President Joe Biden’s recent debate performance should leave Canadians with no illusions: another Donald Trump presidency is not only an increasingly conceivable outcome, at this point it may even be likely. Even if Biden manoeuvres the machinations of media and party politics to survive intact as the Democratic nominee come November, an ultimate electoral victory is far from assured for the almost 82-year-old.
The possibility of Trump setting up shop in the Oval Office, then, should come as no surprise. Canada must start preparing now for that familiar yet still monumental challenge.
This comes amidst fraught times for Canada internationally as our relations with China remain a mess, relations with India remain frosty, and relations with our NATO and Five Eyes allies grow increasingly strained following decades of derelict defence spending. That’s not to mention the ongoing scandal of foreign interference complicating our domestic politics.
But come January, if Trump is elected our relations with our closest and most important ally are bound to get worse than all our other problems combined. We are heading for a great foreign policy “Waterloo” of epic proportions and very little can be done to stop it if we carry on the way that we have in the past.
Even now, relations have not been great with the U.S., despite Trudeau and Biden’s naturally friendly dispositions and ideological alignment. From disagreements over the importance of developing gas pipelines to help allies, and in particular Ukraine, to increasing pressure to pull our weight on NATO and security spending, we have been in the president’s “woodshed.”
That pales in comparison to what could be coming. The frostiness of relations between the current prime minister and the former president is legendary, and the two leaders could not be further apart in how they view the world and foreign policy. While Trudeau’s government is about moralizing and virtue signalling Trump is about action, change, and challenging the status quo.
