Blogger Warns of Creeping "Trumpism" (Letter)

Dear Editor,

It’s like a train wreck in slow-motion.

Just when you think Trump has made the worst possible choice for his cabinet, he announces another who’s even worse. 

Rick Perry, the wacka-doodle ex-Governor of Texas, is a sad example. Perry couldn’t remember the name of one of the government departments he pledged to eliminate when he tried to run for President four years ago. Now, Trump has named Perry to head it!  (It’s the department of Energy. You know, the “trivial” one responsible for the U.S. nuclear program!) 

Perry is a climate-denier and evangelical. So it’s not surprising that taking practical action to curb greenhouse gas emissions just wasn’t in his playbook. So, instead, in 2011, “Governor Rick” decreed there be days of prayer to “fix” the terrible, prolonged drought that had been ravaging his State. The rains came, alright, almost six months later. Since then, they’ve turned into floods which have washed away vast areas of his State. Such is the price Texans paid for electing an anti-science, believer-in-magic.

Perry also owns a piece of the Dakota Access pipeline which has imposed such terrible misery on the people of Standing Rock. So, I take it back. Maybe he’s not stupid, after all. Just evil.

Of course, a previous appointment to the Trump cabinet was oh, so much better (sarcasm intended)! The dude in charge of the world’s biggest oil company, Exxon-Mobile (Ex-Mob), will be Trump’s new Secretary of State. Much ado has been made (& rightly so) of his cozy relationship with the thug who runs Russia; Not so much about the fact that several U.S. States have been moving to indict his company for the lies and deception it has engaged in over climate change. Decades ago, the corporation’s own scientists began issuing internal warnings that the fossil fuels it was producing, were harming the planet. Instead of doing the right thing, dear old “Ex-Mob” (ala Big Tobacco), hired imposter “scientists” and phoney front groups to cover it up.

I could go on - but you get the point. 

So, it is no longer a “stretch” to say that, south of the border, the lunatic fringe has now gone mainstream. Among other things, it has elected a “Commander-in-Chief” who plans to unleash Devil Coal back into our lungs. All the while, Trump pisses on the cradle of knowledge lovingly assembled over generations by the best minds on our planet; that doubling down on coal is absolutely the worst thing we can do if we want to avoid human health and climate catastrophe. With malice aforethought, Trump is on a course to harm all living creatures everywhere. Don’t forget, Donald’s emissions won’t respect U.S. borders.  And, they’ll be just as harmful to his own “basketful of deplorables” as they will to the innocent and the kind in the U.S. and beyond. 

But the deplorables won’t care. 

It will matter nothing to them, for example, that air quality improved greatly when Ontario phased out coal-fired generating plants almost a decade ago, probably saving that province billions in health care costs. Why? Because they live in their own universe which runs completely parallel to reality, truth, facts and decency. Don’t forget, to them, unemployment increased under Obama (it did not). The stock market crashed under Obama (it did not). California is not one of the United States (it is). But the popular vote there was heavily in favour of Hillary. So, instead of accepting that as fact, the deplorables find it convenient to argue, instead - without a shred of justification - that the California votes should just be ignored!

Most chilling to me is the degree to which “Trumpism” seems to be creeping, like a cancer, into Canada. One of our country’s most despicable “rebels-without-a-clue,” Ezra Lavant, “hosted” that disgraceful protest on the steps of the Alberta legislature earlier this month. Like lap dogs, his “rebels” were chanting for Alberta’s Premier Rachel Notley to be “locked up” because she plans to bring in a carbon tax. Way to go, Ezra! Fascist moves like this are bound to guarantee you a place on Trump's Christmas card list! 

Lavant, a self-proclaimed “journalist,” has been successfully sued several times for defaming others, mostly to support his twisted delusion that climate change is a hoax and that all fossil fuels are our friends. Earlier this year, he actually posted someone else's video (without their permission) which, he claimed, showed journalists showing their biases by jumping for joy in the press room as the big climate accord was approved in Paris. They were not journalists, and it was not the press room. Sadly, I’m afraid, despite all of this, some people still look upon this fraud as having some sort of credible place in the climate change debate.

Then there’s Kellie Leitch, the leading contender for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. She actually believes Trump has “good ideas.” Her own brand of hatred has made her the top fund-raiser in the campaign. (I wonder if she could pass her own test for “Canadian values.”) 

You know what they say. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. With barbarians now knocking at our gate, now would not be a good time to let down our guard. 

Larry Powell

Neepawa, Manitoba