Andrew Coyne, a highly-regarded well-respected journalist for the Globe & Mail, wrote a piece on the election of Trump back in November of 2024, in which he said that we are Living in the Time of Nero.
In his piece entitled “Trump’s election is a crisis like no other, not only for the U.S. but the world” he was frank. He openly called Trump a gangster, a convicted fraud, an adjudicated rapist and a serial sexual predator. The stooge of Vladimir Putin. And his team a “creepy retinue of crooks, ideologues and lunatics”. As for Trump’s policies, “ludicrously unworkable anti-policies” is how he termed them.
His predictions (in paraphrase)…
- NATO is effectively obsolete as Trump will withdraw any opposition to his buddy Putin. The Ukrainians are done for, and Russia will set its sights on the Baltics and the Poles, unless and until the rest of NATO can reorganize after the US betrays its allies. China may also accelerate its Taiwanese ambitions.
- Trump will replace tens of thousands of civil servants with Trumpian loyalists, further consolidating his power. Media outlets and corporations that are critical of Trump will be targeted with “regulatory” matters, audits or the like. And will find that their legal protections are no longer there. Trump has effectively called the basic bluff of liberal democracy: the idea that, in the crunch, people in power agree to be bound by the law, and by its instruments the courts.
- The across-the-board tariffs he imposes will tank the world economy. His ill-judged tax policies will fuel massive deficits. He promised to lower prices, but they will go up because it was all a lie. He won’t replace income tax as promised, but will give massive tax breaks to the wealthy monetized by the Federal Reserve and will ignite a new round of super-inflation.
- Trump’s insane project of deporting 12 million undocumented immigrants will be costly and consume his administration, but by the time America wakes up it will be too late. Watching your neighbours being dragged away by police and military makes you less likely to speak up for others for fear of retaliation.
- There are still elections, but the rules have been altered: there are obstacles and disadvantages for opposition now that Trump holds ALL of the pillars of power in the land. Even those who have tried to affect change from within are starting to find it easier to just go along.
He ends his piece by saying the following…
All my life I have been an admirer of the United States and its people. But I am frightened of it now, and I am even more frightened of them.
Questions for those who are not American:
Do you still consider the United States to be an ally? Or are you also frightened by them now?
Questions for those who ARE American:
Do you believe that Trump’s new direction for the country is going to be good for you? Or even for America in general?