09 February 2022 | Watching Canada Fold

If I was associated with any of those Canadian truckers in Ottawa, I would be declaring victory right now.

Take a look at the screenshot from the CBC: you have a list of provinces saying that they are going to lift restrictions and mask mandates pretty soon. The truckers should be saying out loud, “Yeah, we did that.”

That’s probably not true, but could you blame them for running in front of this saying otherwise? In the public’s mind, the trucker occupation in Ottawa will appear to have had a direct impact because up to this point, did anyone know how many provinces were ready to ease restrictions? Highly doubtful, but people won’t be able to make any fine distinctions: they’ll believe that the trucker “movement” caused it.

For me, here’s where it gets good: Canada’s conservatives have already tried to align themselves with the truckers, probably with the idea that they can co-opt and control all this to attack their enemies, the Liberals and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. But here’s what they don’t get: once you let the fringe start dictating the terms, you can’t control them at all. You will be merely swept along the current.

Don’t believe me? Just ask conservatives in the United States. Republicans cannot control what the fringe does anymore, because they’ve taken over the party. This is why you have a growing number of Republicans deciding that the 1/6 attack on the Capitol was nothing to get excited about: “legitimate political discourse,” to use the phrase of the Republican National Committee. And more of them are trying to adopt the lie that there really *was* something off about the 2020 presidential election. Not because they believe it, but they are now afraid of their own constituents and can’t do anything *but* go along with it. Like I said, they’re swept along the current.

You don’t have to be some astute observer of Canadian politics to see the same process unfolding there for conservatives. If the truckers (meaning whoever the hell is really at the epicenter) start taking credit for the easing of restrictions, conservatives are going to have to go along with that. They’ve invited the vampire into the home thinking they can bend it to their will, when it’s the opposite. They have unwittingly put themselves in harm’s way, but right now, they are under the stupid impression that they can control this by insinuating themselves just enough to score political points and then go back to normal, but are astonishingly unaware of the consequences.

Just like in America. Not so different after all, eh?