By James Peters

Kamloops political pundit: Canadians fear Trump as U.S. president

Nov 7, 2016 | 4:32 PM

KAMLOOPS — One of the most anticipated presidential election in United States history will play out today.

Retired TRU political studies instructor Ray Pillar says Canadians are watching with great interest, mostly because of the presence of Donald Trump on the ballot.

Pillar says Trump single-handedly destroyed the Republican Party by rising to prominence as a populist candidate, representing a change in the political establishment that many Americans wanted to see.

“It’s totally unheard of for the Republican candidate to be opposed by the vast majority of Republicans, in the party I mean,” said Pillar. “Trump has broken up the Republican Party – not that it didn’t need it. So this is a fascinating election, for sure.”

“In the past what’s happened is they’ve tended not to vote,” said Pillar. “This time, who knows? They might just be fed up enough with the two main parties to elect a lunatic like Donald Trump. That will make the stability of the whole Western world quite in question, I would say.”

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Pillar adds Canada is sleeping next to an elephant in the U.S., and many Canadians fear the impact of a Trump presidency.

He says if Trump comes out on the losing end today, he anticipates the Republican nominee will tie up the results in court challenges for weeks or even months.