At 2:37 p.m., a visibly frail Donald Trump emerged from the White House and slowly made his way down the corridor, his eyes fixed on the ground beneath him through nearly every careful step. Wearing a deep blue suit and bright yellow tie, the discoloration on his right hand stood out as he carefully stepped up to the podium in the Rose Garden. His back-to-school event lasted less than 25 minutes from start to finish, but even that appeared difficult for him to get through. He stumbled over words he has said countless times before: “But really bringing hope to countless fanalees [sic], number of families.” His voice appeared to slur at times, even as he told an audience filled with schoolchildren that he was unhappy his press secretary was leaving to spend more time with her own children: “She decided she loved her children more than she loved Donald Trump. I’m very upset about this.”
Before he said a single word about education, or mentioned a single child or teacher in the audience, he talked about his construction projects. “We have President Xi coming in two weeks,” he said. “And I was over in China two months ago and we saw the Great Hall of China. Well, now we’re going to have a great hall too in the United States.” The President of the United States chose to begin an event about education for America’s children with a $400 million vanity project he is building to impress an authoritarian leader, the president of China.
When he finally decided to turn his attention to the reason for the event in the first place, children, he couldn’t even keep the focus on their education. Instead, he looked directly into the crowd of children seated in front of him and said this: “We’re strongly requesting, even telling people when you get your shots for your young child. And this has to do, we think, with preventing autism that you go to the doctor for five small shots instead of one big massive shot. You do it in five different shots. Five different shots, small little shots where those beautiful little bodies can handle it.”
Donald Trump launched Operation Warp Speed. He is the same person who stood before the country and demanded credit for the fastest vaccine development in modern history. And now he was standing in the Rose Garden, in front of other people’s children, repeating disinformation to children about the debunked claim linking vaccines and autism. He spent years demanding praise for helping accelerate the development of vaccines, and now he is using the presidency to undermine confidence in them. He took one of the accomplishments he was proudest of, possibly the only redeeming thing to come out of his leadership, and turned it into something parents are supposed to fear.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician, has publicly corrected the President of the United States on his vaccine stance multiple times in the past, saying that childhood vaccines “are safe and effective and will not cause autism” and calling Trump’s suggestion “wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker.”
But vaccines were not the only enemy he manufactured from the podium. He told the audience that “extreme ideologies such as critical race theory and transgender insanity were forced upon our children as young as four and 5 years old.” He said that “every public school in America is now on notice” and that any school that tells a child “they’re trapped in the wrong body” is “committing child abuse.” He claimed that “after decades of racist policies and illegal quotas, we brought back the merit system into education.” And he said he hopes Democrats keep defending trans athletes because “it’s got to be impossible to win a race, politically.” He said that last part while he shook his head as if what he was saying actually held any truth.
Underneath all the rambling and cruelty, he accidentally admitted what this has always been about. Winning. Not protecting children or improving their schools. It was never about making their lives safer or giving them a better future either. It was always about winning elections.
Because for him, trans kids are not human beings. He does not care about children, let alone LGBTQIA+ children, or he would be listening to the experts who tell him that what he is doing will cost lives. He is just using them as a political strategy. He knows there is no evidence of gender changes happening at schools. There are no “woke” teachers secretly convincing children to change their gender behind their parents’ backs. That is not what is happening in American classrooms. None of that matters to him, though, because the truth isn’t politically useful. Fear is. And he wants us scared, especially of each other.
When it was over, he invited the children in the audience to follow him across the South Lawn to tour the construction site of his ballroom, which he called “the ballroom slash military complex.” He said, “I love the sound of construction.” As he walked off, the White House band played what can only be described as an unusual, slowed-down rendition of his favorite song, what he refers to as the “gay national anthem” YMCA.
This is what a leader does when he is terrified of losing power. He creates enemies and singles out communities of people who are already vulnerable, turns them into threats, and hopes that fear will unite enough of the country behind him to keep himself in control. That’s what makes this moment, just months before the midterms, so dangerous. Trump knows his grip on power is at risk. He knows that if Republicans lose control of Congress, the investigations, subpoenas, oversight, and accountability he has spent his presidency trying to escape could come roaring back. So he needs Americans angry, and he really needs us afraid. Most of all, he needs us fighting one another instead of looking at him. This isn’t new. History has taught us exactly what leaders willing to do anything to hold onto power do when they become desperate. They find someone for the public to blame.
In 1930s Germany, the economy was in ruins. Unemployment was devastating, and people were angry and desperate for someone to tell them why their lives had fallen apart. Hitler gave them an answer. He pointed at Jewish people, a community that had lived in Germany for centuries, built businesses, raised families, and contributed to every part of German life, and told the country: they are the reason you are suffering.
The camps did not come first; the lie did. Hitler and the Nazis spent years telling Germans that their Jewish neighbors were responsible for problems they did not create. They repeated it until people who had lived side by side for generations began to look at one another differently. And then the rhetoric became policy. The propaganda that was pushed turned into new laws. Rights were stripped away, and persecution with no basis became normalized. The horrors inside the camps came next.
That is the playbook we are watching right now. Not exactly or at the same scale, or with the same outcome, at least not yet. But the pattern can’t be ignored. We have a leader in decline, surrounded by a government in chaos, with an economy that is hurting people, doing the one thing he knows how to do: pointing at someone else and saying, “They did this to you.”
First, it was immigrants. Brown and Black people crossing the border were the reason our lives were hard. He called them criminals, rapists, and people “poisoning the blood of our country.” Then it was Mexico. Then it was Greenland, a territory belonging to one of our closest NATO allies, and suddenly we needed it and they would not give it to us. Then it was Zelenskyy, the wartime president of a country fighting for its survival, who became a target because he would not bend to Trump’s demands. Then it was Iran, where American service members are now fighting and dying in a war Congress never authorized. Then it was vaccines, even the very ones he pushed to be created. Then it was teachers, trans children, the Communist Democrats, and others. Now he is laser-focused on Canada.
Canada. A country known for kindness. Our neighbor, one of our closest allies, and one of our largest trading partners. Nothing happened between us to justify treating them like an enemy. But suddenly we are supposed to take Trump’s word that Canadians, some of the friendliest people on the planet, have been taking advantage of us this entire time.
It is insanity. And most of us know it. But it doesn’t have to make sense. It only has to give us someone else to blame. When one enemy stops producing enough fear, he finds another. Anyone can become the enemy when keeping us angry at one another is how he keeps us from turning our anger toward him. I just wish more people understood that none of us are safe; he will eventually turn on us all if it means being able to keep his unchecked power.
This morning, Trump posted on Truth Social that he would raise tariffs on Canadian vehicles, auto parts, and steel to 50 percent starting January 1. He wrote, “Canada will be treated like a State no longer!” He called Prime Minister Carney a “clown” and Ontario Premier Doug Ford a “flunky.” And then he went further. He invoked Ford’s late brother, former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who died of cancer in 2016, writing that Doug Ford is “better known as the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford.” And then he threatened to cut off Canada’s energy supply: “Remember, much of the Electricity, Oil, and Gas that Canada gets is transported through the U.S.A. Someone should get these clowns to ‘fall in line’ or, the consequences for Canada will be far WORSE!”
Doug Ford did not hold back when he spoke about Trump. In a 45-minute press conference in Hamilton, Ontario, the conservative premier absolutely unloaded on the President of the United States with a clarity and directness that most American elected officials have been too afraid to match.
“I don’t respond to a dictator like President Trump, a bully like President Trump,” Ford said. “As I said before, he’s the type of guy in school that would take your lunch money one day, take your toque off your head the next day, and then steal your running shoes.”
“I’m not going to take any advice off a guy that’s the king of bankruptcies, and he’s actually tariffing his own people, taxing his own people.”
“I’ve been in this game a lot longer than he has. I’ve got skin like an alligator. You think an insult from him hurts me? Well bring it on, buddy. I’m ready. I’ve dealt with guys like you my whole life and guess what? You all become losers, because you’re a loser.” He also added, “I have a lot of real estate on my ass, so he has a lot of room to kiss my ass. I’m a big dude.”
And then Ford spoke directly to Americans. “I’ve always said I love the American people,” he said. “I still stand by that statement, because there are a lot of people in the U.S. that are calling me saying, ‘Way to go. Keep going.’” And then he gave the line that was heard the loudest: “Your own people, President Trump, don’t even like you, and they’re going to speak loud and clear when it comes to the midterms.”
Just hours later, Vice President JD Vance added his own thoughts to this trade war while speaking at an event in Brewer, Maine. He was in the middle of his remarks when he suddenly said, “Canada is a state...” He stopped himself. “Sorry, Freudian slip. That was actually an accident.” He might not have meant to say that, but it just might be exactly how he and his boss really feel about Canada.
This is what I keep coming back to. Americans and Canadians are not strangers to each other. We have family across that border. We share lakes and towns. We share history. We have fought and bled alongside one another. For generations, we have crossed that border to work, to visit, to fall in love, to raise families, and sometimes just to spend the weekend together. That relationship is real. What Trump is trying to manufacture between us is not.
We are not going to let him do it. We are not going to suddenly look across the northern border and see an enemy because a desperate president who is terrified of losing power tells us one is there. Canadians are not our enemy. Trans children are not our enemy. Teachers are not our enemy. Immigrants are not our enemy. Our neighbors are not our enemy. And every time this regime points at another group of people and tells us to be afraid of them, we need to remember what they are trying so desperately to make sure we don’t notice: the people dividing us are the ones we should be watching.
I think about what this looks like from the other side of that border. We elected Trump the first time, and the world forgave us. Our allies had seen democracies stumble before, and they believed we would correct course. They gave us grace. But we are on the other side of that grace now. Every insult, every tariff, every threat against a neighbor we once called one of our closest friends, and every time we allow this man to speak for us on the world stage, we lose a little more of the trust that took generations to build.
And I don’t know how many more times we get to ask the world to believe that this isn’t who we are. Fool me once. We all know how that ends. We are running out of chances to prove that this man does not represent who we really are, and once that trust is gone, I don’t know how easily we ever get it back.
I refuse to believe we have run out of chances yet. Because most Americans see through this. Most of us do not believe that Canada is the enemy. Most of us do not believe that vaccines cause autism, or that our children’s teachers are threats, or that immigrants are poisoning our country. We are tired. We are exhausted by the daily performance of cruelty and chaos. We are sick of waking up and wondering which ally the president attacked while we slept, which neighbor he threatened, which group of people he will decide to demonize that day. We do not want to live like this anymore. We want the stable, even, boring times, if you will. We want the days when the news did not fill us with dread. We want to go to work, raise our children, argue about normal things, make plans for the future, and trust that the President of the United States actually has the best interests of our country in mind and not himself or his enablers. We want to go back to being the kind of country where we do not have to worry about what our president might do to the people next door. And we can. The path back starts in November.
Doug Ford told Trump that “Your own people, President Trump, don’t even like you, and they’re going to speak loud and clear when it comes to the midterms.” He is right. We absolutely will. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather
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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.
Picture of the day: My daughter and I decided to head down to the beach at the last minute tonight to catch the sunset.
Sources used in the writing of this post:
President Trump Participates in a Rose Garden Event, Aug. 24, 2026: YouTube Video
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6021261-cassidy-trump-mmr-vaccine-order/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-news-conference-canada-us-trade-war-9.7318104
https://variety.com/2026/music/news/trump-ymca-dance-gay-national-anthem-melania-1236736018/
The photos are nauseating - and you can even see whatever contraption he has wrapped around his carcass in one of them. Ugh, he makes me 🤮. The idea that he is the image of a president these young minds are first encountering is heartbreaking. I was thinking back to the last conversation I had with my sister, before the 2024 election. She is a public school teacher only because the Christian school in town collapsed under a scandal, and is a staunch evangelical and Trump voter. I was still trying to reason with her “common sense” (oh how I loathe their weaponization of that term!!!). She told me that a janitor at school who attended her church had lost his job over “woke” policies and I asked for more information. She said he refused to empty litter boxes of human feces as part of this job and was fired. What the hell? Yes, she said, because “they” are allowing children to identify as cats and demand accommodations. I tried - as calmly as I could remain - to explain this was a fake story started at another school after someone spotted kitty litter in a janitorial closet (used for its absorbency of various bodily fluids). Oh no, she knew him personally and he was a good man and lost his job over it. I said it was debunked on Snopes and she scoffed “a liberal website!” I gave up. For 56 years I’d tried to find a bridge to my one and only sister and I couldn’t find my way anymore. I think of her often, teaching… inexplicably a special ed teacher with a biology degree, and I just can’t any more.
There was a note on Substack saying that President Biden is getting better - not cured but better so that’s good news.
President Trump on the other hand falls deeper into the mire with every swing he takes. Can someone please get him a train set and set it up in the white house so he and his nasty chums can play all day.
They certainly are not doing any governing.
Canada is a smart intelligent country who are not going to bend to a bully.
USA has to prove that they are smart intelligent people who are going to rid themselves of this whole wasps nest of unintelligent bullies who have been blinded by trumps gold obsession.
Stand up tall USA and see what Trump has done to your country, make sure that nothing and I mean nothing stops you voting this man to be sidelined and out. It is going to be tough as the bully boy is already lining up stumbling blocks. Climb over, crawl over but make sure you vote out this very dangerous man.