Hope.

Eighteen years ago, when a young man named Barack Obama inspired Americans to install the first Black president in the White House, the word “Hope” on posters and T-shirts and elsewhere encapsulated the feelings and dreams of many around the world.

We don’t normally comment of American affairs, but what happens in the nation just a few kilometres from the shores of Niagara-on-the-Lake affects the lives of all Canadians, something we’ve seen first-hand.

As with Obama in 2008, perhaps the results of Tuesday’s mid-term elections in the United States will similarly inspire and help end the gong show that has been the second Donald Trump administration.

Unfortunately, knowing what Trump and his mindless sycophants will actually do remains an unpredictable and dangerous game.

This week, the idea of nuking Iran was alleged to be on the table post-election as a possible option for the U.S. military, a move that would have untold consequences for all mankind.

If, in fact, it has been considered by Trump, that would be a horrific but somehow unsurprising bookend to what has been one of the saddest and most unsettling periods in American history.

What we do know for sure is that historians will not be kind to Trump or his enablers.

Ever since he was first elected in 2016, but especially over the past two years, we have witnessed a litany of criminal and ethically abhorrent choices that have made the once respected United States a pariah in the eyes of many around the word.

We have all seen his ridiculous treatment of Canada, his shameless internal corruption and grifting, the use of ICE and its Nazi-like tactics, his constant lying, racist and demeaning behaviour toward anyone different or who questions him, his faux-Christian pandering and demanding of allegiance to himself and his bloated ego. And that’s just a partial list.

His behaviour gave permission to many Americans to follow suit — as many did and still do, mindlessly worshipping at the altar of Trump.

But the results of Tuesday offer at least a glimmer of hope.

The election of so many Democrats thanks to the blue tsunami that swept across America could help reset and re-establish some civility and stability in that embattled country. If the Democrats don’t blow it.

While millions still chose to support Republican candidates, often because “we always vote red,” thankfully millions more repudiated Trump’s leadership and the candidates who chose to align themselves with him.

For the Senate, Michigan elected Abdul El-Sayed, Texas chose James Talarico, Georgia opted for Jon Ossoff, South Carolina went with Dr. Annie Andrews, New Hampshire picked Chris Pappas, Iowa elected paralympian Josh Turek. And there are plenty more.

In governor races, Texas chose Gina Hinojosa, New Mexico picked Deb Haaland, Georgia installed Keisha Lance Bottoms, Ohio elected Dr. Amy Acton and Iowa went with Rob Sand.

All are relatively young, energetic Democrats. And many of them won despite enduring racist, petty, lying and virulent attacks by Republicans who simply had no better answer.

Like New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (often just referred to as AOC), they may be key to the future of U.S. political leadership.

Some of them, like Ossoff and AOC, already have been talked about as future presidential candidates. Time will tell.

But, in the meantime, they all offer much-needed hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel after the calamitous years of Trumpian rule.

Hope won’t undo all that Trump has wrought. But it’s a start.