The schoolyard turns on the bully: Rob Ford’s demise imminent

Not a photo of Toronto mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine

Strange days indeed. It’s been one week since Gawker and two Toronto Star reporters claimed to have seen a video with Toronto mayor Rob Ford allegedly smoking crack and calling Liberal leader Justin Trudeau a “fag”.

Nonetheless, Ford apparently still feels himself qualified to be mayor of Toronto, even though the Toronto Catholic District School Board has fired him as head coach of the Don Bosco Eagles senior football team. No reason was given. It may be the crack allegations, or it may be that Ford referred to the team’s neighbourhood as "crime ridden," and the youth as "gang bangers."

Then Ford decided to fire his chief of staff Mark Towhey. No reason was given, here, either, but it may have been Ford’s frustration with Towhey’s counsel to "go away and get help".

Even the Toronto Sun has bailed, demanding along with other news outlets and politicians that the mayor show up and answer the allegations that he smoked crack cocaine.

But Ford’s real undoing, it seems, may be the Rob Ford Crackstarter crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. La politica has tracked the numbers, and the campaign has been trending strongly to meet its $200,000 target by the deadline of Monday, May 27 at 11:59 PM Pacific time.

But there has been a twist, with Gawker saying that its confidence in completing the campaign "has diminished". So, the video may have been sold to Ford allies, or destroyed, or the holders now have cold feet.

But if the sellers are still game, and that's a big if, we can expect it to go viral within four days.

Either way, even if he remains mayor, Rob Ford is toast.

(TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.)

Twitter: @TimothyEWilson

Email: lapoliticaeslapolitica [at] gmail [dot] com

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