Experts, expats in Saskatchewan divided over Trump victory

Tuesday night's election results in the United States have drawn mixed reactions in Saskatchewan.

Former president Donald Trump will become the 47th president of the United States when he is inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025.

The Republican politician defeated Democratic candidate Kalmala Harris in a huge political comeback, winning in battleground states including Wisconsin and Pennsylvania

During an interview with CBC Blue Sky host Adam Hunter on Wednesday, Cheryl Camillo, an American citizen living in Canada and an associate professor at University of Regina's Johnson-Shoyama graduate school of public policy, said she was "very concerned" about the future of the U.S. and the potential effects Canada could face.

"I believe President Trump will be further emboldened to erode the democratic institutions of the United States, including the federal executive branches and the judiciary, and democratic processes in general,"Camillo said. "I'm also concerned that he will create more divisiveness and a more divided nation."

People saw flashes of that messaging in Trump's victory speech when he did not thank President Joe Biden or Harris, his vice-president, she said.

A Trump presidency could affect Saskatchewan in several ways, Camillo said, including economically if tariffs are imposed, but also with an increase in Trump-style rhetoric, something she said can already be seen in Canadian politics.

"I believe they [Canadian conservatives] already have adopted many of the tactics that the Trump campaign has used, and so I anticipate as I'm driving by the [legislative building] down Albert Street, there will be more protesters with 'F Trudeau' signs and and other vulgar signs, and the rhetoric will devolve from there," Camillo said.

Another Blue Sky guest disagreed. 

"You know, just listen to people like that [Camillo] and you'll be totally uninformed about what's happening in America," said Frank Buckley, who was born and raised in Saskatchewan and is now a law professor at George Mason University in Virginia. He previously wrote speeches for Donald J. Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

Americans aren't at the point where pronouns and climate change drive them to vote, he said. People voted for Trump for economic reasons and inflation. Camillo had argued Harris had the better plan for the economy.

"It is not the case that Americans are just too stupid to understand that the Democrats are good for them," Buckley said. "I think they also understand that there have been structural problems in our economy, and in particular with respect to the loss of the American dream."

Buckley likened Trump's "reinvented" Republican Party to Saskatchewan's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), a democratic socialist party that was succeeded by the NDP in the 1960s.

Two expatriates from the U.S. who currently live in Saskatoon reflected on the election with CBC's Saskatoon Morning host Stephanie Massicotte.