He is a timebomb armed and ready to go ... to take over from his predecessor without much of a hiccup. I used to see him as a bit of milk toast. He isn't. I couldn't have been more wrong. He is perhaps a bigger threat to Democracy than the idiot in the office right now.
JD is smart but half-baked: I don’t think he is a ‘bigger threat’ than the mentally compromised POTUS, but he could do more damage simply because he’s more self aware, and learning from his mistakes.
Short version: compared to Trump JD is fewer stupid lawsuits, more goons on the streets.
Vance couldn’t build a fascist movement but he sure could direct one he inherited. And he will have all the financial backing he requires from the America-hating tech overlords.
Yes. JD Vance is proof that Trumpism, or whatever they call it, will not end with Trump. Instead it will move from Nero, obsessed with symbol and spectacle and fundamentally incompetent, to something approaching Caligula, truly violent and unconcerned with anyone even those closest to him.
Trump may have fascist tendencies, but Vance *is* a Fascist and a competent one at that. At this point we do live on borrowed time.
"This is criminal negligence at minimum. This is reckless endangerment elevated to federal spectacle."
As I have said for the last 5+ years, what we are seeing is fascism, all its hallmarks, all its characteristic behavior. We are now on the "farm" but it is the Orwellian Animal Farm. We are in 2025, but also in Orwell's 1984.
The American public is told this is a "threat" to Democracy, while in fact, Democracy has been severely wounded and its wounds have a high likelihood of being fatal.
Wake up, Americans, you will not recognize your country by this time next year, or perhaps sooner. Don't count on the Midterms to rescue Democracy. Start being concerned whether there will be Midterms. How far off the rail will Trump, his cabinet and the Republican Congress go? My best is that they are "all in" for a complete fascist takeover.
You words are true. But being a Trump MAGA Republican and involved with Project 2025 creation above all he is a LIAR and COWARD and when Trump goes, this POS & every one in his comrades in the Trump Administration needs to be put on Trial for Treason!
Vance is truly filled with hate, more so than any other figure besides Stephen Miller. I believe it’s self loathing turned outward, for he is almost certainly a closeted gay man. The way he talks about marriage as if it’s a sacrifice is a big tell, as is Thiel’s sponsorship of him going back to getting Vance his first high paying job in finance.
Interested Canadian here. I have to say that part of the issue in this moment is the belief by many that you (USA) are still operating as a 'Constitutional Republic'. YOU'RE NOT. The orange shit-for-brains dictator sitting in the WH (and Vance) is just that. A dictator. He does not care for the Constitution or any of the constraints that it provides. He has a compliant congress, and he's bought off the SCOTUS.
The sooner the majority of US citizens come to the realization that your way of governance is in SERIOUS jeopardy, the sooner your can begin the long road to recovery.
The difference between “the framework is under assault” and “you're already not a constitutional republic” isn't semantic.
I would say the difference between recognizing authoritarian consolidation as something to resist versus treating it as fait accompli that excuses action is an important distinction to make.
I'm documenting violations precisely because they're still violations—because the framework exists enough to be violated, which means it exists enough to be defended. Declaring American democracy already dead from the comfortable distance of Canada while millions of Americans are actually organizing, protesting, and imposing real costs on authoritarian overreach isn't wisdom. It's spectating dressed as insight.
We're aware of the jeopardy. That's why we're fighting instead of writing the obituary.
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I love your writing and respect your opinion.
My fear over the last few months is not unjustified. From where we sit, it is blinding obvious as to what is happening, and even more clear that Trump jumps through every hurdle authoritarian hurdle with impunity. At the moment, I believe the legitimacy of your upcoming mid-terms and every election thereafter is in serious doubt. He's handing out 'Trump 2028' hats, and the media shrugs.
Please keep fighting and doing everything you can. We're watching. And we're scared.
Mike, I can appreciate that Americans do not like seeing Canadians overstate the case on the democratic decline in the US.
However, in turn, I would ask that you appreciate that Canadians do not like seeing Americans understate the case on the threat the United States currently poses to Canada.
Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to our former Prime Minister as "Governor Trudeau", incensing even many Canadians who hated Justin Trudeau. (I have been tempted at times to refer to him as "Premier Donald", both in the Canadian and Australian sense of "Premier" and in the Soviet sense of the term, using his first name rather than his last in reference to Trudeau's remark, "[B]ut Donald, this is a very dumb idea.")
He further has gaslit us with an ambassador who makes light of the notion (at least twice saying it's off the table only for Trump to bring it up within a week, and another time suggesting that it's because he loves us--I think perhaps in the same way an abusive spouse like Donald loves his wife, if what I've heard about Ivana calling him "a rapist in the noncriminal sense" is actually something she said) and, as I've said here before, would be less offensive, at least to me, if he openly threatened a missile strike on Parliament Hill.
For many of us, Canada is not a "comfortable distance" at which to view events in the United States; rather we feel like Austria in the mid-1930s (I refer to Trump's desired fate for Canada as an Anschluß) or Finland during the Cold War, forced to toe the line with the Soviet Union and accept an autocrat as President for a quarter-century (Urho Kekkonen) to retain nominal independence. We are, from a population distribution perspective, not a country larger than the United States, as land area would suggest; we are a long, thin strip of land along our southern border with scattered pockets further north, and consequently extremely vulnerable to a potential invasion.
So as I said, I can appreciate that for Americans opposed to the current regime, seeing others claim that the United States is already not a democratic republic is infuriating, but in turn I would ask that Americans, especially those opposed to the official policy of the annexation of Canada by the United States, understand that for Canadians, seeing Americans downplay the threat of such annexation (such as through language like "comfortable distance") is just as infuriating, and that we do not feel safe from what is going on down south.
As the US Army warned in 1945: "By all these devices, fascism creates and then is driven by forces that cannot be stopped at will. Fascism cannot stand still. Its internal and external policies are rooted in aggression. It must expand or explode. It must conquer or perish. Every measure taken by fascism—its entire economic, social, political, and military set-up—means eventual war. The war comes when intimidation and terror fail as instruments of fascist foreign policy. The war comes when other nations finally refuse further to appease the insatiable hunger of fascism for markets, military glory, and world domination." ( https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Army_Talk_Orientation_Fact_Sheet/Number_64 ) And many of us feel that we are the very first target for such expansion.
Someone asked why the USMC “chose” to fire live rounds over civilians. They didn’t; they were ordered to by Whiskey Pete Hegseth in another display of toxic masculinity.
The Military is being desensitized to killing Venezuelan and Colombian civilians and now firing over the heads of fellow Americans. This is systematic evil and very dangerous. So far, the military has retained its oath of honor and held ranks against threats from the rogue Executive Branch.
Support our troops, for it is they who will likely have to save us from ourselves.
And barely mentioned on the evening news. No time for that, lots of time for video clips of Trump commenting on the government shutdown, on the new ballroom, on how great the peace plan is going, on the very small antifa protest, etc., etc.
It's almost as if they count on him to fill their broadcasts with his garbage to keep audiences agog with delight or rage.
Vance is a malevolent dangerous operator with an exaggerated sense of his own power and efficacy. Obviously damaged from a dysfunctional background, he seeks certainty and security in Catholic dogma, hierarchy and rituals. He compensates for his inadequacies by desperately trying to prove his bona fides to puppet masters like Thiel and Trump. Vance lacks intellectual depth, character and integrity. His loyalty and dedication begin and end with Trump, not to the American people or the Constitution. He is a calculating, arrogant striver, unfit and unprepared for the challenges of political leadership.
He is a timebomb armed and ready to go ... to take over from his predecessor without much of a hiccup. I used to see him as a bit of milk toast. He isn't. I couldn't have been more wrong. He is perhaps a bigger threat to Democracy than the idiot in the office right now.
JD is smart but half-baked: I don’t think he is a ‘bigger threat’ than the mentally compromised POTUS, but he could do more damage simply because he’s more self aware, and learning from his mistakes.
Short version: compared to Trump JD is fewer stupid lawsuits, more goons on the streets.
Vance couldn’t build a fascist movement but he sure could direct one he inherited. And he will have all the financial backing he requires from the America-hating tech overlords.
Yes. JD Vance is proof that Trumpism, or whatever they call it, will not end with Trump. Instead it will move from Nero, obsessed with symbol and spectacle and fundamentally incompetent, to something approaching Caligula, truly violent and unconcerned with anyone even those closest to him.
Trump may have fascist tendencies, but Vance *is* a Fascist and a competent one at that. At this point we do live on borrowed time.
"This is criminal negligence at minimum. This is reckless endangerment elevated to federal spectacle."
As I have said for the last 5+ years, what we are seeing is fascism, all its hallmarks, all its characteristic behavior. We are now on the "farm" but it is the Orwellian Animal Farm. We are in 2025, but also in Orwell's 1984.
The American public is told this is a "threat" to Democracy, while in fact, Democracy has been severely wounded and its wounds have a high likelihood of being fatal.
Wake up, Americans, you will not recognize your country by this time next year, or perhaps sooner. Don't count on the Midterms to rescue Democracy. Start being concerned whether there will be Midterms. How far off the rail will Trump, his cabinet and the Republican Congress go? My best is that they are "all in" for a complete fascist takeover.
You words are true. But being a Trump MAGA Republican and involved with Project 2025 creation above all he is a LIAR and COWARD and when Trump goes, this POS & every one in his comrades in the Trump Administration needs to be put on Trial for Treason!
Vance is truly filled with hate, more so than any other figure besides Stephen Miller. I believe it’s self loathing turned outward, for he is almost certainly a closeted gay man. The way he talks about marriage as if it’s a sacrifice is a big tell, as is Thiel’s sponsorship of him going back to getting Vance his first high paying job in finance.
Interested Canadian here. I have to say that part of the issue in this moment is the belief by many that you (USA) are still operating as a 'Constitutional Republic'. YOU'RE NOT. The orange shit-for-brains dictator sitting in the WH (and Vance) is just that. A dictator. He does not care for the Constitution or any of the constraints that it provides. He has a compliant congress, and he's bought off the SCOTUS.
The sooner the majority of US citizens come to the realization that your way of governance is in SERIOUS jeopardy, the sooner your can begin the long road to recovery.
The difference between “the framework is under assault” and “you're already not a constitutional republic” isn't semantic.
I would say the difference between recognizing authoritarian consolidation as something to resist versus treating it as fait accompli that excuses action is an important distinction to make.
I'm documenting violations precisely because they're still violations—because the framework exists enough to be violated, which means it exists enough to be defended. Declaring American democracy already dead from the comfortable distance of Canada while millions of Americans are actually organizing, protesting, and imposing real costs on authoritarian overreach isn't wisdom. It's spectating dressed as insight.
We're aware of the jeopardy. That's why we're fighting instead of writing the obituary.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for taking the time to respond. I love your writing and respect your opinion.
My fear over the last few months is not unjustified. From where we sit, it is blinding obvious as to what is happening, and even more clear that Trump jumps through every hurdle authoritarian hurdle with impunity. At the moment, I believe the legitimacy of your upcoming mid-terms and every election thereafter is in serious doubt. He's handing out 'Trump 2028' hats, and the media shrugs.
Please keep fighting and doing everything you can. We're watching. And we're scared.
Mike, I can appreciate that Americans do not like seeing Canadians overstate the case on the democratic decline in the US.
However, in turn, I would ask that you appreciate that Canadians do not like seeing Americans understate the case on the threat the United States currently poses to Canada.
Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to our former Prime Minister as "Governor Trudeau", incensing even many Canadians who hated Justin Trudeau. (I have been tempted at times to refer to him as "Premier Donald", both in the Canadian and Australian sense of "Premier" and in the Soviet sense of the term, using his first name rather than his last in reference to Trudeau's remark, "[B]ut Donald, this is a very dumb idea.")
Even months after Trudeau stepped down as Prime Minister and was succeeded by Mark Carney, he has continued to suggest that Canada join the US as its "51st state": https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/trump-51st-state-again-1.7647268
He further has gaslit us with an ambassador who makes light of the notion (at least twice saying it's off the table only for Trump to bring it up within a week, and another time suggesting that it's because he loves us--I think perhaps in the same way an abusive spouse like Donald loves his wife, if what I've heard about Ivana calling him "a rapist in the noncriminal sense" is actually something she said) and, as I've said here before, would be less offensive, at least to me, if he openly threatened a missile strike on Parliament Hill.
For many of us, Canada is not a "comfortable distance" at which to view events in the United States; rather we feel like Austria in the mid-1930s (I refer to Trump's desired fate for Canada as an Anschluß) or Finland during the Cold War, forced to toe the line with the Soviet Union and accept an autocrat as President for a quarter-century (Urho Kekkonen) to retain nominal independence. We are, from a population distribution perspective, not a country larger than the United States, as land area would suggest; we are a long, thin strip of land along our southern border with scattered pockets further north, and consequently extremely vulnerable to a potential invasion.
So as I said, I can appreciate that for Americans opposed to the current regime, seeing others claim that the United States is already not a democratic republic is infuriating, but in turn I would ask that Americans, especially those opposed to the official policy of the annexation of Canada by the United States, understand that for Canadians, seeing Americans downplay the threat of such annexation (such as through language like "comfortable distance") is just as infuriating, and that we do not feel safe from what is going on down south.
As the US Army warned in 1945: "By all these devices, fascism creates and then is driven by forces that cannot be stopped at will. Fascism cannot stand still. Its internal and external policies are rooted in aggression. It must expand or explode. It must conquer or perish. Every measure taken by fascism—its entire economic, social, political, and military set-up—means eventual war. The war comes when intimidation and terror fail as instruments of fascist foreign policy. The war comes when other nations finally refuse further to appease the insatiable hunger of fascism for markets, military glory, and world domination." ( https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Army_Talk_Orientation_Fact_Sheet/Number_64 ) And many of us feel that we are the very first target for such expansion.
Someone asked why the USMC “chose” to fire live rounds over civilians. They didn’t; they were ordered to by Whiskey Pete Hegseth in another display of toxic masculinity.
The Military is being desensitized to killing Venezuelan and Colombian civilians and now firing over the heads of fellow Americans. This is systematic evil and very dangerous. So far, the military has retained its oath of honor and held ranks against threats from the rogue Executive Branch.
Support our troops, for it is they who will likely have to save us from ourselves.
Vance worse than Trump
If Democrats control the House, the first person to be impeached should be JD.
Not Trump -- JD.
Republicans and Peter Theil are expecting Democrats to remove the sad dementia patient from their path. Remove JD first and they're screwed.
And where were the commanding officers who should have said, "Sorry, sir, but the Vice President doesn't have the authority to give such an order."?
And barely mentioned on the evening news. No time for that, lots of time for video clips of Trump commenting on the government shutdown, on the new ballroom, on how great the peace plan is going, on the very small antifa protest, etc., etc.
It's almost as if they count on him to fill their broadcasts with his garbage to keep audiences agog with delight or rage.
…welcome to putin’s country
Vance is a malevolent dangerous operator with an exaggerated sense of his own power and efficacy. Obviously damaged from a dysfunctional background, he seeks certainty and security in Catholic dogma, hierarchy and rituals. He compensates for his inadequacies by desperately trying to prove his bona fides to puppet masters like Thiel and Trump. Vance lacks intellectual depth, character and integrity. His loyalty and dedication begin and end with Trump, not to the American people or the Constitution. He is a calculating, arrogant striver, unfit and unprepared for the challenges of political leadership.