The Trumpian Phenomenon

TORONTO – Donald Trump, objectively, is defined as a successful entrepreneur, financier, media celebrity, “bon vivant”, extremely accomplished politician – twice elected President. He is continuously [re]defining himself and his mandate in his own image.

If we, the great unwashed, could only decipher what that image is. We do not live in his country; have only a superficial appreciation of his “character”, notwithstanding the legion of “experts” whose business and livelihood revolves on a quasi-instantaneous understanding of the man’s every decision and revision.

We are not part of his electorate. We can only guess what may influence him. And yet, many of our ‘responses’ to what we consider damaging [for us as a ‘nation’] economic, military and global policies come across as “whining helplessness” masked as patriotic defiance. Heaven help our ego, if the Edmonton Oilers do not win the Stanley Cup – nothing else is “our game”.

Unfortunately, Canada may be incidental, hence peripheral, to his understanding of the USA’s place in the world. The USA is still the world’s biggest economy ($30.5 Trillion); only the European Union (26 countries, $29.2 T and China, $19.2 T spread over 1.5 billion people) come close.

Canada does not. At 40 million inhabitants, it has barely 11% the population. Its economy approaches $2.23 Trillion compare to the USA, although more than 50% of its GDP relies on cross-border commercial trade. We could always pursue trade with other countries. There are reasons why in the short term that is unlikely to bring satisfaction (in job-creation) we demand). Besides, that component of our GDP is valued at a mere 15%.

On the military/defense side of the equation, Donald Trump cannot be impressed with either our military potential or our capacity to meet emergencies. The annual spending on Defense by the USA exceeds (50% of our entire GDP) that of the next ten countries – friend or foe – combined.

It seems to this humble servant that Mr. Trump may be following a quasi “xenophobic”, America First and foremost direction. We cannot even agree on which government jurisdiction has the final say over the ownership of our Natural Resources. Our internal squabbling over trade and non-tariff provincial barriers are grist for the comedy mills.

In this regard, our new Prime Minister is in dire need of partners in the Industrial sectors and allies among provincial leaders. He has some. We should support both.

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