Twelve days into 2025 and I’ve already broken what was my only New Year’s resolution.
I vowed not to succumb to the easy temptation to write about the insanity every time Donald Trump writes an offensive tweet or a bombastic statement – sans spell check, of course.
My calculation was that there would be ample opportunity after the US president-elect was sworn in later this month to devote time and space to his manic ramblings.
Part of the selfish reason I promised myself that I would try to avoid, if possible, examining the meaning and implications of Trump’s spasms of recognizable absurdity was to protect myself—at least for a little while—from the undeniable psychological damage he has wreaked on the world’s wounded psyche.
From the moment he announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2016, Trump has dominated our views and attention. Every depressing day since has been a cacophony of madness that has taken a heavy toll on the mind, spirit and soul.
But escaping Trump has become impossible. Cloaked in immense power, he continues – unfettered by truth or decency – to hone his insatiable narcissism and ego, offering us a bitter taste of the carnival of chaos looming on the distant horizon.
On Tuesday, Trump held a raucous press conference at his gilded ode to himself in Florida – Mar-a-Lago.
Among the countless examples of Trump’s stream-of-consciousness nonsense were his musings about “drip, drip, drip” from faucets and gas heaters.
“[A] a gas heater is much cheaper,” Trump said. “The heat is much better and, as they say, you don’t itch. Does somebody have a heater where you go and scratch yourself and – that’s what they want you to have.”
Ladies and gentlemen, the warped synapses of the future President of the United States at work.
Mockery aside, it would be a grave mistake to confuse Trump’s rambling incoherence with a lack of firm conviction.
As I wrote earlier and oftenTrump, in my opinion, is a bona fide fascist. Fascists don’t protest. Fascists are not kidding. Fascists are not kidding.
Trump has a plan – saturated in authoritarian means and rhetoric – for what he has described as a “golden age” in which years of “weakness” will be replaced by a return to America’s true greatness, a disturbing sequel.
Trump has assembled a docile administration to fulfill his grand ambitions for America—with little, if any, resistance from the Republican-controlled Congress, the Supreme Court, or the languid billionaire owners of large swaths of the corporate media seeking his mercy.
So when Trump insists, over and over again, that he will use military force, if necessary, to impose American hegemony over Greenland and the Panama Canal, for “vital” reasons of national security, I believe him.
Trump was asked if he could “convince the world” that he would not, as president, use “economic or military coercion” to achieve his territorial goals. His quick response was, “No.”
I believe him because, as history has proven, that is exactly what fascists tend to do.
As a Canadian, I also believe Trump when he warned that he would use America’s unique economic power, in effect, to force Canada to become the 51st country.
I wasn’t laughing. Instead, I shuddered when Trump was asked if he was “considering the use of military force to annex and acquire Canada.”
The question was as remarkable as Trump’s answer. “No, economic power,” he said, “because Canada and the United States, that would really be something.”
Fascists do not “put forward ideas” that involve land grabs, canals, or annexation of sovereign nations. Once born, these “ideas” take on tangible shape and form and, inevitably, blueprints are drawn up to turn them into reality.
As a result, I do not consider Trump’s promised aggression even against NATO allies a “negotiating ploy” or a familiar “distraction” tool – like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently suggested – from the heavy costs of the president-elect’s proposed sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods imported into the US.
I am convinced that an emboldened Trump intends to bring about America’s “golden age” – international law be damned, territorial integrity be damned, and Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty be damned, which states that an armed attack on one NATO member is an attack on all members.
It’s time to finally break free of the inexorable rationale that Trump is “joking” when he makes “weird” comments such as a possible declaration of war – economic or otherwise – on Greenland, Panama or Canada.
Look, Trump believes every fantastic word he says. Canadians, among others, need to admit this and confront the fascist bully – loud, clear and loud.
A slew of federal politicians flocking to social media to post letters mocking Trump’s “hysterical” plans will not be enough.
The Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Andrew Furey, understood what needed to be said and how to say it.
“[Trump’s] history has been the creation of chaos in the attempt, confused with humor. But then they often become political statements and reality. So to dismiss it as a joke, in my opinion, is not the right thing to do,” Furey said.
Canada, he added, “is a strong and sovereign country and will always be a strong and sovereign country.”
Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty were, the prime minister said, “totally unacceptable.”
Then Furey, to his credit, issued a sharp warning of his own aimed at Trump.
“Sovereignty comes at an incredible price; a price paid in blood by Canadians, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and trying to take that away will be expensive.
Hear, hear, sir. Hear, hear.
The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Al Jazeera.
