While you won’t find many Canadians taking to the street in protest like hundreds of thousands of Americans have since Donald Trump shocked the world and became the 45th president of the United States last Tuesday, there are still many of us here in Canada who wonder aloud what the future holds.
Trump is the most polarizing political figure in modern American history.
While many despise him after a campaign filled with hate, fear and loathing, the reality is tens of millions of Americans voted for him rather than cast a ballot supporting the establishment Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton.
Since stunning the world and becoming the new President Elect, Trump, to his credit, has toned down the rhetoric that was such a huge part of his campaign.
It was that same rhetoric and promise to shake up Washington and the political elites that have dominated the American political landscape for decades that appealed to so many Americans and brought Trump and the Republican Party to power.
Trump won for many reasons, but the fact Clinton came across as equally unlikeable was right near the top.
With full control of the Senate and Congress, Trump is going to have the authority and power to do pretty much what he wants over the next four years.
Let’s hope that many of his promises made during the bitter campaign were simply hot air.
Threatening to build a wall between Mexico and the United States, promising to kick out millions of what he calls illegal immigrants and tearing up trade agreements that have proven successful and helped reinvigorate the American economy will cause far more harm than good.
Trump isn’t the first and won’t be the last person to make an endless list of promises and not follow through on most of them once in power.
His conciliatory tone since election night is much welcomed and hopefully he will have the wisdom to listen to his advisors and realize that his promise to make America great once again can only be attained through fixing the economy, creating millions of jobs and giving hope.
What his presidency will mean in terms of future relations with Canada remains to be seen.
No matter what happens, the next four years promise to be some of the most important – and potentially dangerous – in a very long time.
Trump has the choice between concentrating on fear and loathing or trying to bring America together again.
All Canadians will be watching closely to see what happens.
It should be four years the world won’t forget any time soon.
