My split off from progressivism a few years back was precipitated by precisely this kind of outrageous deviation from reality.  When did progressivism spiral off into rank hyperbole? Histrionics?  

We have a nominally educated writer, working for a major newspaper in Canada, arguing that a freshly elected US President, that's all of four months into his term, is the first step towards a dystopian future from in a novel that was already hyperbolic back in the 1980s when it was written. The author will ignore that Roe v Wade has been settled law for decades, that western society has inexorably marched towards extending rights further and further over time, that gay marriage was legalized in Canada 8 years after the book was written and is now law in many US states, that religion is fading generally from western culture, that minorities make up more of Canadian life than ever before, etc.

It's time to call this what it is - a mental illness. She's Chicken Little.