The first order of business is to offer congratulations to those civic election candidates who succeeded in being elected to the position for which they ran. We wish you well in your endeavours over the next four years. And a very special thank you to every person who ran in the election, whether for the position of mayor, councillor or school board trustee. It takes courage to step forward and share your vision and convictions, knowing criticism will come your way, and for the best part you will probably bear the major cost of your campaign. You are appreciated and we hope you are not discouraged from running in future elections.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I am suffering from election fatigue. After our provincial and civic elections and the media frenzy about the American election, I can’t listen to any more pundits or pollsters. However, having been critical of lying politicians I feel bound to recognize a politician who is actually keeping his campaign promises and that would be Donald J. Trump. Trump promised he would do away with the independence of the Justice Department and make it an instrument of his retribution. To that end he has nominated Representative Matt Gaetz to be the next Attorney General, regardless of the fact that Gaetz was being investigated by the Ethics Committee for his sexual misconduct with minors, transporting minors over state lines for that same purpose and drug use.

Trump nominated Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. Hegseth, who has no military, political or diplomatic experience, will oversee the world’s largest bureaucracy (2.6 million employees) and a budget of $840 billion. He wants to get rid of all those woke Generals, NATO, the restrictive war rules of the Geneva Convention, and women serving in combat. And, of course, he classifies the political left as “America’s domestic enemies.” He has a history of association with white nationalists, allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, philandering and lacks moral concerns about the use of nuclear weapons.

Hegseth should get along well with Tulsi Gabbard, the nominee for director of national intelligence, who will oversee agencies like the CIA, FBI, and the National Security Agency (NSA) along with 15 other intelligence gathering agencies. She has a bit of a reputation for trafficking in conspiracy theories and snuggling up to dictators like Syria’s Bashar-al Assad and everybody’s favourite bad guy, Vladimir Putin. Oh, to be a fly on the wall . . .. And yes, true to his word, Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy as health czar. Remember he is the guy who had a worm in this brain (which I suggest may still be there). He is charged with the task of “making America healthy again.” As obesity is a mayor health issue it might be wise to shut down McDonald’s, although that would toss his boss into an apoplectic fit. It’s a tough call for a guy who is a vaccine sceptic and has a long history of spreading questionable health information that has been refuted by scientists. On his agenda will be cancelling Obamacare, cutting funding for medical research and development and to Medicaid, and possibly leading the charge on a national ban on abortion. He will have a busy four years.

I don’t think Trump has announced a pick for Secretary of Education – perhaps because he doesn’t plan to have an Education Department. On the campaign trail he spoke of dismantling the national Department of Education, leaving the individual states to do their own thing. He endorsed the school choice concepts (Charter and private schools) cutting K-12 spending and wants to see school districts slash diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. It might be best described as dumbing down America if that is even possible anymore. But having an uneducated public will benefit a wannabe dictator.

Trump states he will be the President of Peace. It’s a hard concept to accept from an agent of chaos and divisiveness. He is going to end the Russian/Ukrainian War the day after being sworn in. Call me a Negative Nellie, but I do suspect that means 35 or 40 million Ukrainians are being sold out to Putin. How sad that an ethnic group that has fought so valiantly for nigh on three years will lose the freedom that they fought for on the whim of a shallow narrow-minded man. Trump also has plans for settling the Middle East crisis. He is appointing Mike Huckabee as Ambassador to Israel. Huckabee is a staunch supporter of Israel and even questions the existence of a Palestinian identity. He opposes a two-state solution. I listened to a surrogate for voters of both Palestinian and Arabian extraction, who supported Trump during the election, and now complain that Donald Trump lied to them to garner their support. Gee, a pathological liar lied to you, and you are surprised by that. Now this same group wants, no demands, that President Biden brings peace to the region before Trump is sworn into office. Yes, people do get the government they deserve.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge Trump’s “I want him to be my son” Elon Musk. Musk will control the government agencies that control his businesses. His job is to do the slash and burn of the rank and file throughout the federal civil service, remove regulations that impede businesses and to create a new unfettered frontier for AI to thrive. Since he has proven to Trump and every other politician that using his social media business, AI skills and an unlimited amount of money, he can control them and the country. As much as the world is hyper ventilating as they watch this unfold and the impact it will have globally, you can’t fault Trump for doing exactly what he said he would do if elected.

Ah, be careful what you wish for because you just might get it. There is a catchy old favourite tune of mine call Stuck In the Middle With You. Its lyrics include “Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, Here I am struck in the middle . . .” Now I’m singing “Russians to the left of me, Americans to the Right, here I am struck in the middle.

ehnatyshyn@gmail.com

– Elaine Hnatyshyn