While I try to avoid thinking too much about what’s going on in the United States, especially as they get closer to the election, I’ve caught myself sympathizing with Trump supporters lately. It’s very strange, but I’ve started to realize that when I hear yet another tale of something outrageous that Mr. Trump has done, my immediate thought is to start questioning if it could be true, if the media is not engaged in some sort of egregious spin on the matter. And why do I think this? Because what I hear from the media is so unwaveringly, unabashedly bad—ranging from the simply puzzling to the outrageous—that I find myself thinking “he couldn’t possibly have said that, that just sounds wrong.”
And, in truth, when I have bothered to investigate, some of the time I find that the story does play things up to some degree, using Mr. Trump’s inability to present a complete and coherent thought when he speaks to extract the worst possible meaning from the ramblings he uttered.
But, unfortunately, much more often I find the story is essentially correct. In this case, I’m referring to the various stories indicating Mr. Trump has refused to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the election. Going so far as to say that the way to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power is to “get rid of the ballots” to ensure “there won’t be a transfer, frankly; there’ll be a continuation.”
When is a terrorist a freedom fighter? When is a freedom fighter a terrorist? I’m starting to worry that we may all have to start considering those questions more seriously in the next year or so. Top republicans have, of course, given their assurances that any transfer of power will be peaceful, but top republicans are not the ones who are able to issue executive orders to homeland security and ICE. And in the meantime, Mr. Trump continues to stoke the flames of demonization of his opponents. A strategy common to nations and people at war. It’s easier to convince followers to take up arms and put themselves at risk if they believe their opponents are truly evil, and that has been the bulk of his campaign message over the past several months. That his opponents seek to destroy America and the American people. Why they’d want to do that is never explained, never questioned.
It’d be easy to say, “But we’re in Canada, we’ll be fine,” but we’re talking about the largest economic and military superpower in the world. If fully destabilized, there will be a lot of real global power on the table for the taking. It’s not hard to see how other nations could easily be drawn into that sort of conflict. So I’m worried. But the only thing I can do is post my little bit of opinion, and always, always encourage people to vote honestly, live honestly, and abide by the results. That’s the point of democracy, after all, to make it so that we don’t have to take up arms to see which group of us is larger and should be leading.
In the meantime, we have a great issue, with student interviews, scholarships, thoughtful articles and more!
Enjoy the read!
