Robert Reich’s Substack reproduces an essay written by former Canadian PM Jean Chretien. The piece first appeared in the Globe and Mail. I didn’t reproduce it here because I’m unsure what the copyright considerations are. I urge everyone to read it via Professor Reich’s Substack.

Here is my response:

What a fabulous essay by former Canadian PM Jean Chretien. I can hear “O Canada” in my head as I read it. I want to join the fight. There is a “slight” problem, however — I am an American citizen, who has served in the Army and the federal government. I am grateful to the U.S. (at least as it was) because it saved my parents from the Nazis when it allowed each of their families to immigrate from Europe. Most Americans have heard the statement that politics ends at the water’s edge, or, in this case, at the border. I have always believed that the US and Canada have so much in common that we should form a North American Union, along with Mexico, to emulate the EU.

Here is the conundrum: Must we loyal Americans defend Trump’s idiocy when it threatens the US and the rest of the free world? I would never, God forbid, bear arms against my native land. However, may people like me (Democrats and so-called never-Trumpers) join with other democracies that have similar interests to those that the US had just a few short months ago? When is loyalty disloyal and disloyalty loyal?

 I believe that the people who adore Trump have heard such effective propaganda that they truly believe that Joe Biden is the anti-Christ. I’m not sure that we who look at Trump that way (ok, I’ll admit that it’s a strange description for me, because I’m Jewish, but the readers know what I mean) can appropriately stick to traditional political norms, lest our country be flushed down Trump’s golden toilet by his followers.

So, Mr. Chretien, lead on and I will adopt your positions as long as they are helpful to the United States, and the hell with Donald Trump. I will feel better if U.S. politicians that I admire (Let’s go, Joe and Kamala!) join with you. I pledge to use all legal and appropriate means to ensure that Donald Trump leaves office before his term is up, whether it is by advocating for his resignation, by urging that he be found incompetent, or by impeaching and convicting him. I may not live long enough to see the United States return to compassion and decency, but I will help set the wheels in motion.

 The Star-Spangled Banner, long may it wave, over the land of the free and the home of the brave!