Never mind those poor wounded souls vying for attention — the Bleating Sheep, the Dazed-and-Confused, the Vile Morons who bring their children to an insurrection. We’ve also got Puppet Masters funding operations from deep within TrumpWorld. We’ve got Homegrown Canadian Fascists running a well organized branch plant. And we’ve got a circle of True Believers keen to carry out their orders.

But for all this, hey, you don’t have to take my word. Many Americans are telling it like it is. I’ll cite just two of them. First, maybe you caught Steve Schmidt earlier today on CBC-TV? He’s a former Republican strategist (the Bush era) who is now sounding the alarm. On Twitter, he writes:

“Ottawa is the Capitol City of one of the most important countries in the world, Canada. It is under siege by a highly organized and well-funded fascist occupation that is coordinating with, connected to and funded in part, by the American far right. This is a profoundly important story that is being covered abysmally in the United States. The autocratic metastasis is spreading and extremists are rising.

“The confederate flags, Q symbols, Nazi flags and other hate symbols aren’t incidental, coincidental or accidental. The States and Canada share the longest, peaceful, undefended border in world history. We are linked by our values and ideals by our sins and faults. Our histories are interwoven and our peoples deeply connected through love, service, sacrifice, family and freedom. Political instability and chaos will not be contained at the border. We have a problem and it is one America and Canada share. People of goodwill and good faith who believe in pluralism and democracy better wake up on both sides of the border.”

Not convinced? Here is Umair Haque, another American, writing in Udaimonia. “By now, you’ve probably heard of the…uh… “Freedom Convoy” in Canada. Ostensibly, it’s a group of truckers, who’ve organized a protest for the sake of “freedom.” From what the rest of Canada considers sanity — wearing masks and taking vaccines and exercising basic pandemic precautions. But of course it’s not really that, an average protest, at all. So what is it?

“Let’s start with what it’s not. It’s not some kind of mass movement. It’s, as PM Trudeau has said, a fringe — a lunatic fringe. Only this lunatic fringe has been empowered. It’s not some kind of “side” with legitimate political grievances — it’s extremism. Quite obviously, we should all ask people who travel for a living to be vaccinated, because of course they can spread the virus most. This is just basic science and common sense, regardless of whether or not someone “agrees” with it or not — that’s the vulgar act of politicising science and basic reason.

“So what is it? To put it simply, it’s the spreading of America’s poison. That poison is now reaching Canadian shores. And heading beyond them. Similar “convoys” are being organized in Europe, too. What do I mean by “the spreading of America’s poison”? America’s a nation that’s been radicalized. Millions upon millions of Americans believe obviously and patently false Big Lies. The election was stolen — hence, Trump’s back in action. . . . America is a nation that has collapsed in large part due to radicalisation.

“That radicalisation itself has deeper roots — the implosion of the working and middle class, who have formed one giant underclass, in perpetual debt to ultra billionaires, who have more money than anyone can spend in a hundred lifetimes, but keep getting richer. Societies with levels of inequality like that? They almost invariably collapse into fascism — because people need scapegoats to blame for their woes, and demagogues happily provide them.

“[But] . . . let’s go back to the “Freedom Convoy.” The vast majority — as in 90% — of Canada’s truckers are indeed vaccinated. They don’t want any part of this bizarre and insane “protest.” By now, Canadian authorities are calling it an occupation. They’re right to. The convoy has blocked one of the major highways into and out of Canada. It’s made downtown Ottawa a hellscape of honking and violence and drinking and casual threats — for days upon days. That’s not a simple protest. It’s not: “hey, I have a disagreement, and I want you to listen to me.” So what is it?

“It’s intimidation. It’s something verging on terror. It’s very important for Canadians to understand that. Because that is where this road leads. Canadians might not understand the gravity of all this. In America, this approach — intimidating your way to power in public life, instead of seeking consensual, democratic resolution of differences, has ripped society apart. . . .

“Both men go on a greater length. Articulate Americans worth heeding.