A guy I vaguely know was complaining on Facebook that, according to reports, a number of Canadians would still not be coming to the United States, even if FOTUS left office. He complained, “But he’d be gone!”
I totally understand the Canadians’ trepidation. If you had a best friend who betrayed and belittled you repeatedly – “Governor Carney, ” “51st state,” on and off tariffs – wouldn’t you be wary?
The current political debacle may have FOTUS’s name on it. But he’s had a boatload of enablers, from a feckless Congress to a complicit Supreme Court, not to mention state officials who have drunk the Kool-Aid.
It’s not just Canada. The “marauding bands of immigration goons have made the United States so unsafe” that Germany has “issued a travel advisory to warn its citizens about coming here.” The Vances were booed at the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony.
A recent Pew poll indicated that his approval rating stands at 37%, down from 40% in the fall. “By more than two-to-one, Americans say the administration’s actions have been worse than they expected (50%) rather than better (21%). Only about a quarter of Americans today (27%) say they support all or most of his policies and plans, down from 35% when he returned to office last year. That change has come entirely among Republicans.”
Analyze this
An analysis of the poll suggests “Americans voted for Trump, but never supported Trumpism.” I SO disagree. In 2016, I could almost understand his appeal as an outsider, a “businessman!” “He starred in The Apprentice!” Oooo!
In that first term, if you recall, news reports kept saying, “Well, NOW he’s being Presidential,” more as wish fulfillment. And there were SOME breakers who kept him somewhat in check.
By the time the 2018 Helsinki summit had concluded, I was convinced that he was Putin’s puppet, which the 2025 Alaska non-event seemed to amplify.
But after January 6, 2021, insurrection, and his charitable characterization of the actors, one would think that, even if the Senate didn’t convict him after his second impeachment, a thinking American would conclude that he was not worthy of his office.
So when he was elected in 2024, those people voted for Trumpism. They voted for disinformation, if not outright lies, and vulgarity.
Nothing new
A 2017(!) poll indicated the ten most common words that respondents gave describing him were: “incompetent,” “arrogant,” “strong,” “idiot,” “egotistical,” “ignorant,” “great,” “racist,” “a——” and “narcissistic.”
When a racist video involving the Obamas recently appeared on his social media feed, and even Republicans balked, it was said that “a staffer erroneously made the post.” But later, on Air Force One, FOTUS said that he had posted it himself. When a reporter asked if he would apologize, he said, “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”
Oh, that Project 2025, which he SAID he didn’t know anything about, despite the creators being in his orbit – surprise, surprise – was implemented.
Given the fact that SCOTUS gave the Presidency nearly complete immunity in 2024, well BEFORE the election, people voted for Trumpism.
“Oh, I didn’t know he’d do THAT.” Sure. Whatever. But this is why our once closest allies don’t trust us, and the next presidential election cycle will not resolve the stain.
The man, even among his lies, showed his colors.
There is a lazy racism that takes place in the United States in periods of plenty, but especially in periods of difficulty. The poster above is from postbellum America, almost certainly during the term of President Andrew Johnson (1865-1869), at war with the so-called “Radical” Republicans in Congress. 
At the end of 2025, 
