I rarely write about politics. For lots of reasons, chief among them being my current place in TSA and our need to remain neutral in political circles, though as I turn my eyes south to the USA I note that many officers are vocal about their political leanings. Too vocal for my liking.
As I have got older my personal opinion on where a country should put its energies has certainly shifted. I grew up with the belief that a well-managed country meant well-managed finances and I still think you can’t print money endlessly without causing major economic troubles. However, I have grown to believe that fiscal prudence cannot be the sole marker of good governing. No, a good government will see its duty to the citizens of the land.
That duty is to protect them. For example, legislation around traffic laws or safety features like seat belts in cars are good examples of good governing.
But the shift to individualism is troubling. For one thing, individualism does not care much for “us”…it cares for “me”. And when one person’s rights overrule all, well you can end up with some very dangerous times.
During the pandemic, one of the cultural changes that emerged in Toronto where we lived was street racing. No cars on the road so some drivers decided that the rules no longer applied and off they went at speed two or three or four times what is allowed. As traffic began to build again these drivers continued their behavior – their bad behavior. Retail stores were plagued by bad behaviour as people acted out “their rights”. Healthcare workers, once the heroes of the pandemic became targeted, and their access to hospitals was physically blocked by people who were fighting “for their rights”.
There are many factors that contribute to a national change of societal behavour but one of them is the examples of public figures – and one figure in particualar has stood out recently. And here is where my comments may seem political. I assure you they are not. They are about the bad behaviour of a public figure. Of course, I name Donald Trump.
Here’s a quote from The Economist May 11, 2023.
And so american politics came to this: the day after a jury concluded in a civil case that Donald Trump had committed sexual abuse and then defamed his victim, he preened on national television as the front-runner for the presidential nomination of the party of family values and law and order, of American greatness and American pride. Mr Trump’s gall should not surprise anyone, of course, not after his success for seven years in defining Republican values down. Yet what a degrading spectacle it was.
When Mr Trump attacked his accuser all over again, calling her a “whack job”, members of the audience of Republicans and independents, convened on May 10th by CNN for a town hall in the early primary state of New Hampshire, laughed and applauded. “ (The Economist, May 11, 2023)
Of course, there will be a myriad of people who will yell “fake news” (where did that phrase come from?) and there will be some who will never be convinced, but most people with a rationale mind have come to see how such behaviour impacts others who look for permission to act out, to act poorly, to be the voice of anarchy.
I continue to hope that Canada and Canadian values can withstand the onslaught of this kind of perverse nationalism but I fear we cannot and are not.
Peace in our time Oh Lord is a hymn. We might want to revisit the words and the prayer.
Hybrid Thoughts 
As a Canadian citizen (still) – living in America (Northern Virginia) for 26 years, a half hour drive from Washington DC, the American perspective on Trudeau is similar to the Canadian perspective on Trump – because both are highly colored or ‘spun’ by media in both nations whose bias is clearly prejudicial. Any conservative, Christian or freedom-based message is trivialized or mocked while antithetical viewpoints are applauded and celebrated as ‘forward thinking’ or ‘progressive.’ I had a close up opportunity to see the Canadian media (electronic and print) bias in action during my time as PR officer for a conservative, pro-family organization. The journslioschools from which they emerged were heavily biased in only one direction. One did not graduate (with an awaiting job offer) unless a similar bias could be demonstrated. The deck was always stacked – against voices of reason, ethical values, conservative thought and Christian principles.
Trump is portrayed as the devil incarnate here by the 5-family media corporations that receive their talking points each morning via fax from a well known establishment in Langley, Virginia. Google “Operation Mockingbird” – it is the reason you’re hearing the same phrases across all major networks. Congress was assured the Operation ended years ago, but a betting man would find it a little more than coincidental to hear the same exact phrases repeated numerous times on 5 morning and evening news broadcasts.
Trump was asked to run for president by a part of the military that did not support the one world government goals of the UN, the World Economic Forum, the secretive Builderbergers, the Club of Rome, the Trilateralists, the Council on Foreign Relations and the remaining spiderweb of far Left groups that fell under the control of the 13 Illuminati power Brokers who take direction from the Prince of this world. He has no love for God’s people and this Deceiver is a master at what he does best. Is there anyone or anything he wouldn’t use to attack the good, flip right to wrong, good to evil, pit black against white, poor against rich, Christian against any other faith, child against parents or muddy the definition of sexuality?
I learned long ago that the media message is biased in favor of is advertisers. You wonder this in filtered CRTC programming, but American evening TV news programs are inundated with Big Pharma advertising. You think Fox News, CNN and MSNBC are going to bite the hand that feeds ithem? Promote Trump when he encourages the use of Ivermectin, Hydroxy chloroquine? Or leave him alone in office instead of making multiple, disproven attempts at impeachment. Our true Enemy doesn’t attack people who would end Christianity, set up an Anti-Christ run New World Order or a CBDC digital banking system that controls bank accounts in the same way that Trudeau punished the Truckers. Americans *can* stand against tyranny. They’ve dealt with it before and, having battled for their freedom, they support leaders who will fight for them. Freedom is a *big deal* in America. Until you’ve lived here a good while, one does not realize how important it is to the average American. While the media maligns Trump and women come out of the shadows to charge him, I found it interesting that those same women faded into obscurity after he won in 2016. Even Stormy Daniels retracted her claims against him and admitted she lied. Trump has had a colorful past and 3 marriages during a time when God was not a factor in his life. That changed. He changed. If a relationship with our Saviour doesn’t make a difference in a man’s life, we’re all wasting our time in prayer for those we love who are far from God. I look for fruit in a mans life, not his past before Christ. Living here, in the center of the political universe, you get to know more than most about our national leaders, their mistresses, their unspoken activities as well as their kindness to others that is not reported.
What do Secret Service members have to say about them? There’s Trump the media figure and Trump the man – two totally different perspectives. Judge him if you will and remember what scripture tells us about judging others… especially when that information is second hand and comes from a biased media source hell bent on his total political and financial destruction. Trump is beloved by Christians and conservatives here – and not just Republicans because he could not be BOUGHT and controlled, as are so many in Congress on their way to, and living in, the White House. Democrats voted for him in droves vs “Basement Joe Biden,” as he was known. Trump is brash, bold, doesn’t mince words, calls out fools and liars and stands his ground. He allows traitors to expose *themselves* and is a master at the game of 5-d political chess. He surrounded himself with men who prayed him into the White House, including a 2016 political opponent, Dr Ben Carson (watch “Gifted Hands” for Carson’s miraculous life story). People underestimate Trump or dismiss him but he is a hero to those who know kept all his election promises, cut taxes, reduced and removed regulatory burdens that had become irrelevant and costly, and made America energy independent for the first time in decades. He did the opposite of what his political opponent would have done if she had won the presidency – and everyone here knew that. Having watched Biden’s last 2.5 years in office, the Hillary agenda to weaken America is on full display. It stands in stark contrast to Trump’s 4 years in office. Yes, we could have had a smooth talking politician who spun promises he nevet kept or outright lies. Instead we got a businessman who grew up around construction workers and real estate tycoons and bankers. He’s notoriously blunt, he uses curse words on occasion and is not the smooth talking snake oil salesman that many expect of a politician. Who he is, only God truly knows because He knows the heart. Having lobbied and then worked in elected office for several years, it’s the smooth talkers whom I *don’t* trust.