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The failure of Jordan Peterson and the failure of America are not unrelated
Dr. Amber Hull wrote about The New American Immigrants moving to Canada.
I crossed the border into Canada less than a week ago and intend to pursue permanent residency and eventual citizenship here… It’s difficult to put into words how relieved I am to be in Canada... I’m being welcomed with open arms by the friendly and freedom-loving Canadian people… it became increasingly clear that I needed to get myself to a place of greater safety. I’m not the only one.
Dr.Bandy X. Lee writes that I Tried, and Tried, and Tried... But We All Failed (for Now). But we Canadians did not fail. I bought the book, The Much More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 50 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Warn Anew.
The 2017 instant New York Times bestseller, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, was extremely accurate in its predictions of danger. The updated and expanded version, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President, further warned that, unless contained, the dangers would spread exponentially. Many more psychiatrists and mental health experts have since joined the effort to warn and inform the public, leading to The More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 40 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Warn Anew, now expanded to the current volume, The Much More Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 50 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Warn Anew. World-renowned authors lead the volume in asserting their obligation to speak under the Declaration of Geneva, which decries doctors’ silence in the face of destructive regimes. They describe a man who showed increasing cognitive deficits, scored extremely high on a dangerousness risk assessment, and could not pass a basic fitness test because of his pattern of psychological deficits and dysfunctions. His worsening impairments, while holding the most powerful position on the planet, pose many existential dangers for humankind.
America failed on November 5, 2024. But the problem goes deep, far beyond Donald Trump. There is much Canada can and must learn from our former friend to the south.
From time to time I check in with Nate Silver who monitors How popular is Donald Trump?.
That on June 5, 2025, 46.6% of Americans approve of Donald Trump informs me that America is still failing today. The situation there is, imo, almost hopeless and my heart aches for my American friends. My hope lies with Canada, but we too have our problems.
As a Canadian, I followed the Jordan Peterson story with great interest. An article by Paul Lloyd Robson, The Fall of the Prophet, caught my eye. The failure of Jordan Peterson and the failure of America are not unrelated.
Jordan Peterson changed my life—and the lives of millions of men searching for meaning in a rootless world. His lectures were the bridge that connected my secular, progressive worldview to the ancient wisdom I'd abandoned. For that, I remain eternally grateful.
But Peterson's own dramatic collapse in 2020 revealed something crucial about the limitations of intellectual understanding alone. Even the most brilliant analysis of traditional wisdom can't replace the lived practice of participating in it. Even the clearest articulation of meaning can't substitute for the communities and practices that sustain us through life's inevitable storms.
This is the story of what I learned from Peterson's fall—and why it convinced me that men need more than ideas. We need embodied practice, genuine community, and the humility to submit to something greater than our own understanding.
We need to better understand how to spot false saviors who are psychologically very flawed.
I first wrote about this in 2010 and more recently in 2024.
SNAKES IN SUITS - a Canadian book
In 2017 Kevin O'Leary, a Canadian businessman and reality TV star known for shows like "Shark Tank" and "Dragons' Den," ran for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. He soon dropped out of the race because of his very poor French and lack of support in Quebec. But, imo, he is much like Donald Trump and unfit for the job of Prime Minister and Canadians should not be afraid to say so.
And we all need to upgrade ourselves pyschologically as it takes mentally healthy and mature individuals to recognize mentally healthy and mature individuals who are fit to lead us.