one is also nicely vague, but likely means action, soon
Soon? Dear god I hope not! Panama doesn’t have an army. After a 20 year military dictatorship and the invasion of Panama on December 20th 1989 we have not had an army. Even if we did we are certainly no match for the US military might. It didn’t go well for Noriega in 1989. His army fell in less than two weeks.
Wikipedia:
On February 10, 1990, the government of then President Guillermo Endara abolished Panama's military and reformed the security apparatus by creating the Panamanian Public Forces. Panama is the second country in Latin America (the other being Costa Rica) to abolish its standing army.
Panama doesn’t have an army.
Bullies like the defenceless.
Heck, trump says that Panama was 'more or less America's, all along'...maybe the world should just not overreact, and let things go their own way. I'm following the thinking from a little while back: Alsace, Ruhr, Sudetenland, Austria....
Imagine the world where military financing were directed to develop human potential.
A lot of morons in America, Corbin.
The worst occupy the highest elites, especially our dehumanized who've killed our schools.
The wisest insight into making the U.S. moronic comes from Hannah Arendt in a later book of hers, “The Human Condition,” where two sentences sum it up:
“The only way to protect and nurture human distinction, she argued, is to let plurality flourish. This means letting reality and human frailty in.”
This summation comes from Lyndsey Stonebridge’s recent book, “We are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt’s Lessons in Love and Disobedience.” It contrasts Arendt’s decency to the lies built into our greatest systematic indecency: standardized testing.
Where our novels, films, and other arts allow us to admit the interplay of reality and frailty, testing excludes both. Testing lets all aspire to perfection, to getting the highest score. Life reduces thus to all the numbers, all the hierarchy of aiming for the top – perfection, domination.
We could return to the arts of seeing the interplay of both reality and our frailties. We cannot do that so long as testing maintains its grip.
A breathtakingly-insightful response, Phil; THANK YOU for your commentary on the arts and on testing (or its proxies). I had never thought of it this way but my eyes are opened!
Corbin , you are right and spot on.
And the Democrats seem just as cowardly.
I would like to thank Prof. Snyder for defending us Canadians. This essay is one I will read again and again. Some days, I can only take comfort in remembering that the Canadians burnt down the White House the last time the Americans invaded Canada. I also take comfort when I shop for groceries, everyone in the store is looking at labels and putting down American produce/products, even something like four stems of spring onions. We feel truly insulted and angry.
I'm not sure it's well understood by the bulk of America just how very deeply angry and insulted...the Orange Freak could die tomorrow; the disgust will not die with him: the disgust we Canadians have for Reich Wing Amerika.
Decent America needs to keep screaming-- screaming much louder.
I'd like to hear something from Britain, too. Much too quiet so far.
Friends in Toronto are fantasising about a measles epidemic killing off Trump, Musk and Vance.
As a Brit I can assure you that Trump is seen over here as a complete and massive arsehole. So much so that no one here can take it seriously. Canada is Canadian, full stop and end of. King Charles 111 is fully up to speed.
Quiesence is not aquiesence. But Prof Snyder does warn us, and Brit ears are listening…..we are with you.
I'm British too. I haven't heard a single word from David Lammy about these verbal and economic threats to Canada, and while I understand it, I do wonder if silence is really the best policy where Trump is concerned. I'd like at least to see some symbolic gesture - like sending Prince William to Ottawa on a visit to greet Mark Carney!
Mark Carney making his first trip, not to Washington DC, but to meet with other Canadian allies who don’t threaten domination, gets his message across with the perfect diplomatic gesture.
Lead news on the BBC this Monday morning - Mark Carney is in England, and going to see the King. Gnash your teeth, Trump.
Great idea! I think the silence is linked to the Ukraine situation. The quicker Starmer accepts that Trump is all in for Putin, the quicker the UK can get fully real. Here’s hoping…
Yes, I agree about Ukraine being the reason. To many moles to whack at the moment.
Excellent idea. I'm not sure why our government in the UK is being so quiet about Canada. The only excuse that I can make is that they are fully occupied in coordinating European support for Ukraine following Trump's appalling treatment of President Zelenskyy.
You'd be astonished to find out how many Americans think trump has restored respect that Biden lost. They equate fear with respect; the rest of the world knows trump is unhinged and unchecked in our system, and they are worried. That is NOT respect.
I know. I see them all time in the comments at the WSJ.
From their lips to the ears of The Almighty. There are videos where he is dragging one of his legs. It portends no good. The White House physician will undoubtedly say that he is in stellar health - lies.
He was performing simulated oral sex on a microphone....and he still won the popular vote and the election. Worse, in new polling, voters who say they are sorry they voted for him still say they would not vote for Harris. We have a problem in the USA, and it is racism and sexism.
It's absolutely mind-boggling! 🤯
This Minnesotan loves Canada. I gave a speech once in Calgary and said “I come from a place where we are considered ‘Minnesota Nice’”but I also said: “Canadians are just like us, only nicer.” Our president has dementia. He was never nice and has become nastier than ever.
I live 30 min from the border, and have not crossed it since 2017 (once thr process of transformation into an illiberal, pre-autocratic state was becoming established).
I still believe the bulk of Americans feel as you do, and am saddened that the Moron Minority is hogging the show, outshouting the truth, and decency.
You are losing soooo much equity on the global stage. ( 'throwing it away')
Vito, they are a minority but a very dangerous one. They have studied at the feet of Orhan,Putin, etc, and have incorporated tactics from Stalin, Hitler, and even Pol Pot. Propaganda, spread by oligarchical control of an overwhelming proportion of the media, plus this administration’s overt support for violence and gun ownership (he is ordering the Justice Dept to restore gun ownership to convicted felons and domestic violence offenders),along with blackmail and threats against dissenters families suggests what is to come. This old, handicapped liberal may end up crossing your border - for sanctuary!
They are not a minority; trump won the PV as well as the EC; 90 million did not vote, so they were ok with him winning. This is who Americans largely are. has any good come from the two most recent R presidents? No, and I'd argue Reagan and HW were not much better, but constrained by some respect for the law. HW still put us in a recession and started an unnecessary war ( all he had to do was tell Saddam to back the hell off, and no invasion of Kuwait would have happened; then, once he went to war, he stopped short at a time when the Allies would have been ok with him taking all of Iraq. In short, just another incompetent republican ).
It’s still a minority of the American voters. And staying home didn’t necessarily mean that they were OK with Trump. It could have been anger over what was happening in Gaza or not wanting a Black female president. A protest vote isn’t a backhanded vote for trump.
I agree with you that Republican presidents have been largely responsible for a lot of shit.
This is not dementia; this is pure psychiatric illness, not physical pathology. That would excuse him to some extent; being just plain nuts and evil don't excus him.
You can believe that if you want. Personally, I think he was evil before dementia was added to the mix (which included malignant narcissism). I’ve met plenty of dual-diagnosis folks; he could be a first: tri-diagnoses of personality disorder, dementia and pure evil?
He'd be making more obvious blunders with dementia; it would be hard to hide; Bruce Willis, for example, was wandering around sets confused as to why he was there. But they could put him in front of a camera and with an earpiece, he could mumble some dialogue. He did that for about a dozen films. But trump is clearly unhinged in some way we would call NOS in the mental health business.
He’s deteriorating. Makes sense only when reading a teleprompter or repeating his own stories. He likely doesn’t even know what his shadow presidency is doing…or care. Soon they will be keeping him out of the public eye as much as possible and/or making sure the news feeds edit out the crazy talk. Sane-washing has been quite effective. Finally, when he does talk, I’d love to know what meds/chemicals he’s on when doing public appearances. You can see the difference in his face and energy level.
I used to call it TFU.
Well, that too....
The majority of Americans are horrified at Trump's antics. Please know that.
They’re horrified if they escape the right-wing information/propaganda bubble.
You are being truly insulted and you should be feeling anger.
GloriaF - We hope that you will know that a definitive majority of Americans are on your side & are angry at our current WH Resident & thoroughly ashamed of his verbal attacks against Canada. We regular citizens despise him & are doing what we can to bring him & the nepo baby, Ketamine addicted, South African down. We are protesting in greater numbers every day & boycotting the big corporations who support him.
I’m not even angry at the MAGAs that swarm the comments at the WSJ. I just ignore them.
My apology for Trump doesn’t even express how horrifying it is to have the person supposedly representing the US. I love Canada, vacation there often - east, west and in between - and one of my bucket list trips is on the trans-Canada railroad.
I can’t even fathom why we’re having a conversation about this 51st state nonsense.
Why doesn’t he just try to annex Russia? Let’s see how that goes.
Besides, Canada would be 16 states, not 1. Ah, 16 new blue states!
It’d be better if Canada would erase that artificial line and annex us. They could teach us a thing or 100.
Here in the U.S., I also check labels and just yesterday bought a massive jug of maple syrup -- which I didn't really need -- because it was a product of Canada!
Best maple syrup in the world!
Be comforted by the fact that the great majority of Americans are supporting Canadians in anything they do to preserve their sovereignty. Trump and his minions are cowardly idiots and we are so embarrassed by our current regime.
The fentanyl accusation is the legal pretext for the tariffs.
The other lie about Canada ostensibly permitting the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States is that Canada is not in charge of who or what crosses into the United States over the U.S. border! That is the job of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). So if fentanyl is coming into the U.S. over either of our land borders, that means that CBP is not intercepting the people (mostly U.S. citizens) who are doing the smuggling.
When trump warned Canada that he would institute tariffs if we didn’t stop the flow of fentanyl, I called it BS for the sane reason you’ve outlined Careen. When Canadians travel to the US the only border patrol they will encounter is the USA’s border patrol. We’ve never had to check ourselves out of our country to declare whether we‘re taking personal goods out of the country before entering the US. Time to put this asinine view back into trump’s empty head.
It seems the only person that Trump listens to is Putin so we’re going to have to convince him to educate Trump about migrants seeking asylum. Cold day in hell is what I think!!
Prices in the grocery stores for milk products and fruits and vegetables might not provide sufficient incentive to design and implement a workable solution. What is it going to take?
You have to wonder if the bipartisan immigration reform plan that Senators Murphy, Langford, and Sinema developed in early 2024 would’ve changed any of these problems.
All I know is that a lot of Canadians are revising plans to visit the US. Our only power is the power of our wallet. After trump took power in 2017, we sold our winter home and decided to be in charge of our future and have refused to set foot in the US until he’s 6 ft under as well as his acolytes. Even Biden could change our mind.
Hope you don't have to wait long.
I have the patience of Job. 😉
Yes... I keep checking the obits
True, but it's BS for a more basic reason - there *isn't* a flow of fentanyl from Canada.
Bravo Careen. And everything I've seen/heard about drugs coming not across the desert or wilderness, but through the borders managed by CBP, is that no "border wall" will contain the issue. DOGE should eliminate that waste and fraud, don't you agree?
Yes, that is a fact. The vast majority of illegal drugs are smuggled through legal ports of entry in vehicles, through sea ports in shipping containers full of legal goods, & through the postal service.
It is absolutely not being smuggled by undocumented migrants seeking asylum or just wanting to work here; despite what T wants everyone to believe.
If the US attacks Canada then I will personally take up arms against my own country.
Likewise, if a 67 year old gimpy woman can sign up.
My brother got a BB gun for Christmas in 1957. Wonder if he still has it? And if he would lend it to me? Surely I can get someone to point me in the right direction. I could become a weapon of mass destruction.
signed
An 82-year-old, gimpy woman
😁👍🏼💖
Yes. I’ve said to Canadian online, I’d be happy to fight for Canada if they will offer me refuge now
Sounds like a quid pro quo to me!
Will they accept volunteers from the US?
Maybe. Spoke with an Apple rep the other night and she said that her friends still love us and know that Trump is nuts. April 5 is coming, folks. Get ready to march for democracy and sanity.
So, the numbers appear to be all of Canada and half of the US against the aged, overweight, decrepit forces of MAGA. I hope JD and Elon are in the front line but I realize they won’t be.
Enjoy this if you haven’t seen it. I think it’s better than the original.
https://youtu.be/feQN4Uc_BVo?si=aoaOh5OADX7SZjP8
Fantastic parody! Thanks for sharing, Kevin. 🇨🇦
#me too
So JD Vance says addiction is a personal responsibility yet RFK Jr. wants “camps” for drug addicts and mental disease. Can’t these Nazis get it together?
Hey, 🇨🇦! I (a Yankee 🇺🇸) damn well will stand on guard for thee!
For some, consuming big lies is itself an addiction--providing, awe, pleasure, giddiness, etc.--especially if the "enemy" can be identified on the same planet.
Frankly, the simplest explanation for Trump’s geographical fantasies is dementia.
A demented puppet with many puppeteers.
I'm sure the Orange Turd would resent that! Sure, he loves all dictators, but he has just one Puppeteer Supreme, and his name is Vladimir Vladimirovich.
I am not surprised that you, professor Snyder, understand the truth behind Trump's threats to Canada. Indeed it is almost like he has been taught by Putin. I live in a small community alongside the US/Canada border. We have friends and family living in the United States and just last year had 3 very meaningful trips down there. We have many fond memories connected to the United States. However all of that has now suddenly changed. I am a student of history and know well that we have had disagreements and even disputes with our much larger and more powerful southern neighbour in the past. Yet I have never really felt threatened as I do now as a Canadian. The Canadian response, after the initial shock, has been to rally together as a nation. Just listen to how our politicians speak - they are articulate and clearly state how hurt and betrayed we feel. But we have steeled ourselves in our resolve that we will never willingly become the 51st state. Indeed we may be taken over by our larger southern neighbour and we will not be able to resist in the same way as the Ukrainians have resisted the Russian aggression. But Americans would be very naive to think that we will welcome them with open arms. The exact opposite will be the case. I turn 70 next month and other than being a scrawny cadet as a young teenager, have no military training and have very little experience with firearms. Yet just yesterday my wife and I were talking about how we could fight in resisting this American aggression. I know I would happily and willingly lay down what remains of my years on earth in the attempt to prevent my children and grandchildren from living under the American flag.
I'm so grateful for this article. We certainly do take the threat seriously, and, personally, I get frustrated when some Americans say "it's never gonna happen". I also get frustrated at the notion that we Canadians would ever be an actual state and have voting rights, so I'm glad Professor Snyder addressed that myth. We would be an oppressed and occupied people, as the hostile takeover would be about our "stuff" not us. Our access to the northern passage, our water and resources, our rare earths - which Greenland and Ukraine also have large reserves of and seem to be something desired by the regime. It's needed for tech, so maybe that's a thread, I don't know.
That definitely is the thread, you’ve gotten it right.
I find it hard to believe that anyone in this country would fall for the STUPID conspiracy theories about Canada....except for the ignoramuses in the Felon's cult....who will fall for anything, of course. We will never stop drugs from coming into this country as long as there's a market for them. If you've ever watched the tv show "To Catch a Smuggler," it's easy to see the incredible challenge border officers everywhere face!! Drugs are coming in by people, planes, boats, cargo ships, mail, you name it. If the Felon REALLY wanted to DO something about drugs in America, he would hire many more DEA officers to track down the distributors HERE and get rid of them!!
That does nothing to decrease the demand. Job creation for the inner cities & in the rust belt, prevention efforts like after school programs in both cities & rural areas, affordable, effective treatment programs for those already addicted, etc, etc.
Prevention & treatment programs are the only way to decrease the demand.
I agree….but it would serve us better for The Felon to go after the Big money right here in the U.S. that are bringing the drugs in.
Aside from blaming external factors for internal problems and the disastrous implications of the Canadian warmongering rhetoric, I can't help but wonder if these dark days in the United States will lead to more widespread issues with addiction. Here we are, less than two months in, and I look around and see how many are filled with existential despair in this moment. Coupled with massive job losses resulting from the decimation of the federal government and inflation resulting from tariffs, it doesn't seem far-fetched to assume this will take a toll on many a psyche for whom it is just too much to bear. (Consider the Great Depression.) And if that is the case, will Trump's refusal to look within and to cast irrational blame on Canada get more emphatic? He could be sowing a multi-front psychological war on Americans that gives him the pretext he seeks for a real one. I hope I am wrong, but I put nothing past this administration's dangerous games.
The Mump Regime is DEFINITELY waging a multi-front psychological war on Americans. We must support each other, support those who are most marginalized, and support legitimate journalism (truth-telling). I no longer worry about offending MAGAts with my icky liberalism. To paraphrase Margaret Atwood, I'm too busy worrying that the MAGAts are going to kill me. I speak out to everyone I encounter against this Regime now. If that makes me unprofessional, so be it.
On the subject of fentanyl. This is not a cheap drug. I may be wrong, but it seems the Americans that are taking the worst hit right now are mostly ones who can't afford the stuff. I live in an upper middle class USA community and see almost no concern over the current actions of the Trump administration.
I suspect that most of the fentanyl users are his own supporters.
(Know your enemy)
Fentanyl is cheap in practice because of its extreme potency. If it weren't, why would street drug manufacturers be adding it to everything else they sell?
Point well made. So does anyone here have some good demographics on the consumption of fentanyl?
Fentanyl is very cheap. Cheaper than heroin.
Thank you for this comment on one of the most terrifying things currently going on in the US. Judging from the statements by Canadian politicians, I am sure they will defend themselves vehemently in case of an invasion. Would the Commonwealth of Nations provide security / help?
Or would their NATO allies invoke Article 5 to defend against an invasion by their southern neighbor?
NATO nations don’t need to debate Article 5 to assist Canada if US invades. United Kingdom would mobilize, King Charles would give a St. Crispin’s Day speech, and a military leader would accept command of the joint forces.
(Apologies if I've already posted this, but it doesn't seem to be here)
Thank you for this. I have added it to the file Bons Mots on my computer's desktop, which I've been gathering since 2010.
At the moment, I still think so!
Certainly it's high time Scotland seized his golf courses.
Note to self: Stock up on MacAllan 18-year-old Scotch tomorrow.
I certainly hope so! Maybe if someone just points out to Trump that the Head of State of Canada is actually King Charles?
Yes he is but it is delegated to our Governor General who at this time is Mary Simon.
I'm sure Trump has never heard of Mary Simon or her office - I can think of several reasons why he would disrespect her - and fear that the word "Governor" in her title would set him off on one of his demented rants. "King" seems to be a word he is happier with.
I live an hour from the Canadian border and was in Montreal this past week. Canadians are indeed polite, but if you start talking with them, as we did in limited numbers, they're horrified by what's going on here - and to a man and woman would never, ever join this country. This is an outrageous assault on a best friend and ally that we've had for generations. How could any U.S. leader in his right mind torpedo our relations with this wonderful country. We should be so lucky to be more like them. Only our demented, deluded, gangster, mafia madman president could conceive of this - and the catastrophically stupid and blind idiots who support his regime. They are all traitors, traitors and have no legitimacy to run this country. The question is how do we get rid of them - and hold them accountable.
The fentanyl crisis is also partly due to a lack of hope in the younger folks. They see no pathways from youth to adulthood that appeal to them. America actually makes it difficult to succeed. It is also at root, a spiritual problem, NOT RELIGIOUS, spiritual. A person who has a sense of connection with their ground of being, can weather deserts of hope from the external realm and can draw upon perseverance toward manifesting a life congruent with their skills and dreams, and aligned with integrity. But unless a child is privileged with a solid nugget of affirmation from a relatively safe parenting and financial ability to evolve one’s leanings into skills, be it free tradeschool or free community college and then state college and viable apprenticeships and paid internships, what do kids have to look forward to? Being a walmart cashier? Hell no. Are people wishing for the 70s when marijuana was the more prevalent substance available? Wouldnt kill you unless it was laced with PCP. Pain relief from fentanyl is meeting a spiritual pain and void.
I tend to agree with you. People need a spiritual base and that is definitely not white Christian Nationalism. That is a farce. People, especially children, also need education, including art, music, science, and imaginative inquiry. There are wonderful things going on in the world today that have nothing to do with the politics of fear and domination. Our job is to keep those alive while ridding ourselves of the butchers.
Exactly what I wrote before seeing your comment, just not as eloquently. I highly recommend the Bryan Tyler Cohen podcast “No Lie” particularly the very recent one when one of his guests was James Talarico. James is a Texas state representative who is deeply faithful to the true teachings of Jesus & is strongly opposed to Christian Nationalism. He says the same things that you did, that we need a faith, not of any particular religion. He’s one of the few Christians that I care to listen to.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/no-lie-with-brian-tyler-cohen/id1515399733?i=1000697143124
Opioid addiction is a brain disease. It can happen to anyone at any age. It is not due to bad parenting, a personal failure or an immature sense of one's place in this life. It hits every single demographic.
The functioning addicts are not what make news. Your and my normal looking neighbors can be addicts and we would never have a clue.
That’s true. But most people don’t start taking in first place. You do hear about people getting addicted after using opioids for pain.
You are not correct.
As an addiction specialist, I will stick with medical science.
Medical science doesn’t have all the answers. If you doubt that young people who are directionless aren’t more susceptible than their peers and contemporaries who are engaged and feel they have a sense of belonging and purpose in being alive, than you are just choosing to be ignorant, myopic. R. Buckminster Fuller described how specialists are too mired only in their small pond of knowing and beliefs. Go ahead be a specialist. You will continue to only have part of the picture. If you feel like expanding your knowledge you can read Dr Gabor Mate’s book about addition, In The Realm Of Hungry Ghosts.
Great piece. I hate conspiracy fantasies but every day, the darkest of them seems most credible. Create chaos, roil the markets, massive civil unrest , martial law, Trump stays, Kakistocracy serves the Oligarchy, Putin/Xi/Trump divide up the world and support their back ups: Orban, Kim Jong Un, etc. Utmost respect , Mr. Snyder, tell us why this is wrong.