DARK TRUMP SCENARIO STRIKES CHORD IN THE U.S.
‘It’s Wag the Dog for real,’ one Star reader writes
Last Saturday’s column on “the end of the Trump presidency” struck a chord among many readers, particularly in the United States. It suggested that Donald Trump may start a war to distract from eventual charges of Russian money laundering. The column was one of the best-read stories on thestar.com so far this year, with the majority of readers coming from the U.S. Much of the traffic was thanks to former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who shared the story on his personal Facebook page and on the Facebook page of News and Guts, a media company he founded. Rather introduced the column to his readers in this way: “Here is a Canadian writer’s take on how the Trump presidency will come to an inglorious end. This view from the Toronto Star paints a dark portrait of what could lie ahead.” Here are some of the American responses:
“This president caused me for the first time in 70 years to worry about our democracy. I fear he will start a war to detract from his peril. Who will be democracy’s heroes?” — Judy Parrot
“There are some people who will scoff at such an article merely because it is a Canadian that said it. I say to those people that I am a United States citizen, Marine Corps (Vietnam Veteran) and registered voter. I have zero political experience. I have no substantial college degrees. Yet somehow I was able to come to the same conclusion, point by point, by simply observing.” — David Allard
“My greatest fear is the war that Trump starts with North Korea. America will rally around the military and Trump, even though he escalated the problems. It’s ‘Wag the Dog’ for real!” — Judy Violet Mullen “Oh, my, this is such a dark and plausible scenario!” — Madeline DeJournett
“I am a Canadian who works and lives in the US, and I do feel the need to get back home . . . ” — Andrew Day
“I’ve already been told by a friend’s brother that if Trump is found guilty, there will be civil war. This tells me that some people on the right have already discussed this sort of reaction. And that makes me sad. Truly.” — Tanti Mardi Nott “We will survive … We are The People, damn it.” — Deanna Forgey
“This long ago ceased to be an inquiry of fact. It’s now a desperate witch-hunt by the left . . . The trail died long ago and the left can’t believe they could prove nothing but their blind ambition and hatred of an outsider …” — Rick Patterson
“I don’t believe he’ll leave office peacefully. It’s a frightening thing to consider, but I think we may be looking at the first president in our history to use his supporters as a weapon against his enemies.” — Damon Gaynor
“I was gutted when the Watergate scandal destroyed Nixon; it destroyed my faith in our system and made me question my own party. When this mess unfolds and he is removed, I will not feel gutted, but relieved that the system does still work . . . ” — Jana Morphis
“The essence of this story has been lurking deep in our respective guts for some months now. It was inevitable that someone, albeit a Canadian journalist, is putting it into words . . . that put America on notice, to remind us all how fragile our government (is) . . . We are living, witnessing the greatest test and threat to our Democracy since 1776. Really.” — Marla Kalb Sowers