Essayist, author, County resident, and Donald Trump expert David Frum is back from Washington for the summer, and ready as always to talk. 

He will be in conversation with Dr. Thomas Harrison in a fundraising event for the Picton Branch Library on August 8. 

The last time Mr. Frum spoke in person here was in 2018. He had just published Trumpocracy and attracted a sold-out, 400-person crowd to the Regent. That was the same year that, amidst intense opposition, Mr. Frum shared a stage with Steve Bannon in Toronto as part of the Munk debates. As he said then, in an essay in the Atlantic, where he is a staff writer:

“The debate in Toronto focused on a prediction: whether the future belonged to populist politics (the polite term for the politics of Donald Trump and the many Little Trumps in power or competing for power across our Earth) or to liberal politics, in the broadest sense of the word liberal. … I’ve spent my life as a conservative, but what I’ve sought to conserve is not the Spanish Inquisition or the powers of kings and barons. I’ve sought to conserve the free societies that began to be built in the 18th century and that have gradually developed and strengthened—with many imperfections and hypocrisies and backsliding—in the 250 years since.”

Mr. Frum spoke again in the County in 2020, in part to mark the publication of his next book, Trumpocalypse. The interview, also conducted by Dr. Harrison, was on Zoom and attracted just a fraction of his usual crowd, about 80 people.

And here he is again, generous as always with his time and thoughts, and explicit about the cause: liberal democracy. While he will talk about the consequences of a Trump presidency for Canada — more tariffs, narrowed trade agreements, and continued high interest rates if Trump’s economic policies further stoke inflation — most of all, Frum is concerned with the future of Democracy.

“For 80 years the post-WWII democratic settlement seemed immovable. Yet it’s been challenged around the world and most especially in the US for an intense decade and its fragility is clear. It’s an inheritance for which we must be on guard.”

No matter how you spell it — Trumpastophe or Trumpalamity — the last decade in American, if not global, politics has been defined by the former president’s personal brand of chaos. Mr. Frum has made it his life’s work to contextualize and decipher that chaos.

He responded immediately to the attempt on Mr. Trump’s life earlier this month with a blistering essay detailing the ways that Trump has created his moment. I spoke to Mr. Frum the week before that attack, when he noted, presciently, “events are moving so fast, it’s hard to know what we will be talking about,” referring to his upcoming engagement here.

At that point, the question in the headlines concerned President Joe Biden’s fitness to run — angering some Democrats, who thought Mr. Trump’s fitness for the job a far more pressing question. The assassination attempt, the Republican National Convention, J.D. Vance as VP nominee, and President Biden dropping out of the race were yet to come.

The tumult itself suggests that, if Mr. Frum is fighting the same fight he had with Bannon six years ago, the ground is shifting into ever more perilous territory.

“Democracy is on the ballot in 2024 in a way we have not seen in 80 years. In Mexico, in Europe, in Canada, and in the United States.

“We are in retreat from its ideals, but the fight is not over.”

Asked if he thought the Democrats had a chance to keep the White House, Mr. Frum is emphatic, “I was highly confident Biden would win — until the debate,” referring to both President Biden’s and Mr. Trump’s disastrous performances.  

He noted the U.S. economy under Biden is very strong, and that Trump votes were simply less numerous, 46 or 47 per cent compared to Biden’s solid 53. Much has changed in the ten or so days since then.

But, as in the recent elections in France, which united a radically splintered left to keep the far right out of power, pro-Democrat factions will come together when they needed to. “They cohere when Trump makes them cohere.”

Mr. Frum also thinks the Dobbs decision on abortion, which returned legislative power to individual states, is a deal breaker.

“That used to be a kind of blank-cheque vote. State legislatures could endorse a pro-life position with no legislative consequences, as it was out of their hands. Only now that’s a cheque that has to be cashed.

“Returning that decision to individual states leaves lawmakers on the hook for criminalizing women in a way they are totally unprepared to actually do.

“That was an important reason no ‘red wave’ materialized in 2022,” he notes. Meanwhile, Republican efforts to water down the pro-life rhetoric in the platform now are way too late.

When we spoke, Mr. Frum argued that calls for President Biden’s removal were fraught with difficulties. “It’s like moving a 4000-pound couch,” he noted. “You can talk about it all you want but it’s going to be next to impossible to actually accomplish.” On the other hand, his sense of the importance of tradition to American politics may have shifted in the tumultuous days since we spoke. Shortly afterward, the president stepped aside, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for a historic run at the White House. 

This will be the third time Dr. Harrison has conducted the conversation. “David is always a great interview,” he notes. “He explains things so well but not only that, there’s a sense of a personal connection.”

Dr. Harrison has a PhD in Law with a focus on legal policy, the rule of law, and democracy. He is also a historian and has recently completed a monograph on then Vice President Richard Nixon’s visit to Prince Edward County in 1957.

“He sailed here, and he played golf at the Quinte Golf and Country Club, and I started looking into it, thinking it would just be a small thing.”

It turned out that then-U.S. Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, had a cottage on Main Duck Island. Dr. Harrison is currently looking for a publisher for what became a 250-page manuscript, “Searching for Richard Nixon.”

The event is August 8 at 7pm at Highline Hall in Wellington. Tickets can be purchased at the Library or online.