HALIFAX—Mark Carney has had a dream lift-off as a rookie prime minister taking charge of a country the size of Canada.

Consider the recent past.

A royal visit that engaged Canadians, and reminded the Orange One that Canada is very much a real country, a fully sovereign nation under a constitutional monarchy.   

Immediately getting down to work on his signature promise to forge a one-economy Canada by July 1, and one far less reliant on the destructive whims of current U.S. President Donald Trump, Carney will not be doing it top-down, but with the partnership of the provinces, territories and Indigenous Peoples.  

But what caught my eye was Carney’s frank admission that he will make mistakes, and that he fully expects the opposition to call him out when he does. This goes to show that one can be strong and self-deprecating at the same time.  

Fairly or unfairly, Justin Trudeau was often seen as elitist and occasionally condescending. Carney’s tone to this point has been inclusive rather than confrontational, as so much of our politics has been of late. Pushy authoritarians may be all the rage south of the border. But it is conciliators who get things done in politics.

United States President Donald Trump can take most of the credit for the degrading descent into fascism in America. He has transformed U.S. politics into the political equivalent of a Pier Nine brawl. In Trump World, there are only two options: you can be slavishly loyal, or you can be the enemy.

By my count, that enemies list is long and getting longer by the day. In what looks like the Trump Taliban, the president has launched a full-scale war against education in America, which includes taking aim at one of the country’s most precious assets in Harvard University.  

The Trump administration has cut funding to what is arguably the greatest university in the world, slashing a whopping $2.5-billion so far.  

Trump has also cancelled Harvard’s ability to register foreign students. As for existing international students at Harvard, they can either transfer to other universities, or lose their non-immigrant status. Harvard has 6,800 foreign students, making up 27 per cent of the university’s enrolment.

Trump’s draconian move comes after Harvard rejected the federal government’s request for detailed information on all foreign students. Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, accused Harvard of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and co-ordinating with the Chinese Communist party on campus.”  

Joseph McCarthy would blush at Trump’s other demands of the famous university. The current president wants a say in the curriculum and a hand in who gets hired at Harvard.  

Harvard has called Trump’s moves “unlawful,” and has filed suit against the government. For now, a federal judge has temporarily halted the president’s decision to revoke Harvard’s right to register foreign students.   

Harvard is not the only target of Trump’s populist rampage. The president also targeted elite law firms that have either employed his perceived enemies, or that have represented clients who have challenged his initiatives.  

In issuing a permanent injunction against Trump’s vindictive executive order, the judge said that it represented a “staggering punishment” to one of the targeted law firms. In all three cases that have gone to court, Trump’s executive order has been blocked.

Trump has also attacked the media as “human scum” and the “enemy of the people.” He has described his media critics as “radical-Left” and “corrupt.” Back in 2018, he banned CNN reporter Jim Acosta from the White House.  

The president is suing CBS for $10-billion over the alleged manipulation of an interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.   

More recently, he cancelled funding for National Public Radio and PBS. NPR has already launched a lawsuit challenging Trump’s funding cuts.  

Trump’s institutional belligerence knows no bounds. He is now attacking the judiciary as unelected nobodies.  After the courts recently blocked most of his trade tariffs, one of his principal advisers, Stephen Miller, denounced the ruling and declared that the “judicial coup” in America was out of control.  

The common denominator in all these examples is that Trump is fully prepared to punish his critics with the full force of the office he holds. How low can this guy go?  

He’s right down there with the earthworms.

When Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential race, Trump denounced the singer on social media: “I hate Taylor Swift.” But that wasn’t enough. He later added, “Has anyone noticed that since I said I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT, she is no longer HOT?”

When Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen recently said while on tour in England that America “is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous administration,” Trump fired back.  

He said that Springsteen, who also endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024, was a “dried-out ‘prune’ of a rocker” who “ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT.”  

And just for good measure, Trump added a veiled threat about Springsteen’s return to the U.S. after his concert tour abroad is over: “Then we’ll all see how it goes for him.”

And the result of all of Trump’s callous and uncalled for combativeness? Nothing gets done in the U.S. these days, and the nation’s business moves into court where the constitutionality of the president’s executive orders is on the table. And he keeps losing.

And this is the guy who says Canadians would be better off as America’s 51st state. What nonsense. Political leadership requires civility and collegiality to get things done. That is the promise of Carney, compared to the Dark Ages of Donald in the U.S. Our debates, policies, and laws will be worked out in Parliament, not in court.  

As legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon said recently in a concert in Toronto, the U.S. is about anger and division, leaving people looking for the “real” America.  

“I’m happy to report that I’ve found it. It’s here in Canada. You really are a beacon in the darkness at this point.”

Michael Harris is an award-winning author and journalist.

The Hill Times

 

See all stories BY MICHAEL HARRIS