Waterloo Region Record

Orwell’s Animal Farm being played out in U.S.

Who is really feeling the pain of Trump’s policies?

- JOHN KNEELAND Burlington resident John Kneeland was born in the U.S. to Canadian parents. He has lived about half his life in each country.

In George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” a satire on the betrayal of the Russian working class by Stalinist socialism, a loyal but naive horse named Boxer thinks that all the problems created by the corrupt ruler Napoleon can be solved if he just works harder. As the economic crisis created by Donald Trump’s illogical and reckless tariffs worsens for farmers, they complain meekly that their fearless leader, who calls them “great patriots,” has not talked to enough of them, yet they still support him. In Trump-friendly states like Michigan, 70 per cent of whose trade is with Canada and Mexico, the impending retaliator­y tariffs are causing great concern, yet Trump supporters still believe that he wants to Make America Great Again.

And doesn’t he? Why, he just hosted his second White House event to promote “the greatest products in the world, products made with American heart, American sweat, and American pride.” Unfortunat­ely, the event couldn’t include the Trump line of products, because they are mostly manufactur­ed in China, Indonesia, Turkey and, wait for it, America’s nemesis Canada, with whom, according to Trump, his country has “tremendous, tremendous trade deficits.”

According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representa­tive, the U.S. has a trade surplus with Canada. But this is easily overlooked in the usual storm of distractin­g controvers­ies created by Trump, whether it’s separating refugee parents from their children, jeopardizi­ng the future of Dreamers, banning people from certain countries for absolutely no reason, threatenin­g North Korea and Iran with destructio­n like the world has never seen, or attacking the free press as the enemy of the people at his endless rallies.

Of course, the Fake News has, among other things, documented Trump’s odd habit of threatenin­g strong men, then turning mysterious­ly obsequious. Kim Jong Un, whom he once derided as Little Rocket Man, was magically transforme­d after their vanity photo-op into a great leader whose people, 180,000 of whom are in concentrat­ion camps, love him. Trump even discontinu­ed joint U.S./South Korean military exercises on the Korean Peninsula in return for Kim’s promise to denucleari­ze, which he, of course, has no intention of carrying out. Kim showed how seriously he takes Trump when he declined to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, citing a previous engagement with a potato field. Imagine this happening to Hillary Clinton under President Obama. (Hint: It wouldn’t have.)

Trump noisily pulled out of a multilater­al deal with Iran that was by common agreement working well. But he will undoubtedl­y once again try to make a solo deal by employing his own unique shoot-from-the-hip-then-crumble style of hardball negotiatio­n.

A clue to Trump’s modus operandi can be seen in his stance on Chinese telecommun­ications giant ZTE, accused of stealing U.S. intellectu­al property, as well as spying by putting sneaky code into consumer computer hardware, and selling products to North Korea and Iran. With its National Defense Authorizat­ion Act, Congress planned to deny ZTE access to U.S. semiconduc­tors and issue a full ban on sales. Trump stepped in, saying that Chinese jobs were at stake.

Coincident­ally, this occurred just after China delivered a $500million loan to a Trump project in Indonesia. Yet the Republican­controlled Congress collapsed like a pack of cards and watered down the act, likely because mid-terms are coming up and Trump’s base is now giving him 88 per cent support.

Many of us suspected that during Trump and Vladimir Putin’s mano-a-mano meeting in Helsinki, Vlad would lay down the law, being that we think Trump is indebted to him. Those suspicions were confirmed in the joint news conference after. In response to a reporter’s question, as Trump shrunk in his seat, Putin openly contradict­ed the claim of no election meddling, saying he did indeed order his officers to work on Trump’s behalf. Later, the White House deleted from the transcript of the meeting the reporter’s question to Putin, as though video evidence can be contradict­ed.

Boxers across the heartland didn’t have to care about travel bans and refugees and Dreamers and the Fake News. That’s not Us, they would say, that’s Them. We will work harder to make America great again. But with the chaos created by the tariffs, they are becoming dimly aware that this is an attack on Us.

Trump has a ready response. In a speech to veterans this week, he said, “Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” Or as George Orwell put it, “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

 ?? DOUG MILLS NYT ?? U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, and President Donald Trump meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sentosa Island in Singapore in June. Trump started out being adversaria­l with the North Korean dictator and ended up being obsequious.
DOUG MILLS NYT U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, and President Donald Trump meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Sentosa Island in Singapore in June. Trump started out being adversaria­l with the North Korean dictator and ended up being obsequious.

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