Andrew Coyne is a conservative Canadian journalist, he exposes Trump to the world.

[Swede]

Last edited Sun Jul 13, 2025, 03:34 PM - Edit history (1)

I don't think any US journalist has written as tough (and spot-on) a portrayal of the threat facing us as this Canadian, Andrew Coyne of the Toronto Globe and Mail.

-snip-
Nothing mattered, in the end. Not the probable dementia, the unfathomable ignorance, the emotional incontinence; not, certainly, the shambling, hate-filled campaign, or the ludicrously unworkable anti-policies.
The candidate out on bail in four jurisdictions, the convicted fraud artist, the adjudicated rapist and serial sexual predator, the habitual bankrupt, the stooge of Vladimir Putin, the man who tried to overturn the last election and all of his creepy retinue of crooks, ideologues and lunatics: Americans took a long look at all this and said, yes please.
There is no sense in understating the depth of the disaster. This is a crisis like no other in our lifetimes. The government of the United States has been delivered into the hands of a gangster, whose sole purpose in running, besides staying out of jail, is to seek revenge on his enemies. The damage Donald Trump and his nihilist cronies can do – to America, but also to its democratic allies, and to the peace and security of the world – is incalculable. We are living in the time of Nero.

Swede here, I added the archive link, thanks to SouthBayDem.

https://web.archive.org/web/20250401092652/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trumps-election-is-a-crisis-like-no-other-not-only-for-the-us-but-the/


https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1YKBxaPQPd/

[Baitball Blogger]

1. Prejudice and ignorance won over the side that voted for him.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. Thanks, first, to Putin; then, to Musk.

"The government of the United States has been delivered into the hands of a gangster, whose sole purpose in running, besides staying out of jail, is to seek revenge on his enemies."

Number 1 Enemy of Trump: We the People.

[dalton99a]

3. Great summary

>>Nothing mattered, in the end. Not the probable dementia, the unfathomable ignorance, the emotional incontinence; not, certainly, the shambling, hate-filled campaign, or the ludicrously unworkable anti-policies.

The candidate out on bail in four jurisdictions, the convicted fraud artist, the adjudicated rapist and serial sexual predator, the habitual bankrupt, the stooge of Vladimir Putin, the man who tried to overturn the last election and all of his creepy retinue of crooks, ideologues and lunatics: Americans took a long look at all this and said, yes please.

There is no sense in understating the depth of the disaster. This is a crisis like no other in our lifetimes. The government of the United States has been delivered into the hands of a gangster, whose sole purpose in running, besides staying out of jail, is to seek revenge on his enemies. The damage Donald Trump and his nihilist cronies can do – to America, but also to its democratic allies, and to the peace and security of the world – is incalculable. We are living in the time of Nero.

The first six months will be a time of maximum peril. NATO must from this moment be considered effectively obsolete, without the American security guarantee that has always been its bedrock. We may see new incursions by Russia into Europe – the poor Ukrainians are probably done for, but now it is the Baltics and the Poles who must worry – before the Europeans have time to organize an alternative. China may also accelerate its Taiwanese ambitions.

At home, Mr. Trump will be moving swiftly to consolidate his power. Some of this will be institutional – the replacement of tens of thousands of career civil servants with Trumpian loyalists. But some of it will be … atmospheric.

At some point someone – a company whose chief executive has displeased him, a media critic who has gotten under his skin – will find themselves the subject of unwanted attention from the Trump administration. It might not be so crude as a police arrest. It might just be a little regulatory matter, a tax audit, something like that. They will seek the protection of the courts, and find it is not there.

The judges are also Trump loyalists, perhaps, or too scared to confront him. Or they might issue a ruling, and find it has no effect – that the administration has 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 same as everyone else. Then everyone will take their cue. Executives will line up to court him. Media organizations, the large ones anyway, will find reasons to be cheerful.

Of course, in reality things will start to fall apart fairly quickly. The huge across-the-board tariffs he imposes will tank the world economy. The massive deficits, fueled by his ill-judged tax policies – he won’t replace the income tax, as he promised, but will fill it with holes – and monetized, at his direction, by the Federal Reserve, will ignite a new round of inflation.

Most of all, the insane project of deporting 12 million undocumented immigrants – finding them, rounding them up and detaining them in hundreds of internment camps around the country, probably for years, before doing so – will consume his administration. But by then it will be too late.

We should not count upon the majority of Americans coming to their senses in any event. They were not able to see Mr. Trump for what he was before: why should that change? Would they not, rather, be further coarsened by the experience of seeing their neighbours dragged off by the police, or the military, further steeled to the necessity of doing “tough things” to “restore order?”

Some won’t, of course. But they will find in time that the democratic levers they might once have pulled to demand change are no longer attached to anything. There are still elections, but the rules have been altered: there are certain obstacles, certain disadvantages if you are not with the party of power. It will seem easier at first to try to change things from within. Then it will be easier not to change things.

All of this will wash over Canada in various ways – some predictable, like the flood of refugees seeking escape from the camps; some less so, like the coarsening of our own politics, the debasement of morals and norms by politicians who have discovered there is no political price to be paid for it. And who will have the backing of their patron in Washington.

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.

[erronis]

9. Thanks for that additional text. I was hoping to read more of Coyne's very fine words.

[MarcoZandrini]

21. Warm up....

……old sparky!

[bdamomma]

39. So sad

this has happened to us. So Hungary has Orban, Russia has Putin (who got us), Israel has Netanyahu, and we have a damaged dangerous POS. All of them are CRIMINALS, who should be in a prison cell.

What's the saying "Never again".

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

4. WOW, a spot on analysis!

[Boomerproud]

5. Nothing to add.

He put the blame squarely where it belongs, on the dark side of the American character. Over and out.

[OMGWTF]

23. Character

“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.”

― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

[RandomNumbers]

6. Sadly, the hate part of the "hate-filled campaign" was a feature, not a bug.

Trump is a problem, but he is not THE problem.

THE problem is the millions who thought he would be good or at least "okay" as President of the US.

[Greywing]

10. One million times yes ... spot on

[Dr. T]

31. Agreed.

The Abominable One is just a symptom of a much bigger disease.

[Cosmocat]

35. Been saying this for 10 years now

nm

[malaise]

7. Excellent

Rec

[mountain grammy]

8. Says it all..

[Martin68]

11. Well-written.

[democrank]

12. Andrew Coyne's words made me stop in my tracks.

Although he is frightened by the United States, he’s more frightened of the people. Think about that.

[yobrault1]

13. So accurate and terrifying at the same time.

[paleotn]

14. And Caligula. Both met bloody, ignominious ends. Hoping the same applies to Donnie.

[xocetaceans]

15. still true...and becoming "truer"...

Trump’s election is a crisis like no other, not only for the U.S. but the world
Andrew Coyne

Published November 6, 2024

...

We should not count upon the majority of Americans coming to their senses in any event. They were not able to see Mr. Trump for what he was before: why should that change? Would they not, rather, be further coarsened by the experience of seeing their neighbours dragged off by the police, or the military, further steeled to the necessity of doing “tough things” to “restore order?”

...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trumps-election-is-a-crisis-like-no-other-not-only-for-the-us-but-the/

There is no point in pretending that the MAGA GOP worldview is wide enough to allow them to see injustices for what they are. So, they will not see nearly anything that Trump is doing as problematic. To them, he is a means to their ends. He is their ersatz-Jesus.

Therefore, a large part of the MAGA GOP still thinks that things are proceeding swimmingly with his "second coming". They think that the "snowflakes" are being put in line. So, it would be unwise to pretend that they will be affected enough personally by any of the consequences of Trump's actions to have their opinions altered substantively.

They might feel a little discomfort or twinge of conscience on occasion but that will not alter their beliefs that "Daddy's home" and that things are being put right. They really don't care.

As an example, just look at the number of thugs that have signed on to be part of whatever group is doing the deportation kidnappings. They clearly do not care for the rule of law: if they did they would have no problem showing their faces and presenting their identities clearly for all to see. Proper law enforcement is transparent and accountable. What is happening now is neither of those things.

[SouthBayDem]

18. link without paywall

https://web.archive.org/web/20241112183801/www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trumps-election-is-a-crisis-like-no-other-not-only-for-the-us-but-the/

[Wounded Bear]

16. Can't argue with any of it...nt

[SouthBayDem]

17. Original source of the Coyne article (non facebook link)

https://web.archive.org/web/20241112183801/www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trumps-election-is-a-crisis-like-no-other-not-only-for-the-us-but-the/

[Swede]

20. Thanks, I'll add that to the OP

[BadgerMom]

19. Kick

No lies detected.

[sop]

22. Powerful words.

I find it deeply depressing Americans elected Trump for a second time knowing what he stands for.

[OMGWTF]

24. I still believe that it was stolen from Kamala.

There is an election interference lawsuit in Rockland County, NY that is in the discovery phase with a September trial date. There are areas of NY where Kirsten Gillibrand won in a landslide, but Kamala got ZERO votes. The math ain't mathin'.

T💩p and Eloon told on themselves numerous times, i.e., "We don't even need your vote, you'll never have to vote again, and Eloon has the magic computer." Then there's Eloon wondering out loud on TV how much prison time he'd get if T💩p didn't win. How come Eloon knew the results before anyone else? Eloon recently said that if he didn't help T💩p win, Kamala would be president, the Dems would control the House, and the Rethuglicans would hold the Senate by ONE vote.

If we can prove that Kamala actually won, it would go a helluva long way to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the world.

[sop]

26. I've long thought so, and expressed suspicions, but have been scolded for being conspiratorial.

[3catwoman3]

29. It was depressing enough the first time.

Blood-chillingly horrifying the second time.

[Cha]

25. Yes, Millions believed the Lies and some didn't care..

including the Smirky little billionaire techs who Sold Out their Country for More Billions! Can Never have Enough.

You cannot make this shit UP.

The "attempts at consolidating power" have to be blown to Smithereens by any means possible.

Mahalo for Anrew Coyne, Swede Priceless

[dlk]

27. The billionaires will go to any lengths to avoid any responsibility or accountability

Even if it means destroying America.

[3catwoman3]

28. I will be adding "emotional incontinence" to my vocabulary.

Scathingly spot on.

[Beartracks]

30. And through rightwing media, Republican voters had been primed for decades to hate and distrust Democrats...

... so that when the convicted fraud artist, adjudicated rapist, serial sexual predator, stooge of Putin who tried to overturn the 2020 election ran on the Republican ticket, most of them pulled the lever for him without a second thought.

=====================

[Cosmocat]

36. This is the the root cause

Saw this coming since I was a young adult in the 90s. The evil liberal boogyman justifies all of it.

[eppur_se_muova]

32. Pretty flaky behavior at that Web site, hard to navigate. Here's the link, a trick, and good luck!

https://web.archive.org/web/20250401092652/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-trumps-election-is-a-crisis-like-no-other-not-only-for-the-us-but-the/

I had to hit the "stop loading" (toggles with "reload" ) button to keep the text from disappearing shortly after it appeared.


Other articles from same period: https://web.archive.org/web/20241115175819/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/authors/andrew-coyne/



ETA: Compare the Charlie Sykes quote in my sig line ! Here's the full opinion piece: https://charliesykes.substack.com/p/this-is-us

[markie]

33. needs to be shouted from the MT tops

"The damage Donald Trump and his nihilist cronies can do – to America, but also to its democratic allies, and to the peace and security of the world – is incalculable."

[DENVERPOPS]

34. Wow........there are a lot of

Republican Politicians, Republican Media, Republican zillionaires, Republican Corporations, and the entire Trump CABAL literally shitting bricks right now.........

It will be a miracle if they can do Damage Control this time around..............

[OldBaldy1701E]

37. I wish this part was played out loud from every rooftop in this country.

But they will find in time that the democratic levers they might once have pulled to demand change are no longer attached to anything. There are still elections, but the rules have been altered: there are certain obstacles, certain disadvantages if you are not with the party of power. It will seem easier at first to try to change things from within. Then it will be easier not to change things.

This is where we are. No amount of rose-colored glasses wearing is going to alter this.

Will we understand it in time?

[NNadir]

38. I kind of wish I could recommend this post a few more times.

[Moostache]

40. The only thing missing? Q.E.D.

I wish I could make that entire passage my signature!

[BoRaGard]

41. k and r