Secularism and Much More Under Attack Next Door

Russell Pangborn

As you cross an intersection at night totally engrossed in a great audiobook, a car is speeding towards you with malevolent intent. If you had time to reflect before the fatal impact, you might have regretted not paying more attention to your environment.

The car is the Trump election machine and if you are a Canadian, you might be confident this only applies to the U.S and the car is on a different highway. But it was Pierre Trudeau who likened being next to the U.S. as similar to sleeping beside a friendly elephant. “One is affected by every twitch and grunt.” The possible elephant in 2024 may not be a friendly one. And once in power, it does not want to relinquish it. 

There is a strong ultra-Right religious element supporting a narcissistic power hungry subpar thinker, Donald Trump. His former attorney general, Bill Barr, best exemplifies this type of thinking that will make a bargain with a potential tyrant to further its agenda. In a 2024 article entitled Bill Barr, God’s Little Soldier (and Trump’s Eternal Boy) we are reminded that the former Attorney General called for establishing God’s law in America. Ironically Barr is quoted as saying “The secularists of today are clearly fanatics.” My response is really … aren’t you the fanatic! I will save another Bill Barr quote for later in this article. It was when he expected the rule of law to kick in and for critical thinkers to finally mobilize and take the religious-Right-inspired juggernaut seriously. For now all you need to know is: In 2024 Barr is again backing Trump.

Why should critical thinkers be concerned at all?

Critical thinkers are aware of the massive scientific evidence surrounding climate change, the havoc it will unleash, and the imperative for government to enact policies to slow it down. The last Trump administration rolled back more than 100 environmental rules. Multiple news outlets are reporting that Trump promised scrapping existing climate laws to oil barons in exchange for one billion dollars towards electing him in 2024. 

Critical thinkers support a secular society and a woman’s right to an abortion. The bastion that supported this was the Supreme Court. Trump appointed three of those justices in a four-year span and they have already overturned the human right for access to a safe and legal abortion. Bill Clinton and Joe Biden got to appoint only three justices who opposed reversing this right over their twelve-year window.

But this gets worse. The current Supreme Court will not rule on the question of a President having immunity, perhaps after sending a hitman to take out a political opponent. The lower court ruled against this type of carte blanche for a former President, but a court stacked with Trump appointees are allowing this to be delayed until after the fateful upcoming election.

And it is not just Trump appointees who are tilting a bastion of democracy and secularism into something unrecognizable by the Founders. Recently a Bush appointee, Samuel Alito, has been caught flying the flag of the insurrectionists (an upside down U.S. flag) on his property. He also was caught having “An Appeal to Heaven” hoisted at his vacation home. This appeal flag was carried by the insurrectionist rioters and is used by many to support their call for overthrowing the election results in the name of God. When you add in justice Thomas’s wife who was communicating with Trump’s Chief of Staff about overturning election results in support of a Christian nation, there are a majority of five justices who are ruling on Trump and his machinations. It looks like Trump has nothing to worry about on that front.

Critical thinkers support democratic institutions. Trump failed in 2020 to win a second term as President. He also failed in a plot to use national security agencies to seize voting machines and attempted an insurrection after the results were not in his favour. Some of us may have breathed a sigh of relief when he failed, but the threat to tilt our world order upside down is not over yet. Before that election, my position was one of alarm about a Presidency so corrupt that even Scientific American made a historic anti-Trump endorsement. Some readers may have decided that was an alarmist view. It wasn’t … see insurrection note above.

The biggest mistake made by the Trump administration was to go with respectable principled conservative appointees. They blocked his worst instincts. His second Chief of Staff, John Kelly, said this about his boss,  “A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. There is nothing more that can be said. God help us.” His second Attorney General Bill Barr said that Trump was “Someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”

Here is a list of mostly principled appointees that publicly split from Trump.

But here is the thing. Bill Barr has recently indicated he would support and vote for a second Trump term. Barr wants to elevate his religion’s status and his Conservative ideology in the country more than he cares about democracy. Joe Biden is a fellow Catholic, but Joe is not willing to impose a doctrine on the country opposed by half the electorate. Joe is okay with a secular society.

When the movie Argo came out, I wrote to an ultra-religious former President, Jimmy Carter, about his public reminder of Canada’s important role in the Iran hostage situation. The movie made it seem like that Canada did not do any heavy lifting. I told Carter about my dad, who wrote many letters to the editor about the excesses of religion and his atheism. President Carter responded with a friendly letter and was not put off at all about my dad. He told me he found that part interesting. Carter was never an enemy of secularism and he even turned down having prayer breakfasts in the White House or letting his religious views impact public policy. This is not the approach of a religious coalition backing a Presidential bid.

There is a plan in place for the second Trump term. If you realize how much harm was done with three new Supreme Court justices, it gets worse. Now there is an organized effort to install yes-men and those with views similar to Bill Barr’s Christian Nation for the next term. So the worst instincts kept in check in the first term are now going to get free rein. A potential dictator can learn from what went wrong the first go.

This month with the Michael Cohen trial we learned how Trump has dodged justice. One thing becomes clear in the early testimony. Trump did not use emails, because they could be used against him in a criminal trial. Cohen operated as a fixer outside the normal legal structure of an organization and Trump was obsessed with the minute details of any payments he was legally bound to pay. So when 50 contractors associated with the establishment of Trump University demanded their fees and were not paid, Cohen was tasked with offering them 20 cents on the dollar. All but two gave up on getting their rightfully owed payments and accepted the bad deal since getting some money back is better than getting no money. Cohen said two contractors refused to accept and they eventually disappeared. Sounds like the rich guy wins and small business does not have the money to take him to court.

Trump has operated like a mob boss with no records being kept and with the use of talking in code for a desired end. Cohen was given access to Trump any time of day with multiple contact numbers and the ability to walk into his office without an appointment. Cell phone records back up that characterization.

The defense argues that Cohen is a convicted liar. The only problem with that is yes, he lied, but he did so in the service of Trump. This changed when his office was raided. Cohen and Trump may have thought he was protected with attorney-client confidentiality, but that was when Cohen started on the road to flip on his boss who he had idolized. Trump wanted Cohen to stay silent and according to Cohen said, “Don’t worry, I’m the president of the United States, there’s nothing here. Stay tough. You’ll be okay.” The outcome of this trial will be known by the time this article is printed. But, however the jury decides, that is not the point of this piece. 

According to a recent poll, Trump stands at 44 percent support to Biden’s 43 percent. Even if Biden wins, people need to take a hard look at the structure that supported the other guy. As Canadians, we don’t expect this type of politics to cross over the border. Maybe it has. The frontrunner Conservative has intimated that he would opt out of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with the notwithstanding clause to further an agenda.  

I remember a recent documentary about Alexander the Great. Prophesy held that whoever could untie the impossibly difficult Gordian knot would become the ruler of Asia. Instead of following the rules or accepted norms, Alexander looked at it and then chopped through it with his sword. That gave him gravitas on his journey of conquest. It may be apocryphal but makes a good point like all fables do.

Our notwithstanding clause is like that knot. For many years it wasn’t something to be used to further a minority’s agenda. There was an unspoken agreement. Recently Conservative politicians  have decided to raise the possibility of untying the clause for their own use. They are taking their cue from the politics south of the border and it has become an albatross for Canada. Adjust the rules when it suits you. The Republican-controlled Senate made up a rule about not being able to appoint a Supreme Court justice when nearing the end of a President’s term. One Roe-supporting justice was denied. Then at the end of Trump’s term they approved a justice who helped overturn abortion rights, Amy Cohen Barrett. 

Religious zealots who disdain secularism are not the only forces supporting the Republican presidential bid.  But with a candidate openly saying he would be a dictator on day one, our sleeping giant neighbour better get a handle on all the elements who would make a deal with the devil in the name of an amoral ideology, hate or greed.