TORONTO – What a mess! American mainstream Media and Press are almost apoplectic in their reaction to Tuesday’s developments in the Courts where two former, prominent associates of President Trump “met their Waterloo”, so to speak. “We are now in unchartered waters”, they intoned. Their President is clearly tied to criminal acts perpetrated by his former Campaign Manager and personal legal counsel – his “fixer”. Short of an appeal that may result in the [vain] hope of distancing Trump from his mignons, someone may have to seriously consider how, not if, to put handcuffs on the President of the United States. Of course, a constitutional crisis of sorts will result, one way or another – this is not something that happens every day. Not even in a super-charged, hyperpartisan environment of the American Houses of Congress. European Parliaments, the Italian in particular, are a little more blasé at events they have witnessed or live out on an all too regular basis. Nonetheless, Trump seems to be beyond the norm on a personal level: a narcisstic, inveterate liar whose cavalier approach to ethical or moral norms, issues of loyalty (not to mention fidelity) or legality would appear to make previous miscreants in any office the equivalent of angelic choir boys by comparison. How ironic that the Evangelical crowd see him as a “saviour” rather than an “anti-Christ”! The rest of the world sees him differently. He is the “great Disrupter”, threatening war, nuclear and conventional, on the slimmest of pretexts. He seems indifferent to the consequences his whimsical actions on commercial/ industrial relationships with [former] allies and partners might bring. He behaves, internationally, like the “spoiled brat” that he is personally, thus depriving the USA of the respect its former leadership role commanded. The most significant issue, though, is the resulting “embarrassment” now characterizes the essence of America. It has been brought to light because one prosecutor/magistrate has been doggedly pursuing issues related to the integrity of its electoral system and its security from foreign interference and manipulation. Think about it. The most powerful nation in the world, possessed of the – by far – the most destructive military capacity, the richest economy and the wealthiest population is on its knees because its apex Leader has [so far] proven himself incapable of “steering the ship”. Imagine, a President who has control of the House of Representatives, of the Senate, of the nominations to the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court, who is Commander-in-Chief, [arguably] the head of the CIA and the FBI and he still cannot guarantee the integrity of the electoral system. Maybe he is not interested in so doing. The American system was designed to provide checks and balances against despotic exercise of power and authority in a way that even our own Canadian system is not. What’s to stop a Canadian Prime Minister or Provincial Premier elected with a majority from engaging in the same wanton excesses?