Peter Black

Local Journalism Initiative reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

“The things we do for Orange Jesus.”

Let’s put that in nomination for best quote of 2023. It comes from the book Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney, former Republican congresswoman for Wyoming; daughter of Dick, the notorious George W. Bush operative; and co-chairperson of the Congressional committee which investigated the events of Jan. 6, 2021– in case you’ve forgotten, that’s the day the United States of America came within a crazed yahoo’s whisker of being thrown into insurrectionist chaos and violence.

Cheney was quoting Tennessee Congressman Mark Green as he lined up with other Republican lawmakers to sign electoral vote objection sheets, obeying the ousted president’s edict to defy and deny the election of Joe Biden.

As we head into 2024, one suspects many people around the planet are wondering just what exactly American voters are prepared to do for Orange Jesus. Is this woebegotten world about to witness his second coming? Will the rough beast of Mar-a-Lago slouch once again towards Washington?

Sorry for these dark thoughts amidst the New Year’s well-wishing and expressions of hope for humanity, but it may behoove all of us, from Quebec to Qatar, to pay close attention to the political spectacle about to unfold in the United States.

Visitors arriving from another planet might be surprised to learn the human who lost the election to lead the most powerful empire on Earth, who organized and inflamed an attempt to overthrow the duly elected government, who faces 91 criminal charges in four cases and who has already received a civil conviction for sexual abuse, whose business dealings have been found by a court to be fraudulent, who has openly declared he’d be a dictator if re-elected and use the power of the state to “come after” his enemies – is a serious contender for president, and by far, the leading candidate for ​the Republican nomination.

He ​would face Biden, who often looks every bit the frail 81-year-old he is. Despite concerns about his stamina and focus, Biden has racked up a remarkable record of achievements, wrangling progressive legislation from a hostile Republican opposition. However, whatever good he is doing is not getting him traction in the polls.

Nervous Democrats are running out of time to replace Biden with any one of a slate of wholly acceptable (and younger) candidates, including California Governor Gavin Newsom and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. You can include Vice-President Kamala Harris in the group if you wish.

There is some speculation Biden, whose already crushing burden of office now includes his son Hunter’s serious legal woes and a less-serious impeachment campaign by Republican members of Congress, may ring in the New Year with a decision to stand down.

Either way, barring the truly unforeseeable – for example, fleeing to a country with no extradition treaty with the U.S. – Orange Jesus will dominate the political agenda in 2024 and onwards, and the debate over whether a convicted felon can serve as president will intensify.

Here, in the Great White North, ​folks on the Hill will watch next year’s American election with a mixture of dread and intrigue. The Trudeau government endured four years of a MAGA administration and certainly does not relish more and worse of the same.

Yet, politics being a blood sport, the Liberals undoubtedly must be very privately relishing the prospect of having Orange Jesus around to help frame their Conservative opponents as mini-MAGAs. There is even talk that the threat down south may change the stakes and the timing of the next federal election, which is still in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s hands.

Conservative MP and former minister Michelle Rempel Garner, whether thinking wishfully or not, speculated, “A MAGA-messaging-reliant Liberal campaign narrative with Justin Trudeau still at the helm has only one optimal window for an election: the October before a Biden vs Trump presidential election day.”

The Liberals, in essence, may be wondering, “What can Orange Jesus do for us?” as they look for a path to a fourth straight mandate.

Happy New Year, and as former prime minister Jean Chrétien would say, attachez vos tuques!

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