Friday, February 07, 2020

How The Cons Became The Trump Party



It's a political story that ends in a graveyard, and I've been telling it for a long time. 

The story of the Harper Party, and how the Cons became more American than Canadian.

So when Donald Trump came along they fell on their knees before him.



They started thinking like him, they started talking like him. For many Cons the diseased Trump, not the religious fanatic Scheer, became their real leader.

And when the smoke had cleared, the Cons were a whole different beast. 

The Conservative Party that most Canadians have known—the political centre that previously had the ability to find centre terrain on the most divisive issues of the day—has disappeared. What contemporary Conservative strategists and the media seem to have significant difficulty recognizing is that Canadian politics has become much more like American politics—it’s become tribal. And just as two Americas have taken root and blossomed, two Canadas are appearing on this side of the border.

Canada was more divided than ever, on almost every issue from the fight against climate change...

EKOS Research found that four years ago, there was a 10-percentage-point gap between Liberals and Conservatives who selected climate change as the top issue of political concern. That gap is now 46 percentage points.

To the battle against racism...



Since 2012, the incidence of Conservative voters who think Canada is admitting “too many” visible minorities as immigrants has swollen from 47 per cent to 70 per cent . Meanwhile, the corresponding incidence of Liberals agreeing there are too many has dropped from 35 to 15 per cent. A modest 12 per cent gap has also expanded to a massive 55 per cent gap.

Where the Liberals are the Canadians, and the Cons are the Trumplings.

It’s the face of authoritarian populism that is largely driving the new conservatism in Canada. Traditional progressive conservatives may yearn for the status quo conservatism of yore. The new base looks more like Trumpian populists than the Red Tories of the Charest era.

Which is of course the best news ever.

For no Trumpling Party will ever govern this country...



Not as long as we have a real Canadian prime minister.

The Ugly American led the Cons to a very bad place.

And now they are going to pay for it for a long long time...



20 comments:

Jackie Blue said...

And today Dug bashed Pelosi for ripping up Trump's bullshit speech. Sure Druggie, that'll help the FedCons in Ontario, as if Stephen the Leech isn't poisoning the brand for a generation by going after teachers. I can tell you right now that if he ran in the Dem primaries Trudeau would win a landslide and we'd be begging for him to serve 4 terms like FDR. Probably do even better here than Canada itself. There's an old saying, a prophet is never welcome in his own house. Dug and Donnie, meanwhile, aren't really welcome anywhere but Republican cult meetings and probably Russia. Add Alberta's own greaseball evil twins Kenney and Cruz to the mix and it's blatantly obvious that the Harper IDU Associates CRAP Party really are the GOP North.

jrkrideau said...

Dug and Donnie, meanwhile, aren't really welcome anywhere but Republican cult meetings and probably Russia.

Russia has standards. The Russian Gov't may have to meet with slime balls like Pompeo but that is diplomacy making strange connections. I do not think the GULAG still exists so Russia would not have any place for Dug to stay.

Anonymous said...

Have the HarperCons realized yet that McSpud's spouse is Iranian, made Iranian pro-democracy music videos, is a champion human rights activist, and holds "extreme-left" socialist beliefs! All evil stuff their soft FoxNews-infused brains should reject as heresy. At some point her intelligence (she has quite an amazing Bio) and benevolence might hold back McSpud's impulse to automatically please Stevie, so she is a potential policy obstacle to be restrained or muzzled.

Anonymous said...

The Harper birds have finally come home to roost. The Conservatives are no longer a truly Canadian political party. I suppose in one sense it's sad, but it was so predictable. They are not nice people and nobody will miss them.

Anonymous said...

It's unbelievable how different the Cons now are from the Liberals. They are climate change deniers and racists while the Liberals are not. No real Canadian should have to waste a minute thinking about who to vote for. It's time to give Trudeau another majority!

Steve said...

who sold out Canada, hit it starts with an M, and some believe he worked for the alphabet.

Jackie Blue said...

Did anyone catch goofy Gladu in DicklessPW's Macleans article demeaning Trudeau as stupid? "We both went to engineering school... I finished, he didn't." A petroleum engineer, the modern equivalent of a pulmonary doctor employed by Philip Morris. And who could forget her doozie (doobie?) of an unscientific statement about kids smoking weed in toaster ovens? Besides, Trudeau abandoned his graduate program not because he couldn't do the work, but because he had begun his career in politics. Meanwhile, weak Andy took 10 years to get his BA in history (political science was too hard) and never completed his insurance broker license. Dug dropped out of community college, and Jason the bigot quit Jesuit university because they were too liberal. And they all hate teachers!

All these stable-genius cons ever do is pander to the gleefully uneducated while fluffing their egos to make them feel smart, as they relentlessly bash Trudeau as dumb, effeminate, etc. Disagree with him if you like but he's the best representative for Canada in terms of basic human decency. And yes he damn well should get another majority so he can make his vision work without having roadblocks thrown in by the Cons and their third-party stooges. I can vouch for, we love him here. Canada is so lucky and needs to keep him and bless him for a very long time.

Anonymous said...

Although the RepugnantCons were busy laying the groundwork for Trump, it was actually Harper that pioneered rise of destructive politics in North America. The strategy is fairly simple, emotionally bind the right while destroying the center through exaggeration deceit and lies, sit back and watch the left splinter which eliminates the chances of any effective counter challenge. Politicians always had a tendency to exaggerate future benefits but generally avoided directly lying as the general population was smart enough to know that a person that repeatedly tells lies has no respect for you and it will end badly. The political end state is voluntary serfdom ruled by an autocrat but the strong sense of belonging on the tribal journey seems to make it worthwhile. All center to left leaning parties need to condemn the lies and exaggerations first before presenting their vision of the future otherwise it will be bleak as the web of deceit will expand like an unchecked virus.
The Harper Cons are down but certainly not out while the Orange Oaf has stepped up his game by openly punishing people who tell the truth and is desperately seeking staffers willing to break the law with their lies. So far he has only been able to attract those that will bend the truth but he now desperately needs lawbreakers in key positions to complete the transformation.

RT

Jackie Blue said...

Con reactions online to Trudeau's diplomatic visit to African countries have been predictably awful. The usual "ha ha blackface" bullshit and conflating the proposed provincial bailout over Teck Frontier with an aid package for girls' education in Africa: "he thinks he can buy Alberta at a slave auction like a bunch of n***rs". On one hand they echo Trump's characterization of African nations as shithole countries and on the other, they think Trudeau thinks of Alberta as a shithole country, when he's done more for them than any other PM, at the expense of great political capital. Bunch of entitled, whiny, racist gits.

The more I see of these deplorables (#NotAllAlbertans, I know), the more I really am convinced they're the Confederates of Confederation, and you're right: nobody would miss them, and the ReformaCons would never form government again. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Simon said...

Hi Jackie Blue....The idea of Doug Ford in Washington praising Trump and criticizing Pelosi tells me all I need to know about the bestial right in this country. But as I have said many times, it's just more evidence that the Cons are now the American or Trumpling Party. And they are going to pay for that in the next Ontario and Canadian elections....

Jackie Blue said...

The political end state is voluntary serfdom ruled by an autocrat but the strong sense of belonging on the tribal journey seems to make it worthwhile. All center to left leaning parties need to condemn the lies and exaggerations first before presenting their vision of the future otherwise it will be bleak as the web of deceit will expand like an unchecked virus.

For the new right, Hungary is now what Venezuela once was for the left | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/08/hungary-now-for-the-new-right-what-venezuela-once-was-for-the-left

Viktor Orbán. Harper's fascist BFF. For the IDU, everybody's got a Hungary heart.

Simon said...

Hi jrkrideau....They don't need a gulag. I can see Dougie at the Moscow Circus riding a bear tricycle. There must be something useful he can do before they carry him off like his ugly and still unlamented brother....

Simon said...

Hi anon....MacKay's spouse does seem a lot better, and a lot brighter than Dumbo. But then that's not too hard. When I hear some of the idiot statements he's been making, especially on climate change, I find it hard to believe that the Cons are living in the same country and century that I am....

Simon said...

Hi anon @3:45 pm...Yes the Con Angry Birds have indeed come home to roost. If you read their social media squawks it's clear that they admire Trump more than any of their leaders. It's a significant development in the history of our country, but it will just give the real Canadians more ammunition to destroy them....

Simon said...

Hi Steve....I don't know if you've ever read how the young Mulroney used to rush down to the dock in Baie Comeau to greet ships with rich American tourists. He would sing for them, while the tourists threw quarters into the water for other boys to dive for. I like our American neighbours, but I despise Con stooges who genuflect before them...

Simon said...

Hi anon....it is stunning to see how the Cons have been swept up in the Con cult. But as I keep saying, the more of that the better. When more Canadians realize what is happening it will the the Con Apocalypse. And the real Canadian parties will rule for at least a generation, and hopefully forever....

Simon said...

Hi Jackie...I did read Wells' absurd article trying to promote the merits of Gladu. Unfortunately for him Gladu has little more than naked ambition going her, so Wells had to pad 80 per cent of his piece with rambling thoughts that just showed how low he has fallen. I am concerned about how the Orange Oaf disease is spreading in the U.S., but in Canada more than 80% of our people reject Trumpism so if we give the Cons enough rope they will hang themselves....

Simon said...

Hi RT....There is no doubt that Harper was the one who corrupted or infected our politics like a virus. As soon as I saw his imported Republican-style attack ads I could see that politics in Canada would never be the same again. But Harper's Americanism came at a time when many Canadians, especially in places like Toronto, were bleating about how we were as good as the Americans and were also "world class." It ran against the whole flow of our history, and was in my view totally pathetic. The good news is that you have to be a real zombie to want to be an American these days, so if the Cons haven't realized that,mthey are in for a brutal awakening...

Simon said...

Hi Jackie...The Alberta Cons are Canada's Confederates, traitors to our country and its values. Which is fine for me, I'm a bit of an American Civil War buff, and I would love to play General Sherman....😉

Jsb said...

Like I said the cons want annexation of Canada with the red states of the US...I mean they should campai in it I'm sure 30 percent would vote for them even then, especially in Alberta....