Thank you, Mr. Krugman. You lay this out very clearly. As an observer from the North, I can only conclude that this is MEANT to hurt US citizens, farmers, factory workers, etc. Down that rabbit hole lies madness and conspiracy theories, but the actions of the Trump administration are so disturbingly unhinged (in 72 hours, the WH meeting with Zelenskyy, the stand-down on cybersecurity from Russia, the ‘pause’ in Ukraine aid, the tariffs) that the mind runs to provoking the citizenry to such anger that they rise up, then calling martial law and creating military rule.
Your current president is only fuelled by perceived slights against him. His revenge is all compassing and the list he keeps is long, He has no compassion for the common folks and will make them suffer. Yes you once took care of an abusive king and an
old North Dakota sheriff explained to me that America will never give up their guns because we will need them to fight our government for our freedom again. Me thinking some old guns are getting a good polishing today.
The liberals who have guns are the ones that never talk about it because they don't need to look "manly." (or "womanly") They're also not members of the NRA. Remember, a nice guy like Tim Walz is a gun owner.
Many of my (mid 20s) progressive friends also carry and will be ready to stand together. I don't carry myself (I don't think my mental health needs a gun in the house), but I have my Louisville Slugger next to my door if need be.
I live in West Virginia, lots of gun owners and lots of hunters here. The largest "city" is about 50K people, most everywhere in the state, you're ten minutes from wooded countryside. By federal standards, the entire state is considered "rural."
I have 8 guns and about 2000 rounds of ammunition. I also vote democrat every time and make calls for democrat candidates. I am most definitely not a gun nut, especially for my area. I think you (Rex) are probably living in too blue an area and need to get out more. No worries.
Well, yeah, but I grew up in Kansas, and my dad was a gun nut of sorts but extremely strict about safety issues. He was an engineer but also a knowledgeable gunsmith. Built custom rifles, loaded his own cartridges, etc. My guess as to gun ownership was exaggerated but not totally out of whack. Pew Research has ownership at about 60% for R-leaners and 30% for D-leaners. I’m sure it’s way higher on both counts in rural areas. Knowing that people carry loaded guns in public… open or concealed, doesn’t matter… scares the shit out of me. A more effective prescription for needless, consequential violence can hardly be imagined. My dad would never have stood for that.
I think getting shot by a guntoter is and will continue to be a low-probability event compared to other bad things that might happen to people. For example, putting the US Treasury at risk by including crypto in its reserves has a lot more potential for bad consequences affecting a huge population.
If we are going to overthrow Mad King Trump, we need to do something bold--not merely file lawsuits and go on Bernie protest tours. The colonists organized tax revolts. Isn't the least we can do is let the Rs pass their ridiculous budget and let their policies dig into every corner of the country? The problem is bigger then Trump. Nearly 80 million people voted for this. We need reality to break through the right wing propaganda machine and hit home like it did in Italy eight decades ago. If we want to break this doom loop of the last three decades, we need to accept the pain of things like a broken economy.
I agree with those who believe all of the pain and suffering to come is meant to cause the people to rise up, giving Trump the excuse he needs to declare martial law.
"Marshall, he came up with this law. Lots of people are talking about him these days, saying great things about him, because he came up with a great law."
I agree. Protests must be peaceful or Trump will call out our military. He’s itching for an excuse. If Trump hobbles the IRS, as he plans to do, how does he plan to collect our taxes?
Not my president (BTW). Having said that - in terms of tariffs I can't believe there is a sensible thought behind the tariffs except that Trump is working at the behest of the Kremlin. Otherwise, it's just the bleary-eyed, foggy-brained machinations of a conspiracy-addled brain. Shooting not just one's own foot, but both feet, arms and then a gut shot.
Thiel looks at the power of the Russian oligarchs and says "yeah, that is what I want". What he doesn't see is many Russian oligarchs wish, at the last moments of their lives, that they were born with wings.
I tend to agree. The only thing is, the citizenry of the US ain’t coming with hoes and pitchforks. They have ready access to firearms…LOTS of firearms. The people who start the fire could very well get badly burned.
There’s a sliver of hope it won’t get this far. The slash and burn romp through the federal government is reportedly hitting veterans harder than the average American because up to 30% of the federal workforce are veterans. Also, the Treasury payment system Muskrat took over sends paychecks to active service members. When Big Balls and crew inadvertently screw those paychecks up, active service members won’t be happy. Historically, when a military feels slighted it stops supporting the government. So when martial law comes, there may not be enough members willing to support enforcement.
I have several friends and neighbors that are Republicans. They each have at a minimum a dozen guns. If push came to shove EVERY ONE of them would give me a gun and ammunition to protect my family.
That makes sense. He and patel are building up the militia who they’ve advised to “stand by”, and hegseth has the military. I wonder how far people can be pushed. The democrats have not shown any guts at all, this will have to be grassroots.
Yes. I’m afraid I’ve lost a lot of faith in the courts, unfortunately. This admin has no respect for the law. I believe Project 25 advised to just forge ahead regardless, and let the lawyers deal with years of litigation. No one’s got the courage to put trump in jail, that’s for sure. Sadly I used to be a glass-half-full person!
Your economy is large, it'll hurt a bit; ours is much smaller and resource export dependent...we're fucked. Rest assured we will be in recession before too long assuming things stay whatever "the course" means to these reprobates. Amazing that economic sanctions and normalization with Russia are happening at the same time your government has declared economic warfare on Canada. Here's hoping our federal government has the huevos to drop export duties on oil. If you want to see the degree to which our "hair is on fire" you could do worse than to start here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/livestory/live-updates-as-canada-fights-against-25-u-s-tariffs-and-braces-for-economic-pain-9.6670527
Don’t mistake my concern for lack of a will to fight. I’m down with heavy export taxes on Alberta oil (I’m resident there), tearing up the F-35 contract worth 700 billion over 40 yrs I believe, triggering the water treaty sunset clause on the Columbia river, massive limits to trade in services for US tech companies, 100% tariffs on Tesla, and the cancellation of the 40% of our military purchase budget that is spent stateside. Furthermore, we need to clean up our info commons; therefore, restrictions on US based social media/surveillance capitalism, and forced sales of US owned newspaper chains in Canada. These things might be necessary, but they likely won’t be sufficient to stop a recession in the near term.
Ah - I misunderstood the call to "drop export duties" on oil as hoping we would remove existing taxes to offset tariffs (I've read some calls for dropping oil royalties, a self-defeating option if I've ever heard one). I should have read more carefully.
Yeah, I agree with you 100% then :-). And yeah, we're in for some pain. I'm MB and reasonably well-insulated from the tariffs, so I appreciate your willingness to fight. And I would far rather the gov raised my taxes to ensure we -are- all in this together. Perhaps double the capital-gains tax on US investments, with a 1 month window, let's help add to that sell-off, yeah?
I think our odds are better than they look, though. The US does not have public buy-in over this fight, we don't have a choice. Even if the US suffers less, there is no public appetite for it, and that counts for a lot.
I am canadien and I think Trump is like Putin with Ukraine: they don’t want to have a democratic neighbour where we pay taxes but where we are more happy, healthy, educated without depts, safer without maniacs walking in the streets with machine gun. Bad example for their model where they convince the poor to enrich the wealthy.
The average Canadian doesn't even pay much more income tax than the average American, but we *do* have a fairer system vis-a-vis the wealthy to sustain our beloved social democracy... as is the case with every other advanced nation.
The OECD shows that the average Canadian family with two children pays 12 times less taxes than the average American. Higher-income Americans pay so little tax that it skews the average.
For sure. Take out your top 1%-5% earners, and your average income -- not to mention overall quality of life -- put the US near or at the bottom of advanced nations.
Our taxes help pay for universal health care, child benefits/family allowances, subsidized daycare (allowing single parents like myself to actually earn more at a job than on welfare), decent employment insurance (unemployment in US parlance), competitive wages for teaching staff at public schools and colleges/universities, cheap access to municipal & F/PT parks, sports complexes, libraries, etc. We get a lot of bang for our buck. Not as much as in Scandinavia, for example, but enough to nearly always be in the top 5 of best countries to live in. (Again, the über-wealthy in the US skew your rankings and usually place you in the teens; but without them, you easily fall into the 30s-40s.)
The thing is, most of the missiles are pre-targeted. Just hitting the button right now would wipe out Russia and possibly China. DonnyJon wouldn't want to hurt his good buddy Vlad, so I expect he'll guard that button carefully - at least, until he can change the targets.
You know what we call Canadians here in Maine -- our neighbors. We work with them, we trade with them, we make fun of each other and we laugh with them.
If I lived in AZ or NM, I would feel the same about Mexicans.
I agree. At least part of this is jealousy; but Trump has a serious mental illness: the urge to hoard money. If he hoarded figurines, the illness would not hurt other people. But hoarding money results in many other being harmed, sometimes irreparably.
True. And it normalizes Putin's invasion of Ukraine. That's the deal they have worked out, every great power gets its sphere of interest. Trump takes Canada and Greenland and Panama, Putin takes as much of Europe as he can digest, and Xi takes Taiwan, etc.
He did us Canadians a favour in his perverted way - we are now clear eyed about the US government and more united than ever before in our commitment to our country and our values. We understand that there will be arguments between friends, and we also appreciate the power of the civilized discourse. But this is not anything like that. Trump has always been hated in Canada, because we know him for what he really his. Unfortunately he sold a mask to the voters that voted for him. His voters (the good people who voted for him, not the nazis and the criminals) were deceived, and they didn't do their jobs and wonder why is he so disliked and hated in NY, the state that knew him best. Canada 🇨🇦, doesn't care for his TV persona and can see through his lies and in our national calmness we, as a collective know him for what he truly is. And Trump hates us because of this. We are not 100% of the same opinion, of course. There are some amongst us who see it otherwise, as life and democracy are as such. But the absolute majority of us know him well enough to reject him. He doesn't know us at all, and this is very evident in his actions and words. As a by the book bully, he confuses politeness with weakness. He is about to see where our politeness comes from, and I am sure that there will be someone in his lackeys circle to show him in a language he will understand. But it will be tooo late because once trust is broken, it may take many many many years to mend. LOVE CANADA 🇨🇦!!!!
Ohh how I agree with you!! Don't go telling me good people got bamboozled by Fox News or whatever other cesspool his supporters go to for "news" and information. What we are seeing, imho, is the proverbial Pandora's box who was unleashed on all that is good and decent by an army of delluded, selfish and really evil people and they knew full well who and what they were siding with. One good thing, though, the mask has fallen off and those who have eyes and a brain should understand who the billionaires, news magnates, church leaders etc are and, most importantly, what their plans are for this planet. We know who they are and we know what they stand for and knowing your enemy is VERY IMPORTANT.
Trump gave people permission to be their worst selves: hate N----rs, immigrants, uppity women, LGBTQ+? Go ahead, I'm your man! Say it out loud. That's what Trump unleashed.
Anyone who voted for T**** is not actually a good person. They were all voting for the white Christian patriarchy, and they knew it, and that was a bad thing to do, and they knew it when they did it. Ugh. I've had it with all these folks.
And do remember that in the Frump PINO base, there are a not trivial number of people who call in death threats against anyone they think has wronged the Mango Mussolini. These are not good people by any stretch of the imagination, and they scare even Frump's own party members.
Ar You make me proud of the Wheelocks who, as British Loyalists, fled New York City at the end of the Americans revolution and settled in Nova Scotia. I had the privilege I visiting much of Canada on business in the 1970s. O CANADA!
The NYT helped normalize Trump and they helped elect Trump be giving him a pass on many issues. I was a lifelong reader of the NYT. I canceled my subscription the evening of the election in November 2024. And I donated to NPR and WNYC.
And they STILL want to feast on Biden. Last week they ran a Q and A with Amy Klobuchar and the last question was about Biden. She refused to take the bait.
Meanwhile Trump nods off during Musk's cabinet meeting, bubbles incoherently, not a peep from the NYT.
Absolutely right, after they posted this article from their "chief whitehouse stenographer" I cancelled my subscription. What an insult, a thought experiment about what it would mean if Canada were the 51st state. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/politics/canada-trump-51st-state.html Laughable that they think we'd be given state status and not just be another Puerto Rico or Guam.
Easy to predict Trump’s actions — just ask what would Putin want. A trade war with Canada hurts the US, Canada, and what used to be the Western alliance. Period
Rubberstamping the fever-dreams of the Heritage Foundation and dancing for the cameras isn't "running" anything. Let alone whatever Musk is pretending to do
You're only part right. Fascism, and Roy Cohn, and Donald Fuckface, are permanently searching for an enemy. That's their entire agenda. They need an enemy, hence transgendered kids and immigrants and Ukranians and....*waves hand at US Census*. This is them trying to find a close-by enemy. That's all. No further deeper analysis needed. If he anschlussed both Mexico and Canada, next step would be finding another enemy. Without enemies, fascism falls apart. It's a nihilistic philosophy.
The enemy is us, the enemy within. I believe that in some circles our Constitution and Bill of Rights are considered to be an impediment competing with countries like Russia and China which don't have those--which manage their own people using AI.
Yes. I’ve been reading about the Network State ideas that Thiel, Yarvin and the techbros love. An AI/cryptocracy for the Cognitive Elites. I keep that thought in my mind when diagnosing each new political power move.
We are boycotting all US products here in Toronto. And everyone is considering alternatives to US vacations. We might thank Trump down the road as this tariff war will spur Canada on to strengthen trading relationships with the European community and ASEAN. This is the new normal as Trumpism will prevail long after Trump goes.
Paul you are right, Trumpism is like a nasty weed that is resistant to herbicides and reseeds itself vigorously. Don't forget people like Russ Vought, who I suspect may be part of the real Frump brain, along with S. Miller, the biggest jerk next to Frump known to man. And all the die hard racists who make up the vast majority of PINO's base.
There is no reason to have a treaty with the US while Trump is in office. Actually, Trump has poisoned the idea of having any agreements with the United States, ever.
Everyday I wake up and look forward to your insights. Thank you for helping other Americans during this awful time in our history. You speak the truth and we need that in our post truth world right now!
Canadian here. After decades of considering U.S. made products and services in the same boat as Canada (vs, say, China), today I make it my personal mission to do all I can to eviscerate the U.S. economy. Every single item and service I buy - right down to food - I examine to exclude U.S. sources. Will the flight I'm about to take be on an Airbus or Boeing? The cloud services my company rents have been re-domiciled to Canadian entities. I'll vote for whatever government is prepared to spend any amount of money to build pipelines to remove not just a greater portion of our oil and gas to overseas markets, but all of it. I support Canada exiting Norad and purging our military of American weapons systems. I am that angry. I don't even agree with trying placate Trump over the USMCA. Why bother? He ignores agreements anyway. I'll take the recession while we re-tool.
And it's not just Trump, nor is it temporary. Forget logic, what he's doing sells well with a great many Americans. As one Canadian physician of colour now relocating back to Canada told me, "they've always been like this; the only difference now is that the mask is off."
I do make exceptions where necessary of course. Subscription to Paul Krugman's substack being an example.
Similarly, those of us south of the border have been avoiding buying anything made in a red state since 2016. We’ve been avoiding traveling to and through red states. This may increase our numbers and effort, which could put a small additional squeeze on the MAGAverse.
Putin's motives are much simpler than that. He wants to restore the Russian empire (and has said so). If you look at a map of that empire, it includes nearly all of Europe.
Not only restore the empire but also take his revenge on the US on the fall of the Soviet Union. Trumps tossing your allies, breaking commitments and isolating your economy until it is in total shambles. The US alignment with Russia is Putin doing a victory dance. The inevitable a stock market crash the icing on the cake. Who will step up and reign in this mentally incapable and weak minded old crotchety man with a gigantic chip on his shoulder.
Thank you, Mr. Krugman. You lay this out very clearly. As an observer from the North, I can only conclude that this is MEANT to hurt US citizens, farmers, factory workers, etc. Down that rabbit hole lies madness and conspiracy theories, but the actions of the Trump administration are so disturbingly unhinged (in 72 hours, the WH meeting with Zelenskyy, the stand-down on cybersecurity from Russia, the ‘pause’ in Ukraine aid, the tariffs) that the mind runs to provoking the citizenry to such anger that they rise up, then calling martial law and creating military rule.
We overthrew an abusive king 250 years ago and we'll do it again.
The original Declaration of Independence listed 26 grievances against the Crown. We will need a database this time around.
I am leaning towards the 1793 approach which the French took. Any chances of recidivism by Louis XVI were cut short (pun alert).
laughing!
Sorry, but Guillotines are made in China and have added a considerable tariff. It will be too costly for the average Joe to buy.
Pish Tosh. We have advanced technology made right here in America:
https://img.forconstructionpros.com/files/base/acbm/fcp/image/2007/06/woodchippers_10079063.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&q=70&w=1200
Not soon enough!
Your current president is only fuelled by perceived slights against him. His revenge is all compassing and the list he keeps is long, He has no compassion for the common folks and will make them suffer. Yes you once took care of an abusive king and an
old North Dakota sheriff explained to me that America will never give up their guns because we will need them to fight our government for our freedom again. Me thinking some old guns are getting a good polishing today.
The people with guns are, almost to a man, supporters of the felon in chief. If they’re polishing their guns, it’s to point them at Democrats.
The liberals who have guns are the ones that never talk about it because they don't need to look "manly." (or "womanly") They're also not members of the NRA. Remember, a nice guy like Tim Walz is a gun owner.
Many of my (mid 20s) progressive friends also carry and will be ready to stand together. I don't carry myself (I don't think my mental health needs a gun in the house), but I have my Louisville Slugger next to my door if need be.
Pardon the language but this song is the energy Americans need to bring: https://youtu.be/VKLrf0zcbb4?si=5uqva4HNcdFAqmEF
Mike- Do you live in the city? Here in rural ME, about 90% of households own one or more guns. The political persuasion matters not.
I live in West Virginia, lots of gun owners and lots of hunters here. The largest "city" is about 50K people, most everywhere in the state, you're ten minutes from wooded countryside. By federal standards, the entire state is considered "rural."
Hunting rifles right? Even in Canada we have lots of those.
We're out here, at all ages.
I have 8 guns and about 2000 rounds of ammunition. I also vote democrat every time and make calls for democrat candidates. I am most definitely not a gun nut, especially for my area. I think you (Rex) are probably living in too blue an area and need to get out more. No worries.
Well, yeah, but I grew up in Kansas, and my dad was a gun nut of sorts but extremely strict about safety issues. He was an engineer but also a knowledgeable gunsmith. Built custom rifles, loaded his own cartridges, etc. My guess as to gun ownership was exaggerated but not totally out of whack. Pew Research has ownership at about 60% for R-leaners and 30% for D-leaners. I’m sure it’s way higher on both counts in rural areas. Knowing that people carry loaded guns in public… open or concealed, doesn’t matter… scares the shit out of me. A more effective prescription for needless, consequential violence can hardly be imagined. My dad would never have stood for that.
Nope. Democrats have guns too.
And many of us look like the people who want everyone to think they are the only ones with guns.
They will not be able to trust anyone if they go that route.
That's my big fear.
I think getting shot by a guntoter is and will continue to be a low-probability event compared to other bad things that might happen to people. For example, putting the US Treasury at risk by including crypto in its reserves has a lot more potential for bad consequences affecting a huge population.
If we are going to overthrow Mad King Trump, we need to do something bold--not merely file lawsuits and go on Bernie protest tours. The colonists organized tax revolts. Isn't the least we can do is let the Rs pass their ridiculous budget and let their policies dig into every corner of the country? The problem is bigger then Trump. Nearly 80 million people voted for this. We need reality to break through the right wing propaganda machine and hit home like it did in Italy eight decades ago. If we want to break this doom loop of the last three decades, we need to accept the pain of things like a broken economy.
Maybe we could drive a bunch of Teslas into Boston Harbor?
I prefer what the French did with their king 250 years ago. Made sure he didn't raise an army and come back.
Better get to it, before it's too late.
I agree with those who believe all of the pain and suffering to come is meant to cause the people to rise up, giving Trump the excuse he needs to declare martial law.
"giving Trump the excuse he needs to declare martial law."
He'll call it "Marshall Law!!!" when he tweets it.
Or worse yet "Marshall's Law". He always thinks transactionally .
"Marshall, he came up with this law. Lots of people are talking about him these days, saying great things about him, because he came up with a great law."
Melania will call it "marital" law!
Uh oh, divorce number 3 in the air.
Correct, except that Trump needs no excuse. Please check with John Roberts for a full explanation.
Pesky journalists and commentators, Nobel Prize or not, may soon be vacationing at the Guantanamo Bay re-education camp.
Yes
should we let that stop us?
No. Guantánamo is actually pretty nice this time of year.
I agree. Protests must be peaceful or Trump will call out our military. He’s itching for an excuse. If Trump hobbles the IRS, as he plans to do, how does he plan to collect our taxes?
Not my president (BTW). Having said that - in terms of tariffs I can't believe there is a sensible thought behind the tariffs except that Trump is working at the behest of the Kremlin. Otherwise, it's just the bleary-eyed, foggy-brained machinations of a conspiracy-addled brain. Shooting not just one's own foot, but both feet, arms and then a gut shot.
This move is to create a rift with our closest allies. More destabilizing at the behest of Putin
It serves Putin’s ambitions to sever America’s economic solidarity with its closest allies and make adversaries of them.
And what does Putin have on Peter Thiel? It must be pretty juicy for Mr. Thiel to have fund JD to support Russia the way he does.
Thiel looks at the power of the Russian oligarchs and says "yeah, that is what I want". What he doesn't see is many Russian oligarchs wish, at the last moments of their lives, that they were born with wings.
And then eliminating further elections and simply staying in power w his supplicants
It also helps Russia. Watch how Trump will direct US companies to buy nickle from Norlisk to replace the Canadian supply.
think 'ozymandias'
And we know how that turned out. Thank you, Shelley. https://poets.org/poem/ozymandias
exactly
I wrote a poem about that poem. And about men like that. https://open.substack.com/pub/bobledrew/p/ozymandias?r=gwbt&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
nice poem-confidence,esp. overconfidence,and blindness often go together
I tend to agree. The only thing is, the citizenry of the US ain’t coming with hoes and pitchforks. They have ready access to firearms…LOTS of firearms. The people who start the fire could very well get badly burned.
True, but, unfortunately, most of those firearms are in the hands of MAGAnuts. I don't care though, I'll use Molotov cocktails if I have to.
There’s a sliver of hope it won’t get this far. The slash and burn romp through the federal government is reportedly hitting veterans harder than the average American because up to 30% of the federal workforce are veterans. Also, the Treasury payment system Muskrat took over sends paychecks to active service members. When Big Balls and crew inadvertently screw those paychecks up, active service members won’t be happy. Historically, when a military feels slighted it stops supporting the government. So when martial law comes, there may not be enough members willing to support enforcement.
the 'screw-up' may not be inadvertent-it may be a(nother?) test to see what they can get away with
I have several friends and neighbors that are Republicans. They each have at a minimum a dozen guns. If push came to shove EVERY ONE of them would give me a gun and ammunition to protect my family.
I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.
That makes sense. He and patel are building up the militia who they’ve advised to “stand by”, and hegseth has the military. I wonder how far people can be pushed. The democrats have not shown any guts at all, this will have to be grassroots.
I wonder where are the voices thought to be leaders among Democrats now.
It’s not true that the Dems haven’t shown any guts. They’re taking on Trump through the courts. Join the ACLU!
Yes. I’m afraid I’ve lost a lot of faith in the courts, unfortunately. This admin has no respect for the law. I believe Project 25 advised to just forge ahead regardless, and let the lawyers deal with years of litigation. No one’s got the courage to put trump in jail, that’s for sure. Sadly I used to be a glass-half-full person!
Your economy is large, it'll hurt a bit; ours is much smaller and resource export dependent...we're fucked. Rest assured we will be in recession before too long assuming things stay whatever "the course" means to these reprobates. Amazing that economic sanctions and normalization with Russia are happening at the same time your government has declared economic warfare on Canada. Here's hoping our federal government has the huevos to drop export duties on oil. If you want to see the degree to which our "hair is on fire" you could do worse than to start here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/livestory/live-updates-as-canada-fights-against-25-u-s-tariffs-and-braces-for-economic-pain-9.6670527
Thanks for the link.
No problem!
The smaller country always loses, except for ukraine, afghanistan, vietnam, etc etc. Are we really so much less than those countries?
Let's just put the white flag down, shall we?
Don’t mistake my concern for lack of a will to fight. I’m down with heavy export taxes on Alberta oil (I’m resident there), tearing up the F-35 contract worth 700 billion over 40 yrs I believe, triggering the water treaty sunset clause on the Columbia river, massive limits to trade in services for US tech companies, 100% tariffs on Tesla, and the cancellation of the 40% of our military purchase budget that is spent stateside. Furthermore, we need to clean up our info commons; therefore, restrictions on US based social media/surveillance capitalism, and forced sales of US owned newspaper chains in Canada. These things might be necessary, but they likely won’t be sufficient to stop a recession in the near term.
Ah - I misunderstood the call to "drop export duties" on oil as hoping we would remove existing taxes to offset tariffs (I've read some calls for dropping oil royalties, a self-defeating option if I've ever heard one). I should have read more carefully.
Yeah, I agree with you 100% then :-). And yeah, we're in for some pain. I'm MB and reasonably well-insulated from the tariffs, so I appreciate your willingness to fight. And I would far rather the gov raised my taxes to ensure we -are- all in this together. Perhaps double the capital-gains tax on US investments, with a 1 month window, let's help add to that sell-off, yeah?
I think our odds are better than they look, though. The US does not have public buy-in over this fight, we don't have a choice. Even if the US suffers less, there is no public appetite for it, and that counts for a lot.
Don't forget the purge of top military leadership and Secretary Hogsbreath. Perhaps impeachment would be easier.
I am canadien and I think Trump is like Putin with Ukraine: they don’t want to have a democratic neighbour where we pay taxes but where we are more happy, healthy, educated without depts, safer without maniacs walking in the streets with machine gun. Bad example for their model where they convince the poor to enrich the wealthy.
The average Canadian doesn't even pay much more income tax than the average American, but we *do* have a fairer system vis-a-vis the wealthy to sustain our beloved social democracy... as is the case with every other advanced nation.
The OECD shows that the average Canadian family with two children pays 12 times less taxes than the average American. Higher-income Americans pay so little tax that it skews the average.
For sure. Take out your top 1%-5% earners, and your average income -- not to mention overall quality of life -- put the US near or at the bottom of advanced nations.
Our taxes help pay for universal health care, child benefits/family allowances, subsidized daycare (allowing single parents like myself to actually earn more at a job than on welfare), decent employment insurance (unemployment in US parlance), competitive wages for teaching staff at public schools and colleges/universities, cheap access to municipal & F/PT parks, sports complexes, libraries, etc. We get a lot of bang for our buck. Not as much as in Scandinavia, for example, but enough to nearly always be in the top 5 of best countries to live in. (Again, the über-wealthy in the US skew your rankings and usually place you in the teens; but without them, you easily fall into the 30s-40s.)
And Canadians get a lot more for that money than we do.
lucky you-count your blessings and work to ensure they last-you've seen how easily they can be lost-i hope only temporarily
Not to mention maniacs walking around in the White House with access to a big red button that launches nuclear holocaust.
The thing is, most of the missiles are pre-targeted. Just hitting the button right now would wipe out Russia and possibly China. DonnyJon wouldn't want to hurt his good buddy Vlad, so I expect he'll guard that button carefully - at least, until he can change the targets.
I hope you're right. He seems to think everything in the WH is his toy to play with.
I am an American, and you are spot on.
You know what we call Canadians here in Maine -- our neighbors. We work with them, we trade with them, we make fun of each other and we laugh with them.
If I lived in AZ or NM, I would feel the same about Mexicans.
I agree. At least part of this is jealousy; but Trump has a serious mental illness: the urge to hoard money. If he hoarded figurines, the illness would not hurt other people. But hoarding money results in many other being harmed, sometimes irreparably.
True. And it normalizes Putin's invasion of Ukraine. That's the deal they have worked out, every great power gets its sphere of interest. Trump takes Canada and Greenland and Panama, Putin takes as much of Europe as he can digest, and Xi takes Taiwan, etc.
That is it in a nutshell. You can throw the GOP and oligarchs with him on that. We are a constant reminder that they are lying.
He did us Canadians a favour in his perverted way - we are now clear eyed about the US government and more united than ever before in our commitment to our country and our values. We understand that there will be arguments between friends, and we also appreciate the power of the civilized discourse. But this is not anything like that. Trump has always been hated in Canada, because we know him for what he really his. Unfortunately he sold a mask to the voters that voted for him. His voters (the good people who voted for him, not the nazis and the criminals) were deceived, and they didn't do their jobs and wonder why is he so disliked and hated in NY, the state that knew him best. Canada 🇨🇦, doesn't care for his TV persona and can see through his lies and in our national calmness we, as a collective know him for what he truly is. And Trump hates us because of this. We are not 100% of the same opinion, of course. There are some amongst us who see it otherwise, as life and democracy are as such. But the absolute majority of us know him well enough to reject him. He doesn't know us at all, and this is very evident in his actions and words. As a by the book bully, he confuses politeness with weakness. He is about to see where our politeness comes from, and I am sure that there will be someone in his lackeys circle to show him in a language he will understand. But it will be tooo late because once trust is broken, it may take many many many years to mend. LOVE CANADA 🇨🇦!!!!
the number of 'good' people who voted for Trump is vanishingly small.
Ohh how I agree with you!! Don't go telling me good people got bamboozled by Fox News or whatever other cesspool his supporters go to for "news" and information. What we are seeing, imho, is the proverbial Pandora's box who was unleashed on all that is good and decent by an army of delluded, selfish and really evil people and they knew full well who and what they were siding with. One good thing, though, the mask has fallen off and those who have eyes and a brain should understand who the billionaires, news magnates, church leaders etc are and, most importantly, what their plans are for this planet. We know who they are and we know what they stand for and knowing your enemy is VERY IMPORTANT.
Trump gave people permission to be their worst selves: hate N----rs, immigrants, uppity women, LGBTQ+? Go ahead, I'm your man! Say it out loud. That's what Trump unleashed.
He also bribed a lot of his voters with the promise of tax cuts that will put money in their pocket.
good people wouldn't have watched fox 'news'
Ohh, but they see themselves as good…actually they see themselves as the best, hence the complete disregard and solidarity for the “others”.
Anyone who voted for T**** is not actually a good person. They were all voting for the white Christian patriarchy, and they knew it, and that was a bad thing to do, and they knew it when they did it. Ugh. I've had it with all these folks.
we are the ignorant ones and they are'in the know;-how right you are
And do remember that in the Frump PINO base, there are a not trivial number of people who call in death threats against anyone they think has wronged the Mango Mussolini. These are not good people by any stretch of the imagination, and they scare even Frump's own party members.
All good points. Decent we are, but neither Pacifists nor cowards. Hockey is our national sport.
Ar You make me proud of the Wheelocks who, as British Loyalists, fled New York City at the end of the Americans revolution and settled in Nova Scotia. I had the privilege I visiting much of Canada on business in the 1970s. O CANADA!
I remember the encomia for jean beliveau -trump would've thought his good works made him a wimp
The New York Times says that the tariffs “hit Canada,” when of course they hit Americans who buy stuff that have inputs from Canada.
The NYT helped normalize Trump and they helped elect Trump be giving him a pass on many issues. I was a lifelong reader of the NYT. I canceled my subscription the evening of the election in November 2024. And I donated to NPR and WNYC.
Yes, the NYT really played up the "mental decline" of Biden but, as you say, gave Donald a pass on so many things.
And they STILL want to feast on Biden. Last week they ran a Q and A with Amy Klobuchar and the last question was about Biden. She refused to take the bait.
Meanwhile Trump nods off during Musk's cabinet meeting, bubbles incoherently, not a peep from the NYT.
And, even before that, "but her emails!"
Conventional wisdom was always dismissive of Biden, very respectful of,oh, let's go with Larry Summers. There is somthing very wrong with that.
Absolutely right, after they posted this article from their "chief whitehouse stenographer" I cancelled my subscription. What an insult, a thought experiment about what it would mean if Canada were the 51st state. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/politics/canada-trump-51st-state.html Laughable that they think we'd be given state status and not just be another Puerto Rico or Guam.
I truly believe the Orange Menace sees Canada as his role model Hitler viewed the Sudetenland.
It says Trump is just “trolling.” I don’t think so.
We LOVE Canada for it's decency. After all, they've put up with us for so long. Who else would?
We don’t really have a choice. Geographically speaking! 😂 If we could magically be transported to the other side of the planet we would!
Easy to predict Trump’s actions — just ask what would Putin want. A trade war with Canada hurts the US, Canada, and what used to be the Western alliance. Period
But it will cause Canada to be closer to Europe (as we saw this weekend in London) and strengthen the western alliance against Russia.
Sadly, the US is starting to look like one of those failed nation states run by monomaniacal captain Ahab
Rubberstamping the fever-dreams of the Heritage Foundation and dancing for the cameras isn't "running" anything. Let alone whatever Musk is pretending to do
And decency is why i love and admire Canada 🇨🇦
Trump is in a hurry to please boss Putin!
And Canada doesn't have nukes!
You're only part right. Fascism, and Roy Cohn, and Donald Fuckface, are permanently searching for an enemy. That's their entire agenda. They need an enemy, hence transgendered kids and immigrants and Ukranians and....*waves hand at US Census*. This is them trying to find a close-by enemy. That's all. No further deeper analysis needed. If he anschlussed both Mexico and Canada, next step would be finding another enemy. Without enemies, fascism falls apart. It's a nihilistic philosophy.
The enemy is us, the enemy within. I believe that in some circles our Constitution and Bill of Rights are considered to be an impediment competing with countries like Russia and China which don't have those--which manage their own people using AI.
Yes. I’ve been reading about the Network State ideas that Thiel, Yarvin and the techbros love. An AI/cryptocracy for the Cognitive Elites. I keep that thought in my mind when diagnosing each new political power move.
We are boycotting all US products here in Toronto. And everyone is considering alternatives to US vacations. We might thank Trump down the road as this tariff war will spur Canada on to strengthen trading relationships with the European community and ASEAN. This is the new normal as Trumpism will prevail long after Trump goes.
Paul you are right, Trumpism is like a nasty weed that is resistant to herbicides and reseeds itself vigorously. Don't forget people like Russ Vought, who I suspect may be part of the real Frump brain, along with S. Miller, the biggest jerk next to Frump known to man. And all the die hard racists who make up the vast majority of PINO's base.
I would point out that section 000 and section 666 are not mutually exclusive.
Sure. A Licence to Kill--the economy--and a License to Damn for Eternity.
There is no reason to have a treaty with the US while Trump is in office. Actually, Trump has poisoned the idea of having any agreements with the United States, ever.
Everyday I wake up and look forward to your insights. Thank you for helping other Americans during this awful time in our history. You speak the truth and we need that in our post truth world right now!
Musical Coda
Brain Damage by Pink Floyd
The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games
And daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path
The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade
You make the change
You rearrange me 'til I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head, but it's not me
And if the cloud bursts thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
I can't think of anything to say except, laughing is nice
The lunatic is in the White House
Or,
Hey you Whitehouse!
Haha charade you are.
You house proud town mouse,
Haha charade you are.
Pigs, Pink Floyd
Hmmm… https://youtu.be/QFdkM40KOhE?si=IAlrP9lMn4d6oBjp
Canadian here. After decades of considering U.S. made products and services in the same boat as Canada (vs, say, China), today I make it my personal mission to do all I can to eviscerate the U.S. economy. Every single item and service I buy - right down to food - I examine to exclude U.S. sources. Will the flight I'm about to take be on an Airbus or Boeing? The cloud services my company rents have been re-domiciled to Canadian entities. I'll vote for whatever government is prepared to spend any amount of money to build pipelines to remove not just a greater portion of our oil and gas to overseas markets, but all of it. I support Canada exiting Norad and purging our military of American weapons systems. I am that angry. I don't even agree with trying placate Trump over the USMCA. Why bother? He ignores agreements anyway. I'll take the recession while we re-tool.
And it's not just Trump, nor is it temporary. Forget logic, what he's doing sells well with a great many Americans. As one Canadian physician of colour now relocating back to Canada told me, "they've always been like this; the only difference now is that the mask is off."
I do make exceptions where necessary of course. Subscription to Paul Krugman's substack being an example.
Similarly, those of us south of the border have been avoiding buying anything made in a red state since 2016. We’ve been avoiding traveling to and through red states. This may increase our numbers and effort, which could put a small additional squeeze on the MAGAverse.
Preach it.
The same goes for Europe. Putin and Trump hate us because we try to be decent.
Putin's motives are much simpler than that. He wants to restore the Russian empire (and has said so). If you look at a map of that empire, it includes nearly all of Europe.
Not only restore the empire but also take his revenge on the US on the fall of the Soviet Union. Trumps tossing your allies, breaking commitments and isolating your economy until it is in total shambles. The US alignment with Russia is Putin doing a victory dance. The inevitable a stock market crash the icing on the cake. Who will step up and reign in this mentally incapable and weak minded old crotchety man with a gigantic chip on his shoulder.
As they say - a chip on the shoulder generally indicates the presence of wood higher up.