[Former Proud Canadian]

Like I said, fifty years later the city of Detroit is a shell of its former self.

And yes, the productive people fled to a new life in the suburbs. As far as the city is concerned, since they don't pay taxes, own property, or have much to do with the city, they may as well have fallen into a sinkhole.

As for the Lions, they truly are a joke franchise. The only good thing is that they turn US Thanksgiving into a holiday in my old home town. I hate to call their fans losers, but...

The Red Wings have been floundering since the days of the "Wings of the Soviet". If Frau Whitmer has her way they probably won't even play in Michigan this winter.

The Tigers, however, are only half a game out of first and have half their future team at summer camp in Toledo.

[Rockingham]

Granted, neither Detroit nor its sports teams are what they once were, but the city's fundamental economic productive capacity was transformed and preserved by "White flight" to the suburbs. A similar process went on in most of urban America affected by the urban disorder of the 1960s and 70s.

Indeed, the 1980s and after saw a rebound as the geographic advantages of America's urban cores led to their economic revival. The events of the last several months though show that revival was qualified by unresolved racial issues and political and policy failures.

It remains to be seen if a basis can be found for reform and rival of America's major cities, but Trump offers hope for doing so. His business career was, after all, based in large part on the revival of New York's urban core. And Trump's claim to greatness would be assured if he was able to accomplish for urban America what now seems so impossible.