The midterm elections in the United States did not exactly unfold as many — including this columnist — anticipated and eagerly predicted. But we need to assess what happened because the results are dramatically relevant to Canada and future of the Trudeau government..Apparently, too many Americans have not had enough of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. And the real tragedy of these midterms is more principled conservative Republicans were not sent to Congress.Yes, maverick GOP candidate J.D. Vance (the author of Hillbilly Elegy) is going to the Senate. Thank God others like him will not be. And we know Congress is infested with RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) who have not and will not make a difference. They are often supporting Democratic initiatives and are built to sit in the back of the boat and keep it from rocking too hard. .The usual pundits are already theorizing about the tepid Republican win, suggesting voters offended by alleged Republican extremism, by the party’s abortion policies, or even that former President Donald Trump was the spoiler — that his endorsement was, with rare exceptions, the kiss of death for GOP candidates and his very presence reminded some voters of why they wanted to vote Democrat. .Did the Jan. 6 Committee hearings and their outrageous assertion that Trump supporters attempted an insurrection have an effect? Only if you are brain dead, a hopeless acolyte of the Democratic Party or a shut-in who watches C-SPAN all day. .But I have another theory: Are Americans taking Biden seriously?If you look at the results of Tuesday night’s midterm elections, you have to wonder if they are. Yes, the GOP will retake the majority in the House of Representatives and they could even take the Senate, but these races shouldn’t have been so close. In 1994 and 2010 voters rebuked Presidents Clinton and Biden by awarding the GOP stunning majorities in the House. In both of these instances, the economy was not exactly in a shambles, crime was not as rampant as it is today and the southern border with Mexico was relatively secure. There wasn’t a madman inviting illegals to flout the law, enter the U.S. and then get flown to their destination of choice. .We’re living in a reboot of the 1970s, live with the bad hair and noxious clothing, except Charlie’s Angels isn’t a hit show, but reams of garbage reality TV is only exacerbating the misery index. .The midterms should have been an emphatic repudiation of the Democratic Party. But they were not.Are high gas prices, rising inflation, urban crime and an open border not enough to spur a GOP landslide? Is a president who often has no idea where he is or to whom he is speaking not sufficiently galling for voters to revolt en masse? .No, apparently. .In Italy, voters elected Giorgia Meloni as their prime minister. She was smeared as a neo-Fascist for promoting a campaign that focused on God, country and family. That focus may have declared a cultural war in Italy, but it was arguably the economic woes facing Italy that sealed her election win. When you don’t know if you’re going to be able to heat your home because of energy prices, you probably don’t care if the World Economic Forum (WEF) tells you not to vote for a candidate because it believes her policies are dangerous. You might even be inclined to the tell the WEF to go to hell and to stop interfering in your elections. .And that's the lesson for Canada. Teflon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau neatly side-stepped a fusillade of financial scandals and the personal embarrassment of being a moonlighting blackface performer. He embarrassed Canada on the world stage, spent voraciously, smeared his political enemies and put Canada on the pathway to famine with an agricultural policy that has effectively banned fertilizer because the nitrogen supposedly contributes to climate change.And it's going to get worse: We could easily slide into a recession.So Trudeau does have to go and Canadians need to remember he will probably be remembered as the prime minister who legalized marijuana and put the country on life support.
