Donald Trump’s collapse at Davos was worthy of a Shakespearean tragedy.
He came to Europe “full of sound and fury” with Western allies quaking in their boots. He demanded that the people of Greenland submit. He threatened his former allies in Europe. He bragged about a military invasion by saying that “there is no going back.”
But Trump arrived one day late.
Prime Minister Mark Carney had already punctured his balloon with a groundbreaking speech that was measured, honest and fearless.
By the time Trump arrived, he was, as Macbeth would say, a “walking shadow” of America’s once dominant presence, “strutting and fretting on the stage… signifying nothing.”
This was the first time that it wasn’t Trump who sent shockwaves around the world. He was totally upstaged by Canada’s Prime Minister.
Mr. Carney said what everyone was thinking, but nobody would dare say. The PM threw down the gauntlet to the world.
“The rules-based order is fading, and the strong [believe] they can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must. There is a strong tendency for countries to go along, get along, to accommodate, to avoid trouble, to hope that compliance will buy safety. Well, it won’t.”
“Intermediate powers like Canada are not powerless. They have the capacity to build a new order that encompasses our values, such as respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the various states.”
The message was clear: this new world order of democratic nations does not include gangster states like the United States or Russia.
To countries that are being bullied and threatened by an increasingly unhinged United States, Canada offered another way. The speech has shaken up the global political order and is reverberating in the corridors of power from Mexico to Australia.
The Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers described Carney’s speech as “stunning,” and it is now putting enormous pressure on the Australian government to repudiate the terrible trade deal they recently signed with Trump.
In the UK, PM Keir Starmer is being called out for his pitiful efforts to continually placate the Americans. Faced with threats of military invasion from a neighbour and ally, Starmer tried to tell everyone to remain calm because he was worried about tariffs. Trump responded to this obsequious approach with public ridicule.
Both media and political analysts in Europe are calling on the EU to follow the Carney lead and stand up to the American threat.
The order of the Western world has shifted. Canada has become the visible leader of the free world on the international stage.
But make no mistake, there will be payback. Big payback.
The humiliated Trump issued a classic gangster threat, telling Canadians that we had better remember that “Canada lives because of the United States.” And then, right on cue, he took to social media to rescind the invitation for Canada to join his “prestigious” Board of Peace.
(Director’s note: Trump gathers toys, exists stage left)
A year ago, we may have worried about such threats. But we are a tougher people now.
This brings me back to the statements I have been making about the necessity of preparing and considering the price we are willing to pay to truly break free from the American hegemony.
Up until now, it has felt like we were alone. But not anymore.
Carney’s speech wasn’t exactly the rousing defiance of Henry V on St. Crispen’s Day, but it didn’t need to be. This was the measured, decent and unafraid voice of Canada, showing the world that if we hold together, we can salvage something from these dark times.
Trump will be coming for us. Hard. But we’ve got this.
