the Walnut Diary

If Trump’s crew continue with their program of alternative facts, what if journalists created an alternative president?  What could Trump do if CNN, BBC, CBC, Reuters and other media outlets reported thoughts and activities of Mike Pence as though he were already Head of State?  How long would it take for White House sycophants to catch on and switch their allegiance?  A gradual increase of Pence standing could lessen the load of expectations for which Trump is clearly not prepared.

If world leaders denied standing to Trump and looked instead to Pence, could the Donald’s lies and loose-cannon rants be contained before he does any real damage?  A figurehead president, Rapunsel-like, could live out his term away from the White House, pressing buttons on a mere video-game representation of World politics, and given his lack of interest in real input, remain none the wiser.

Over the years the Tower of London has housed kings and pretenders in similar fashion.  This is not a new idea.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel offered a long monologue on the collected ills of the Trump administration to the conclusion that he has to go, and he has a suggestion for the American People:  make Donald Trump King.  This would feed his ego but simultaneously take away all of his power.

Kimmel’s pitch is not bad, but I prefer my suggestion that they Rapunsel (vt.) him.

Here’s a thought:

Over the last few years my contributions to the Liberal Party of Canada have been directly tied to the level of abuse Justin Trudeau has faced in the media during his time in office. Unfair attack ads opened my cheque book because, like a distant but somewhat protective parent, I felt I could at least do something to defend the guy.

All fall I have ignored the LPC email stream begging for contributions because things were going pretty well for JT and the Liberals and they could get along without me after we had gotten rid of Harper. It seemed it was somebody else’s turn to pay the piper. I didn’t mind if it was Chinese billionaires. It at least showed the Liberal Party had gotten off their butts and learned how to raise money.

Remember when the Canadian media called Justin Trudeau a hypocrite for refusing to condemn Donald Trump during the long presidential campaign? Turns out JT was wiser than his naysayers thought.

Then his loudest detractor quipped he would be no match for Trump in negotiations. Cheap bumper-sticker thought, that Bambi-vs-Godzilla line from Kevin O’Leary.

Even Michael Harris’s David-vs-Goliath comparison is a poor analogy, because it still speaks to a cranky, insecure Manichean tradition of the battle to the death between principalities which today is far from the Canadian experience.

The last fresh idea about Canada-U.S. relations (mouse-sleeping-with-a-friendly elephant) came from the elder Trudeau, come to think of it.

From what I’ve seen of Donald Trump so far, the elephant-in-an-orange-toupe idea still retains a good deal of currency.  Justin Trudeau would fit naturally into the role of the rider trapped on this panicked elephant as the United States careens along the road, driven by its fear and natural urges, but unsure of its destination, or even direction at a given moment.

I’ll watch with interest the first public encounter between Trump and Trudeau, but I expect  the rider will continue to calm the behemoth and begin to nudge it away from the more obvious hazards as it burns through its manic energy.

For non-Canadian readers, electoral reform is a big deal in Canada after the man we chose as Prime Minister promised during the campaign that the 2015 election would be the last one with First Past The Post voting.

Word about a survey popped up last week, primarily due to the Prime Minister’s decision to send every Canadian of voting age a postcard inviting them to complete the online survey the government has sponsored as part of the electoral reform process.

For me so far, electoral reform has been the activities of others, of intense interest to the interested, but external to my inner thoughts. But it’s an important decision, and as individual and intimate as one’s time in a voting booth.

I understand the ridicule directed at what I came to consider a well-structured survey. Someone called it a push-poll, but couldn’t articulate its point. I’d suggest the point of the Vox Pop Labs interactive online survey was to push laggards like me into beginning our internal dialogues.

I can march along with the Liberal band without a lot of daily thought. Be nice to others, look after the environment, pay one’s debts, make contributions when they ask — standard stuff.

But do I want government to consist of endless compromises to accomodate every single-issue group in Canada?  No, I chose a strong majority on the survey. Do I want to be able to boot the wretches out?  Not on a daily basis.  Once every four years would be fine.

The crunch came when I had to choose whether to use the electoral process to concentrate power in my own cultural tribe, or distribute it “fairly” to all of the other tribes. That’s where I drew the line. I don’t want to give up power at this stage in life.

The other decision point was easier: I don’t want to vote for a party list. I am not a Leafs fan. I want to know the man or woman who will represent me, and I’ll make up my own mind. Proportional representation is out because it has too many working parts. Sorry, Lizzie May, I like you but I don’t like PR.

To my surprise I realized my likely vote in a referendum would be FPTP or Ranked Ballot. Subject to other inputs. Vox Pop forced me to start the internal dialogue. Creepy, especially for those who prefer to keep their politics on the outside.

Update, 7 December

My friend and correspondent Tom Stutzman asked what I meant by “keeping their politics on the outside.”

Tom:

Would-be Conservative leader Dr. Kellie Leitch’s latest kick is to legalize pepper spray for women to use for personal protection.

Around Forfar you never know how something will get used until it gets used, and this rule will probably apply to pepper spray, as well.

So I prepared a T-shirt to go with Leitch’s campaign.  The tangled syntax should fit well with statements made by Conservative cabinet ministers over the last decade.  I don’t know if Kellie will like it, but…

*To non-Canadian readers I apologize for a column which must look like inside baseball. Rather than load the piece up with parentheses and marginal notes, I’ll leave it to Google to provide explanations on demand.  After considerable thought I hope that I have found a context within which to respond to the recent U.S. election.

It’s a scifi world in politics now, where there is literally no such thing as bad press. The only losing strategy any more seems to be the pursuit of a quiet, principled and dignified campaign. Canada’s Dr. Kellie Leitch has caught onto this meme and decided to get herself some Trump in an effort to avoid irrelevance.

What galls me is the commodification of this package of negative attitudes as a prefabricated political strategy.

The question for Canadians is how can we sanction the McVetys, the Fords and the Leitches without simply inflaming the virus with the heat of publicity, which is all they seek?

The only immediate suggestion would be to lapse into autocracy — what Trudeau bluntly used to prevent the (Sam Oosterhoff-style) packing of nomination meetings in 2015 — but to do that is to allow the virus attacking democracy to advance as well.

So the old debate question emerges again: how can a democracy protect itself against attacks upon truth as the the informed news editor is supplanted by the writer of fake news?

How do we prevent the next loner terrorist?

First and foremost, stop using the names of those who have committed acts of destruction. It is critically important that the media cease and desist from glorifying the actions and the names of these misfits. That photo of the jerk with the old deer rifle on Parliament Hill has probably done more to promote this brand of nihilism in Canada than any ISIS propaganda.

It’s up to you, Canadian journalists, all of you, to shut down that impulse you all have to make stars of these isolated failures.

I suggest that from this point on we use Orwell’s unperson to identify each wannabe terrorist, providing a simple identifier such as “Parliament Hill unperson” or “London unperson” to distinguish among them.

We must no longer provide the significance of remembering their names.  That tribute is for veterans who gave their lives in service of Canada.

Legislation has required a number of changes in the diction of journalism, particularly in the areas of race relations and gay rights.  Would it be too great an effort for Peter Mansbridge to refrain from rolling the name of the latest miscreant off his tongue and reconfigure his script to avoid saying it?

All Hell broke loose in Canada’s House of Commons yesterday afternoon when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau left his seat to assist MP Gord Brown, the Conservative Whip, to his seat so that an important vote could proceed.

The subsequent events are well documented on Parliamentary TV, though opinions vary as to the gravity of the Prime Minister’s faux pas.  After due reflection, and in the context of the annual Stanley Cup Playoff television marathon, I would like to offer my view.

Now let me get this straight. NDP members chose to barricade a portion of the floor of the House of Commons so that the Conservative Whip could not make it through to resume his seat, thereby delaying a duly-scheduled vote. Whip Brown apparently chose to go along with this coercive act without protest, although this organized and premeditated action clearly infringed upon his parliamentary privilege.

MP Brosseau willingly joined this scrum, offering her physical stature to help form the impromptu barrier.

Prime Minister Trudeau saw the scrum for what it was, and his teacher training cut in. Over my 33 years in secondary schools I have broken up many situations like this, plunging through the crowd, nabbing the perpetrator (or in some cases the victim of a beating) and drawing the individual none-too-gently from the scrum.

Foremost in Trudeau’s mind would have been that Gord Brown had the right to move to his seat, and these individuals were taking that right away from him. Gord in this case would be no different than a grade nine girl on her way to the washroom, blocked by a gang of grade 12 boys in the smoking area.

Trudeau would have been furious with the ringleader/bully in this case, Tom Mulcair, who in his mind was clearly out of line. This outrage piled on top of the humiliation last week of a near-defeat in a vote because of Mulcair’s mischief.

So far everyone played his role in a classic schoolyard confrontation. But then Trudeau’s elbow struck MP Brosseau, and the NDP yeoman, the physical shield, suddenly went all girly, complained to Mulcair, and fled the House. This move by Brosseau was definitely not part of the classic confrontation model. Girls in brawls are if anything tougher than the guys.

CBC hockey analyst Don Cherry is going to love dissecting this play. Up until now he’ll agree with the many media analysts as to the statement of events, but here he’s going to turn on ex-hockey player Gord Brown for a gutless play in his unwillingness to go into the corners. Then he’ll defend Trudeau against Brosseau’s dive. He’ll show on video how the NDP stalwart had silently moved into position to get hit, and then went into a rehearsed dive, communicating with her captain, then rushing for the dressing room, missing a shift, but returning to the bench in time for the TV interview.

So Cherry will conclude: “Does Trudeau deserve a suspension for that elbow? No, the two minute minor was more than enough. But lemme tell you, from now on the refs will be watching Mulcair, and I’m disappointed by Brosseau. She’s been a promising call-up, but I don’t know about this. And Gord Brown, my buddy? I don’t know what got into his head.”

Here’s a video analysis of the incident:

The Beaverton has a great take on this, but I think their site has gone down because of the traffic.  Try shortening the link until it works:

http://www.thebeaverton.com/national/item/2690-entire-ndp-caucus-arrive-in-neck-braces-wheelchairs-to-house-of-commons-after-trudeau-s-assault

I predicted CBC’s Don Cherry would do an analysis of this film.  Turned out it was retired NHL referee Kerry Fraser for MacLean’s Magazine.  It’s pretty good, worth enduring the commercials:

Kerry Fraser referees the Thrilla on the Hilla

Throughout this mud bath all I could think about was Season 2 of Alpha House, Gary Trudeau’s excellent sitcom about the misadventures of four Republican senators up for re-election.

There’s one scene late in Season 2 where a Las Vegas entertainer who has run for the Nevada senate seat starts out strongly in the final candidates’ debate.  When he realizes he’s about to win, he says to the moderator words to the effect of: “Why am I still in this race?  I know nothing about running a government.  All I know is how to make people laugh.  I make more than a Senator earns every night in my Las Vegas show.  This was a joke, and you idiots took me seriously.  I quit.”

“We are both soon to be signatories (to) the TPP agreement,” said Mr. Obama, seated next to Mr. Trudeau in a small meeting room after media had been allowed to enter. “That’s another area (where) we can continue to have important discussions. I know Justin has (yet) to agree with (the treaty) what’s happened but we think that after that process has taken place Canada, the United States and the other countries that are here can establish the high-standards agreement that protects labour, protects the environment, protects the kind of high value-added goods and services that we both excel in (Globe and Mail, 19 November, 2015).”

This statement tells us a good deal about the man and shows a critical weakness in his thought pattern. Justin Trudeau appeals to Barrack Obama because of the younger man’s fresh latitude for action, unconstrained by the checks and balances which have rendered Obama’s tenure a litany of frustration.

But for Obama to be able is to do, even to be compelled to do. His mistake is in his assumption that “Justin” feels similar compulsion simply because he has the political mandate to enact just about any legislation he sees fit.

A more alert American president would have done his homework.

The Canadian Parliament may well approve the T.P.P. treaty, but it certainly won’t be because an overly anxious U.S. president tried to co-opt his new pal “Justin” into giving momentum to his own battle with Congress to pass the bill.

Trudeau’s trail is littered with the shattered careers of those who underestimated him.

Far more likely the cost of TPP approval will be a revision to the auto parts agreement, or even a pipeline, and Obama shouldn’t expect anything for some time, though Trudeau likely won’t make America wait seven years for a decision.