Donald Trump is no laughing matter
Charles Dickens might have agreed that it was the worst of times for American culture and politics this week.
Two American circuses were playing out simultaneously and it was difficult to gauge which was more offensive — the president’s sleazy ring master routine at the United Nations, or the senators of the Judiciary Committee who unprofessionally juggled the gravity of a lifetime Supreme Court nomination while engaging in vicious partisan accusations.
Unless the November mid-terms give the Republicans an electoral slap in the face, the consequences for the world and for Canada are potentially severe because Donald Trump, left unchecked, is not only a dangerous politician but a dangerous social predator as well.
Both his persona and his politics fully displayed themselves at the UN General Assembly. As he stood behind the rostrum to begin his remarks, there was little inkling of what was about to unfold. In spite of Trump’s dislike of the UN, there was no reason for him to expect anything but a polite reception.
Instead, he got laughter as he bragged that his administration had accomplished more in two years than almost any other administration.
The world leaders (and their delegations who were crowded on the stairways in the august chamber), burst into spontaneous chuckles, amplified by thousands more who were viewing the speech live, as I was. For a moment, the world laughed at him.
For a narcissistic personality like Trump, that initial laughter set off a train of behaviour, which the UN has likely not seen since Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader in 1960, took off his shoe and banged it on a desk, during a heated debate with another delegate.
It was probably the sting of his initial humiliation that caused an unfocused and lengthy press conference at the end of the two days. Persona mixed with politics as Trump glowered, lied, and threatened.
Like a rotating machine gun, he targets enemies randomly, taking an opportunity to execute a drive-by smear at Canada, when asked by Fox News about NAFTA negotiations.
Typically playing with various scenarios like toys (maybe we will go ahead with just Mexico, maybe we won’t), he stated that “we are not happy with Canada’s chief representative” (presumably Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was busy hosting the Elsie Initiative to increase women’s participation in peacekeeping) or its negotiating team.
However, Trump missed an opportunity to demonstrate a comprehension of social issues when brilliantly asked by a Sky reporter about the messaging of the Kavanaugh hearings on young men.
Trump, as usual, failed to show any empathy for women — an extremely worrisome trait in a leader. Instead, he identified with men who were unjustly accused, because he too has had many allegations.
Yet, his plus-size ego must not distract from his frightening agenda of nationalism, which was loudly sign posted in his speech. He sent shivers down many spines by his constant usage of the word with its frightening memories of dark times in the 1930s. Socialism, he asserted, was nothing more than a thirst for power that brings misery.
Almost solely focused on Making American Great Again, his perspective on the international order is either ignorant of, or disconnected from reality. It was not so much what he said but what he did not say.
Seemingly tone deaf, not only to the multilateral world that has been carefully constructed in a post war era, he unsurprisingly did not mention issues of climate change, human rights, the rule of law, poverty reduction, global disease, education, or gender inequality.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in his own remarks, noted that “democratic principles are under siege.” He is right.
What is shocking is that it is the president of the United States who threatens democratic norms and values. Rather than collaboration, he pits groups against groups seemingly nonplussed by his increasingly polarized country, which eventually will threaten us all.
He is no laughing matter but rather, a matter for grave concern.
Penny Collenette is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa and was a senior director of the Prime Minister’s Office for Jean Chrétien. She is a freelance contributor for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @penottawa