Carney isn't stupid. He has spent the past year embracing his middle power message to build relationships across Europe and the Indo-Pacific (including mending fences with India and China).
We will accept permanent economic pain if necessary to protect our sovereignty and the essence of our country. That is what is under attack by Trump/Vance and their vile henchmen Lutnik and Navarro. Canadians are not soft. We live in the north. And we stick together.
As an American, I strongly disagree with Trump, and believe Canada has a right to its own sovereignty. So do Greenland, Denmark and Ukraine. Trump thinks he has a right to throw his weight around, but he has no such right. Ultimately, we Americans are going to experience the economic pain of having greedy, sociopathic and corrupt oligarchs take over our nation.
The "international community" tends to accept sovereign countries' domestic genocides with a "Well, what can you do, it's their internal business" attitude. If Nazi Germany had stuck to just murdering its own nationals, rather than crossing magical political borders to do its dirty work, it would probably have been just "a horrible shame what's happening in Germany."
Of course, the rules are different if the offending country is a nuclear power (and/or a member of the UN Security Council).
It does, but it has a horrible government. Many Iranians don’t like it either. Trump and Kegseth foolishly decided to go into an illegal war they were unprepared to fight, and they have no clue. Trump should just declare victory and get out. Iran’s government officials aren’t stupid and they know Trump tends to back down after his stupid bluster, hence the name TACO Trump.
Nobody wins a trade war, especially an idiotic one like threatening Canada. What's behind Trump's obsession with tariffs?
He's often mused how his 'beautiful' tariffs might replace the federal income tax--to make up for the BBB tax giveaway to wealthy benefactors and big corporations. Wouldn't Elon, Donald and his golfing pals just love that!
All of which is very true, but I wonder with a madman like Trump, he might simply reply to this obvious wisdom with "Well, if I sacrifice enough peons to appease the chthonic gods of the underworld, the tremors will cease and I will have won this earthquake tremendously!" - which given his policy over Iran, Canada, South Korea, Europe and every other ally or country that's ever had a treaty with the US, is most likely the way his deranged mind is 'functioning'...
Cash flow. And that would be semi-traceable cash flow without much in the way of requisite documentation of what account it is getting dumped into. Need a few million to fund a ballroom? Or perhaps a few billion for grabbing a chunk of land (although that is more likely Crypto). Technically it appears he has survived by burning through cash assets and producing cash flow while bankrupting business after business. Meanwhile there has been almost zero accountability and his fame has been floated by a celebrity and money obsessed media culture. My guess anyhow.
A tariff is a regressive tax on the lower income people thereby decreasing even more taxes to the wealthy. More money for ballrooms, replenishing our bombs, gilding the White House, and all of DC for that matter.
Trump doesn’t plan to give the tariff money back to the consumers who paid them, but to the corporations who collected them, he’s nothing but a common thief.
It is comparable to the strategy being used on the ballroom... if you have enough cash flow to get the transaction done without having to sign the cash out of a specific fund and you can get the project or purchase completed before the media or courts find out and pursue the lack of following regulations... that is the way corrupt entities get things done. Cash flow. He needs super huge incoming cash flows which are time consuming or difficult to trace or assign to a specific fund.
Well, he is a bit of a fat ass, so he does have weight, just not the kind that let's him "win" a trade war where even the Americans can't quantify what it is about.
Not to worry compadre ! Trump has signed an order waiving tarrifs on ground beef and said 400000 tons will be imported tax free lowering the cost to Americans. How does he know 400K more will come in thanks to him ? Because he has just had his son's investment heavily in the importer, tipped them off in advance, and worked out a deal with them to make campaign contributions to him in return !
Trump takes his orders to harass Canada from Moscow; as a loyal KGB (FSB) operative. Unfortunately, the only thing that will force him to call off his attack on Canada, is a drop in the US stock market. Which pretty much means Canada will have to impose an export tax on oil & gas bound for the US. MAGA is sadly unaware that half of our crude oil imports are from Canada, as well as large amounts of natural gas and electricity. If Carney taxes energy exports to the US--or agrees to sell it to the Chinese instead--gasoline and diesel prices here in the US will skyrocket. The stock market will slump, and Trump will TACO.
Add 85% of the US' fertilizer, steel, aluminum, uranium, a number of agri products and other critical minerals to your list of potential export tax possibilities.
If Canada doubled the cost of fertilizer (potash) food inflation would hit double digits in the US within a couple f months.
Canada is moving as aggressively as possible to sell its products to other countries, which means less to the US, hence, which will lead to higher US inflation.
Canada needs to also rethink its defense procurements, and cancel its order for F35s, inter alia. The US arms manufacturers achieve a degree of economy of scale by selling abroad. If former allies buy elsewhere it will be a double shock: less foreign revenue and higher unit costs.
Oh, Canada is thinking about its defense procurements. Why do you think Canada had not made its decision about the F35s before the trade talks? I just wish Canada would make its defense decisions taking into account that war has completely changed over the last five years.
Yes, any money spent on Maginot platforms like the F35 or the Gripen is money wasted. Canada should take some of those auto plants and turn them into drone factories.
Fighters (and ships and space vehicles) that need to support safely carrying us apes are passé. How much extra complexity and mass are added to accommodate human pilots? How many more gees can an attack drone take in a fast turn, and how much less power does it need without humans, their oxygen system, their ejector seats, etc.?
Timing of certain economic levers here really matters. For example, with the potash scenario you mentioned, many farmers are making their purchasing decisions right now and over the next few months for either fall application of fertilizers or to lock in prices for spring applications.
If such an economic lever were to be pulled, in other words, it should be now. The symbolism of "we are coming after your ability to eat" speaks directly to the consumer/voter in a way that broad tariff discussions do not.
If the problem gets big enough for the country, Moe might not have a leg to stand on. And if Carney finds alternate markets for the potash Moe definitely won't have a leg to stand on.
It's not convenient - the west deals primarily in non manufactured commodities - agriculture, minerals, gas, oil, and coal. it's Ontario and Quebec manufacturing that would be most exposed to USA tariffs. Neither Smith or Moe will stop shipments of goods anywhere.
Ford should stop proposing that harming other Province's citizens is the solution to his Province's problems, problems he and his predecessor's caused.
Canada should impose an export tax on oil & gas bound for the U.S. asap. The pain needs to be felt before the election. He only cares about maintaining power, he doesn’t care how much economic pain he causes the average citizen, which is demonstrated by the R’s scheduling most of the cuts to the ACA to take effect after the election.
Sadly, we have a MAGA-adjacent Premier of Alberta pandering to separatists and an insane (and frankly illegal) referendum on separation coming up in October, so federal export taxes on O&G are too politically risky at this point in time, though I agree with them in principle (and I'm an Albertan, so it's not like I don't have skin in the game!)
And of course MAGAts are funneling American money to these traitors. It's straight out of Putin's playbook.
Ivan from Ivan’s Substack has commented that American consumers would continue to purchase Albertan oil at a higher price level because there is no way to create an alternative supply chain in a short period of time. That would mean more money flowing into Canada, and the additional money could go to Albertans specifically. So couldn’t appealing to Albertan MAGAts greed convince them to join in the national effort? If there’s a core value uniting MAGA-adjacent people everywhere, it’s personal greed.
Be accurate for our American friends...the Alberta separatism referendum in the Fall is on whether to have an actual referendum that meets Federal Clarity Act legal requirements
Already, as soon as the strategic reserves are too tapped to suppress the price of gas which Carney is fully aware of, Trump is going to get lots of pressure to lower those prices. We shall see. Someone needs to lure his binkie Natalie away so that he is not fed nothing but self affirming pablum 24/7.
Canadian oil comes from Alberta. Sounds good but oil will not be on the table. Alberta is having a quasi-referendum on separation in October. Premier Smith is 100% against using oil as a weapon. Her party (not her), the United Conservative Party (UCP), is pro-separation. Incredibly, there is pro-Trump sentiment in Canada, and that is focussed in Alberta. Ontario, BC and Quebec would be onboard as they are being hit the hardest.
That quasi-referendum is going to lose big time. Alberta seperatits (not a typo) are a small overly vocal minority and by no means represent the "will of the people".
We have the same breakdown in Alberta that many American states have. Blue cities (where all the people and money are) and red rural areas. I'vd be surprised if the vote is as close as 60-40 against.
The casual attitude towards it among federalists is poison for voter turnout. People are sleepwalking into this. In the cities, people will be waiting hours to vote.
The separatists are going to vote even if it kills them. Will the federalists?
Part of the reasoning, I suspect, at least as it relates to oil, is that some of that oil heads south, gets refined, and then sold back to Canada. At a profit already. Touching oil in any way will have Canadians royally screwed when Trump raises the prices of those refined products to ridiculous heights. We would be putting ourselves in a bad spot pretty fast.
LNG is less of an issue, and when the shoving match happens, it'll just get lost in the mix with oil.
Hydro, however... this is where things get interesting. Trump/Nutlick just threatened out use of French. Quebec sends hydro south. And it doesnt come back. I wouldn't put it past the QC premier to flip Teump the bird and shut things off for a day or two.
In fact, one could argue that a day of no hydro out of QC would be a massive wakeup call to Americans in general. You can bet your ass THAT will make Fox News.
So far, Canada has only talked about what we can do if they piss us off enough. A small example to drive home the point could be entertaining, if nothing else. Entertaining for Canadians, anyway.
The Orange Oaf would get a front row seat to a taste of how nasty we can be!
The separatists are about 35% of the Alberta population. And I think once' they're faced with losing their universal health care and CPP/Oap they might just back down.
Doesn't Smith want to pull out of CPP, and privatize some healthcare anyway. Those are not the biggest costs an independent Alberta would face. However, many separatists want to join the US; in that case they would lose their healthcare and a lot more. 35% are not separatists; but many are thinking about it. A few separatists tried running for government, and failed miserably.
Agree - “Actually, Dem voters ARE MAD AS HELL, and ready to turn out in record numbers, as are Independents”. But at least the vast majority I know don’t give a $hit one way or the other. Usual respond - ah’ don’t know, not my problem. My 401K is just fine. Not agreeing, just reflecting.
Yes, but potash comes from Saskatchewan, and Premier Moe is against using Potash as a weapon. US tariffs are targeted at BC, Quebec and Ontario. Saskatchewan is not targeted.
Dunno how your laws work exactly, but if you can tax--export tariff--fertilizers, and more importantly oil, gas, and electricity exports to the US, it will rock our markets like a hurricane, and cause Donnie to TACO so fast it'd make your head spin.
Agreed 100%. Canada could I assume put export taxes on oil and potash, but Carney would not. Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces are not being impacted by US tariffs. That was convenient. And they are against using oil and potash as weapons. Remember Alberta is having a quasi-referendum on staying in Canada. Oil has become a national unity question. Ontario, on the other hand would gladly turn off the electricity.
Shankar Narayan explained that Canada would not use its power in oil to inflict pain, because it wants to be seen as a reliable supplier, not for the US to see that, but other buyers.
I read that too, but in this case, would other countries really see Canada as an unreliable partner? Unfortunately oil will not be on the table for political reasons. The US knows this, and made sure its tariffs did not affect Alberta.
It's part of the "Spheres of Influence" plan. Trump gets the Western Hemisphere, Putin gets Europe, and Xi Jin Ping gets Asia. That's why #47 attacked Venezuela (lots of oil, lots of resources, unstable government = easy first target) then threats against Columbia, Cuba, etc, then Canada, Greenland...). Anne Applebaum spelled this out last January. And there are other posts on the internet about this BIG ultimate plan. https://anneapplebaum.substack.com/p/spheres-of-influence?utm_source=publication-search
Trump’s own reasons? Maybe as Paul Krugman suggested, it’s a “dominance display.” Maybe it comes from envy of Carney’s popularity in his own country, and the respect European leaders show him. Maybe Trump hates that Carney sees him for what he is.
How does targeting Canada benefit America First nationalists?
Well, he isn't a nationalist. He cares for no one but himself (maybe a couple of his kids and friends, but not even them very much). He's a narcissist and a grifter.
Canada already sells oil to China. Just nowhere near the quantities it sells to the USA.
The Trans-Mountain Expansion has already helped reduce the WCS/WTI differential to historic lows.
But there are two problems: First, there is not enough coastal pipeline capacity to shift all US-bound exports. More importantly, though, China is rapidly electrifying and its appetite for oil imports is in steady decline.
They are making arrangements to sell in the pacific/asian countries to avoid dealing with the idiots like trump. They just approved a pipeline to BC to ship oil sands product to China.
China probably not, but Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and other Asian countries, hell yes! Well give you extra discount if you buy Canadian honey, maple syrup, auto parts, aluminum, potash, and other stuff!
Unless they start turning the bitumen into blocks and selling it overseas for more money than heavy crude. It is called asphalt, and countries all over the world need it for roads. No spills, rail transport, low cost to make. Now if the pilot is successful, this could be a good answer—better than expensive pipelines nobody wants.
I say more power to the Canadians! And thank you to Carney for having the courage to stand up to Trump, unlike our spineless politicians. I think I speak for many Americans in saying this.
As an american, I love Canadians. Kind lovely people in the North. Just know we don’t approve of him either. Look at the polls. Only racists and religious bigots support him now…oh, and the spineless Congressional republicans and the Supremes. Hopefully we can dig ourselves out of the mess we have created by electing these goons. I’m sorry.
Not only do we live in the north, we CHOOSE to live here! Staring down at Mother Nature and all that she throws at us. We laugh in the face of adversity.
Some say that Canadians are too stubborn for our own good. Others say we're just too stupid to get out of the way. I say, we stand for what's right, not just for ourselves, but for others as well.
When fascism comes to town we don't lock the doors and hide in the attic. We open the doors and yell "bring it, bitch!".
Trump was right for a change when he called Canadians "nasty". He just doesn't have a clue how far we can go.
I spent two summers working for auto companies and living in Canada while commuting to Michigan. Canadians and Americans have a history of working together. I hope Donnie and his misfits fail in this endeavor to separate us.
Most Americans agree with Canada. As with Ukraine, a country attacked unjustly has the upper hand in resolve and motivation, which often determine a favorable outcome.
@ Tod. I would love it if Canada became the 51st State US State. While negotatiating that its inhabitants will keep the better health-insurance, the more sensible immigration rules, can continue to have two official languages, etc. I expect that after not too long, a majority of the people living "in the south", are going to wonder why they cannot have those better systems too? And why Spanish cannot be the third official language. Puerto Rico will probably insist they should be the 52 State. (A girl is allowed to dream isn't she?)
What about the USA need for Uranium? Our yellow cake comes from Canada. And our fertilizer for the mid west farmers? Of course the USA wine industry will fade away.
After 9-11 I wept in front of my television and then again at the national gathering of 100,000 Canadians on Parliament Hill. I was deeply proud of my fellow Canadians in Gander that offered shelter and comfort to our American friends. And when we honoured our sacred NATO Article 5 obligations to our cherished American ally I offered silent prayers to our commandos, snipers and airmen that went into the teeth of the fight in southern Afghanistan. I am 65 years old and my pain at the betrayal is real. But now so is my resilience. Our rage is going to harden into resolve. We will never bend the knee. We know who we are.
Thank you for bringing up Gander, just one example of how Canada has reliably supported us. Although just one example, it highlights everything that the MAGAmafia buffons are not.
"Despite Trump’s best efforts, only a minority of Republicans — and nobody else — has been persuaded that the Canadians are acting badly"
The very notion that we, the United States of America, are now acting as the international bully of the free world is so shameful, so surreal that I can hardly stand it.
I do believe that more and more Americans are uncomfortable with this reality, especially in light of the fact that we are losing so much more than we are gaining from this Putin mini-me act Trump & co are putting on.
Most governments have "bully" tendencies, many leaders' personalities clash. They still manage.
Carney's points that should scare everyone are that the US administration does not work as a team, does not speak with one voice, and writes its "deals" in pencil... no matter the seriousness of the issue and the impact on all Americans.
In short, the Trump administration is NOT capable of managing ANY of the problems now on its plate... and most of those problems from trade war with Canada to shooting ware with Iran to the bond market to ICE to lack of skilled bureaucrats... are problems of choice.
Carney has illustrated this so perfectly. The world over knows exactly who has boasted, bullied, acted illegally and with malice, lied, lied, and lied again. Carney has had the spine to stand up and say Canada will not take it, nor be a party to it. Hopefully now more world leaders will have the guts to follow. Work together to figure it out because no one, not Americans and not anyone anywhere, can ever trust that the Trump Administration will ever act in good faith, do what is right, or serve anyone or anything but their own egos and bank accounts. They have all shown it time and again, and everyone, everyone!, needs to believe it.
I notice there isn't a line of foreign heads of state lining up with their golden gifts to Trump anymore. I'm glad they finally realized that this Trump can't be flattered into being reasonable. It was embarrassing to watch them humiliate themselves in 2025. I saw it as irony, but the MAGAs saw it as subservience.
Most Republicans sadly believe whatever FOX News tells them. Right now FOX is echoing the Trump2 line that Canada is abusing us on trade, and MAGA believes it.
> I do believe that more and more Americans are uncomfortable with this reality, especially in light of the fact that we are losing so much more than we are gaining from this Putin mini-me act Trump & co are putting on.
Then do something, else have the inaction reveal who Americans actually are.
The Republicans control all three branches of government, and have chosen to cater to a mad king.
The only meaningful "something" we can do is vote the bastards out.
Except now they are gerrymandering and demanding voter rolls and coercing the postal service not to deliver mail-in ballots and threatening to deploy ICE "poll watchers" and setting the stage to contest the results of the next election.
So what more, exactly, are you suggesting "we" do?
Hopefully people show up in overwhelming numbers, but we really are in a pickle because no one ever thought we'd elect a fascist regime in the most powerful country in the world.
This is our burden and our choice. We are under no illusions about that reality. We will not bend the knee and we are ready to suffer. This is an existential struggle camouflaged as a trade dispute. We will suffer, adapt and then prosper. We are the True North. Strong and Free. Our Canada.
Lake Ontario? Lake America? Never before have so many Europeans been educated on the tv news about The Great Lakes and where to find LAKE ONTARIO! Expect increased tourism from Europe, Donald is doing a great job of selling Visit Canada 🇨🇦
You know, in Europe the American continent is a bit far away. Not to be not aware of what is happening there, but as long as Putin is harming, harrassing, threatening our countries in one way or another (fake news, parties manipulation, anonymous drone attacks and whatever) our thoughts are mostly with our primary concerns: rightshiftimg politics, migration focussig of the news, novax in all flavours, American TV series normalised violence, wildfires, extreme heat and draught, fiscal difficulties, Ukraine....
A new absurd tariff somewhere is almost not even newsworthy any more. Still, some, like me, applaud the Canadians for their guts and resilience
Most Germans I know are aware of what is going on in countries other than in Germany and Europe. I know about the Cockroach movement in India. I try to stay on top of things. I know many Americans who are also living abroad and we are trying to stay aware of what is happening with Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Canada, Greenland, Venezuela, Cuba, and Ukraine. I am in Germany. My husband's cousin's wife is Ukrainian. We see what Trump is doing, and know that the US is responsible.
When I buy maple syrup in Chicago it comes from Vermont, when I buy maple syrup here in Germany it comes from Canada. I am going to pay attention to what products here come from Canada and see if I notice more being available.
Europeans & Canadians - far apart but joined by the Atlantic. I do believe that once, before the Atlantic Ocean formed, Canada and Scotland were joined. You see the same rocks in Eastern Canada & Western Scotland. All part of plate tectonics I think. Plus a lot of Scots went to Canada. Lots of connections! Plus Monty Python was obsessed with Canada - convinced the lumberjacks were up to something.
Paul, Some of those Scots found their way down to Appalachia in the US too. The wonderings of people is very interesting stuff. The question is did the Scots appear in Canada because they were connected at one point in time, before people probably existed, or did the Scots go to places that looked familiar and settle.
Was just talking to Iranians yesterday who live in Germany which is my European country and one told me he follows US politics closely. That is understandable. I am following both US and German politics. What happens in the US effects Europe. Will Ukraine get Patriots from the US? Will Europe find other trade partners than the US? Will European leaders follow Carney's lead or continue normalizing Donald Trump.
However, no one here in Germany cares about the naming of the Gulf of Mexico or Lake Ontario and they are not making trips to North America as a push back on that naming because they are busy worrying about the elections here in September. After that, Germans will be worrying even more about the AfD, and more and more will insist that the Constitutional court follows the law and sanction or cancel them.
You know, Linda, Europe is well on its way, there are many new arrangements between Europe and Canada. Shankar Narayan has explained quite a bit about that.
I like what Germany is doing these days, and I always say, Pistorius sounds like a Roman emperor. My great grandparents came from Germany and I took four years of German, so I have a bit of an affinity, and I think Germany is a beautiful place, I’ve been there quite a lot. So thank you for your reply and I always pay attention to what you say.
It is also an opportunity for individual Americans to support Canada. I just ordered again from Vessi, an excellent company that sells comfortable waterproof shoes. There are many other worthy Canadian companies and bookstores that we can support.
I had planned to write my local paper editor tomorrow morning, actually now today, and ask that they write about what Germany can do to support Canada, like buy Canadian. I will also tell my Economic Resistance Working Group in Indivisible Abroad that we should do that too.
When I go to dull, old USA, it is because my 92-year-old mom lives there. That is why we have a small apartment there, so we can have a place to stay. I also have my 81 year old aunt, and nieces and nephews to see. I would love to visit Canada. However, given that I have a health condition that does not allow for long plane journeys, I am probably not going to see either.
We’re past “elbows up”. The gloves are on the ice and we’re going over the boards. “Elbows up” is a signal to get ready. We’re beyond that now. The fight is on.
With all due respect, words are nice, you know, "thoughts and prayers" and all that, but we'll wait to see how y'all vote in the mid-terms before we come to any conclusion about your real level of support. Thank you.
Peace, Love and Brotherhood, my friend. I fell in love with Ottawa when I visited my daughter a couple of times during her 5 years there at University. I've wanted to join you as a resident ever since then. Canada is the country we always thought we were but never quite made it all the way. Unfortunately for me, I was already past retirement age and ineligible to move there permanently. I did the next best thing--moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, right on the shore of the mighty Lake Superior! Figured if worse came to worst, I would figure out a way to paddle across....kudos to Canada for giving the bully currently squatting in the White House a black eye!!!
Even if there's a blowout in the mid terms, we shouldn't be trusted until we revive checks and balances. We can't rely on norms. It will probably require Constitutional amendments. At the very least we must have electoral reform of the Primary system which encourages and abets extremism.
Trump rules with 35% support because that translates into over a 50% majority in the Republican Party.
Bry, I belong to both Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Abroad. In DA we have been working to get Americans abroad to register to vote and to vote since January 2. My family and friends are all registered and I check on the ones in the US. I have been recruiting others. I am posting Daily Notices to our Indivisible Abroad Substack on Voting from Abroad, and we have been advising people on all the tricks to do this best. There is also phone banking and card writing. All of that is going on. I know people who are preparing to go to the US to observe polls and we are developing a Election Irregularities reporting network abroad so that the outside world can hear what is going on in the US elections since we do not trust the media in country to accurately report on it. Mostly, I will vote and help a lot of college students abroad including my own, to vote. However, it is the 93 million eligible voters who did not vote in 2024, and decided that their vote did not matter whom we have to hope feel differently now. Some will not. Let us hope that many more do.
Did you vote at all? Did you vote against him? Are you doing everything you can to convince others, to vote, and to encourage others that the Republicans be brought to heel? If not. Yeah you did!
I like the visual of Canadians sweeping over the USA borders ready to kick our collective tushes. A contrast to the demure Canadian myth. You may find that many Americans will be running North to be with all y'all.
In both WW's Canadian troops had to be ordered, at several points, to "show mercy". Our approach to war tends to be, kill or be killed.
I don't really care that not every one of you started it. It's been threatened by Trump since he rode down that escalator, and the USian people rolled over. That was decade ago.
Now he's actually fighting on at least two fronts and threatening it on other fronts, on your behalf. USian's ARE dying.
As I see it currently, you have two choices. Absolute, undeniable, electoral defeat of the Republican's in the upcoming mid-terms and prompt action to repair what's wrong with your democracy, or if that fails, show the World what happens when somebody throws a war and NOBODY SHOWS UP! (Yes. I'm that old. I still believe it. But, I've got nothing to lose but my life. If the battlefield is the only choice for this, I will probably have to be ordered to show mercy. My love of humanity does not include mercy for my intended murderer(s).)
The coda of this article was apt in summarizing Canadian public opinion being one of fury. You Oughta Know is a banger of a song by a formidable Canadian musician.
Carney is definitely not stupid. Unfortunately, Trump is both stupid and a bully, and this will harm us more than it will Trump and his oligarch buddies.
"Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental." —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
In the case of Trump, evil is appropriate. He is a narcissist, he is old, he is a bully and he is evil. He is not stupid, and Carney doesn’t think so either.
The US is deeply dependent on Canadian energy imports: crude oil, natural gas and electricity. If Canada taxes deliveries to the US--or contracts to sell it to China instead--our markets will freak out, and the Orange Buffoon will TACO.
This is certainly a possibility and a very powerful tool in Carney's toolbox. But he's said he doesn't want to use it. I suspect it's because he doesn't want to harm those states that heavily trade with Canada (most of which have democratic governors and congressmen/women). If the democrats win a majority in Congress in November all of these governors, polititicians, and the business lobbies of both countries will overcome the unfair and stupid actions of a "lame duck" president.
The west coast states, and especially the areas along the Pacific Coast are not dependent on fossil fuels. You must be thinking of New England, New York and PA. I can't help them. Anything from China comes in from our ports (San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Portland and Seattle).
Please, California is running on solar all day right now, and many of us are using EVs. Gas is $6.29 a gallon in the Bay Area. If you're still using gas in the US, you are so behind the times.
And how ! Those energy export tariffs are going to hurt ! And how SOCAL will howl when Carney's Defense Minister cancels its big F-35 order from Lockmart.
They've been brought to heel in other times, and in other places in the past.
The problem is the "common" people have been too easily distracted, and to quick to believe their government(s) are somehow sheltered from corruption.
Government is designed by, and populated by human beings.
In USia's case;
Your constitution is a remarkable conception. The most important piece, is the most overlooked. That statement about government; for, of, and by, the people means all of the people are responsible. It doesn't end at polling place.
Over and above that, for all of us. Whether you believe humanity is six thousand😉, or six hundred thousand year's old, history say's we haven't moved more than a few inches, except in the realm of human inhumanity to human's, where we've really moved spectacularly in our ability to destroy more lives (possibly all of them), in a shorter time frame with more impunity. Most of that, in less than a couple centuries.
Which means: We're a long way yet from being able to take our eyes off anyone, let alone those we lend our power to.
I'm not saying you need to talk directly to Canadian's or anybody outside USia for that matter.
It's my job to pay atfention, at home and around the world, which I've done since I was a preteen. I'm old, and have followed your country avidly, to give that some context.
The most current evidence on the USia people's efforts to change their situation is, scant, mainly dispiriting (the former, and possibly next Democratic Speaker of the House's recent antics for example), and drowned out by what's being forced across the globe by YOUR Government. It's now more than a decade since this abomination rode down that escalator and exposed the rot.
You got him out, by the skin-of-your-teeth, for a minute, dropped what little guard you had, and let him back in.
It's not bitterness that drives my words.
It's sadness mostly, and almost disbelief, that the nation with the people that designed your Constitution and the government it produced could be driven to the very edge of failure.
I would change "Carney isn't stupid", to, "Carney is highly intelligent, articulate, and, is morally correct in his stand against Trump". Paul Krugman shows Canadian polls on the popularity of Carney. I'd be interested in a poll of U.S. Citizens on support for Canada in a trade war created by Trump. My wife and I are two immediate votes in support of Canada.
I have a few Canadian friends, and yes, they are ready to suffer, but it isn't as much to "stick it in Trump's face" (although that's a bonus) but to shut Trump TF up about Canada becoming the 51st state, and to send a clear message to Trumpian Canadian conservatives in politics i.e. Poilievre that their agenda is doomed.
This is an existential threat for Canada just like the war with Iran is for the Iranians. They have no choice, but to resist. For Americans this is just more stupidity from Donnie Demento and still crickets from Republicans who won't push back against his destructive buffoonery.
Carney isn't stupid. In fact he is an accredited economist.
trump IS stupid and bankrupted multiple businesses that seemed impossible to bankrupt - casinos! Now he is bankrupting the U.S. trump is issuing decrees from his demented fantasy world without care of impact on anyone or anything. I apologize the world must deal with the impact of the terrorist Republican Party who put power in the hands of a cretin and continue to enable him.
I applaud Mark Carney. Other countries should follow his lead.
No rational President would begin a trade war with Canada. As Paul has emphasized from the beginning, this is a deeply misguided and shameful attempt to display dominance. Than you, Canadians for standing up to this bully.
The total value of Canadian exports to US is about $400 billion and the new 50% tariff applies to $20 billion of that. This is an event that gets a lot of press but will have little or no effect on the economy of Canada. Carney is smart enough to do targeted countermeasures that will hurt the GOP in the election. Trump is swingling his tiny hands and Carney is laughing. Even if this escalate, China would never allow Canada to get seriously hurt.
Correct ! And thank you for your comment. I would use a number of explicatives at this point but prefer to remain civil. We’re going to tough it out ! You’re job is to get him out along with all his ilk and close the loopholes. Ordinary citizens acting in tandem. Democracy reinvigorated through citizen engagement. That’s what’s going to do it. Those cowards are afraid of real honest opposition. That’s why they hide their faces.
I am realizing that most Americans don’t have the desire to remove trump and his henchmen. The citizens of your country come across as apathetic and they don’t seem to care. What is really at stake here for the USA is your standing in the world. Bullying and terrorizing sovereign nations puts your country in the same vain as Putin’s attack on Ukraine. The people and the government of Ukraine have stood against this attack and refuse to back down for 4 years. When trump and his henchman attacked President Zelenskyy that was a huge mistake. When trump and his henchman did this on live television that was the last straw for most of us around the world. The fact that the mainstream media has failed in their journalistic work really speaks volumes too. Your president has threatened to attack us economically and we the people of Canadian have basically total trump that you have as you always do under estimated Canada and we the Canadian people. The day trump and his henchman took their own oaths of office was the day we Canadians started fighting back. We have been fighting back each and everyday not just when we feel like it. Lying and rhetoric will only go so far. The people of the world outside of the USA see your president and his henchman as total lairs and fools. Sadly the people that should be speaking out are totally silent. That speaks volumes to those of us outside the USA. At this point the rest of the world has had enough and no longer trust the USA especially trump and his henchman. The damage that has been perpetrated against the many countries that trump and his administration tried to strong arm has proven that the USA has lost its moral compass too. Hopefully the rest of us around the world will finally just shut the door to the USA and move on without you. As for SCOTUS they have especially failed in the following the rule of law. The checks and balances that were supposed to stop trump have been ignored and the politicians who have allowed this to happen are just as guilty as trump and his henchmen in the destruction of your country and your government. The damage that trump and his henchman have perpetrated will take generations to fix if it will ever be fixed let alone the same as it once was.
I agree with you,especially about trust. As an Afghan veteran who was left behind after so many promises from the current U.S. government, I have learned that trust is very hard to rebuild once a government breaks its word. America needs allies, not more enemies. Canada stood with America in Afghanistan just like many of us did. Treating such a country with tariffs and threats is a very sad direction
I have several friends who served in Afghanistan - one a senior logistics officer with a European air force. They did four tours of Afghanistan and they were present in Kabul when we evacuated at very short notice because the Americans did not organise or communicate. As a consequence of American incompetence, lack of communication and indecent haste, an ISIS suicide bomber blew themselves up at Abbey Gate outside Kabul airport resulting in the deaths of over 100 Afghanis and 13 US soldiers.
The European members of NATO are planning for a future without America because America is no longer trusted. It has also become very obvious that we do not share the same values and you cannot stand alongside a nation in war that you no longer trust. This is especially true given the contribution in treasure and blood so many NATO members gave when America invoked article 5 after the twin towers attack. This sacrifice was paid back with insults and we will never forget this. We Europeans know you will not reciprocate because you are so untrustworthy and dishonourable. We know this for sure so you can stop telling us.
The irony is that MAGA and the Christian right in the US share the same values as the Taliban ... America is the Taliban but with corruption. I am glad the Afghani writer " Abandoned Afghan Ally" got out but many did not and were badly let down by the Americans. Never trust the word of an American, it is utterly worthless and without honour. As Mark Carney said Americans write agreements in pencil.
The price Americans will ultimately pay will be huge .... and I just do not care.
I must point out that the Biden administration actually rescued a vast number of allies. In contrast, it is the current U.S. administration that has failed to save even a single person—instead,the current President went so far as to close the very legal pathways that the Biden administration had opened for us.
However,I also have strong grievances against the European Union.The EU failed to take the necessary actions it should have; instead,it is now shamelessly and treacherously engaging with the Taliban. It is deeply disappointing.
There are many many Americans with decency and morality who cannot wait to begin the rebuilding process once we get rid of the bully and felon in the destroyed
white House. Trust will be hard to recover but we--the majority of Americans--are willing to try.
Might I also point out that in Afghanistan it was trump that forced the abandonment. He negotiated with the Taliban just before he left office, agreeing that the US would leave by a certain date (in Biden's administration) and then he packed up and left the White House. Biden had the only option available to him--to leave or return to full out battle with a greater loss of life to both Americans and Afghans. Could there have been better organization--sure--but he did as Ally points out try to make things better for those who stood my us and helped. Something that trump never did or would dol
The vast majority of Americans do not support Trump. And many of us were appalled by Trump's actions vis a vis Afghanistan. Nothing is happening because the majority of Americans have no leverage at the present time given the Republicans control of all three branches of government. Hopefully, the midterms will change that for one branch.
And if Trump - as he's very likely to do - introduces emergency legislation to prevent the mid-terms happening? What will you and decent Americans do then?
Good question that I can't answer. Maybe some states will become Canadian provinces. There is a decent lot up north of us. And California would be a good candidate. Its GDP would add would add $4.3 trillion to Canada's $2.14 trillion. And lots of good wine. You should be careful about states like Texas.
I might be in the autumn of my life, but I will fight to the death, and there are many people who feel the same way. Is war the answer? Sometimes it happens to be the only answer. Do we want war? Absolutely not, but sometimes it is the only choice, and we think our country is worth fighting for.
Things are happening. You evidently are on the wrong channel. You also have to remember that our media is only allowed to say or do certain things that praise the MAGAmoron movement. You need to dig deeper to see what is actually happening. Our country has made some horrible mistakes, and the biggest one was electing a criminal and a pedophile to be in charge of our country. We were never perfect, but we weren’t all bad like it is now.
Well Julie, I wish you and other people of morality and basic decency good luck. However, please understand that Europe will never again hitch its horses to your wagon for we now understand who you truly are as a nation. It is clear to a lot of us in Europe that we do not share the same values and this has been something of a shock. That is not to say there are not Americans who do share decent values, but we cannot ever again be beholden to the insanity of the 4 year election cycle in what passes for a democracy in the USA. It is important to separate the individual from the Nation but it is the nation Europeans must deal with and which acts as if it has a God-given right to interfere in our economies and political systems. You do not have this right and why you think you do is beyond me.
I agree with most of what you say. Many European countries never refused the help we offered them though. If “None” is your stance, I hope you live up to it. Many other countries gave you help when you needed it. It is truly amazing that you are not all “Germans”. You would be if all the other countries had decided that you weren’t worth the effort. The world will not be a good place if we isolate ourselves and fail to help each other when we need it. I understand what you are saying, but I don’t think refusing to help others is the answer to anything in this world. Some hard decisions need to be made. Not to win the battle, but to the win the war.
True. We can and should do better in improving immigration procedures, but this of course is not something Trump and Stephen Miller are interested in doing.
Congress has not been interested in improving the system for the last thirty years. Prez Clinton signed in 1996 the "anti-immigrant" law IIRIRA, causing 100s, maybe even 1000s of immigrant deaths. Democrats approved just as much as Republicans. What is happening now, would not be possible if the IIRIRA was not enacted. Trump/Miller just put it in in a higher gear.
We are already paying that horrible price. Hopefully we can get this mess cleaned up. There are many of us that had nothing to do with now, or the past. There are many of us that are trying to figure out how to eliminate the problems. Please don’t dump us all in the same bucket just because there are a few very evil creatures.
My best friend went to Afghanistan with the U.S. She watched her best friend blown up in front of her there. She is a Captain in the Canadian military. Trump’s insults cut deep with those among us who gave their all when the U.S. called.
Canadians know what many Americans refuse to see. Trump is an incompetent idiot who cares mostly about self dealing. He does not incorporate actual facts into his actions. He is running a failing society into the ground. His word is written in pencil.
Canadians want less US in their lives. Most of the world agrees with us.
I don't think that Canadians are fundamentally better than Americans, but our values run more towards empathy than the winner-take-all attitude in the US. Our social safety net and universal health care for example, while not perfect and subject to abuse, are well intentioned to leave no-one behind. Contrast that to the US where state support for the most vulnerable is actually being reduced, while the hyper rich get tax cuts and the country takes on insane levels of debt to bomb other countries and kill their people. Canadians, for the most part, simply do not buy in to that level of cruelty, but the numbers show that enough Americans do for MAGA to have full control of the entire US Government and half the States.
One model has produced the most powerful economy and military in the history of the planet, while the other is just a middle power with a lumpy economy and a small military. So, Canadians are not better, we just, overall, value different things and the country's results reflect that.
But it is no reason to attack us, which we will not accept. Our empathy only goes so far, and we have never stood down, nor lost, a battle. The vast majority of Canadians, and a lot of other countries, realize that this is a battle that we are being forced to wage, but I doubt that the majority of Americans do, which is another type of difference between us. I'll leave it at that.
I will also note that Canada seems to have fewer puritanical shitheads in positions of power, particularly those lovely anti-science evangelicals who are waiting for the second coming (there is a joke here I will not make.) A large part of the issue in the US is the extremely radical so-called ‘religious’ leaders who speak about following Jesus but who have missed that boat!
Jesus was clear about the intrinsic values of all peoples as the children of god…much of the theology quoted by the most radical was focused on the behaviors needed of his closest advisors—he clearly knew that regular people had regular lives, and were not, nor needed to be, perfect! Read the book!
Most Americans are profoundly ignorant. They take special pride in not knowing anything about politics. However, instead of taking advice from experts, they choose to listen to grifters who flatter and tell them what they want to hear.
Americans haven't had the horrible consequences that Europe had of awful leaders. But we do now.
My family and I admit to the "steep learning curve" (as my son said) we've had to climb, since Trump & minions took office! With only two major Parties, it was simple to just "vote the straight Dem (or GOP) ticket". As a country, we're now suffering grievously. I now write my representatives at least weekly, spend hours reading about "politics"!
Nothing is easier than believing the lie that confirms what you want to believe. White skin and a penis DO make you a superior person. You are 100 percent justified in hating when POC move into your neighborhood. Etcetera
It's been open for a couple weeks now, Tyler - My daughters and I rode across on bikes two Sundays ago; it's really a fantastic structure! - but I think everyone here expects that trump will shut it down again soon.
Indeed. I hope the Canadians continue to strengthen economic ties with Europe, China, India, and others. Oh, and of course, Liechtenstein.As an American, Trump’s maneuvers are outrageous and deeply embarrassing. Go Canada!!
Speaking personally, as a Canadian, I value the relationships I have had with American relatives, friends, and coworkers. I mourn the passing of competent US government, much as I mourn a close friend coming down with Alzheimer's.
I pray that Alzheimer's at the national level can be reversed.
... But,...
I also recognize that as a country, Canada cannot make plans based on what we WANT to happen; rather we have to make plans based on our best forecast of what WILL happen. Though Trump has hopefully set a bar for how incompetent a president can be, Canada has to plan for the US to never be as competent in this century, as it was in the last.
That's not "winning" a trade war, but learning to live in world where such trade wars are possible.
Most of the 85 million are even less informed than the MAGAts. Don't depend on "turnout" to win Congress. Democratic candidates have to present a concise and understandable list of items that Congress will do to rein in the Orangeutan.
The reality is that anything less than a Senate supermajority means the carnage continues for 2 more years. I have zero faith that Americans are up to the challenge....or smart enough to know what to do. It's pathetic that there is a need for the Democrats to present a
'concise and understandable list" after the last 2 years of complete and total clusterfuck. Personally, I think the US is finished until its next revolution.
In the USA, candidates are selected in the primaries. In the main election in November, those candidates that the party members selected are on the ballot. There was a time when the parties selected the candidates in some places, but I don't think that occurs anywhere now. People registered for a party pick the candidates for that party in the primary; in the November election, they can vote for the consensus choice of their party or abandon their party.
There was a time, up to about a decade ago, where greater turnout favored Democrats. Today, this is no longer the case in most places. This is in part a matter of the republicans' successful gerrymandering and swing-district-targeted voter suppression efforts, and in part a consequence of their message appealing to the less educated, less politically engaged non-voters.
We should absolutely vote in November. But we also must absolutely be prepared for this administration to act with malevolence. They will do something, probably multiple things, in defiance of the will of the majority. The question is, what will that majority do?
In the recent August primary in Brevard county in east central Florida, the voter turnout was about 27%; roughly the same proportion of Democrats voted as Republicans. The turnout followed the pattern of previous years.
Essentially the incumbent President or party gets judged on the economic vibe, plus their popularity. That's now running -20-30 for Trump, and -10-15 for Republicans in general, depending on your poll.
The US Constitution sets a very high bar to remove an official-a majority vote in the HOR, then a 2/3 majority in the Senate. BTW, the 25th Amendment sets a 2/3 majority in BOTH houses to remove a president or VP, if they object.
Current Dems are mostly fooled by the history of 'Regular behavior' and respect for the law, so much they seem unable to function when they've been broken.
I'm encouraged by the number of Dem candidates now running on "Tax the Rich", which has 61% overall approval. What do they do when they get to Congress?
And who should I have voted for, in the state where I actually live, that could have changed the national outcome? Presidential elections, and control of the Senate, are decided in a literal handful of states by a relative handful of voters. Most of the rest of us look on in horror. Meanwhile, the Dems fumbled 2024 so badly they did worse than they had in 2020. Anyone with a brain should have still concluded Harris was the better pick than Trump (That's not enough, we need a majority!). But she was the wrong candidate for the moment, she started the race in a bad position, and she did not handle it well.
The Democrats put Harris in the colossally awkward position of having to "swoop in to save the day". The only person positioned for that level of acrobatics was Obama -- not that he was an option. But it was a maneuver that only a previous President could have pulled off.
That said, it's all moot to me. Harris would have been elected were it not for the self-centered ignorance, racism and misogyny of the American 'conservative' electorate and every other blubbering idiot who once again fell for the 'he's a business man' schtick.
JFC. Every time I read a comment as stupid as this, I wonder how the US ever became a superpower. Trump is a traitor. How the fuck you think Kamala was the wrong candidate when Trump was the alternaive is beyond me. The entire country knew it going into the 2024 election. Project 2025 was public knowledge. 85 million people didn't care enough to vote. Another 3 million were stupid enough to vote for independent... which was effectively a vote for Trump. 2024 had nothing to do with the Democrats. It had everything to do with the American voter. A stuffed animal would have been a better choice, but you picked the traitor. Take some responsibility for your actions. I don't give a fuck what state you live in, or what delusions you have about how elections are won. The reality is elections are won when people show up and vote. When they don't, you get what you have today...the complete and total destruction of your country, all of its alliances, it's economy, and its future. The American voter did this to America. No one else. Enjoy reaping what you've sown. Because there is no reason to believe you'll get it right in 2026 with that attitude.
I'm really not sure how you think more safe state voters showing up to the polls would have won the election for Harris? Not in MA or NY where she did win, and those are the only states I've ever voted in. This isn't some galaxy-brained theoretical question, it's a basic principle of how American elections are structured. It's a stupid principle for organizing elections for national office, but that doesn't make it changeable. Also MA and NY already signed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Most blue states have.
Yes, Trump is a traitor. Yes, Kamala was clearly the better candidate of the two. But she was not, in practice, able to sway enough swing state voters to vote for her. Yes, most Americans can't be trusted to choose the right sandwich let alone president. That's just a background fact we have to deal with, and given that fact, she was an inadequate candidate who, because of choices the party made before she was nominated, also started off in an unusually poor position.
To be clear, everything I say about the US, I would like to be wrong. There should be no such thing as a safe state because people should think before voting instead of voting by rote. That people picked Trump over Kamala simply reinforces the idea that the average American is an idiot. Enjoy the consequences of your choices. I will never be in the US again. I will avoid "Made in USA" like the plague. I haven't been in a Home Depot since 2015. That applies to a whole bunch of other US-headquartered businesses. Because I can see no reason not to completely give up on you ever acting like a civilised nation again. You've shown the world your true colours. We'd all like to be proven wrong....but we don't expect to be.
The efforts are in supporting the legal system, the independent media, pushing back on social media, building coalitions and connections on the local level and on various social media platforms, anticipating the various challenges that we face with the upcoming elections, etc etc etc. There’s a lot going on. Millions of people protesting in the streets helps, but it’s not sustainable. We’re exhausted and we persist. We still are making gains. The more outrageous Trump gets, the more we know he is flailing and floundering.
The lower federal courts and state’s attorney generals on down to counties and municipalities are continuing to hold the line. Various legal organizations are filing suits and winning. There’s a lot that is functioning—many are pouring their hearts and souls into this and are making a difference. Every day. That there aren’t huge public protests does not mean that we’ve rolled over nor does it mean that Trump has won. He hasn’t won and he is flailing.
I like your optimism, but as near as I can tell, the US is currently an unchecked Trump dictatorship, enabled by a corrupt Supreme Court. Lower courts may tick him off and delay him for a while, but it's about as useful as farting at a hurricane. I think the US is finished until it proves otherwise. You had a chance to stop him, and pissed it away.
That's what happens when you elect someone who openly praises Andrew Jackson as a role model. Also when exactly one party makes sustained control of the judicial branch a core tenet over many electoral cycles.
I think it's what you get when an electorate is so ignorant, so small-picture focused, so racist, or so stupid that they'll vote against their own interests. Regardless, the US has completely fucked up the planet. You did this to yourselves, and the world is actively moving on from you. Because you also did it to us. We all know the word of the US is meaningless, and the government is not to be trusted. So there is going to be a great deal of suffering outside the US because of what you've done. But I suspect that for the first time in its history, the US is finally going to experience the consequences of its actions. Don't forget, Americans kept electing Republicans after Citizens United. You made it possible for Trump to do what he did. This is entirely on you, the American voter.
Most are employed and can’t afford to risk not having a paycheck and the health insurance that is connected to work. As you probably know, there is a very thin safety net that is often private donations and volunteers. Those of us that are not working for pay are often old and less physically able to be out in the streets. When I saw the recent Hungarian protests, I wondered how they could be out there and still make a living. Our students seem generally uninvolved which is odd. I was out there a lot when young. Now 76👹
Now, that's a good and different question. In order to be *effective* at driving policy, a protest needs to be organized, with sustained, coordinated planning over months and years, and messaging pointed towards well-defined, popular, feasible policy aims. There *have* been (vibe-driven) mass protests against Trump. But starting before I was before, the US has systematically dismantled any and all organizations capable of coordinating at that level (other than maybe some churches and some public sector unions?), especially on the left. Many people also fetishize the idea of honoring their individual voice and integrated personal identity so much that getting the requisite number of people to trust such an organization, to go along with it's decisions even when they won't agree with all of them, and to hold the line seems to be beyond our collective capacity. That's why every progressive agenda since Obama has been trying to say yes to every interest group, and refused to set and hold to real priorities and make needed tradeoffs in order to get enough popular buy in to enable lasting change.
They happened, yes. There was, and is, no long-term organizing force behind it, or channeling that energy into winning elections and setting policy in ways that are actually strategic and long-term-beneficial.
Polls mostly don't support that. But also, most Americans don't have enough understanding of what is going on in the world around them for their opinion to actually be meaningful information beyond a vibe.
Because the younger generations, who think they're better than us, don't understand what we did in the Sixties, without computers, cell phones, or any of this other stuff. That's why they were so shocked by what happened in Minneapolis. Good thing they didn't live in the South in the early Sixties, or before...
I do agree that a greater general willingness to accept what the world used to be like - not morally, but just as a literal fact about the past - would cause a lot of people to have much clearer ideas about what an effective path forward looks like. It would be an uncomfortable reckoning, so people turn away from it instead, and we're all the worse off for it.
Trump has likely handed the Senate via Michigan, Alaska and Maine to the Democrats. All of those states depend on trade with Canada for their own economic livelihood. The tariffs will kill them. Way to go Donnie, your ignorance, arrogance and ego will bit you in the a$$ as usual.
Don’t forget NH! We have a fight on our hands to replace Jeanne Shaheen in the Senate with another Democrat against the creepy Sununu dynasty and the wealthy shyster Scott Brown who only pretends to live in NH.
What is it about Republicans who don't live in the states they purport to represent? Tuberville and Rogers both live in Floriduh. Lahn in Kansas. Scotty in Massachusetts (or the moon, who knows?)
Trump doesn't care about the Republican Party other than it being a vehicle for his own self promotion.
Republican congressmen know that, but were kept in line by fear of being primaried. I also think Trump has sent his militia buddies after some of them...Joni Ernst and Marjorie Taylor-Greene. MTG was explicit in saying her family was targeted with violence. There's no other reason she would quit mid-term.
These folks are rich so why does being primaried terrify them. They lose and can be lobbyists, join a connected law firm or think tank. It's not like they will be out on the street. They lose their perks or kiss ass and lose their morality.
Their value as lobbyists is really only with other republicans as I’m pretty sure that Democrat Congress people won’t be that interested in what they have to say.
Nature detests a void. If the Republican party was worth a shit, then Trump would not have fertile soil in which to sow his bad seeds. I don't like Democrats, either, but Democrats are far more preferable than goddamn stupid cult Republicans!
Yes, and I would like think that USA will be better once the Democrats take control, but I don't think the Democrats are any better, just different, than Republicans. I have grown to hate USA government, and it is only going to get worse. The DSA is just as evil as fucking MAGA!
I think the extremes are like the ends of a horseshoe. The far right and far left have a lot of similarities. They both lack the ability for rational contemplation and consider views that don't fall into their rigid ways of thinking. When they gather information it's all flowers of one color. They stay far away from anything that might make them consider opposing views. That's why the far left is so afraid of words and police language with such severity. Both the far right and far left are dogmatic. I don't feel the need to comment on the far right. Their flaws are evident everyday with the Trump administration.
We need to change our electoral system in ways that make the two parties compete. Forty years ago, voters rejected anyone who seemed extreme. However, we didn't have 82% safe congressional seats. Gerrymandering should become illegal or at least wildly against social norms. We especially need to reform the Primary system. Only a small number of voters vote in the primaries and they are those with the most extreme views. If Independents and non-affiliated voters were classified as a party, they'd be the biggest. In closed primary states they are cut out completely.
If you live in a state with closed primaries, you can do something about it. Vote in the primary in the dominant party. If the Primaries become to be seen as the general election, which it is in 82% of the districts, we will see far fewer far right or far left candidates.
I think our rage will pass. But it will turn into a steely and resilient determination to defend and protect our sovereignty and our way of life. We will stand together and we will not bend the knee.
While you're at it, ban FOX News and it's lesser imitators, which are the primary reason MAGA elected Trump, and even now believe Trump is honorably defending us from Canadian trade rapacity.
Pass a Canadian "truth in media" law; and if FOX refuses to stop their lies and misinformation, sue them out of existence.
Given tariffs do not provide any real, lasting, economic benefit, I expect the Canadian government to implement tariffs that at least provide a security benefit. One example: taxing YouTube, Netflix, and Prime to fund a platform not controlled by Oligarchs on which small and medium sized businesses can advertise. Another example would be to follow the European move away from Microsoft for government desktops.
Do not focus on the propaganda effect of Fox News.
Fox advertising matters more: Fox sports, movies, and TV shows favor ads that promote Republican leaning businesses, which favors employees working, and shoppers shopping, in environments that move the Overton Window to favor Republicans.
Since Fox bought Roku, even though I do not watch Fox News, the ads is see streamed on Roku have changed.
The opaque algorithms of social media can have a similar effect. It is subtle, takes longer, but is also harder to reverse.
The only defense is to ensure the market for delivering ads is competitive.
Canada will never again see the US as an ally. As Carney said, we are at war, and that is how most Canadians feel. The US doesn't seem to have the will to change; it's been beaten into submission, and the behaviour of the Democrats doesn't augur well for the permanent systemic change that is going to be required, not for Canadian survival, but US. I believe Canada will come out of these rancid years better and stronger; the US is in precipitous decline, and that is permanent. It is now without an ally in the international system, except El Salvador. Good luck with that.
"..the behaviour of the Democrats doesn't augur well for the permanent systemic change that is going to be required.."
First Democrats must win the mid-terms - but then they *must* convert or neutralize their corporate faction.. starting with that showboating idiot weenie Fetterman...
We have learned from Ukraine and Iran in asymmetric conflict. Discern the true intentions of dominance, be prepared to endure pain, know how to inflict cost on the other party. Outlast. We are sending a signal to the world with lessons in courage. Proud to be 🇨🇦
We own a summer house in Nova Scotia and have spent 25 summers among Canadian friends; fishermen, teachers, writers, builders. Not one has pointed fingers at Americans in general. Like many of us, they just blame Trump's deluded, mean spirited policies for what's going on.
I've also been assured that Canadians will never, never, never rollover for Donald Trump. They'd rather starve. I'm betting on Mark Carney and waiting for TACO Don to show up. Maybe he'll fire Howard Lutnick.
Of course people like you are always welcomed as cherished visitors. But we harbour no illusions about the number of MAGA types who will sour on Canada now. So be it. You are bang on about our willingness to suffer to preserve our sovereignty. Our families from the Greatest Generation did not fight and die for us to bend the knee to an American tyrant. Our soldiers who fought and died in Afghanistan answering our sacred NATO Article 5 obligations will not witness our country fold. We know this in not about trade. It is an existential assault.
Howard "Remind me again who is this Jeffrey F. Steen.. oh, um, right.." Nutlick - a "Commerce Secretary" who doesn't understand how international commerce 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 work.
As with pretty much everything this group of felons does, all of this is a grift. They will insider-trade on the conflict that they manufactured explicitly for the purpose of insider-trading on it until they can't any longer. Donnie won't TACO, he'll simply move on to the next grift.
Respect for contracts and treaties is a big part of Canada's brand. Canada will loathe to give up a long term brand strength for a short-term trade tactic.
... as for a TACO...
Trump may chicken out on the 338 tariffs. He will not suddenly become competent.
That was then, now the level of anger Canadians feel towards all things American is at a totally new level. After all some of you had to have voted him in. Plus, what stops the American people from voting another Trump in as president? There is no turning back from this new reality. It’s a divorce.
Trump, of course, believes the US President is the most powerful person in the world. In his Mafia infested and deteriorating mind, he thinks he is allowed to bully and demand from everyone on the earth. That mind can never face reality, or even recognize it. Sadly, a significant portion of Americans cannot and will not recognize reality, either. We hope that more of the uncertain or independent Americans can now realize that Trump and his kowtowing Republicans must be gone. As every cognitively capable American knows, repairing the US is going to be a huge and long task, which is made more insurmountable with each passing Trump era day. I just wish there were enough wise and courageous persons in Washington to stand up and end the Trump era now. A pipe dream, unfortunately.
Many of us knew he was an impending disaster and didn’t support him to start with, but our archaic constitution enabled him. Now all three branches of government ignore the Constitution and law to do what they want.
Your analysis parallels Carney’s and begins to reflect the anger and sense of betrayal felt by Canadians. 'Come From Away" has been replaced by "So Long, it was nice while it lasted". The rot at the heart of American Exceptionallism is now on full display.
Canada is a safe, well captained boat sailing a clever course through the icebergs. We have left the Titanic to its fate!
Not American exceptionalism; but Conservative idiocy and bullying. THIS is what happens when the GOP is in control. Canada was our closest ally, our dearest friend. Until TRUMP.
As someone who had a condo in magnificent British Columbia until last year, I can tell you that a Canadian trait often revealed under the (very real) politeness was steely-eyed determination. I mean this in the best possible way.
Thank you. I believe we are generally kind and have been brought up to have humility. But Northerners are a different breed. We also have resilience. Inconvenience is just that, inconvenience. But what we are facing now, will bring out the best in us and yes, "steely eyed determination" is part of it.
Let’s see: Putin invades a much smaller Ukraine…and how is that working out for Russia? Trump attacks a much smaller Iran…and how is that working out for trump? Now trump starts a trade war with a smaller Canadian economy…how do you think that will work out? What is the difference: dictators are attacking countries and the patriots (even the suppressed ones in Iran) are fighting back for their countries,
What if even fewer Canadians come stateside? Those travel dollars in border towns, Florida, and Las Vegas I bet is a meaningful bell weather for their righteous indignation.
Yup, I'm one of those. In fact, I'm at my Florida home right now for house repairs. It will be up for sale A.S.A.P. and I will stop spending ~30k USD per year in Florida.
I’m sure you aren’t alone. I’m guessing that the Canadian warm weather tourism dollars that are leaving Florida will go somewhere else — where? Mexico? The Caribbean?
I'm glad for you, too. This place is insane. We're rooting for the good guys and it's not here. Yay, Canada and Hugo pup for his PR (not needed but nice).
In the not too distant past, you would see people swimming during the winter months in the Gulf of MEXICO here in northern Florida. And they invariably were Canadians. This won’t be happening this Winter.
We used to do 6 US trips a year .....Florida for Spring training, NY for Broadway, etc etc. Haven't set foot there in 2 years and never will again. Mostly Europe & the Caribbean now .
There is a movement afoot in Canada to demand legislated "country of origin" signage on all retail products. Now why do you think that is happening. If you want to become a social outcast in Canada just post some social media about your travels to the US.
Eck. We Americans knew this, but when you state is so plainly. And painfully. No "snowbirds" have come for over 2 years. And proud Canadian Dominique B. was spending $30K annually to maintain a second home in USA - the $ loss to Americans is Real.
It has already been felt in a number of areas . Our Mango Coated mistake shows us what happens as our dominant world financial empire collapses . His misguided efforts will only hasten the decline .
Anybody reading this post, let alone my own comment, is probably already in strong disagreement with this whole White House mess, so there is little need to add another argument trying to convince anyone here.
But one thing does need to be said: for God’s sake, do not let these fools manipulate the midterms the way they are already trying to.
Let it be known that Canada is simply waiting for a decent government to return. It may not be the best of circumstances, given the wreckage the next administration will have to emerge from, but we will be on your side, as we always have been, patiently ready to help resolve a mess that should never have existed in the first place.
I can already hear a new, more aggressive tone from many who were once muted by the numbers.
I find it interesting because these unprovoked economical attacks on allies will have more expansive and longer term effects on other allies as well. I'm curious to see the effect of this sentimental change on future decision making regarding dealing with the US everywhere.
We see this already happening with intelligence sharing, defence treaties, etc. It seems an unavoidable part of current US foreign policy.
My phone has been burning up with calls from friends and colleagues around the world. Canada is making a stand. It is being noted with admiration. We will not bend the knee to aggression and sovereignty assaults on our country wrapped up in trade talk camouflage. We are under no illusions about the rest of the world lining up behind us. This is our struggle, our movement and our burden.
Carney isn't stupid. He has spent the past year embracing his middle power message to build relationships across Europe and the Indo-Pacific (including mending fences with India and China).
https://nuancematters.substack.com/p/canada-goes-global?r=1cwd5h
Is it enough to offset Trump's buffoonery? No, but Canadians appear very willing to accept temporary economic pain to stick it in Trump's face.
We will accept permanent economic pain if necessary to protect our sovereignty and the essence of our country. That is what is under attack by Trump/Vance and their vile henchmen Lutnik and Navarro. Canadians are not soft. We live in the north. And we stick together.
As an American, I strongly disagree with Trump, and believe Canada has a right to its own sovereignty. So do Greenland, Denmark and Ukraine. Trump thinks he has a right to throw his weight around, but he has no such right. Ultimately, we Americans are going to experience the economic pain of having greedy, sociopathic and corrupt oligarchs take over our nation.
Iran also has a right to its own sovereignty.
The "international community" tends to accept sovereign countries' domestic genocides with a "Well, what can you do, it's their internal business" attitude. If Nazi Germany had stuck to just murdering its own nationals, rather than crossing magical political borders to do its dirty work, it would probably have been just "a horrible shame what's happening in Germany."
Of course, the rules are different if the offending country is a nuclear power (and/or a member of the UN Security Council).
Or of economic or strategic interest to the US. KSA is one example.
Independent of the greenhouse gas issue, I have long wished the abolition of the oil&gas industry, and the way it has warped international relations.
No, they pretty much declared war on Germany when they were invaded or attacked.
It does, but it has a horrible government. Many Iranians don’t like it either. Trump and Kegseth foolishly decided to go into an illegal war they were unprepared to fight, and they have no clue. Trump should just declare victory and get out. Iran’s government officials aren’t stupid and they know Trump tends to back down after his stupid bluster, hence the name TACO Trump.
Nobody wins a trade war, especially an idiotic one like threatening Canada. What's behind Trump's obsession with tariffs?
He's often mused how his 'beautiful' tariffs might replace the federal income tax--to make up for the BBB tax giveaway to wealthy benefactors and big corporations. Wouldn't Elon, Donald and his golfing pals just love that!
I believe the line is "You can no more win a trade war than you can win an earthquake"
All of which is very true, but I wonder with a madman like Trump, he might simply reply to this obvious wisdom with "Well, if I sacrifice enough peons to appease the chthonic gods of the underworld, the tremors will cease and I will have won this earthquake tremendously!" - which given his policy over Iran, Canada, South Korea, Europe and every other ally or country that's ever had a treaty with the US, is most likely the way his deranged mind is 'functioning'...
That gives Trump too much credit for "thinking". Which is a thing I'm not sure we can accede has ever happened.
Trump vs the earthquake would come down to "how can I make money off of this?"
Cash flow. And that would be semi-traceable cash flow without much in the way of requisite documentation of what account it is getting dumped into. Need a few million to fund a ballroom? Or perhaps a few billion for grabbing a chunk of land (although that is more likely Crypto). Technically it appears he has survived by burning through cash assets and producing cash flow while bankrupting business after business. Meanwhile there has been almost zero accountability and his fame has been floated by a celebrity and money obsessed media culture. My guess anyhow.
A tariff is a regressive tax on the lower income people thereby decreasing even more taxes to the wealthy. More money for ballrooms, replenishing our bombs, gilding the White House, and all of DC for that matter.
Trump doesn’t plan to give the tariff money back to the consumers who paid them, but to the corporations who collected them, he’s nothing but a common thief.
It is comparable to the strategy being used on the ballroom... if you have enough cash flow to get the transaction done without having to sign the cash out of a specific fund and you can get the project or purchase completed before the media or courts find out and pursue the lack of following regulations... that is the way corrupt entities get things done. Cash flow. He needs super huge incoming cash flows which are time consuming or difficult to trace or assign to a specific fund.
"Technically it appears he has survived by burning through cash assets and producing cash flow while bankrupting business after business."
Exactly the business model of the Private Equity bros.
He loves tariffs because the tax burden shifts to the lower income citizens.
He also listened to the idiot Peter Navarro, who created his own alter ego to bolster his dumb arguments.
He has no such a right and no such a weight either...
Well, he is a bit of a fat ass, so he does have weight, just not the kind that let's him "win" a trade war where even the Americans can't quantify what it is about.
fat at all the wrong places...
Not to worry compadre ! Trump has signed an order waiving tarrifs on ground beef and said 400000 tons will be imported tax free lowering the cost to Americans. How does he know 400K more will come in thanks to him ? Because he has just had his son's investment heavily in the importer, tipped them off in advance, and worked out a deal with them to make campaign contributions to him in return !
Trump’s never lacked an opportunity to rip off the American public.
Trump takes his orders to harass Canada from Moscow; as a loyal KGB (FSB) operative. Unfortunately, the only thing that will force him to call off his attack on Canada, is a drop in the US stock market. Which pretty much means Canada will have to impose an export tax on oil & gas bound for the US. MAGA is sadly unaware that half of our crude oil imports are from Canada, as well as large amounts of natural gas and electricity. If Carney taxes energy exports to the US--or agrees to sell it to the Chinese instead--gasoline and diesel prices here in the US will skyrocket. The stock market will slump, and Trump will TACO.
Add 85% of the US' fertilizer, steel, aluminum, uranium, a number of agri products and other critical minerals to your list of potential export tax possibilities.
If Canada doubled the cost of fertilizer (potash) food inflation would hit double digits in the US within a couple f months.
Canada is moving as aggressively as possible to sell its products to other countries, which means less to the US, hence, which will lead to higher US inflation.
Canada needs to also rethink its defense procurements, and cancel its order for F35s, inter alia. The US arms manufacturers achieve a degree of economy of scale by selling abroad. If former allies buy elsewhere it will be a double shock: less foreign revenue and higher unit costs.
Oh, Canada is thinking about its defense procurements. Why do you think Canada had not made its decision about the F35s before the trade talks? I just wish Canada would make its defense decisions taking into account that war has completely changed over the last five years.
I also wish the US would make its defense decisions taking into account that war has completely changed over the last five years.
Yes, any money spent on Maginot platforms like the F35 or the Gripen is money wasted. Canada should take some of those auto plants and turn them into drone factories.
Fighters (and ships and space vehicles) that need to support safely carrying us apes are passé. How much extra complexity and mass are added to accommodate human pilots? How many more gees can an attack drone take in a fast turn, and how much less power does it need without humans, their oxygen system, their ejector seats, etc.?
Already happening. We've made deals to buy Swedish jets and German subs.
We have not yet made a deal to buy the Gripen. But I am increasingly confident that is coming.
Timing of certain economic levers here really matters. For example, with the potash scenario you mentioned, many farmers are making their purchasing decisions right now and over the next few months for either fall application of fertilizers or to lock in prices for spring applications.
If such an economic lever were to be pulled, in other words, it should be now. The symbolism of "we are coming after your ability to eat" speaks directly to the consumer/voter in a way that broad tariff discussions do not.
Potash comes from Saskatchewan, and Premier Moe does not want potash used as a weapon. Convenient how the US tariffs barely affect Saskatchewan.
If the problem gets big enough for the country, Moe might not have a leg to stand on. And if Carney finds alternate markets for the potash Moe definitely won't have a leg to stand on.
The Premier of Saskatchewan has supported PM Carney's refusal of the "deal" and he also supports dollar-for-dollar counter tariffs
It's not convenient - the west deals primarily in non manufactured commodities - agriculture, minerals, gas, oil, and coal. it's Ontario and Quebec manufacturing that would be most exposed to USA tariffs. Neither Smith or Moe will stop shipments of goods anywhere.
Ford should stop proposing that harming other Province's citizens is the solution to his Province's problems, problems he and his predecessor's caused.
Bry, there are other sources of potash besides Saskatchewan, I suspect you don't live in Saskatchewan.
Please do not be snide and judgemental. USA gets 80% of its potash from Canada. But true there USA could get it's potash from Russia or China. Nice.
Canada should impose an export tax on oil & gas bound for the U.S. asap. The pain needs to be felt before the election. He only cares about maintaining power, he doesn’t care how much economic pain he causes the average citizen, which is demonstrated by the R’s scheduling most of the cuts to the ACA to take effect after the election.
Sadly, we have a MAGA-adjacent Premier of Alberta pandering to separatists and an insane (and frankly illegal) referendum on separation coming up in October, so federal export taxes on O&G are too politically risky at this point in time, though I agree with them in principle (and I'm an Albertan, so it's not like I don't have skin in the game!)
And of course MAGAts are funneling American money to these traitors. It's straight out of Putin's playbook.
Ivan from Ivan’s Substack has commented that American consumers would continue to purchase Albertan oil at a higher price level because there is no way to create an alternative supply chain in a short period of time. That would mean more money flowing into Canada, and the additional money could go to Albertans specifically. So couldn’t appealing to Albertan MAGAts greed convince them to join in the national effort? If there’s a core value uniting MAGA-adjacent people everywhere, it’s personal greed.
Pete Hoekstra has been encouraging them.
Isn't there a petition to remove Hoekstra?
Be accurate for our American friends...the Alberta separatism referendum in the Fall is on whether to have an actual referendum that meets Federal Clarity Act legal requirements
Unfortunately, this "referendum-on-whether-to-have-a-referendum” is just as damaging.
"MAGA is sadly unaware" That is where the entire "trump problem" began.
Already, as soon as the strategic reserves are too tapped to suppress the price of gas which Carney is fully aware of, Trump is going to get lots of pressure to lower those prices. We shall see. Someone needs to lure his binkie Natalie away so that he is not fed nothing but self affirming pablum 24/7.
It's Natalies all the way down.
Canadian oil comes from Alberta. Sounds good but oil will not be on the table. Alberta is having a quasi-referendum on separation in October. Premier Smith is 100% against using oil as a weapon. Her party (not her), the United Conservative Party (UCP), is pro-separation. Incredibly, there is pro-Trump sentiment in Canada, and that is focussed in Alberta. Ontario, BC and Quebec would be onboard as they are being hit the hardest.
That quasi-referendum is going to lose big time. Alberta seperatits (not a typo) are a small overly vocal minority and by no means represent the "will of the people".
We have the same breakdown in Alberta that many American states have. Blue cities (where all the people and money are) and red rural areas. I'vd be surprised if the vote is as close as 60-40 against.
I am not so sanguine.
The casual attitude towards it among federalists is poison for voter turnout. People are sleepwalking into this. In the cities, people will be waiting hours to vote.
The separatists are going to vote even if it kills them. Will the federalists?
If the turnout is poor, it will be a coin toss.
Am awaiting my mail in ballot as we speak. As are all the other "city folks" I know.
I think you are wrong. I hope you are wrong. And since you seem like a very solid Canadian I bet you also hope you are wrong! Right :)
I would be astounded if it is that close
PM Carney has wisely taken energy exports off the table as trade weapons. We have to be smart and patient.
Part of the reasoning, I suspect, at least as it relates to oil, is that some of that oil heads south, gets refined, and then sold back to Canada. At a profit already. Touching oil in any way will have Canadians royally screwed when Trump raises the prices of those refined products to ridiculous heights. We would be putting ourselves in a bad spot pretty fast.
LNG is less of an issue, and when the shoving match happens, it'll just get lost in the mix with oil.
Hydro, however... this is where things get interesting. Trump/Nutlick just threatened out use of French. Quebec sends hydro south. And it doesnt come back. I wouldn't put it past the QC premier to flip Teump the bird and shut things off for a day or two.
In fact, one could argue that a day of no hydro out of QC would be a massive wakeup call to Americans in general. You can bet your ass THAT will make Fox News.
So far, Canada has only talked about what we can do if they piss us off enough. A small example to drive home the point could be entertaining, if nothing else. Entertaining for Canadians, anyway.
The Orange Oaf would get a front row seat to a taste of how nasty we can be!
The separatists are about 35% of the Alberta population. And I think once' they're faced with losing their universal health care and CPP/Oap they might just back down.
Doesn't Smith want to pull out of CPP, and privatize some healthcare anyway. Those are not the biggest costs an independent Alberta would face. However, many separatists want to join the US; in that case they would lose their healthcare and a lot more. 35% are not separatists; but many are thinking about it. A few separatists tried running for government, and failed miserably.
Who stands to make $$$ if Alberta joined the US?
Agree - “Actually, Dem voters ARE MAD AS HELL, and ready to turn out in record numbers, as are Independents”. But at least the vast majority I know don’t give a $hit one way or the other. Usual respond - ah’ don’t know, not my problem. My 401K is just fine. Not agreeing, just reflecting.
Now the 401k may be fine. September 2, maybe not.
Canadian potash anyone? Midwest farmers need it badly…
Yes, but potash comes from Saskatchewan, and Premier Moe is against using Potash as a weapon. US tariffs are targeted at BC, Quebec and Ontario. Saskatchewan is not targeted.
Dunno how your laws work exactly, but if you can tax--export tariff--fertilizers, and more importantly oil, gas, and electricity exports to the US, it will rock our markets like a hurricane, and cause Donnie to TACO so fast it'd make your head spin.
Agreed 100%. Canada could I assume put export taxes on oil and potash, but Carney would not. Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces are not being impacted by US tariffs. That was convenient. And they are against using oil and potash as weapons. Remember Alberta is having a quasi-referendum on staying in Canada. Oil has become a national unity question. Ontario, on the other hand would gladly turn off the electricity.
Shankar Narayan explained that Canada would not use its power in oil to inflict pain, because it wants to be seen as a reliable supplier, not for the US to see that, but other buyers.
I read that too, but in this case, would other countries really see Canada as an unreliable partner? Unfortunately oil will not be on the table for political reasons. The US knows this, and made sure its tariffs did not affect Alberta.
I defer to Shankar, I have no inside knowledge about that/
Agree
It's part of the "Spheres of Influence" plan. Trump gets the Western Hemisphere, Putin gets Europe, and Xi Jin Ping gets Asia. That's why #47 attacked Venezuela (lots of oil, lots of resources, unstable government = easy first target) then threats against Columbia, Cuba, etc, then Canada, Greenland...). Anne Applebaum spelled this out last January. And there are other posts on the internet about this BIG ultimate plan. https://anneapplebaum.substack.com/p/spheres-of-influence?utm_source=publication-search
> Trump takes his orders to harass Canada from Moscow; as a loyal KGB (FSB) operative.
Why do you assume that he is not doing this for his own reasons? Worse, why do you assume he is not doing this as an American nationalist?
Trump’s own reasons? Maybe as Paul Krugman suggested, it’s a “dominance display.” Maybe it comes from envy of Carney’s popularity in his own country, and the respect European leaders show him. Maybe Trump hates that Carney sees him for what he is.
How does targeting Canada benefit America First nationalists?
Well, he isn't a nationalist. He cares for no one but himself (maybe a couple of his kids and friends, but not even them very much). He's a narcissist and a grifter.
Or he won’t and people might vote out the Republicans at every level of gov]t.
Exactly how would Canada sell oil to China instead? Alberta currently has to sell its oil at a discount to the US.
Canada already sells oil to China. Just nowhere near the quantities it sells to the USA.
The Trans-Mountain Expansion has already helped reduce the WCS/WTI differential to historic lows.
But there are two problems: First, there is not enough coastal pipeline capacity to shift all US-bound exports. More importantly, though, China is rapidly electrifying and its appetite for oil imports is in steady decline.
They are making arrangements to sell in the pacific/asian countries to avoid dealing with the idiots like trump. They just approved a pipeline to BC to ship oil sands product to China.
China probably not, but Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and other Asian countries, hell yes! Well give you extra discount if you buy Canadian honey, maple syrup, auto parts, aluminum, potash, and other stuff!
It’s actually about 65% or 4 million barrels/day. Without more pipelines to the coast, Canada has little choice about where to sell its oil.
Unless they start turning the bitumen into blocks and selling it overseas for more money than heavy crude. It is called asphalt, and countries all over the world need it for roads. No spills, rail transport, low cost to make. Now if the pilot is successful, this could be a good answer—better than expensive pipelines nobody wants.
If I did the calculation correctly, the entire global demand for asphalt binder amounts to only 25% of Alberta’s current production.
Ooops, make that 50%. But you would still have to capture a large fraction of the global market for this to have impact.
I was just going to say that I foresee another TACO on the horizon 👹
I say more power to the Canadians! And thank you to Carney for having the courage to stand up to Trump, unlike our spineless politicians. I think I speak for many Americans in saying this.
👍🏻👍🏻
❤️❤️❤️🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Please know that we, the Americans who recognize the insanity and cruelty of the traitor in the White House, are with you. ❤️
Most Americans are Team Canada right now, so feel good about that! I see team Canada signs all over Austin!
As an american, I love Canadians. Kind lovely people in the North. Just know we don’t approve of him either. Look at the polls. Only racists and religious bigots support him now…oh, and the spineless Congressional republicans and the Supremes. Hopefully we can dig ourselves out of the mess we have created by electing these goons. I’m sorry.
I believe it’s spelled “Nutlick”.
Amen Amen
Not only do we live in the north, we CHOOSE to live here! Staring down at Mother Nature and all that she throws at us. We laugh in the face of adversity.
Some say that Canadians are too stubborn for our own good. Others say we're just too stupid to get out of the way. I say, we stand for what's right, not just for ourselves, but for others as well.
When fascism comes to town we don't lock the doors and hide in the attic. We open the doors and yell "bring it, bitch!".
Trump was right for a change when he called Canadians "nasty". He just doesn't have a clue how far we can go.
I spent two summers working for auto companies and living in Canada while commuting to Michigan. Canadians and Americans have a history of working together. I hope Donnie and his misfits fail in this endeavor to separate us.
Maybe it would amaze you just how much of America is on your side.
Most Americans agree with Canada. As with Ukraine, a country attacked unjustly has the upper hand in resolve and motivation, which often determine a favorable outcome.
https://anntelnaes.substack.com/p/we-are-all-canadins-now?r=2nt1ay&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
@ Tod. I would love it if Canada became the 51st State US State. While negotatiating that its inhabitants will keep the better health-insurance, the more sensible immigration rules, can continue to have two official languages, etc. I expect that after not too long, a majority of the people living "in the south", are going to wonder why they cannot have those better systems too? And why Spanish cannot be the third official language. Puerto Rico will probably insist they should be the 52 State. (A girl is allowed to dream isn't she?)
What about the USA need for Uranium? Our yellow cake comes from Canada. And our fertilizer for the mid west farmers? Of course the USA wine industry will fade away.
God Bless Canada 🇨🇦, defenders of democracy & freedom in both World Wars. Not forgotten
After 9-11 I wept in front of my television and then again at the national gathering of 100,000 Canadians on Parliament Hill. I was deeply proud of my fellow Canadians in Gander that offered shelter and comfort to our American friends. And when we honoured our sacred NATO Article 5 obligations to our cherished American ally I offered silent prayers to our commandos, snipers and airmen that went into the teeth of the fight in southern Afghanistan. I am 65 years old and my pain at the betrayal is real. But now so is my resilience. Our rage is going to harden into resolve. We will never bend the knee. We know who we are.
Thank you for bringing up Gander, just one example of how Canada has reliably supported us. Although just one example, it highlights everything that the MAGAmafia buffons are not.
Thank you, Todd! I LOVE your Post here. Gives me goose-bumps!
The boneheaded psycho in our White House, and his demented "minion", do NOT represent the American people. We are deeply embarrassed by their antics.
Another Amen !
Well said Todd, I'm with you on that!!!
"Our rage is going to harden into resolve. We will never bend the knee. We know who we are."
"Despite Trump’s best efforts, only a minority of Republicans — and nobody else — has been persuaded that the Canadians are acting badly"
The very notion that we, the United States of America, are now acting as the international bully of the free world is so shameful, so surreal that I can hardly stand it.
I do believe that more and more Americans are uncomfortable with this reality, especially in light of the fact that we are losing so much more than we are gaining from this Putin mini-me act Trump & co are putting on.
We are the failures.
Most governments have "bully" tendencies, many leaders' personalities clash. They still manage.
Carney's points that should scare everyone are that the US administration does not work as a team, does not speak with one voice, and writes its "deals" in pencil... no matter the seriousness of the issue and the impact on all Americans.
In short, the Trump administration is NOT capable of managing ANY of the problems now on its plate... and most of those problems from trade war with Canada to shooting ware with Iran to the bond market to ICE to lack of skilled bureaucrats... are problems of choice.
Carney has illustrated this so perfectly. The world over knows exactly who has boasted, bullied, acted illegally and with malice, lied, lied, and lied again. Carney has had the spine to stand up and say Canada will not take it, nor be a party to it. Hopefully now more world leaders will have the guts to follow. Work together to figure it out because no one, not Americans and not anyone anywhere, can ever trust that the Trump Administration will ever act in good faith, do what is right, or serve anyone or anything but their own egos and bank accounts. They have all shown it time and again, and everyone, everyone!, needs to believe it.
I notice there isn't a line of foreign heads of state lining up with their golden gifts to Trump anymore. I'm glad they finally realized that this Trump can't be flattered into being reasonable. It was embarrassing to watch them humiliate themselves in 2025. I saw it as irony, but the MAGAs saw it as subservience.
We're in for a long time of bad karma.
Amen to all you wrote!
Problems of corruption, chaos, and cruelty. Oh, and stupidity as well.
Putin’s plan to use Trump to alienate the USA from its allies is going better than expected.
Most Republicans sadly believe whatever FOX News tells them. Right now FOX is echoing the Trump2 line that Canada is abusing us on trade, and MAGA believes it.
Apparently, the MAGAts will believe anything no matter how absurd.
The MAGA Republican government is the failure. We the People Stand.
> I do believe that more and more Americans are uncomfortable with this reality, especially in light of the fact that we are losing so much more than we are gaining from this Putin mini-me act Trump & co are putting on.
Then do something, else have the inaction reveal who Americans actually are.
The Republicans control all three branches of government, and have chosen to cater to a mad king.
The only meaningful "something" we can do is vote the bastards out.
Except now they are gerrymandering and demanding voter rolls and coercing the postal service not to deliver mail-in ballots and threatening to deploy ICE "poll watchers" and setting the stage to contest the results of the next election.
So what more, exactly, are you suggesting "we" do?
Hopefully people show up in overwhelming numbers, but we really are in a pickle because no one ever thought we'd elect a fascist regime in the most powerful country in the world.
Twice.
Take to the streets in massive numbers, but completely non-violently? Like the color revolutions?
In our defense, a lot of people are struggling with day to day survival, and we're shell-shocked and overwhelmed, but we're also being pretty wimpy.
@ Liverpoolfan. Now acting? I remember the war in Vietnam. And many other interventions.
This is the opportunity for the EU to rise up and support Canada.
This is our burden and our choice. We are under no illusions about that reality. We will not bend the knee and we are ready to suffer. This is an existential struggle camouflaged as a trade dispute. We will suffer, adapt and then prosper. We are the True North. Strong and Free. Our Canada.
Here is the cool Canada Trade War video posted by Malcolm Nance.
https://malcolmnance.substack.com/p/you-asked-for-it-the-canadian-trade?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Lake Ontario? Lake America? Never before have so many Europeans been educated on the tv news about The Great Lakes and where to find LAKE ONTARIO! Expect increased tourism from Europe, Donald is doing a great job of selling Visit Canada 🇨🇦
Let us hope he is also doing a great job of selling USians on getting out to vote against his party and his candidates.
You know, in Europe the American continent is a bit far away. Not to be not aware of what is happening there, but as long as Putin is harming, harrassing, threatening our countries in one way or another (fake news, parties manipulation, anonymous drone attacks and whatever) our thoughts are mostly with our primary concerns: rightshiftimg politics, migration focussig of the news, novax in all flavours, American TV series normalised violence, wildfires, extreme heat and draught, fiscal difficulties, Ukraine....
A new absurd tariff somewhere is almost not even newsworthy any more. Still, some, like me, applaud the Canadians for their guts and resilience
Most Germans I know are aware of what is going on in countries other than in Germany and Europe. I know about the Cockroach movement in India. I try to stay on top of things. I know many Americans who are also living abroad and we are trying to stay aware of what is happening with Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, Canada, Greenland, Venezuela, Cuba, and Ukraine. I am in Germany. My husband's cousin's wife is Ukrainian. We see what Trump is doing, and know that the US is responsible.
When I buy maple syrup in Chicago it comes from Vermont, when I buy maple syrup here in Germany it comes from Canada. I am going to pay attention to what products here come from Canada and see if I notice more being available.
Canada just signed a deal to buy German submarines, not SK. Shankar Narayan excellent on Canada issues.
Europeans & Canadians - far apart but joined by the Atlantic. I do believe that once, before the Atlantic Ocean formed, Canada and Scotland were joined. You see the same rocks in Eastern Canada & Western Scotland. All part of plate tectonics I think. Plus a lot of Scots went to Canada. Lots of connections! Plus Monty Python was obsessed with Canada - convinced the lumberjacks were up to something.
Paul, Some of those Scots found their way down to Appalachia in the US too. The wonderings of people is very interesting stuff. The question is did the Scots appear in Canada because they were connected at one point in time, before people probably existed, or did the Scots go to places that looked familiar and settle.
Europe is acting, read Shankar Narayan.
Was just talking to Iranians yesterday who live in Germany which is my European country and one told me he follows US politics closely. That is understandable. I am following both US and German politics. What happens in the US effects Europe. Will Ukraine get Patriots from the US? Will Europe find other trade partners than the US? Will European leaders follow Carney's lead or continue normalizing Donald Trump.
However, no one here in Germany cares about the naming of the Gulf of Mexico or Lake Ontario and they are not making trips to North America as a push back on that naming because they are busy worrying about the elections here in September. After that, Germans will be worrying even more about the AfD, and more and more will insist that the Constitutional court follows the law and sanction or cancel them.
You know, Linda, Europe is well on its way, there are many new arrangements between Europe and Canada. Shankar Narayan has explained quite a bit about that.
Pam, I was reading some of these connections in my local paper in Germany. The new submarine contract was discussed and some other military ones.
I like what Germany is doing these days, and I always say, Pistorius sounds like a Roman emperor. My great grandparents came from Germany and I took four years of German, so I have a bit of an affinity, and I think Germany is a beautiful place, I’ve been there quite a lot. So thank you for your reply and I always pay attention to what you say.
Thanks, Pam "Birchfield!"
It is also an opportunity for individual Americans to support Canada. I just ordered again from Vessi, an excellent company that sells comfortable waterproof shoes. There are many other worthy Canadian companies and bookstores that we can support.
I had planned to write my local paper editor tomorrow morning, actually now today, and ask that they write about what Germany can do to support Canada, like buy Canadian. I will also tell my Economic Resistance Working Group in Indivisible Abroad that we should do that too.
Visit Canada! Great trains that cross from coast to coast. Great lakes. Lovely & sunny in the summer. Don't visit dull old America - see Canada!
When I go to dull, old USA, it is because my 92-year-old mom lives there. That is why we have a small apartment there, so we can have a place to stay. I also have my 81 year old aunt, and nieces and nephews to see. I would love to visit Canada. However, given that I have a health condition that does not allow for long plane journeys, I am probably not going to see either.
Paul, have you seen the cool Canada Trade War video?
https://malcolmnance.substack.com/p/you-asked-for-it-the-canadian-trade?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
I sincerely hope so! The one thing that is certain is that there can be no rational compromise when dealing with Trump.
Elbows up, Canada!
We’re past “elbows up”. The gloves are on the ice and we’re going over the boards. “Elbows up” is a signal to get ready. We’re beyond that now. The fight is on.
Good for you! Those of us in the U.S. with a trace of sanity left are cheering you on!!
With all due respect, words are nice, you know, "thoughts and prayers" and all that, but we'll wait to see how y'all vote in the mid-terms before we come to any conclusion about your real level of support. Thank you.
Peace, Love and Brotherhood, my friend. I fell in love with Ottawa when I visited my daughter a couple of times during her 5 years there at University. I've wanted to join you as a resident ever since then. Canada is the country we always thought we were but never quite made it all the way. Unfortunately for me, I was already past retirement age and ineligible to move there permanently. I did the next best thing--moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, right on the shore of the mighty Lake Superior! Figured if worse came to worst, I would figure out a way to paddle across....kudos to Canada for giving the bully currently squatting in the White House a black eye!!!
That's very touching of you. The one thing every American can do is to vote Blue, up and down the ticket in the mid-terms. Thank you.
A warm smile of friendship and appreciation from this Canadian sent your way
Even if there's a blowout in the mid terms, we shouldn't be trusted until we revive checks and balances. We can't rely on norms. It will probably require Constitutional amendments. At the very least we must have electoral reform of the Primary system which encourages and abets extremism.
Trump rules with 35% support because that translates into over a 50% majority in the Republican Party.
They're all traitors.
A realistic position. No one can trust the U.S. government anymore.
Bry, I belong to both Democrats Abroad and Indivisible Abroad. In DA we have been working to get Americans abroad to register to vote and to vote since January 2. My family and friends are all registered and I check on the ones in the US. I have been recruiting others. I am posting Daily Notices to our Indivisible Abroad Substack on Voting from Abroad, and we have been advising people on all the tricks to do this best. There is also phone banking and card writing. All of that is going on. I know people who are preparing to go to the US to observe polls and we are developing a Election Irregularities reporting network abroad so that the outside world can hear what is going on in the US elections since we do not trust the media in country to accurately report on it. Mostly, I will vote and help a lot of college students abroad including my own, to vote. However, it is the 93 million eligible voters who did not vote in 2024, and decided that their vote did not matter whom we have to hope feel differently now. Some will not. Let us hope that many more do.
There will be a wave of support for Canada hopefully not stolen by Ty he facsist regime!
We can't hear you! You elected him TWICE!
Not me.
Not me either!
Did you vote at all? Did you vote against him? Are you doing everything you can to convince others, to vote, and to encourage others that the Republicans be brought to heel? If not. Yeah you did!
I like the visual of Canadians sweeping over the USA borders ready to kick our collective tushes. A contrast to the demure Canadian myth. You may find that many Americans will be running North to be with all y'all.
We don't kick "tushes".
In both WW's Canadian troops had to be ordered, at several points, to "show mercy". Our approach to war tends to be, kill or be killed.
I don't really care that not every one of you started it. It's been threatened by Trump since he rode down that escalator, and the USian people rolled over. That was decade ago.
Now he's actually fighting on at least two fronts and threatening it on other fronts, on your behalf. USian's ARE dying.
As I see it currently, you have two choices. Absolute, undeniable, electoral defeat of the Republican's in the upcoming mid-terms and prompt action to repair what's wrong with your democracy, or if that fails, show the World what happens when somebody throws a war and NOBODY SHOWS UP! (Yes. I'm that old. I still believe it. But, I've got nothing to lose but my life. If the battlefield is the only choice for this, I will probably have to be ordered to show mercy. My love of humanity does not include mercy for my intended murderer(s).)
I’m looking forward to pulling their jerseys over their heads.
The coda of this article was apt in summarizing Canadian public opinion being one of fury. You Oughta Know is a banger of a song by a formidable Canadian musician.
This is no game. Jersey first. Then make sure they can't get back into the fray.
Amen to that!
Carney is definitely not stupid. Unfortunately, Trump is both stupid and a bully, and this will harm us more than it will Trump and his oligarch buddies.
"Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed – in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental." —Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Sounds like he knew Trump
Because he knew Hitler.
He knew Hitler's followers.
Perfect.
In the case of Trump, evil is appropriate. He is a narcissist, he is old, he is a bully and he is evil. He is not stupid, and Carney doesn’t think so either.
That is true.
The US is deeply dependent on Canadian energy imports: crude oil, natural gas and electricity. If Canada taxes deliveries to the US--or contracts to sell it to China instead--our markets will freak out, and the Orange Buffoon will TACO.
I think so also. Trump’s usual tactic is to fold after all of the bluster.
Then use the same tactic, perhaps with a twist, and fold again.
This is certainly a possibility and a very powerful tool in Carney's toolbox. But he's said he doesn't want to use it. I suspect it's because he doesn't want to harm those states that heavily trade with Canada (most of which have democratic governors and congressmen/women). If the democrats win a majority in Congress in November all of these governors, polititicians, and the business lobbies of both countries will overcome the unfair and stupid actions of a "lame duck" president.
The west coast states, and especially the areas along the Pacific Coast are not dependent on fossil fuels. You must be thinking of New England, New York and PA. I can't help them. Anything from China comes in from our ports (San Diego, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Oakland, Portland and Seattle).
Please, California is running on solar all day right now, and many of us are using EVs. Gas is $6.29 a gallon in the Bay Area. If you're still using gas in the US, you are so behind the times.
And how ! Those energy export tariffs are going to hurt ! And how SOCAL will howl when Carney's Defense Minister cancels its big F-35 order from Lockmart.
🇨🇦 Not if you don't let them.
They've been brought to heel in other times, and in other places in the past.
The problem is the "common" people have been too easily distracted, and to quick to believe their government(s) are somehow sheltered from corruption.
Government is designed by, and populated by human beings.
In USia's case;
Your constitution is a remarkable conception. The most important piece, is the most overlooked. That statement about government; for, of, and by, the people means all of the people are responsible. It doesn't end at polling place.
Over and above that, for all of us. Whether you believe humanity is six thousand😉, or six hundred thousand year's old, history say's we haven't moved more than a few inches, except in the realm of human inhumanity to human's, where we've really moved spectacularly in our ability to destroy more lives (possibly all of them), in a shorter time frame with more impunity. Most of that, in less than a couple centuries.
Which means: We're a long way yet from being able to take our eyes off anyone, let alone those we lend our power to.
That’s true, and there is a concerted effort to ensure people remain distracted and not paying attention to the malodorous corruption around us.
🇨🇦 Not if you don't let them.
Many of us are speaking out loudly about it.
OK. You have my support, for what that's worth 😊.
As I've said in other places. We can't hear you.
I'm not saying you need to talk directly to Canadian's or anybody outside USia for that matter.
It's my job to pay atfention, at home and around the world, which I've done since I was a preteen. I'm old, and have followed your country avidly, to give that some context.
The most current evidence on the USia people's efforts to change their situation is, scant, mainly dispiriting (the former, and possibly next Democratic Speaker of the House's recent antics for example), and drowned out by what's being forced across the globe by YOUR Government. It's now more than a decade since this abomination rode down that escalator and exposed the rot.
You got him out, by the skin-of-your-teeth, for a minute, dropped what little guard you had, and let him back in.
It's not bitterness that drives my words.
It's sadness mostly, and almost disbelief, that the nation with the people that designed your Constitution and the government it produced could be driven to the very edge of failure.
I would change "Carney isn't stupid", to, "Carney is highly intelligent, articulate, and, is morally correct in his stand against Trump". Paul Krugman shows Canadian polls on the popularity of Carney. I'd be interested in a poll of U.S. Citizens on support for Canada in a trade war created by Trump. My wife and I are two immediate votes in support of Canada.
I have a few Canadian friends, and yes, they are ready to suffer, but it isn't as much to "stick it in Trump's face" (although that's a bonus) but to shut Trump TF up about Canada becoming the 51st state, and to send a clear message to Trumpian Canadian conservatives in politics i.e. Poilievre that their agenda is doomed.
This is an existential threat for Canada just like the war with Iran is for the Iranians. They have no choice, but to resist. For Americans this is just more stupidity from Donnie Demento and still crickets from Republicans who won't push back against his destructive buffoonery.
Carney isn't stupid. In fact he is an accredited economist.
trump IS stupid and bankrupted multiple businesses that seemed impossible to bankrupt - casinos! Now he is bankrupting the U.S. trump is issuing decrees from his demented fantasy world without care of impact on anyone or anything. I apologize the world must deal with the impact of the terrorist Republican Party who put power in the hands of a cretin and continue to enable him.
I applaud Mark Carney. Other countries should follow his lead.
No rational President would begin a trade war with Canada. As Paul has emphasized from the beginning, this is a deeply misguided and shameful attempt to display dominance. Than you, Canadians for standing up to this bully.
What is the value of an agreement with the U.S.? Who can ever tell me?
The total value of Canadian exports to US is about $400 billion and the new 50% tariff applies to $20 billion of that. This is an event that gets a lot of press but will have little or no effect on the economy of Canada. Carney is smart enough to do targeted countermeasures that will hurt the GOP in the election. Trump is swingling his tiny hands and Carney is laughing. Even if this escalate, China would never allow Canada to get seriously hurt.
One has to be, otherwise one funds oneself in the position of Belarus.
Correct ! And thank you for your comment. I would use a number of explicatives at this point but prefer to remain civil. We’re going to tough it out ! You’re job is to get him out along with all his ilk and close the loopholes. Ordinary citizens acting in tandem. Democracy reinvigorated through citizen engagement. That’s what’s going to do it. Those cowards are afraid of real honest opposition. That’s why they hide their faces.
Are you the same Patrick O’Hearn as the musician?
They are and they're here telling us on substack and other media sites. I'm glad even thought it's a severe blow to the common people (us).
I am realizing that most Americans don’t have the desire to remove trump and his henchmen. The citizens of your country come across as apathetic and they don’t seem to care. What is really at stake here for the USA is your standing in the world. Bullying and terrorizing sovereign nations puts your country in the same vain as Putin’s attack on Ukraine. The people and the government of Ukraine have stood against this attack and refuse to back down for 4 years. When trump and his henchman attacked President Zelenskyy that was a huge mistake. When trump and his henchman did this on live television that was the last straw for most of us around the world. The fact that the mainstream media has failed in their journalistic work really speaks volumes too. Your president has threatened to attack us economically and we the people of Canadian have basically total trump that you have as you always do under estimated Canada and we the Canadian people. The day trump and his henchman took their own oaths of office was the day we Canadians started fighting back. We have been fighting back each and everyday not just when we feel like it. Lying and rhetoric will only go so far. The people of the world outside of the USA see your president and his henchman as total lairs and fools. Sadly the people that should be speaking out are totally silent. That speaks volumes to those of us outside the USA. At this point the rest of the world has had enough and no longer trust the USA especially trump and his henchman. The damage that has been perpetrated against the many countries that trump and his administration tried to strong arm has proven that the USA has lost its moral compass too. Hopefully the rest of us around the world will finally just shut the door to the USA and move on without you. As for SCOTUS they have especially failed in the following the rule of law. The checks and balances that were supposed to stop trump have been ignored and the politicians who have allowed this to happen are just as guilty as trump and his henchmen in the destruction of your country and your government. The damage that trump and his henchman have perpetrated will take generations to fix if it will ever be fixed let alone the same as it once was.
I agree with you,especially about trust. As an Afghan veteran who was left behind after so many promises from the current U.S. government, I have learned that trust is very hard to rebuild once a government breaks its word. America needs allies, not more enemies. Canada stood with America in Afghanistan just like many of us did. Treating such a country with tariffs and threats is a very sad direction
I have several friends who served in Afghanistan - one a senior logistics officer with a European air force. They did four tours of Afghanistan and they were present in Kabul when we evacuated at very short notice because the Americans did not organise or communicate. As a consequence of American incompetence, lack of communication and indecent haste, an ISIS suicide bomber blew themselves up at Abbey Gate outside Kabul airport resulting in the deaths of over 100 Afghanis and 13 US soldiers.
The European members of NATO are planning for a future without America because America is no longer trusted. It has also become very obvious that we do not share the same values and you cannot stand alongside a nation in war that you no longer trust. This is especially true given the contribution in treasure and blood so many NATO members gave when America invoked article 5 after the twin towers attack. This sacrifice was paid back with insults and we will never forget this. We Europeans know you will not reciprocate because you are so untrustworthy and dishonourable. We know this for sure so you can stop telling us.
The irony is that MAGA and the Christian right in the US share the same values as the Taliban ... America is the Taliban but with corruption. I am glad the Afghani writer " Abandoned Afghan Ally" got out but many did not and were badly let down by the Americans. Never trust the word of an American, it is utterly worthless and without honour. As Mark Carney said Americans write agreements in pencil.
The price Americans will ultimately pay will be huge .... and I just do not care.
I must point out that the Biden administration actually rescued a vast number of allies. In contrast, it is the current U.S. administration that has failed to save even a single person—instead,the current President went so far as to close the very legal pathways that the Biden administration had opened for us.
However,I also have strong grievances against the European Union.The EU failed to take the necessary actions it should have; instead,it is now shamelessly and treacherously engaging with the Taliban. It is deeply disappointing.
Agree 100%
There are many many Americans with decency and morality who cannot wait to begin the rebuilding process once we get rid of the bully and felon in the destroyed
white House. Trust will be hard to recover but we--the majority of Americans--are willing to try.
Might I also point out that in Afghanistan it was trump that forced the abandonment. He negotiated with the Taliban just before he left office, agreeing that the US would leave by a certain date (in Biden's administration) and then he packed up and left the White House. Biden had the only option available to him--to leave or return to full out battle with a greater loss of life to both Americans and Afghans. Could there have been better organization--sure--but he did as Ally points out try to make things better for those who stood my us and helped. Something that trump never did or would dol
> Trust will be hard to recover but we--the majority of Americans--are willing to try.
Then why is nothing happening.
Key, I should note, is the idea of this majority of Americans actually existing and actually doing something.
The vast majority of Americans do not support Trump. And many of us were appalled by Trump's actions vis a vis Afghanistan. Nothing is happening because the majority of Americans have no leverage at the present time given the Republicans control of all three branches of government. Hopefully, the midterms will change that for one branch.
I wish you luck but we will not be harnassing our horse to your wagon ever again.
And if Trump - as he's very likely to do - introduces emergency legislation to prevent the mid-terms happening? What will you and decent Americans do then?
Good question that I can't answer. Maybe some states will become Canadian provinces. There is a decent lot up north of us. And California would be a good candidate. Its GDP would add would add $4.3 trillion to Canada's $2.14 trillion. And lots of good wine. You should be careful about states like Texas.
I might be in the autumn of my life, but I will fight to the death, and there are many people who feel the same way. Is war the answer? Sometimes it happens to be the only answer. Do we want war? Absolutely not, but sometimes it is the only choice, and we think our country is worth fighting for.
Complain on Substack
Things are happening. You evidently are on the wrong channel. You also have to remember that our media is only allowed to say or do certain things that praise the MAGAmoron movement. You need to dig deeper to see what is actually happening. Our country has made some horrible mistakes, and the biggest one was electing a criminal and a pedophile to be in charge of our country. We were never perfect, but we weren’t all bad like it is now.
Well Julie, I wish you and other people of morality and basic decency good luck. However, please understand that Europe will never again hitch its horses to your wagon for we now understand who you truly are as a nation. It is clear to a lot of us in Europe that we do not share the same values and this has been something of a shock. That is not to say there are not Americans who do share decent values, but we cannot ever again be beholden to the insanity of the 4 year election cycle in what passes for a democracy in the USA. It is important to separate the individual from the Nation but it is the nation Europeans must deal with and which acts as if it has a God-given right to interfere in our economies and political systems. You do not have this right and why you think you do is beyond me.
I agree with most of what you say. Many European countries never refused the help we offered them though. If “None” is your stance, I hope you live up to it. Many other countries gave you help when you needed it. It is truly amazing that you are not all “Germans”. You would be if all the other countries had decided that you weren’t worth the effort. The world will not be a good place if we isolate ourselves and fail to help each other when we need it. I understand what you are saying, but I don’t think refusing to help others is the answer to anything in this world. Some hard decisions need to be made. Not to win the battle, but to the win the war.
I can't imagine trust ever returning to your allies. Canada is going to get hammered while America tears itself apart. MIDTERMS ARE COMING.
I wish we had rescued more of the people who had helped us. We owed them that much.
Past tense and current (we owe them) and I wouldn't want anyone to come here at this time including us.
@3xNO. Immigration procedures take years. Even if the process was now started, they would be allowed in by the time another Prez is in office.
True. We can and should do better in improving immigration procedures, but this of course is not something Trump and Stephen Miller are interested in doing.
Congress has not been interested in improving the system for the last thirty years. Prez Clinton signed in 1996 the "anti-immigrant" law IIRIRA, causing 100s, maybe even 1000s of immigrant deaths. Democrats approved just as much as Republicans. What is happening now, would not be possible if the IIRIRA was not enacted. Trump/Miller just put it in in a higher gear.
We still hope so.
The US (and Europe) can still bring in Afghan-Allies (with their families).
Ouch.
@ Alistair. A.A.A. wrote: "As an Afghan veteran who was left behind...."
You are correct ... he did. That saddens me.
We are already paying that horrible price. Hopefully we can get this mess cleaned up. There are many of us that had nothing to do with now, or the past. There are many of us that are trying to figure out how to eliminate the problems. Please don’t dump us all in the same bucket just because there are a few very evil creatures.
My best friend went to Afghanistan with the U.S. She watched her best friend blown up in front of her there. She is a Captain in the Canadian military. Trump’s insults cut deep with those among us who gave their all when the U.S. called.
So deeply sorry for the way you were treated!! Your Post here should be on billboards all over the U.S.!
Canadians know what many Americans refuse to see. Trump is an incompetent idiot who cares mostly about self dealing. He does not incorporate actual facts into his actions. He is running a failing society into the ground. His word is written in pencil.
Canadians want less US in their lives. Most of the world agrees with us.
Much of the US agrees with you too. I know I do, and I remember this tourism ad from the 1980’s: “America borders on the magnificent…Canada.” https://canadianculturething.com/america-borders-on-the-magnificent/
That's because Canadians are mostly like Americans; except a little bit better. A Newfie actually saved my life in Thailand a few decades ago.
I don't think that Canadians are fundamentally better than Americans, but our values run more towards empathy than the winner-take-all attitude in the US. Our social safety net and universal health care for example, while not perfect and subject to abuse, are well intentioned to leave no-one behind. Contrast that to the US where state support for the most vulnerable is actually being reduced, while the hyper rich get tax cuts and the country takes on insane levels of debt to bomb other countries and kill their people. Canadians, for the most part, simply do not buy in to that level of cruelty, but the numbers show that enough Americans do for MAGA to have full control of the entire US Government and half the States.
One model has produced the most powerful economy and military in the history of the planet, while the other is just a middle power with a lumpy economy and a small military. So, Canadians are not better, we just, overall, value different things and the country's results reflect that.
But it is no reason to attack us, which we will not accept. Our empathy only goes so far, and we have never stood down, nor lost, a battle. The vast majority of Canadians, and a lot of other countries, realize that this is a battle that we are being forced to wage, but I doubt that the majority of Americans do, which is another type of difference between us. I'll leave it at that.
I will also note that Canada seems to have fewer puritanical shitheads in positions of power, particularly those lovely anti-science evangelicals who are waiting for the second coming (there is a joke here I will not make.) A large part of the issue in the US is the extremely radical so-called ‘religious’ leaders who speak about following Jesus but who have missed that boat!
Jesus was clear about the intrinsic values of all peoples as the children of god…much of the theology quoted by the most radical was focused on the behaviors needed of his closest advisors—he clearly knew that regular people had regular lives, and were not, nor needed to be, perfect! Read the book!
Most Americans are profoundly ignorant. They take special pride in not knowing anything about politics. However, instead of taking advice from experts, they choose to listen to grifters who flatter and tell them what they want to hear.
Americans haven't had the horrible consequences that Europe had of awful leaders. But we do now.
My family and I admit to the "steep learning curve" (as my son said) we've had to climb, since Trump & minions took office! With only two major Parties, it was simple to just "vote the straight Dem (or GOP) ticket". As a country, we're now suffering grievously. I now write my representatives at least weekly, spend hours reading about "politics"!
Nothing is easier than believing the lie that confirms what you want to believe. White skin and a penis DO make you a superior person. You are 100 percent justified in hating when POC move into your neighborhood. Etcetera
You say: "I don't think that Canadians are fundamentally better than Americans,..."
Does that include the 30-35% MAGA cultists who still think Trump is the cat's meow?
That cat’s dinner maybe..
You mean a “Newfoundlander”?
He meant the dog.
We are NOT 'mostly like Americans'
Use a slur AND insult Canadians in one post. Congrats
71 yr old native Detroiter here, ISOe, and I agree with your post 1000%. Everyone I know here does, too.
Trump will not allow that bridge to open.
It's been open for a couple weeks now, Tyler - My daughters and I rode across on bikes two Sundays ago; it's really a fantastic structure! - but I think everyone here expects that trump will shut it down again soon.
Indeed. I hope the Canadians continue to strengthen economic ties with Europe, China, India, and others. Oh, and of course, Liechtenstein.As an American, Trump’s maneuvers are outrageous and deeply embarrassing. Go Canada!!
They will. They are. Next up a new trade deal with China.
Speaking personally, as a Canadian, I value the relationships I have had with American relatives, friends, and coworkers. I mourn the passing of competent US government, much as I mourn a close friend coming down with Alzheimer's.
I pray that Alzheimer's at the national level can be reversed.
... But,...
I also recognize that as a country, Canada cannot make plans based on what we WANT to happen; rather we have to make plans based on our best forecast of what WILL happen. Though Trump has hopefully set a bar for how incompetent a president can be, Canada has to plan for the US to never be as competent in this century, as it was in the last.
That's not "winning" a trade war, but learning to live in world where such trade wars are possible.
Most of us Americans know and agree, too. Most of us are also only marginally more able to do anything about it than the Canadians.
You have a vote in November. So do the 85 million who didn't show up in 2024.
Most of the 85 million are even less informed than the MAGAts. Don't depend on "turnout" to win Congress. Democratic candidates have to present a concise and understandable list of items that Congress will do to rein in the Orangeutan.
The reality is that anything less than a Senate supermajority means the carnage continues for 2 more years. I have zero faith that Americans are up to the challenge....or smart enough to know what to do. It's pathetic that there is a need for the Democrats to present a
'concise and understandable list" after the last 2 years of complete and total clusterfuck. Personally, I think the US is finished until its next revolution.
In the USA, candidates are selected in the primaries. In the main election in November, those candidates that the party members selected are on the ballot. There was a time when the parties selected the candidates in some places, but I don't think that occurs anywhere now. People registered for a party pick the candidates for that party in the primary; in the November election, they can vote for the consensus choice of their party or abandon their party.
There was a time, up to about a decade ago, where greater turnout favored Democrats. Today, this is no longer the case in most places. This is in part a matter of the republicans' successful gerrymandering and swing-district-targeted voter suppression efforts, and in part a consequence of their message appealing to the less educated, less politically engaged non-voters.
We should absolutely vote in November. But we also must absolutely be prepared for this administration to act with malevolence. They will do something, probably multiple things, in defiance of the will of the majority. The question is, what will that majority do?
In the recent August primary in Brevard county in east central Florida, the voter turnout was about 27%; roughly the same proportion of Democrats voted as Republicans. The turnout followed the pattern of previous years.
Everybody who posts here is exceptional. An anomaly. We shouldn't expect average people to know or understand what we do.
Most ppl are not expert at recognizing narcissists' or psychopaths' lies, and the major media in the US suppress the ongoing steal from the 90%=>1%. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/american-dream-or-nightmare-us-top-1-siphoned-79-trillion-from-bottom-90-over-five-decades-research-reveals/articleshow/119903309.cms
While the rich run things. "US is an oligarchy, not a democracy" from 2014; much more true now.
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746
So a great many voters are just trying to survive, pay little attention to politics, and are easily swayed by lies. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2026/07/23/how-political-typology-groups-feel-about-the-midterm-elections-and-trump/
G Elliot Morris had a great column on why Harris lost in 2024. https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/the-dnc-autopsy-omits-the-biggest
Essentially the incumbent President or party gets judged on the economic vibe, plus their popularity. That's now running -20-30 for Trump, and -10-15 for Republicans in general, depending on your poll.
The US Constitution sets a very high bar to remove an official-a majority vote in the HOR, then a 2/3 majority in the Senate. BTW, the 25th Amendment sets a 2/3 majority in BOTH houses to remove a president or VP, if they object.
Current Dems are mostly fooled by the history of 'Regular behavior' and respect for the law, so much they seem unable to function when they've been broken.
I'm encouraged by the number of Dem candidates now running on "Tax the Rich", which has 61% overall approval. What do they do when they get to Congress?
Likely not 'go along to get along.'
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/04/06/top-tax-frustrations-for-americans-feeling-that-some-wealthy-people-corporations-dont-pay-fair-share/
I do feel reversing most of the damage will have to wait until 2029, IF Dems can get it together to really reverse things.
And who should I have voted for, in the state where I actually live, that could have changed the national outcome? Presidential elections, and control of the Senate, are decided in a literal handful of states by a relative handful of voters. Most of the rest of us look on in horror. Meanwhile, the Dems fumbled 2024 so badly they did worse than they had in 2020. Anyone with a brain should have still concluded Harris was the better pick than Trump (That's not enough, we need a majority!). But she was the wrong candidate for the moment, she started the race in a bad position, and she did not handle it well.
I'd say Harris handled it as best she could.
The Democrats put Harris in the colossally awkward position of having to "swoop in to save the day". The only person positioned for that level of acrobatics was Obama -- not that he was an option. But it was a maneuver that only a previous President could have pulled off.
That said, it's all moot to me. Harris would have been elected were it not for the self-centered ignorance, racism and misogyny of the American 'conservative' electorate and every other blubbering idiot who once again fell for the 'he's a business man' schtick.
JFC. Every time I read a comment as stupid as this, I wonder how the US ever became a superpower. Trump is a traitor. How the fuck you think Kamala was the wrong candidate when Trump was the alternaive is beyond me. The entire country knew it going into the 2024 election. Project 2025 was public knowledge. 85 million people didn't care enough to vote. Another 3 million were stupid enough to vote for independent... which was effectively a vote for Trump. 2024 had nothing to do with the Democrats. It had everything to do with the American voter. A stuffed animal would have been a better choice, but you picked the traitor. Take some responsibility for your actions. I don't give a fuck what state you live in, or what delusions you have about how elections are won. The reality is elections are won when people show up and vote. When they don't, you get what you have today...the complete and total destruction of your country, all of its alliances, it's economy, and its future. The American voter did this to America. No one else. Enjoy reaping what you've sown. Because there is no reason to believe you'll get it right in 2026 with that attitude.
I'm really not sure how you think more safe state voters showing up to the polls would have won the election for Harris? Not in MA or NY where she did win, and those are the only states I've ever voted in. This isn't some galaxy-brained theoretical question, it's a basic principle of how American elections are structured. It's a stupid principle for organizing elections for national office, but that doesn't make it changeable. Also MA and NY already signed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Most blue states have.
Yes, Trump is a traitor. Yes, Kamala was clearly the better candidate of the two. But she was not, in practice, able to sway enough swing state voters to vote for her. Yes, most Americans can't be trusted to choose the right sandwich let alone president. That's just a background fact we have to deal with, and given that fact, she was an inadequate candidate who, because of choices the party made before she was nominated, also started off in an unusually poor position.
To be clear, everything I say about the US, I would like to be wrong. There should be no such thing as a safe state because people should think before voting instead of voting by rote. That people picked Trump over Kamala simply reinforces the idea that the average American is an idiot. Enjoy the consequences of your choices. I will never be in the US again. I will avoid "Made in USA" like the plague. I haven't been in a Home Depot since 2015. That applies to a whole bunch of other US-headquartered businesses. Because I can see no reason not to completely give up on you ever acting like a civilised nation again. You've shown the world your true colours. We'd all like to be proven wrong....but we don't expect to be.
Why are unhappy Americans not protesting en masse in the streets about their displeasure with the Trump administration?
The efforts are in supporting the legal system, the independent media, pushing back on social media, building coalitions and connections on the local level and on various social media platforms, anticipating the various challenges that we face with the upcoming elections, etc etc etc. There’s a lot going on. Millions of people protesting in the streets helps, but it’s not sustainable. We’re exhausted and we persist. We still are making gains. The more outrageous Trump gets, the more we know he is flailing and floundering.
You don't have a legal system anymore. You have a DOJ that is beholden to Trump and a Supreme Court that is an arm of the GOP.
The lower federal courts and state’s attorney generals on down to counties and municipalities are continuing to hold the line. Various legal organizations are filing suits and winning. There’s a lot that is functioning—many are pouring their hearts and souls into this and are making a difference. Every day. That there aren’t huge public protests does not mean that we’ve rolled over nor does it mean that Trump has won. He hasn’t won and he is flailing.
I like your optimism, but as near as I can tell, the US is currently an unchecked Trump dictatorship, enabled by a corrupt Supreme Court. Lower courts may tick him off and delay him for a while, but it's about as useful as farting at a hurricane. I think the US is finished until it proves otherwise. You had a chance to stop him, and pissed it away.
That's what happens when you elect someone who openly praises Andrew Jackson as a role model. Also when exactly one party makes sustained control of the judicial branch a core tenet over many electoral cycles.
I think it's what you get when an electorate is so ignorant, so small-picture focused, so racist, or so stupid that they'll vote against their own interests. Regardless, the US has completely fucked up the planet. You did this to yourselves, and the world is actively moving on from you. Because you also did it to us. We all know the word of the US is meaningless, and the government is not to be trusted. So there is going to be a great deal of suffering outside the US because of what you've done. But I suspect that for the first time in its history, the US is finally going to experience the consequences of its actions. Don't forget, Americans kept electing Republicans after Citizens United. You made it possible for Trump to do what he did. This is entirely on you, the American voter.
Most are employed and can’t afford to risk not having a paycheck and the health insurance that is connected to work. As you probably know, there is a very thin safety net that is often private donations and volunteers. Those of us that are not working for pay are often old and less physically able to be out in the streets. When I saw the recent Hungarian protests, I wondered how they could be out there and still make a living. Our students seem generally uninvolved which is odd. I was out there a lot when young. Now 76👹
Now, that's a good and different question. In order to be *effective* at driving policy, a protest needs to be organized, with sustained, coordinated planning over months and years, and messaging pointed towards well-defined, popular, feasible policy aims. There *have* been (vibe-driven) mass protests against Trump. But starting before I was before, the US has systematically dismantled any and all organizations capable of coordinating at that level (other than maybe some churches and some public sector unions?), especially on the left. Many people also fetishize the idea of honoring their individual voice and integrated personal identity so much that getting the requisite number of people to trust such an organization, to go along with it's decisions even when they won't agree with all of them, and to hold the line seems to be beyond our collective capacity. That's why every progressive agenda since Obama has been trying to say yes to every interest group, and refused to set and hold to real priorities and make needed tradeoffs in order to get enough popular buy in to enable lasting change.
No Kings demonstrations? Millions turned out all across the U.S.
They happened, yes. There was, and is, no long-term organizing force behind it, or channeling that energy into winning elections and setting policy in ways that are actually strategic and long-term-beneficial.
Because ,unlike these comments I have read most of us Americans really love President Trump and support all that he has so far accomplished
Polls mostly don't support that. But also, most Americans don't have enough understanding of what is going on in the world around them for their opinion to actually be meaningful information beyond a vibe.
Because the younger generations, who think they're better than us, don't understand what we did in the Sixties, without computers, cell phones, or any of this other stuff. That's why they were so shocked by what happened in Minneapolis. Good thing they didn't live in the South in the early Sixties, or before...
I do agree that a greater general willingness to accept what the world used to be like - not morally, but just as a literal fact about the past - would cause a lot of people to have much clearer ideas about what an effective path forward looks like. It would be an uncomfortable reckoning, so people turn away from it instead, and we're all the worse off for it.
We do.
Trump has likely handed the Senate via Michigan, Alaska and Maine to the Democrats. All of those states depend on trade with Canada for their own economic livelihood. The tariffs will kill them. Way to go Donnie, your ignorance, arrogance and ego will bit you in the a$$ as usual.
Don’t forget NH! We have a fight on our hands to replace Jeanne Shaheen in the Senate with another Democrat against the creepy Sununu dynasty and the wealthy shyster Scott Brown who only pretends to live in NH.
What is it about Republicans who don't live in the states they purport to represent? Tuberville and Rogers both live in Floriduh. Lahn in Kansas. Scotty in Massachusetts (or the moon, who knows?)
Republican politicians are, as a rule, deeply dishonest human beings, that give our nation a bad name.
Trump doesn't care about the Republican Party other than it being a vehicle for his own self promotion.
Republican congressmen know that, but were kept in line by fear of being primaried. I also think Trump has sent his militia buddies after some of them...Joni Ernst and Marjorie Taylor-Greene. MTG was explicit in saying her family was targeted with violence. There's no other reason she would quit mid-term.
These folks are rich so why does being primaried terrify them. They lose and can be lobbyists, join a connected law firm or think tank. It's not like they will be out on the street. They lose their perks or kiss ass and lose their morality.
Their value as lobbyists is really only with other republicans as I’m pretty sure that Democrat Congress people won’t be that interested in what they have to say.
Nature detests a void. If the Republican party was worth a shit, then Trump would not have fertile soil in which to sow his bad seeds. I don't like Democrats, either, but Democrats are far more preferable than goddamn stupid cult Republicans!
Here's hoping!
Yes, and I would like think that USA will be better once the Democrats take control, but I don't think the Democrats are any better, just different, than Republicans. I have grown to hate USA government, and it is only going to get worse. The DSA is just as evil as fucking MAGA!
Nope. The DSA and MAGA are not the same. never have been, never will be.
I think the extremes are like the ends of a horseshoe. The far right and far left have a lot of similarities. They both lack the ability for rational contemplation and consider views that don't fall into their rigid ways of thinking. When they gather information it's all flowers of one color. They stay far away from anything that might make them consider opposing views. That's why the far left is so afraid of words and police language with such severity. Both the far right and far left are dogmatic. I don't feel the need to comment on the far right. Their flaws are evident everyday with the Trump administration.
We need to change our electoral system in ways that make the two parties compete. Forty years ago, voters rejected anyone who seemed extreme. However, we didn't have 82% safe congressional seats. Gerrymandering should become illegal or at least wildly against social norms. We especially need to reform the Primary system. Only a small number of voters vote in the primaries and they are those with the most extreme views. If Independents and non-affiliated voters were classified as a party, they'd be the biggest. In closed primary states they are cut out completely.
If you live in a state with closed primaries, you can do something about it. Vote in the primary in the dominant party. If the Primaries become to be seen as the general election, which it is in 82% of the districts, we will see far fewer far right or far left candidates.
Absolutely
Paul, you are underestimating the level of rage North of your border. USA did a declaration of war to Canada. There is no coming back from it.
I think our rage will pass. But it will turn into a steely and resilient determination to defend and protect our sovereignty and our way of life. We will stand together and we will not bend the knee.
While you're at it, ban FOX News and it's lesser imitators, which are the primary reason MAGA elected Trump, and even now believe Trump is honorably defending us from Canadian trade rapacity.
Pass a Canadian "truth in media" law; and if FOX refuses to stop their lies and misinformation, sue them out of existence.
Given tariffs do not provide any real, lasting, economic benefit, I expect the Canadian government to implement tariffs that at least provide a security benefit. One example: taxing YouTube, Netflix, and Prime to fund a platform not controlled by Oligarchs on which small and medium sized businesses can advertise. Another example would be to follow the European move away from Microsoft for government desktops.
Do not focus on the propaganda effect of Fox News.
Fox advertising matters more: Fox sports, movies, and TV shows favor ads that promote Republican leaning businesses, which favors employees working, and shoppers shopping, in environments that move the Overton Window to favor Republicans.
Since Fox bought Roku, even though I do not watch Fox News, the ads is see streamed on Roku have changed.
The opaque algorithms of social media can have a similar effect. It is subtle, takes longer, but is also harder to reverse.
The only defense is to ensure the market for delivering ads is competitive.
Trump declared it, not the entire US! The vast majority here is not in agreement with our dictator.
Canada will never again see the US as an ally. As Carney said, we are at war, and that is how most Canadians feel. The US doesn't seem to have the will to change; it's been beaten into submission, and the behaviour of the Democrats doesn't augur well for the permanent systemic change that is going to be required, not for Canadian survival, but US. I believe Canada will come out of these rancid years better and stronger; the US is in precipitous decline, and that is permanent. It is now without an ally in the international system, except El Salvador. Good luck with that.
"..the behaviour of the Democrats doesn't augur well for the permanent systemic change that is going to be required.."
First Democrats must win the mid-terms - but then they *must* convert or neutralize their corporate faction.. starting with that showboating idiot weenie Fetterman...
There is potential for the democrats to embrace systemic change. But will they? Probably not.
El Salvador likes us?
I believe that North Korea is now a new friend, too.
and argentina
We have learned from Ukraine and Iran in asymmetric conflict. Discern the true intentions of dominance, be prepared to endure pain, know how to inflict cost on the other party. Outlast. We are sending a signal to the world with lessons in courage. Proud to be 🇨🇦
^ this.
and Vietnam
Duh. Of course.
We own a summer house in Nova Scotia and have spent 25 summers among Canadian friends; fishermen, teachers, writers, builders. Not one has pointed fingers at Americans in general. Like many of us, they just blame Trump's deluded, mean spirited policies for what's going on.
I've also been assured that Canadians will never, never, never rollover for Donald Trump. They'd rather starve. I'm betting on Mark Carney and waiting for TACO Don to show up. Maybe he'll fire Howard Lutnick.
Of course people like you are always welcomed as cherished visitors. But we harbour no illusions about the number of MAGA types who will sour on Canada now. So be it. You are bang on about our willingness to suffer to preserve our sovereignty. Our families from the Greatest Generation did not fight and die for us to bend the knee to an American tyrant. Our soldiers who fought and died in Afghanistan answering our sacred NATO Article 5 obligations will not witness our country fold. We know this in not about trade. It is an existential assault.
Howard "Remind me again who is this Jeffrey F. Steen.. oh, um, right.." Nutlick - a "Commerce Secretary" who doesn't understand how international commerce 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 work.
I wonder, who is going to starve if Canada blocks potash export to US?
Or just imposes a 20% export tax on potash. And a 30% tax on Canadian oil & gas exports. Donnie will TACO.
As with pretty much everything this group of felons does, all of this is a grift. They will insider-trade on the conflict that they manufactured explicitly for the purpose of insider-trading on it until they can't any longer. Donnie won't TACO, he'll simply move on to the next grift.
Respect for contracts and treaties is a big part of Canada's brand. Canada will loathe to give up a long term brand strength for a short-term trade tactic.
... as for a TACO...
Trump may chicken out on the 338 tariffs. He will not suddenly become competent.
That was then, now the level of anger Canadians feel towards all things American is at a totally new level. After all some of you had to have voted him in. Plus, what stops the American people from voting another Trump in as president? There is no turning back from this new reality. It’s a divorce.
Trump, of course, believes the US President is the most powerful person in the world. In his Mafia infested and deteriorating mind, he thinks he is allowed to bully and demand from everyone on the earth. That mind can never face reality, or even recognize it. Sadly, a significant portion of Americans cannot and will not recognize reality, either. We hope that more of the uncertain or independent Americans can now realize that Trump and his kowtowing Republicans must be gone. As every cognitively capable American knows, repairing the US is going to be a huge and long task, which is made more insurmountable with each passing Trump era day. I just wish there were enough wise and courageous persons in Washington to stand up and end the Trump era now. A pipe dream, unfortunately.
Many of us knew he was an impending disaster and didn’t support him to start with, but our archaic constitution enabled him. Now all three branches of government ignore the Constitution and law to do what they want.
Your analysis parallels Carney’s and begins to reflect the anger and sense of betrayal felt by Canadians. 'Come From Away" has been replaced by "So Long, it was nice while it lasted". The rot at the heart of American Exceptionallism is now on full display.
Canada is a safe, well captained boat sailing a clever course through the icebergs. We have left the Titanic to its fate!
Not American exceptionalism; but Conservative idiocy and bullying. THIS is what happens when the GOP is in control. Canada was our closest ally, our dearest friend. Until TRUMP.
"You are the kindest country in the world. You are like a really nice apartment over a meth lab."
-- Robin Williams
As someone who had a condo in magnificent British Columbia until last year, I can tell you that a Canadian trait often revealed under the (very real) politeness was steely-eyed determination. I mean this in the best possible way.
Yup
Thank you. I believe we are generally kind and have been brought up to have humility. But Northerners are a different breed. We also have resilience. Inconvenience is just that, inconvenience. But what we are facing now, will bring out the best in us and yes, "steely eyed determination" is part of it.
Let’s see: Putin invades a much smaller Ukraine…and how is that working out for Russia? Trump attacks a much smaller Iran…and how is that working out for trump? Now trump starts a trade war with a smaller Canadian economy…how do you think that will work out? What is the difference: dictators are attacking countries and the patriots (even the suppressed ones in Iran) are fighting back for their countries,
not for the dictators’ greed.
What if even fewer Canadians come stateside? Those travel dollars in border towns, Florida, and Las Vegas I bet is a meaningful bell weather for their righteous indignation.
Many Canadians used to own property in Florida.
Thanks to Trump and DeSantis they are selling.
Previously friends of the U.S. are no longer.
Yup, I'm one of those. In fact, I'm at my Florida home right now for house repairs. It will be up for sale A.S.A.P. and I will stop spending ~30k USD per year in Florida.
Good for you, bad for us, but we had it coming!
I’m sure you aren’t alone. I’m guessing that the Canadian warm weather tourism dollars that are leaving Florida will go somewhere else — where? Mexico? The Caribbean?
We'll see once the house is sold. Who wants to buy a 3-2-2 with 10k sq.ft lot, pool and a clogged up drain pipe?
I'm glad for you, too. This place is insane. We're rooting for the good guys and it's not here. Yay, Canada and Hugo pup for his PR (not needed but nice).
In the not too distant past, you would see people swimming during the winter months in the Gulf of MEXICO here in northern Florida. And they invariably were Canadians. This won’t be happening this Winter.
Costa Rica and Mexico….the new recipients of Canadian travel dollars in winter
Ahora, muchos mas Canadienses aprenden espanol.
I have not seen a Canadian license plate in ages, and it used to be a fairly common thing here in Connecticut. Je me souviens!
Oh xxxx, right. I haven't either. Hadn't thought of that.
Lots of French Canadian people down here
I remember they did (and we went there). But still?
We used to do 6 US trips a year .....Florida for Spring training, NY for Broadway, etc etc. Haven't set foot there in 2 years and never will again. Mostly Europe & the Caribbean now .
There is a movement afoot in Canada to demand legislated "country of origin" signage on all retail products. Now why do you think that is happening. If you want to become a social outcast in Canada just post some social media about your travels to the US.
A friend has visited 49 state capitals over the last 20 years, but hasn't spent a single day in the states since January 2025.
I was surprised that soccer fans came here for the world cup, honestly
Eck. We Americans knew this, but when you state is so plainly. And painfully. No "snowbirds" have come for over 2 years. And proud Canadian Dominique B. was spending $30K annually to maintain a second home in USA - the $ loss to Americans is Real.
Count on the travel embargo exploding into new levels of commitment.
Laura ,
It has already been felt in a number of areas . Our Mango Coated mistake shows us what happens as our dominant world financial empire collapses . His misguided efforts will only hasten the decline .
Anybody reading this post, let alone my own comment, is probably already in strong disagreement with this whole White House mess, so there is little need to add another argument trying to convince anyone here.
But one thing does need to be said: for God’s sake, do not let these fools manipulate the midterms the way they are already trying to.
Let it be known that Canada is simply waiting for a decent government to return. It may not be the best of circumstances, given the wreckage the next administration will have to emerge from, but we will be on your side, as we always have been, patiently ready to help resolve a mess that should never have existed in the first place.
I can already hear a new, more aggressive tone from many who were once muted by the numbers.
So let’s rebuild those numbers.
Thank you!
How about making New England the cherished 11th province of Canada!
Dont stop there!
I’m in.
The West Coast states are interested, too.
YES PLEASE!!!
Yes! Please, please, please, bring New England into the federation.
Please include NY with you as well!
Sorry, we really don't want Susan Collins!
as a mainer i love this idea!
I find it interesting because these unprovoked economical attacks on allies will have more expansive and longer term effects on other allies as well. I'm curious to see the effect of this sentimental change on future decision making regarding dealing with the US everywhere.
We see this already happening with intelligence sharing, defence treaties, etc. It seems an unavoidable part of current US foreign policy.
My phone has been burning up with calls from friends and colleagues around the world. Canada is making a stand. It is being noted with admiration. We will not bend the knee to aggression and sovereignty assaults on our country wrapped up in trade talk camouflage. We are under no illusions about the rest of the world lining up behind us. This is our struggle, our movement and our burden.
Never thought I'd see the day when the world unites & cheers on both Canada & Iran simultaneously.
Hear, hear!!