{"id":15519,"date":"2025-03-22T05:21:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T11:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/play.fallows.ca\/wp\/?p=15519"},"modified":"2025-03-20T19:50:35","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T01:50:35","slug":"i-didnt-see-this-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/play.fallows.ca\/wp\/insights\/i-didnt-see-this-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"I didn’t see this coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"didn't<\/a><\/p>\n

Boy, I didn\u2019t see this coming. This lack of respect for long held institutions, neighbors and values is just staggering.<\/p>\n

Note to reader: This post is about politics. If you are not interested, skip it. <\/em><\/p>\n

My November 4th Liberation Day post<\/a> has really come home to roost. In part, I thought there was a possibility Trump would lose. I missed that by 1.5%. But, more saliently, I thought I would be able to excise Trump from my brain for good. Not so, unfortunately.<\/p>\n

With a Trump win, I expected chaos and tariffs. I expected the U.S. government would be downsized. And, I expected some changes to economic and social order. Fair enough. It was probably time for some long overdue changes.<\/p>\n

But to savage my country, upend the rule of law, make Congress irrelevant, cast aside Western values, alienate allies and ignore the adults (who are no longer in the room)? I didn\u2019t see this coming. And we are only 4% into his term of office.<\/p>\n

Canadians are supposed to be polite and respectful. That has suddenly become much harder, and it will be interesting to see how our culture evolves over the next four years.<\/p>\n

Why I didn\u2019t see this coming<\/h2>\n

I was born into and have lived in a fairly stable, rules-based world where strong institutions provided a buffer to occasional political idiocy. At least in North America, Europe and most of Asia-Pacific, the system has worked for the people.<\/p>\n

Politics could get nasty but rarely reckless. Policies could be disagreeable but rarely stupid. Leaders could stumble but rarely fell over the edge. All of that has changed.<\/p>\n

For eighty years, America was actually a pretty good hegemon<\/a>. Retrospectively, I owe it a lot. Canada owes it a lot. But now, Canada needs a fresh look at life.<\/p>\n

There is an old Yiddish saying \u201cman plans, God laughs\u201d. Life is inherently unpredictable. But what happens when there is no plan, only one unhinged, powerful man surrounded by acolytes? For me, the laughter has stopped. Oh Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boy, I didn\u2019t see this coming. This lack of respect for long held institutions, neighbors and values is just staggering. Note to reader: This post is about politics. 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