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Biden his time: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on watching the sorry state of U.S. politics from north of the border
This was my first Canada Day weekend as a Canadian citizen, one in which I was all set to spend this moment feeling disconnected from the political situation in my home country of the United States. Yes, I’m still American as well—I’m one of those Jews with more than one passport, it’s true—but the stakes of whether it’s former president Donald Trump or the current one, Joe Biden, the next time around strike me as less pressing, with all the other local and global situations to ponder. There are rightward swings in smaller high-stakes elections that occurred in Toronto and New York last week, and now a national shift for France.
Why was I not more panicked about Trump specifically? American democracy did not disintegrate during his first administration, and my hunch is that a second Trump term would be a yet another go-around with a crummy Republican president, not the end of a great civilization. Yes, his up-to-no-good status is now more legally established than it had been, what with him being a convicted felon, but nothing revealed about his behaviour has been particularly surprising.
Also—not to be morbid, or at least, not just yet—Trumpism is a cult-of-personality sort of deal, and Donald can only possibly have so many years left in him. There’s not going to be a 300-year-long Trump dictatorship is what I’m saying.
Then a cousin texted me from the States, just as Thursday’s debate had gotten started, and seemed… concerned…
The danger of lumping together progressive agendas into the so-called ‘Omnicause’
What does Palestine have in common with climate change, gender equality and indigenous rights? The Omnicause, that’s what. In the modern era of left-wing protests, these issues become conflated—think queer Palestinians, viewed as indigenous to their homeland, fighting climate change with organic farming practices. Or something.
Perhaps something not so cartoonish: indeed, there are clear links between, say, First Nations rights here in Canada and the fight for climate justice, given the First Nations’ connection to the land and how their reserves are often disproportionately affected by climate change. Racial justice and police reform go hand-in-hand. But the ties that bind such progressive causes start to weaken when you add Middle Eastern politics to the mix. Would any member of “Queers Against Apartheid” actually visit Gaza after coming out? Is Hamas interested in climate justice?
It’s a conflation that struck writer Hadley Freeman, who returns to Bonjour Chai to chat about all things Omnicause and the eternal plight of progressive Jews. Read her piece, “Welcome to The Omnicause, the fatberg of activism“, in the Jewish Chronicle.
The next guest on our show…
McGill University student Ben Wexler will join us to talk about this piece and some of his other recent opinionated reporting for The Canadian Jewish News. Watch for new episodes of Bonjour Chai late Thursday or early Friday wherever you get podcasts.