It's a strikingly bleak picture of the United States being painted at the Republican convention: a dystopian portrait of a violent, impoverished, weakened nation.

To some participants, this week's Republican convention has taken on a religious significance. Formally nominated as the party's presidential candidate, Donald Trump on Monday stepped into a bath of adulation from thousands of party faithful, many of whom see his surviving an assassination attempt as a divine act.

American history is repeating itself in a most macabre way. If everything unfolds as expected, Trump will accept the Republican nomination, in a triumphant speech, right next to where another U.S. president once celebrated surviving a shooting. That predecessor sought to calm the situation; there's no telling what happens now.

Facing extraordinary pressure to drop out of the presidential race, Joe Biden made cringe-inducing mistakes but also delivered long, substantive answers in a so-so performance that did little to resolve his party's ghastly dilemma.

It's been said Canada is in the hot seat at this year's NATO summit. But, really, it could get a lot hotter next year. Allies of Donald Trump warn that the frontrunner in the U.S. presidential race would use tougher methods to get NATO members to increase military spending. Some have ideas about things he could do to Canada.