With his bloodied face and clenched fist salute, former President Donald Trump was at the peak of his popularity after surviving the July 13 assassination attempt. This continued with his early call for unity at the unified and well-organized Republican convention in Milwaukee two days later. 

Regretfully, the Trump remake ended very rapidly. This raised fears among many moderate American voters, and many Canadians as well, particularly considering the extremely poor showing by President Joe Biden in the June 27 campaign debate.

But everything in the campaign changed on July 21, when Biden, under pressure from the public and prominent Democrats, pulled out of the race for the Democratic nomination, and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination.

If you drive the rural roads of New Brunswick these days, chances are you will see a lot of orange squares tilted on their sides, looking like diamonds. They have on them the telltale lettering: Construction.

Could it be there is an election in the air? For those who have witnessed a few elections over the years, it will not come as a big surprise that there is a lot of roadwork in these parts in the run-up to an election.

However, when Blaine Higgs successfully ran to became the Premier of New Brunswick in 2018, he talked as though he was a new type of politician. He would do away with old style politics, the way it had always been practiced in the past-- you know, a mickey of rum in exchange for your vote; patronage handed out by the party in power in government hiring.

And, roadwork, lots of roadwork.

There has been so much news lately with Biden and Trudeau’s troubles, that the Against the Flow blog hasn’t had a moment to thank Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers for their terrific run this spring in the Stanley Cup finals. They did not make it this year, but their team and coach were terrific. Their fans are grateful, and The Oilers should have a great chance for next season unless they cannot compete with another fine team, which you can read about below.

It happens that one of my family members has given me a sports cap of that other team, the Toronto Maple Leafs--my special team for many, many years. The Leafs did not make it this year, either. In fact, the Leafs have not won the Stanley Cup in 1967. That was 57 years ago. But that crisp new cap has rekindled my loyalty to the Leafs.

Because of the long drought, Leaf fans have taken merciless ribbing by supporters of other hockey teams, such as the hapless Habs of Montreal. But, ever delusional or ever faithful, I can say that 2025 will be the big year for the Leafs. And of course, I am leaving some room there for The Oilers, as well.

The situation of these two elected leaders, President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau drew perilously close to collapse as of Wednesday. This is particularly true for President Biden who gathered White House and campaign staff around him to see if he can rescue his campaign for second term as president. For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the situation is not immediately as acute, but Biden’s withdrawal could have a cascading effect in Canada. Both men have been honorable leaders of their country, but both have made serious mistakes which have had a tremendous negative impact on their political future.