Calm yourselves Canadians, Trump is not about to start another war by launching the American military machine north.
Many have noted Donnie speaks a little bit differently than just about everyone else. He is prone to, shall we say, hyperbolic exaggeration. This is calculated, sometimes, so understanding how Trump messages is critical.
Media coverage, however excoriating, was vital to Trump’s successful presidential campaigns. He applied the judo principle of nage-waza, “using an opponent’s momentum and leverage against them” to both communicate with and energize a wide spectrum of the American public.
By making outrageous statements, which the media simply could not leave alone, Trump could generate connections with his base worth millions of dollars with a simple, obnoxious 40 word tweet.
The structure of a Trumpism is as follows:
– Cause:
- Pick an issue requiring change in the minds of your target audience.
- Concoct a wildly misleading statement containing a grain of truth.
- Make sure it jostles the seething resentment of the great mass of the disenfranchised.
- Make equally sure the erudite msm will be mortally offended and enraged by it.
– Effect:
- The media points, mocks and disparages both Trump and his followers while denying the message. And let’s face it, the media just love to hate Trump and the populism he represents.
- This clearly places them on a pulpit on the other side of the tracks from worn down and resentful deplorables.
- The great unwashed ignore the message the beacons of light are ramming down their throats. They get both the point that Trump alluded to plus the message that the media, and the politicians they promote, want to get rid of them.
- The media are reassured their strident criticism is vital in getting rid of this bringer of ignorance and doom. They look forward to the next opportunity to tee-off on the gargoyle and his mindless followers. Salaciousness is not solely a Trump characteristic.
- Trump supporters become more fervent and simply can’t wait to cast off woke politicians and the horse what brung ‘em.
Repeat several times a week and watch your support base swell and election victory fall into your pocket.
What does this mean for Canadians? When Trump calls Canada the 51st state he isn’t staking old glory on Canadian soil, he is disparaging us as weak and untrustworthy; a load he no longer wants to bear.
Although incredibly unprofessional, his disrespect is not without a grain of reality.
- We don’t control our border or the flow of knockoff goods and drugs and immigrants into the US.
- We don’t fulfill our Nato commitments.
- We don’t meet the standard for international aid.
- We broke our promises on carbon emissions worse than any other nation.
- The country is rife with corruption and weak yesmen politicians and bureaucrats.
- We talk up our goodness when, in fact, we aren’t that good to our own people or our land.
We always ask the US for special treatment because we’re so vulnerable. Clearly, this approach is no longer viable. Therefore the house of cards economy of debt, farmland paving, cheap labour, resource extraction and outsourcing has to be replaced by a broad based strategy that can deliver on its fiduciary duties.
Trump’s core message has been delivered with his usual mix of salacious overstatement and derision. What he is really saying is; “Stand up or be owned”.
Basically this is what a very large percentage of Canadians feel about the leadership of our country; it’s just that we don’t have quite the Trumpian penchant for spiking the outrage meter and being heard. A slap in the face with a frozen mackerel is always a shock but it is something we need. Weakness and dithering are no longer options.
So let’s get our act together as a strong, independent nation and a good neighbor by being the country and the people we should have been for the last 5 decades. Then we can forget about the schoolyard taunts and just enjoy the show.
Or,
on the other hand, maybe Trump intends to give a province to each one of his kids and grandkids to assure his legacy as emperor of the Great American Continent. Either way, to remain masters of our own fate, Canada needs to recognize its problems and fix itself before someone else does.
