Ford and Trump are of the same ilk
Re Doug Ford is brash, but he’s no Donald Trump, Opinion, April 21 Jaime Watt’s commentary misses the central point in comparing Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Of course they’re different. What matters is that they’re both populists of the same ilk, emphasizing simplistic slogans, demonizing “elites,” presenting themselves as “aw-shucks regular folks” (even as they are themselves elites), advancing the interests of large corporations at the expense of the majority, distorting the role of government as inherently wasteful and taxes as a moral blight, mouthing blandishments to a mythic past, channelling anger, fostering fear and appealing to “strong” personality to “get things done.” There’s more in common than not. Enrico Carlson Cumbo, Toronto Jaime Watt misses the point in refuting exact comparisons between Doug Ford and Donald Trump. Of course the two players are not exactly alike, as no two people are the same. However, to the informed observer of politics in Canada and the United States, it is evident that Ford has taken a page right out of the Trump political playbook. Elements such as repeating scurrilous and false accusations about your opponent, presenting false and misleading facts and arguments, using rallies as a way to repeat messages while restricting media access, adoption of catchy slogans and proposing simple solutions to complex problems are just a few of the elements copied from Trump.
Of course, as the Star Editorial on Saturday so clearly pointed out, there are enough voters out there that make decisions on emotion rather than facts or rational self interest to tilt the balance toward a Ford premiership. Imagine the roll back of even the modest and insufficient measures put into place to combat greenhouse gas emissions, the dismantling of the Greenbelt, the reversal of the modest labour force reforms, the slashing of government services and programs to pay for tax cuts, the disruption of current transit planning and the roll back of sensible education reforms just to name a few. And another given we can take from recent experience in the U.S. is that no amount of chaos, carnage or facts will eliminate or sway the irrational and uninformed voter. Peter Bertollo, Brampton