RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2025. Up here in the Canadian northern wilderness Tuesday, November 4, 2025 was a double-edged sword.

The main evening political entertainment on TV in Canada as in the United States was the first wave of US state and local elections since President Trump took office for his second term. Inevitably they were seen in many if not all minds as the first democratic electoral (as opposed to mere opinion polling) evidence on how well Trump II is doing, domestically.

At the same time, the 4PM ET (1PM PT etc) presentation of the (at last) 2025 Canadian federal budget in Parliament at Ottawa by The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Liberal Minister of Finance and National Revenue, was a suitable prelude to the subsequent evening burst of Democratic party victories in the USA, USA — especially but by no means exclusively in Virginia, New Jersey, New York City, and California.

As far as this particular bi-coastal quartet goes (V/NJ/NYC/CAL), the Trump press secretary response that it wasn’t surprising to see Democrats doing well in blue states and cities does bear some serious enough weight. On the other hand, the results in these (and even it becomes clearer many other non-blue) cases were more strongly Democratic than was widely expected.

Some Republicans have urged that the Democrats are now hopelessly divided between the new “Democratic socialist” (and Muslim) Mayor of New York City and the new more Democratic centrist (and blond female) governors of Virginia and New Jersey. Democrats just answer that theirs is and has always been a big-tent party, with room for many kinds of “free and democratic” political philosophy.

By the time of the 2026 midterm elections to the federal Congress — almost exactly a year from now — Mayor Zohran Mamdani will have had at least some time to show what his kind of government is all about.

And Donald Trump will have had still more time to carry on with his current madness.

From a use of tariffs largely abandoned by the civilized world after WWII ended in 1945, to his quest to turn ICE into a military force he can use against the big blue cities who don’t vote for him.

And then there’s his Liberace- re-do on the White House, complete with a ripped-up east wing and an eccentric giant new ballroom.

All these things may have figured in the Democratic surge of November 4, 2025.

A week is a long time in politics, it has been famously said. What will happen in the USA and beyond over the next 50 weeks, or whatever it is exactly to the midterm vote in 2026, cannot be even wisely guessed at.

But November 4, 2025 has certainly made clear enough that the real and honest and authentic Democracy in America is far from dead yet. The Trump II era as a serious event may not last all that much longer! Our prayers may not have been altogether in vain ..

COUNTERWEIGHTS EDITORS. GANATSEKWYAGON, ON. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2025.Back some two and a half weeks ago Canadian labour economist Jim Stanford noted a rising trend that has only moderately abated since, at best.

Stanford wrote : “The new McCarthyism is spreading into Canada. And it will have a group of very happy cheerleaders here. Worse than the 50s: back then you had to belong to something (a Communist Party). Antifa doesn’t even exist, making it easier today to target anyone they want.”|

We counterweights editors have noticed similar incursions on our Twitter/X account. And we have perhaps somewhat foolishly but often enough joined in the growing political wars (online and strictly in words of course), over what in Canada is finally the future of Canada, now (almost) engulfing social media in the fall of 2025.

The extreme right Trumpian position in this debate (apparently actually endorsed by some who live in Canada but do not seem to be having a very good time) is “Canada as the 51st State.” It is very clear that this is what Presidewnt Trump would like to see. (And if in doubt see the online video confirmation from his Secretary of State.)

At the same time, it also seems clear enough (so far) that even President Donald J. Trump II is not quite crazy enough (yet?) to actually invade Canada with military force. Or try to. We have long embraced the view of University of Toronto political science professor Aisha Ahmad, that any US military conquest of Canada would only initiate a long period of political violence and “guerilla warfare” on the northern US border, against some new US imperialist regime. So as Trump has actually acknowledged in public himself : “It takes two to tango.” And the Canadian people don’t want to dance!

At the same time again, the destruction of a substantial chunk of the White House, to make room for an absurdly large ballroom on a different and more grandiose model from the more democratic White House proper (the part of it still standing at any rate), can only symbolize just how much destruction of the old free and democratic American government President Donald J. Trump II has managed to get away with so far.

Read the rest of this page »

RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2025. To start with on this particular date, best wishes to all those next door, standing up for the Democracy in America that Alexis de Tocqueville brought to the wider world’s attention in the 1830s — the ultimate brilliant blossom of the American Declaration of Independence in 1776.

(As the historian Jill Lepore has recently urged, the final US Constitution of 1787-89 was of course imperfect, like all other mere human creations, and especially in its tacit acceptance of Indigenous repression and African slavery. The United States of Amerca was intended from the start to evolve towards an ever “More Perfect Union” — as in the 14th Amendment of 1868 on birthright citizenship, and the broader Civil Rights Act of 1964.)

Meanwhile, up here in what the Canadian fur-trade historian Harold Innis liked to call “northern North America” more than a few media and related voices have been raised in concern over such headlines as : “BREAKING NEWS : Stellantis moves Jeep production from Ontario to Illinois.” (President Donald Trump is apparently serious about the hardcore 19th century proposition that all automobiles sold in the USA must be exclusively manufactured in the USA.)

Gus Carlson, “New York-based communications and marketing consultant” who writes for the Globe and Mail (“Toronto’s national newspaper with a Vancouver edition”) has recently urged that “Canadian leaders are naive to be shocked over Stellantis pulling Jeeps from Brampton.”

(1) Manufacturing down from 23.8% of Ontario labour force in 1980 to 9.9% in 2024 (and today’s auto sector only 1.9%)

The day before Gus Carlson’s piece appeared, my counterweights editors brethren had reacted to a social media post on “BREAKING NEWS : Stellantis moves” from Alberta Memes (“Oh wow, poor Canada. Glad I live in Alberta”). Somewhat like Carlson the editors urged : “Plain truth is this has very little impact on most of us in Ontario in 2025 … Canada is a great country with a great future in all its vast geography.”

Read the rest of this page »

RANDALL WHITE. FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2025. This past Saturday I came across a social media thread on the country of Poland today. The thread master is called “Culture Explorer.”

Mr. Explorer begins his own message up front with two sentences : “Poland just became a $1 trillion economy without open borders, without giving up religion, and without tearing down its traditions … What did Poland do that the West won’t?”

(1) The Polish conservative miracle since the end of communism in 1989 and 1990

The message has a strong right-wing tilt. It also embraces what some would see as such current progressive values as “You can build prosperity without destroying beauty.”

But Culture Explorer’s unmistakable right-wing roots show clearly in pronouncements like : “While others erase their roots, Poland crowns its faith … Literally … In 2016, Poland officially named Jesus Christ as its King.”

In fact this last proposition about King Jesus turns out to be not exactly correct.

In the most illuminating “replies” part of the thread — following the up-front message on the Polish miracle since the end of the communist regime in 1989 and 1990 — a widely followed native of the country called rzep explains : “No, Poland DID NOT do this … The polish catholic church did it … Poland is a secular country, as stated in its constitution.”

Yet even without Jesus as a secular King, Poland probably can stand as a current economic success that preserves a conservative society, controlled borders, high ethnic homogeneity, and strong traditional culture (including the Christian religion).

Read the rest of this page »

RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2025. When the now daily tragedy of contemporary American history next door just gets too much to digest I walk to the foot of my street and sit on a bench at the edge of the boardwalk.

From the bench I am about 15 yards from the northwest shore of the smallest North American Great Lake. (In surface area at least. Cold Lake Ontario is much deeper than adjacent Lake Erie and even Lake Huron.)

For years now I have found that the lake and its infinitely changing beach, birds, boats, breezes, clouds, skies, sunshine, temperatures, and related human and animal activity quietly lifts my spirits, regardless of all current troubles of politics, economics, culture (religion), and sports — public life at large.

And these troubles seem increasingly worrisome in late September 2025 — south of the border at any rate. (Meanwhile PM Carney has been traveling abroad, drumming up new business for Canada as best he can. Who could ask for anything more in our adjacent vast geography with not-that- many people, up in the wilderness of “northern North America”?)

(1) Robert Reich on awakening the slumbering giant of Democracy in America

There are a number of increasingly troubling issues in the air at the moment — starting with the USA but then moving to various European (and Asian) old colonial mother countries.

There is arguably at least the beginnings of a silver lining to all the Trumpian troubles in the USA. As Robert Reich’s Sunday thought from Berkeley, CA explains : “It was an extraordinary week. The slumbering giant of America is awakening.”

The details Mr Reich offers are, as usual, illuminating : “Americans forced Disney to put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air … assailing Trump’s attempt to censor him.

“Trump’s dictatorial narcissism revealed itself nearly as dramatically in the criminal indictment of former FBI director James Comey, coming immediately after Trump fired the U.S. attorney who refused to indict him.

“As did Trump’s demand that prosecutors go after philanthropist George Soros, Senator Adam Schiff, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and other perceived enemies …

Read the rest of this page »

RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2025. It is true enough that the Canadian people are not as divided as the American people at this point in time. And like many other Canadians I’m grateful for that.

A recent article by David Beers and Jen St. Denis at The Tyee in BC, however, has shown that living right next door to the USA does continue to have an impact. It’s headlined “The Dangerous Targeting of a Canadian Journalist … After the murder of Charlie Kirk, conservatives piled on Rachel Gilmore for expressing a well-founded fear. Then came violent threats.”

A short quotation from the Beers-St. Denis piece captures the main thrust of Ms Gilmore’s current troubles : “Kirk’s assassination was an alarming development … Rachel Gilmore took to social media to share insights based on years of reporting, writing that she was concerned some fans of Kirk on the far right who are ‘aching for more violence, could turn this into an even more radicalizing moment.

“‘Will they now believe their fears have been proven right and they have a right to “retaliate,” no matter who was behind the actual shooting?’

“Conservative MP Andrew Scheer swiftly reposted Gilmore’s comments, saying she was ‘twisted’ and had ‘so much hate in her.’ Other Canadian Conservatives also weighed in or reposted Scheer’s comment while … another post Gilmore made was circulated by right-wing influencers …

“Hours later, Gilmore’s name was the first to appear on a website called ‘Expose Charlie’s Murderers’ … Gilmore then received death and rape threats, including threats that say, ‘We know where you live.’”

(1) “Half of Canadian conservatives love the guy who is threatening to crush our economy and annex us”

Read the rest of this page »

RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2025. I’m personally embarrassed when local TV reports on the Toronto International Film Festival ask visiting foreign (albeit usually just US) celebrities : “What is your favourite thing about Canada?”

(I should quickly note that the countervailing logic has been voiced by my wife : “I like it when they ask that question.” And the media pay much more attention to her.)

My embarrassment, however, was recently redeemed by the answer of the actress from Connecticut, Glenn Close, at TIFF 2025 : “My favourite thing about Canada … [said with a friendly smile] … They stood up to you know who. I shouldn’t say that but I will anyway.”

And I think to myself that if Glenn Close thinks Canada has stood up to the insanity of Donald Trump’s still oh-so-young second federal administration in the USA today, others outside Canada must have some similar thoughts. And for we Canadians that is of course a good thing!

On some similar wave of current popular thought the Oscar-winning director from Mexico, Guillermo del Toro, “known for his love of … our city and country,” has offered an even stronger Canadian assessment during a speech at the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, which will end this coming Sunday, September 14, 2025.

“Canadians,” Mr. del Toro has pronounced, “are modest and shy except on traffic and hockey …So it takes a Mexican to tell you that Canada is a bastion of hope in the world right now.”

Read the rest of this page »

RANDALL WHITE, FERNWOOD PARK, TORONTO. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1 (LABOUR DAY) 2025. Canadian pundit Andrew Coyne’s recent column in the Toronto Globe and Mail — “Donald Trump is on the brink of becoming a dictator. Can he be stopped?” — has its alarming moments.

The “defenders” of “democracy in America,” it urges, “are running out of options, and out of time.”

Inside the USA some of the defenders themselves have lately been sounding at least somewhat more optimistic.

In the midst of the often bizarre instincts of Trumpian health policy czar RFK Jr (strange son of the original “right-wing-new-left liberal” RFK), health officials from the eight Northeastern states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont recently “met … to consider coordinating their own vaccine recommendations, separate from the federal government.”

[UPDATE: On Sep 3 it was further reported that on the Pacific coast “California, Oregon, and Washington just announced they are forming an alliance to coordinate vaccine recommendations in direct defiance of RFK Jr.”

Or as officially reported by the Golden State: “As Trump & RFK Jr. destroy the CDC’s credibility,@CAGovernor Gavin Newsom just announced California is teaming up with Oregon & Washington to launch a new ‘West Coast Health Alliance’ to uphold scientific integrity in public health” …

And on Sep 4 Bob Ferguson, Governor of Washington, announced : “Welcome, Hawaii, to the West Coast Health Alliance.”]

Read the rest of this page »

RANDALL WHITE, NORTH AMERICAN NOTEBOOK, TORONTO. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 2025. I have a lot of time these days for Gentleman Joe Walsh — “Former GOP Congressman. Ex Tea Partier turned relentless anti Trump truth teller.”

A few days ago Mr. Walsh posted on Twitter/X : “Donald Trump: ‘How do I know the 2020 election was rigged and that I really won it? Because Vladimir Putin said it was rigged, that’s how’ … Every day, the entire world — friend & foe — laughs at us for electing such a very stupid person. Every single day. They all laugh at us.”

Like many others outside America (though just across the lake in my own case) I agree with this sentiment, and I do my fair share of laughing. As with many others again, however, my laughter is of a particular sort. It’s captured by a haunting phrase from the depths of the American experience : “Laughing to Keep from Crying,”

This phrase clearly enough grows out of the inevitably troubling, always inspiring, and ultimately mainstream African American experience in the American republic — as illustrated by two uniquely American cultural creations of the 1950s :

(1) Laughing to Keep from Crying — a book first published in 1952, reprinted in 1976. A “collection of short stories” by the great African American writer from Joplin, Missouri, Langston Hughes, where “each story exemplifies a different aspect of race relations” in the USA of the first half of the 20th century (and no doubt beyond).

(2) Laughin’ To Keep From Cryin’ — a 1958 LP recording featuring the African American President of the tenor saxophone Lester Young, with trumpet giants Roy Eldrige and Harry “Sweets” Edison. Not the best of the prematurely aging President’s path-breaking work in modern jazz. (The presidential title was bestowed by the incomparable singer Billie Holiday, on some of whose best recordings Young also appears.) He would die all too early at 49 in the middle of March 1959. This Laughin’ To Keep From Cryin’ LP nonetheless captures a few notable moments from the buoyant 1950s jazz scene in cities across North America.

Read the rest of this page »

SPECIAL FROM L. FRANK BUNTING, GRAND BEND, ON. AUGUST 10, 2025. It is now more than a year since my last contribution to this august space — “Democracy in America holds Donald Trump to account at last in New York, New York (if not in more rural red states),” May 31st, 2024.

As I contemplate the long hot summer here in early August 2025 (28C “feels 36”/82F “feels 98”), I am pondering an email from the counterweights editors, asking how I feel about the state of the Trump II presidency now.

My first thought as I relax on the southeastern shore of Lake Huron, in Southwestern Ontario in central Canada, is that I feel somewhat happily disconnected from Trump USA Part Deux.

I disagree with Canadian PM Mark Carney on various issues (the future of the British monarchy in Canada eg). And his style is somewhat too deeply rooted in the honourable Canadian political tradition of compromise and good manners for my personal taste.

Like many others, however, I continue to have confidence in PM Carney’s ability to navigate the utter unpredictable craziness of President Trump’s approach to Canada-US trade (and much else) as successfully as is humanly possible.

And I continue to feel that in some ways the 51st state apostle Trump II has done Canada a great favour, by forcing it to stand up for itself at last.

I continue to believe as well that Donald Trump II’s first six months have largely been a disaster for the USA domestically — as yet not fully appreciated by the American body politic but bound to become clearer as time rolls on.

My sense is also that the broad democratic majority in the USA today still believes in Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.

Read the rest of this page »