For most of my adult life, the prolific author Stephen King has always been one of my favourite writers. His literary specialty is creepy horror, fantasy, suspense and supernatural fiction. Some of his 54 (to date) novels are very long works.
One of his latest efforts hit the headlines last weekend. Not long, just a two-sentence tweet – but I never agreed so quickly before. His latest tweet was “The news is real. The president is fake.”
Unfortunately, but with some enjoyment, weakening on just that one entry made me break a personal rule – never to follow anyone’s Twitter account. I loathe the medium.
As usual, King’s opinions and communications are quick, cogent and very pointed. As seen earlier, the writer obviously sees many elements behind Trump that tweak his peculiar mind set. I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed my little foray into his account if he didn’t see Trump as I have come to view him in his recent tumultuous weeks.
Example: “The viciousness of Trump’s tweets is disturbing, the pettiness perhaps more so. This guy is not cut out for the main stage.”
Another: “The president is a hurtful, bullying, boorish, ridiculous, undignified, childish asshat. And it hurts to say that.” Just a couple more to wind up a short miscellany – that leaves no doubt about just how much he shares my feeling about Donald Trump – as President of the USA.
“Trump as president is like an impulsive, hot-headed 15-year-old with an 18-wheeler trucker’s license.” “Trump hasn’t been very good at keeping his promises, but he’s certainly a world-class gloater.” “Trump has blocked me from reading his tweets. I may have to kill myself.”
I’m heartened on a weekly basis, as virtually every one of Trump’s most peculiar initiatives seems to create a volley of rejections and calls for resignation or impeachment action, maybe there are not nearly fours years to go.
Then I come back to thinking about Canada and Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau and Trump are certainly not synonymous. They are chalk and cheese, but Trudeau seems almost as narcissistically driven as the U.S. president, while his government stumbles deeper into the long-term deficit “pit” and few of his decisions seem to garner majority support across Canada.
You’d think it would be troubling for him – but as he jet sets around the world, leaving donations in the millions of dollars in his wake, his demeanor seems to remain resolutely upbeat, volubly persuasive, aggressively combative and determined to be right.
From the most recent Khadr chaos to his plummeting approval among indigenous leaders and activists after the stumbling MMIWG commission breakdown, an angry opposition and - increasingly - much of the media across Canada, the uncertainty about which election commitment will drop by the wayside next, accompanied by facile rationale, Trudeau’s sunny ways are pretty clouded in the summer of his second year in power.
In B.C., Justin Trudeau has been told he can expect little support from the new NDP-Green Party coalition government for his go-ahead to the Site C hydro-dam project in the Peace River Country and the Kinder-Morgan crude oil pipeline twinning to Burnaby, where Trudeau has effectively drawn a bit of a wavering line in the sand … stressing the pipeline project approval is based on being in the interest of Canada as a whole and that federal approval supersedes local objections.
It’s not difficult to forecast many tougher days ahead for both North American leaders.