The unbearable frivolity of our public discussion will amuse future generations
Here I extend a hand to all you Trump-haters. First to high-five you because I loathe him too; I recently wrote elsewhere about his “hideous leer of self-satisfied mischief.” Then to slap you because it’s your fault he’s still a threat. For instance to NATO.
His infamous comments from 2022, about supposedly threatening in 2018 not to defend delinquent allies, just resurfaced and everyone fainted. Rightly, since of course the U.S. would defend even its most pathetic freeloading ally out of self-preservation, so all Trump’s braggadocio apparently achieved was to invite Vladimir Putin or possibly Xi Jinping to miscalculate egregiously and drag the world to the brink of nuclear war. But wrongly, (slap slap “snap out of it!”) because it inexplicably, horrifyingly, took his vulgar idiocy to shove this serious issue into reputable discussion.
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Suddenly we read that in seeking a second European Commission presidential term, Ursula “von der Leyen is determined to make defence one of the most significant and structural priorities of her second mandate. Defence was for years a low-profile policy area in Brussels until Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and forced Europeans to reckon with their shortcomings and weaknesses.”
From the Telegraph, “British Army not prepared to respond to war with Russia, warns ex-Trump adviser.” And The Economist intones “Europe” will “have to reconsider the nature of military power, the role of nuclear deterrence in European security and the far-reaching political implications of military organisation and structure.” Duh. Really? All those super-smart people will have to … think about real-world stuff?
Here Canada continues to play global village idiot. Even from the land of assemble-it-yourself neutrality, “Sweden to send Ukraine $680 million military aid package.” And I just read that Denmark is donating its entire stock of shells and thought wow, all five? Perhaps they remember declaring neutrality in the Second World War, then being conquered anyway… in two days. Despite fielding two divisions, some 14,500 men, from under four million people.
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How many could Canada field today from 40 million? A thousand? Five hundred? And have we ramped up our munitions production?
True, we just promised Ukraine 800 non-combat-capable drones to accompany the missile system we pledged a year ago and never sent. But we are governed by people incapable of grasping security, interviewed by people with the same problem, both taught by people with it.
There are praiseworthy exceptions. In Tuesday’s National Post alone, Michael Higgins and Jamie Sarkonak discussed the delinquent-ally issue so well you might wonder why my editors didn’t wave me off. Because I have something to add. Namely that the Establishment has abdicated serious, open-minded discourse so totally that it leaves the field open for this “loathsome character, frivolous, nasty, narcissistic and pig-ignorant” (me, again).
Consider what passes for reputable discourse nowadays: 1) humans can change the weather by driving electric cars 2) women can have penises 3) aboriginals should have apartheid courts 4) “quantitative easing” increases wealth. And what doesn’t: 1) climate fluctuates naturally 2) evil maniacs want to destroy our way of life 3) we shouldn’t judge people by their race 4) there is no free lunch. Breach these protocols and you’ll be cast into outer darkness by people whose smugness would put Trump to shame if such a thing were possible.
We once laughed at the decadence of Rome that paralyzed leaders and citizens alike as catastrophe slouched toward them. Now we watch TikTok on six fashion trends in three years instead of studying history. But the unbearable frivolity of our public discussion will amuse future generations, including those who conquer us.
With our national debt approaching quasar intensity, the finance minister blithely authorizes herself to borrow another half-trillion while we debate which vast new incentive- and budget-mangling social program to introduce next, and the Canada Health Act remains sacred in our land of unbelief. Of all pathetic objects.
Mind you prior to the First World War our navy had two obsolete ships firing black powder shells. Prior to the Second World War we had six death-trap tanks and soldiers trained by pointing sticks and shouting bang. (True story.) Our political culture has long treated national security as in bad taste. And the Americans have succumbed to it as well.
To some extent it’s an occupational hazard of self-government. But if we can’t learn from history, we are booking a reservation on its trash heap. Why would we do such a thing? And so smugly?
Too harsh, you say? Then tell me why the democratic world has free-ridden on Uncle Sam for half a century while treating contempt for any use of American power as a badge of sophistication. And why it took Donald Trump, speaking of bad taste, to break through the crust of self-satisfied fatuity.
Don’t make me slap you again. Talk sense.
National Post
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