The vast majority of the conservatives I know are telling me that they were wrong about Trump and now feel he is a destructive, malignant force and a real threat to the stability of the world.
Takes integrity to admit you’re wrong. Better late than never, too.
She’s of course sealed her doom with this candid moment. But it’s still a pretty good representation of what everyone is thinking, now.
Five things:
1. We still need to continue to expand trade with other countries the European Union.
2. Taking a Buy Canadian approach is still smart
3. Stopping fentanyl is always worthwhile – but we only account for .2 per cent. This was always about something else.
4. We’ve seen the true colors of the US – we can’t let our guard down again.
5. Trudeau did a good job. Good way to end his tenure.
A reprieve. Or is it?
The 30-delay notwithstanding, this much we know: Canadians, who apologize when someone else steps on their foot, are still very, very angry. When we boo the American anthem at NBA and NHL games – instead of helping out with the singing, in those occasional microphone-failure moments – well, that’s Canadian-style angry. World War II take-no-German prisoners angry.
And Trump? “Anger” doesn’t quite capture it. Free advice from a former adviser to a Prime Minister, Secret Service: even after the eleventh-hour change of course, don’t bring him to the G7 at Kananaskis in June. Just don’t. You’ll be contending with a lot more than the grizzly bear threat. Believe it.
The stuff I’ve heard from otherwise mild-mannered Canadians about what they’d like to see done to Trump? Stay away, Yanks. It actually isn’t safe.
Meanwhile, despite Trump’s momentary change of heart, Canadians won’t soon forget the feelings of anger and betrayal. We are angry at Americans themselves, too – and not just the death-cult MAGA Republicans. When even arch-Leftist Senator Bernie Sanders is saying he favors an American takeover of Canada, you know we don’t have friends down there anymore. Even the Canadian comedians we mail South by the truckload are silent when their homeland is under attack.
We might delay the tariffs for 30 days or more. But it’s clear Trump views tariffs as a tool to get his way. He’ll be back.
Meanwhile, we Canadians will never fully trust him or his government ever again. As one pal said to me this weekend: this isn’t a friendship anymore. It’s an abusive relationship. “And we’d be crazy to go crawling back to our abuser,” said he.
Trump is a thug, but it’s foolhardy to believe he’s now going to abruptly change his strategy – because threatening punishing tariffs works.
So, in the meantime, what do we do? Where do we stand? Five points.
1. We still need to continue to expand trade with other countries and the European Union. We can never again let one customer control so much of what we sell. We need to end inter-provincial trade barriers, too. Also: build pipelines. Now.
2. Taking a Buy Canadian approach is still smart. It energized people across the country, and it made them feel they were helping a greater cause. It made them feel less powerless.
3. Stopping fentanyl is always worthwhile – but we only account for .2% of what the Americans caught at the border. As such, this was always about something else. It was always about the main thing Trump has been saying every single day for weeks: annexation. Don’t forget that.
4. We’ve seen the true colors of the US – we can’t let our guard down ever again. We need to remember the past few days, and get ready for the next round.
5. Trudeau did a good job. Good way to end his tenure. He can retire knowing he helped the country in a moment of crisis.
There’s only thing Donald Trump understands or appreciates: money. Going after Trump, the politician, is entertaining but it won’t move the political needle. Going after Trump’s decisions – particularly the economic ones – will move the needle. That’ll change his behavior.
Nationally, provincially, municipally, we need to do what Trump could never do: get people together. We need to assemble every living Canadian Prime Minister and Opposition leader to speak with one voice and rally the country for the uncertainty that lies ahead.
And we don’t need an election in the middle of this crisis, folks. Sorry. That’ll just showcase our divisions to the Americans. If anything, we need the opposite: we should consider an all-party coalition government, ideally led by Poilievre, who has the best plan and a seat in the House of Commons. Because, really, none of our leaders disagree on the fundamentals about what needs to be done. That’ll showcase unity. Do that instead.
What works with bullies, everyone knows, is pushing back. We need to be ready to push back.
Because Trump isn’t done with us yet.
Not by a long shot.
Here.
And, because it is so close to the end for him, you know it is sincere.
The Trump tariffs have arrived.
How did we get here? Simple: we – all of us, under successive governments of different political stripes – allowed our trade with the United States to balloon to 80 per cent of what we export. That was a critical mistake, and all of us went along with it. It is a mistake that has left us too vulnerable to the whims of our biggest customer. Never a good strategy.
Canadians who have been justifying Donald Trump’s bogus pretexts for imposing crippling tariffs aren’t very good strategists, either. They’ve been dutifully dancing to Trump’s tune, just like he wanted us to. The newly-returned U.S. president exaggerated the fentanyl and illegal migrant threats so he couldn’t be accused of violating the very trade agreement he himself signed with Canada and Mexico in his first term.
His fentanyl and illegal border-crossing claims were bogus pretexts to get him out of his United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) obligations. Nothing more, nothing less.
But none of that matters so much, now. What matters is changing course, and making us less dependent on trade with the U.S. What matters is getting national leadership to guide us through the difficult years ahead. And what matters now is linking arms with those who support Canada, and building new alliances.
In the United States, finding those allies is pretty hard to do, these days.
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