Trump trouble not limited to the United States

In his recent endorsement of a Donald Trump presidency, former newspaper publisher andconvicted felon Conrad Black wrote on the National Review's website that, "For the first time inits history, the United States has had four, and arguably five, consecutive terms of unsuccessfulfederal government, from administrations and Congresses of both parties."

This is why a Trumpadministration in the White House makes sense to him because Trump's the only guy capableof effecting radical changes to America through his "iconoclastic techniques."

This is about as articulate a summation one can expect from the pro-Trump base, which haspropelled the billionaire demagogue into a leading position in the polls among Republicancandidates.

His supporters, like many ordinary Americans, represent a disenfranchised segmentof the population.

And like many on the left, these underserved Americans reject themainstream status quo when it comes to certain political and economic norms.

But, instead ofarguing for more inclusion and equality in the electoral and economic processes, Trump'ssupporters prefer channeling their frustrations through a voice that blames immigrants,Muslims, and gays for the country's systemic problems.

Anti-Muslim sentiment exists in Canada, too

This is why Trump's right wing base is so dangerous, not just for the U.S., but also for Canada andthe rest of the Western world, which has experienced a surge in ethno-cultural xenophobiafollowing the tragedy of 9/11.

Instead of reflecting on the country's own systemic failures to gobeyond a neo-liberal framework of political and economic governance, many on the right havechosen to externalize their frustrations on the "other."

Donald Trump knows this, and thus hisunprecedented call to deny entry to all Muslims into the U.S., a position espoused only by thelikes of Geert Wilders, a Dutch parliamentarian and perhaps the most Islamophobic Europeanpolitician in recent memory.

Meanwhile, with the election of Justin Trudeau's newlyminted Liberal Party and thesubsequent promise to accept and integrate 25,000 Syrian refugees, Canada seems a worldaway from the Trump-obsessed American political circus.

But, this distance is a superficial one.

Data from major polling centres like Angus Reid have shown that anti-Muslim sentiment issignificant in Canada and especially in the province of Quebec.

The latest numbers show that58 per centof Canadians surveyed believe that "Islam is more likely than other religions to encourageviolence," while 44 per centsay that they have a negative view of Islam overall.

These are significant percentages that represent sentiments and attitudes, which can beexploited and capitalized upon for political and electoral gain. The United States is morepronounced in this way (Islamophobia and its myriad variations have become staples in justabout every Republican candidate's playbook), but the rhetoric and debate around the niqabissue (especially in Quebec) during the 2015 election cycle has shown that Canada isn't immunefrom this kind of demagoguery.

Trudeaucould steer Canada away from U.S.-style politics

It's true that the American political class has to ask itself why ahuge number of its constituents want to support a man who treats bigotry not as a means to anend but as an end in itself, but Canada may have to ask the same question one day if thepolitical centre doesn't quickly improve the country's circumstances.

This is because the rise of Donald Trump was paved by the failure of American liberal centrism.

Political leaders who portrayed and marketed themselves as the paragons of progressiveinclusion and liberal governance failed to deliver the United States out of economic stagnationand pushed for an electoral structure that allowed more corporate money to be pumped intothe country's politics.

The total embrace by Democrats and Republicans alike of dogmatic neo-liberalism led to thecomplete deregulation of Wall Street (like when Bill Clinton repealed the 1933 Glass-SteagallAct) and thus to disasters such as the global financial meltdown of 2008.

In the face of suchfailures and the subsequent presidency of Barack Obama, which hasn't led to significantchanges orsolutions, the majority-white segment of America's disenfranchised class has sought toproject its losses and insecurities onto a mainstream liberalism that they see as the culprit oftheir despair.

They perceive this coastal liberalism as having rejected them as the "backwardpart of America," and are seeking to issue their own kind of rejection.

In a country awash inguns, the prospects are unsettling.

That the Liberal Party has a majority in the House of Commons indicates a great opportunity tosteer Canada away from the political dysfunction that characterizes the United States at themoment.

If Trudeau and the Liberals seek to match their policies with the progressivism thatthey've marketed themselves with, then they'll have to put their money where their mouth is.

This means seriously re-evaluating Bill C-51, moving away from fossil fuels, and creating a jobsprogram aimed primarily at those under the age of 30.

A systemic failure to do these things willalienate a large segment of Canada and, as the US example shows, bring the worst out of itscitizens.