If you compare the Trump triumph in the United States to the storm circling Alberta Premier Danielle Smith because of judicial interference allegations, it is a contrast worth reviewing.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on April 10, 2023.

OTTAWA—Donald Trump’s felonious behaviour has vaulted him to the front of the pack as the Republican choice for president.

The rest of the world is left shaking its collective head, but the circus surrounding Trump’s shenanigans simply seems to ignite his base and strike fear in the rest of his party.

As of the indictment last week, it appears possible that a convicted felon could become the Republican nominee for president of the United States.

What is truly bizarre is that the Republican Party is the one that claims it is on the side of law and order. Yet the majority of the leadership is lining up behind the first former president to be indicted.

It is painful to see Senator Lindsey Graham grovelling at the altar of Trump, asking people to send money for Trump’s legal defence fund.

Trump’s team said that it had raised $8-million in the wake of the indictment announcement. That does not include money that will be made flogging prison t-shirts, caps and memorabilia.

According to press reports, an initial $4-million came in within the first 24 hours after charges were filed.

Media also reported that Trump was using a fake, photo-shopped “mugshot” as part of his fundraising package, although Trump did not actually take a mug shot during his booking and arraignment.

It is hard to fathom how anyone would donate a hard-earned penny to the Trump circus.

His speech at Mar-a-Lago following the Manhattan booking was unbelievable. Replete with lies and accusations against anyone and everyone, the former president really looked as though he had lost his marbles.

He also ignored court admonitions to refrain from making comments that would put anyone in danger.

Trump’s Florida allocution was a no-holds-barred attack not only on the prosecutor, but also the judge and members of their families.

Even Trump’s lawyers admitted outside the courthouse that they were incapable of shutting the man up. He and his son, Donald Trump Jr., continued their disproven allegations in speeches, social media, and on multiple platforms.

None of the above seems to have dampened Trump’s appeal to his base. The allegations have cast him as a political victim and actually encouraged a bump in his numbers among Republicans, at least in the short term.

Most commentators think last week’s hike will lose steam if other charges are laid.

But in the meantime, Trump’s status as a potential criminal president has made him ever more popular with voters in his party.

What is wrong with American Republicans? It is simply inexplicable.

If you compare the Trump triumph in the United States to the storm circling Alberta Premier Danielle Smith because of judicial interference allegations, it is a contrast worth reviewing.

Smith is limping into an election next month, badly wounded because of her own admission that she tried to get charges dropped for an anti-vax pastor and supporter.

Smith has been dogged by allegations ever since she, herself, stated publicly in January that she was in touch with Crown prosecutors over charges related to COVID-19 violations.

Smith subsequently walked back her claim, but last week, the CBC reported on a leaked video where Smith had promised a defendant that she asked prosecutors almost weekly about the charges.

Smith is now stating she will pursue legal action against the public broadcaster and is refusing to comment further on the issue.

Her election challenges started long before the alleged judicial indiscretion. But that interference really seems to have hurt her politically with her base.

That stands in stark contrast to the Trump trajectory.

There is no doubt that the allegations have damaged Smith politically. A Leger poll published last week had the United Conservative Party locked in a dead heat with Rachel Notley’s New Democrats in Calgary.

The NDP enjoyed a strong lead in Edmonton with the provincial numbers at 47 per cent for the NDP and 44 per cent for the UCP.

The Leger online poll of 1,001 voters was conducted even before any reports of the secret tape of Smith’s conversations.

The numbers are no slam-dunk for the New Democrats because their huge lead in Edmonton is balanced by a gigantic UCP lead in rural Alberta.

The number of seats outside cities mean that a UCP victory in rural ridings could negate Edmonton wins for the NDP.

Therefore, the battleground for the May 29 election is Calgary, where the parties are locked in a dead heat.

The allegations swirling around Smith have handed the electoral momentum to Notley. Unlike Republicans, Calgarians are unlikely to reward such behaviour.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

The American claim to ‘exceptionalism’ and its history of support for democracy around the world has been delivered a severe blow.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on January 11, 2021.

OTTAWA—Whether or not Donald Trump remains in office for the next two weeks is hardly the point.

His ugly legacy has unleashed a venom in America that will be very difficult to suppress.

The world has watched in horror as domestic terrorists stormed the capital, wreaking havoc and death on the ultimate symbols of American democracy.

We have witnessed extremists becoming so mainstream that one of them, Georgian Marjorie Taylor Greene, is now sitting in the House of Representatives.

The American claim to “exceptionalism” and its history of support for democracy around the world has been delivered a severe blow.

Lindsey Graham’s ridiculous response to the Washington attack was to claim equivalency between the attackers and Black Lives Matter activists who took to the streets to protest the death of multiple Black citizens at the hands of the police.

Does anyone truly believe that if the same group of Washington attackers had been racial minorities, there would have been so few arrests?

Graham’s claim that Democrats needed to call out protesters of police brutality at the same time as he was criticizing the terrorists simply reinforced the fact that the day Donald Trump leaves office will not be the end of this reckoning in America.

The CBC revisited footage from the summer protest at the Lincoln Memorial, where row upon row of riot police were lined up to truncheon protesters. That footage was compared to the police treatment of emboldened white supremacists and conspiracy theorists who considered the attack a victory for their cause.

Some television outlets carried footage of those storming the capital taking selfies with police guarding the gates. And the Confederate flag was carried into the Senate by those who paraded their hatred right onto the floor of the Senate.

At the same time as the anarchists were outside of the Senate, chief representatives inside were speaking about the “incredible” four years of Trump rule and some of them were still trying as of last week to claim the election was stolen.

The attack on the Senate was greeted with glee by the president, who tweeted his love for the protesters.

At the same time as the state of Georgia elected its first Black Senator and its first Jewish Senator, most people are not talking about how those elections made history.

Instead, we are witnessing a country that is still deeply divided on racial grounds, and whose leadership actually promotes the supremacy of one race over another.

Trump illustrated his true colours more than three years ago, when white supremacists stormed Charlottesville and killed an innocent bystander while shouting slurs against Jews and minorities.

Trump was the first to lay out this false equivalency when he tried to claim that there were “very fine people on both sides” of the Charlottesville protest.

And multiple members of the Senate still cling to the view that there is validity in the absurdly false claims of election interference.

Notwithstanding these shocking perspectives, even in the consequential Georgia Senate runoffs, the state was almost evenly split on those who supported Trump’s choice and those who opposed.

Largely due to the incredible organizational work of Stacey Abrams and Fair Fight Action to oppose voter suppression, the Democrats were able to pull off razor-thin victories in both instances, thus securing the balance of power in the Senate. That vote paves the way forward for president-elect Joe Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris to receive support in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

But they still have to face the job of uniting a country where almost half of the population oppose their vision.

All those who chose Trump were not voting based on his racial record. But the fact that they could overlook it and cast their ballot for him in such large numbers, is truly frightening.

From misogyny to racism, from his affinity for dictators versus democrats, the president still managed to garner the support of almost 75 million voting Americans, the largest number in the history of the country to vote for a Republican candidate.

Even when the president vacates the office, whether of his own accord or not, his leadership scars will endure long past his departure.

The suspension of Trump’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram accounts are not enough to stem the flood of hatred that has been unleashed during his presidency.

Pre-Trump, racists were largely in the shadows. But his sick vision for America has enlisted millions of followers.

This past week has only emboldened them.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.