Certainly the removal of Donald J. Trump from political office has spurred considerable buzz worldwide. Mostly in a good way, I’m guessing, even for the GOP (at least if you were to listen to Mitch McConnell). I suspect the “Trump Base” – an unfortunate collision of noun and adjective, support and sordid – will in typical manner disacquaint themselves with Trump when they run to ground that he misled them for his venal purpose. The political hounds like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley may prove to be more penetratingly misguided but they’re already at peril in my opinion. Americans don’t like losers. Whatever the consequences of Trump’s electoral loss on November 3rd and the Capitol insurrection on January 6th last, people are I believe thankful to be relieved of the constant apprehension and embarrassment surrounding Trump’s circus performance in the public arena. President Joseph Robinette Biden is a welcome catharsis of the national image and a digestible alternative to Trump’s unsettling diet. Biden’s redecoration of the Oval Office is but one refreshment.
Meanwhile within the sub-plot that is our daily lives, we magically approach the last day of February and the first day of March, pointedly without the necessity of a leap. The reports from everywhere are that there is reason for enthusiasm as the vaccines continue to roll-out throughout the globe. The notion of the decline of winter is invigorating. After a full year of lockdown and violation of personal and economic freedom people everywhere are poised to reactivate society as we once knew it – though sans Trump as I say.
The nexus between Americans and Canadians is of no small measure. It is an alliance which permeates not only the elevated circles of national leadership but also the enormous economic union between the two countries, the reciprocal tourism and back and forth migrations including not insignificantly members of my own family on several occasions throughout the past one hundred years or more; viz., grandfather, great-aunt, aunt, uncle, cousins, niece and brother-in-law; as well as ancestors from the original American colonies going back to the 18th century.
By Adam Taylor and
Siobhán O’Grady
November 12, 2020 at 2:36 p.m. EST
President-elect Joe Biden began fielding congratulatory phone calls from world leaders this week.
The conversations, traditional courtesies after U.S. elections, have been complicated by an overarching factor: President Trump’s refusal to concede.
In a break from tradition, the State Department has not provided a secure government line or language interpretation for the Biden transition team — which may complicate some countries’ efforts to reach the president-elect.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with Biden by phone on Monday. The Canadian leader, who has clashed repeatedly with Trump, tweeted that he and Biden have “worked with each other before, and we’re ready to pick up on that work and tackle the challenges and opportunities facing our two countries — including climate change and COVID-19.”
More à propos is the enviable transition of our northern acquaintances in Maine and Wisconsin to the warm climes of Sarasota and Longboat Key. We regrettably must suffer the indignity of further confinement above the 49th Parallel until our medical insurers embrace the altered risk of the pandemic and until the Canadian government opens the borders for casual vehicular travel.