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TODAY:
- A remarkable number of potentially cataclysmic outcomes are being predicted by the pundits for Sunday's national elections in Italy
- Coordinated attacks in the capital of Ouagadougou Friday saw assailants dressed in military uniforms and armed with assault rifles and grenades try to storm the headquarters of the country's military and the nearby French Embassy
- U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating hovers around 40 per cent, and the numbers may be even worse than they appear when you factor demographics in
Italy election unease
In the 73 years since the end of the Second World War, Italy has had 65 governments.
So you would think the world would be a little more blasé about the outcome of this Sunday's national elections.
Police battle students at a rally opposing neo-fascists in Milan on Feb. 24, ahead of the March 4 election. Thousands of police have been deployed for protests in Rome, Milan and other Italian cities, tasked with preventing clashes during an election campaign that has increasingly been marked by violence. (Matteo Bazzi/Associated Press)
They are, after all, likely to result in yet another "pizza parliament" and a hard-to-manage coalition government — either the centre-right option controlled by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, or the centre-left option under the ruling Democratic Party and another former PM, Matteo Renzi.
Both of which could be joined, or toppled, by the anti-politics Five Star Movement led by Luigi di Maio, a 31-year-old college dropout who has never held a full-time job.
Leader of Italy's anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), Luigi Di Maio, may be a deciding force in terms of which party forms a coalition government. (Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images)
But there are a remarkable number of potentially cataclysmic outcomes being predicted by the pundits:
The most likely scenario?
After a brief period of business-as-usual chaos, yet another election.
Attacks in Burkina Faso
A pair of suspected terror attacks in Burkina Faso have killed at least seven police and soldiers, wounded 50 other people and sent the West African nation into lockdown.
The coordinated raids in the capital of Ouagadougou today saw assailants dressed in military uniforms and armed with assault rifles and grenades try to storm the headquarters of the country's military and the nearby French Embassy.
People watch smoke rising during the attacks in Ouagadougou on Friday. The capital of Burkina Faso came under multiple attacks targeting the French embassy, the French cultural centre and the country's military headquarters. (Ahmed Ouoba/AFP/Getty Images)
As many as six attackers were "neutralized," the government says.
According to some sources, the death toll is far greater than has been officially confirmed, with as many as 28 police, soldiers and civilians killed.
As of yet, there have been no claims of responsibility. Remis Fulgance Dandjinou, Burkina Faso's information minister, told state TV that the attack had "strong overtones of terrorism."
If so, it would be the third major terror incident in Ouagadougou in a little over two years.
Security personnel take cover as smoke billows from The Institute Francais in Ouagadougou on Friday. (Ahmed Ouoba/AFP/Getty Images)
In January 2016, gunmen from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and another affiliated group attacked a downtown restaurant and a luxury hotel, killing 30 people — including six Quebecers who were on a humanitarian mission — and taking close to 200 hostages. The siege lasted for almost 12 hours before government commandos, backed up by French and American special forces, stormed the building and freed guests and staff, although at least 50 were wounded in the fierce fighting.
Last August, another two Canadians were among 18 people killed when men wielding automatic weapons sprayed a popular Turkish restaurant with bullets.
Six Quebecers, including a family of four, were killed during a 12-hour siege in Burkina Faso in January 2016. They were on a humanitarian mission. (Radio-Canada)
Prior to 2015, Burkina Faso, one of the world's poorest countries, had plenty of problems, but terrorism was not among them.
However, the former French colony has since experienced the spillover from the struggle against Islamic militants in neighbouring Mali and across Africa's Sahel region.
The country's president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, is a key western ally in the fight against Al Qaeda and other groups, and Burkina Faso was among five African nations that formed a regional anti-terror task force last year, backed with $500 million US in foreign funds.
French President Emmanuel Macron, centre, and Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, left, wave after visiting a school in Ouagadougou in November 2017. It was part of Macron's first African tour since taking office. (Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images)
France has had troops in Burkina Faso since 2014, and French President Emmanuel Macron visited Ouagadougou last November to give a speech on his vision for Africa.
But in the absence of a claim of responsibility, there is another possible explanation for today's violence.
After a popular uprising swept longtime dictator Blaise Compaore from power, his loyalists staged a failed coup in the fall of 2015. The trial for dozens of accused participants was scheduled to begin this week.
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The demographics of doom
As Donald Trump never tires of reminding the public, he handily won the 2016 U.S. election with 306 electoral college votes compared to Hillary Clinton's 232.
But the Republican winner trailed the Democratic loser by 2.86 million votes nationwide. And Trump's total margin of victory in four key states -- Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Florida — was just 190,000 votes.
U.S. President Donald Trump's approval rating hovers around 40 per cent. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
A little more than a year into his presidency, Trump's approval rating hovers around 40 per cent, trailing every president since Harry S. Truman. (And possibly beyond, since opinion polling on the question only goes back to the 1940s.)
And the numbers may be even worse than they appear.
A new study from the Pew Research Center, The Generation Gap in American Politics, lays out the daunting challenge for Trump and his Republican frenemies heading into this fall's mid-term Congressional elections. And basically it boils down to the fact the majority of voters under the age of 54 really dislike this president.
The three youngest generations — the so-called Post-Millennials, Millennials and Gen-Xers — now account for 59 per cent of the U.S. population.
People hold up signs in protest of Donald Trump in Eugene, Ore., in May 2016. A 2017 Pew survey found that just 27 per cent of Millennials approve of Trump's actions since he was elected, and 36 per cent of Gen-Xers. (The Associated Press)
The Baby Boomers, who now range in age from 54 to 72, make up 29 per cent. And the Silent generation, which covers up to 90 year-olds, 11 per cent.
A 2017 Pew survey found that just 27 per cent of Millennials approve of Trump, and only 36 per cent of Gen-Xers. (Although no generation — not even the Silents — has a majority who think the former Reality TV star is doing a good job.)
The really bad news for Republicans, however, is that the Millennials and their younger siblings are more diverse — four in 10 Americans between the ages of 22 and 37 are non-white — and more liberal than any cohort before them.
Republican supporters of President Donald Trump watch him deliver his State of The Union speech on Jan. 30 in Peoria, Ariz. (Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)
The Pew Centre has been tracking 10 hot-button topics for decades now. And while all of the United States has evolved on issues like gay marriage, the Millennials are way out front on things like immigration — 79 per cent say newcomers "strengthen the country" vs. 47 per cent of Silents — and whether good diplomacy is more important than a strong military, with 77 per cent saying "yes," compared to just 52 per cent of Boomers.
(The same goes for Canadian Millennials, with 74 per cent disagreeing with the idea that there's "too much" diversity, and only 25 per cent in favour of accepting fewer, rather than more, immigrants.)
America's youngest generations are less religious than their elders, and less likely to have a formal party affiliation. But they know who they support come election time. And it's overwhelmingly Democrats.
In fact, just 32 per cent identify as Republicans or Republican-leaning.
Voters cast their ballots in Richmond, Va., on Nov. 8, 2016. A new study from the Pew Research Center lays out the daunting demographic challenge for Trump and the Republican's heading into this fall's mid-term Congressional elections. (Shelby Lum/Associated Press)
Plus, more Millennials — 62 per cent — say they're "excited" about the coming midterms than any other group.
In comparison, 43 per cent of Gen-Xers tilt towards the GOP, and Boomers are almost evenly split.
It's only the Silents who can boast of bare majority — 52 per cent — of Republicans.
But the starkest figures for Trump and co. aren't found in the Pew data. They're in the National Vital Statistics Reports.
Just over 2.6 million Americans died in 2014, and unsurprisingly most of them were elderly, with 1.7 million aged 70 or older — 64 per cent of the total.
Donald Trump's most ardent supporters are headed to the great beyond, at the rate of 32,000 per week.
Quote of the moment
"Ouellet weakened the voice of Quebec in Ottawa in the very moment that it needs to be a strong voice. We completely understand why seven MPs left."
- Gilles Duceppe, former head of the Bloc Québécois, cuts the legs out from under the current leader, Martine Ouellet, in an open letter published today in Le Devoir, which was also signed by 20 other former Bloc MPs.
Bloc Quebecois leader Martine Ouellet addresses supporters during a Montreal rally in March 2017. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)
What The National is reading
- Investigation finds Calgary MP Darshan Kang violated harassment rules (CBC)
- Michigan man shows up in Chicago ER after getting wounded in Syria (Chicago Tribune)
- Benjamin Netanyahu, wife questioned by police in corruption case (CBC)
- Calgary school pals formed an international crime cartel, police say (Calgary Herald)
- Snow storms shut Ireland and force U.K. to call in the army (CNBC)
- The unwelcome revival of 'race science' (Guardian)
- Boko Haram militants kill 3 aid workers, 8 security personnel in Nigeria (CBC)
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle invite public to their wedding (CNN)
- What is an 'Einstein' visa? And how did Melania Trump get one? (BBC)
Today in history
March 2, 1983: Hugh Hefner defends Playboy
The Journal's Barbara Frum faces off with the founding father of American smut, clad in his trademark silk pajamas and smoking a pipe. It starts off politely enough, with questions about the expansion of Playboy's pay TV channel into Canada. But then Frum wants to know why there "are no women over the age of 24" in the pages of his magazine.
Hugh Hefner defends Playboy11:32
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