Utterances From A Moribund Giant (A.K.A. USA)

 

As an increasingly desperate Amerika rants and raves and deteriorates, its sense of exceptionalism largely remains intact in the minds of many. That can be the only explanation for the arrogant pontifications of the repugnant Trump envoy to Canada, Pete Hoekstra.

In his most recent upbraiding of Canada, he warned that the U.S. is watching us closely for signs of election interference:

Hoekstra warned Canadian politicians to keep their "nose out" of American politics in the weeks before the midterm elections.

Apparently, speaking truth to a nation increasingly allergic to any semblance of it is deeply offensive. Recently former prime minister Justin Trudeau displayed such temerity during a discussion at Brown University:

"There is a pattern here of doing things that are driving up prices for your consumers and not necessarily making anything better for America, by fighting with one of your oldest and best allies," Trudeau said during the conversation.

Hoekstra said if any actions by Canadians end up amounting to election interference, the United States will respond.

"We're monitoring it, we're evaluating it and if some of it becomes election interference then America will respond to it," Hoekstra said.

The Toronto Star's Andrew Phillips sees this as a classic case of projection, an example of which is a chronic liar thinking everyone else lies as well.

This is rich, coming from the representative of a president who’s made questioning Canada’s very existence (“51st state!”) into a cheap applause line at his campaign rallies. Whose own treasury secretary pumps oxygen into the Alberta separatist movement, and whose diplomats listen respectfully while those same separatists offer up Canada’s resources in return for support from Washington.

Classic projection: we’re meddling in your internal affairs (as we’ve done everywhere from Argentina to Hungary, not to mention Venezuela) so naturally we think you’re meddling in ours.

The other possibility, Phillips suggests, is that the tactics Canada has used, such as targeting red states with specific tariffs, are working. 

Canadian tariffs are hitting key industries in states like North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Texas, Montana and Illinois. Most are so-called red states, i.e. reliably Republican, but they can see the link between Trump’s trade obsession and damage to their own economies, as well as the general inflation it fuels.

Other Canadian actions are having an effect, too. The boycott of travel to the U.S. has hit Las Vegas particularly hard. Democrats there are making much of the fact that Canadians, normally Nevada’s biggest source of foreign visitors, aren’t filling hotel rooms there. What happens in Vegas, in this case, doesn’t stay in Vegas: it spills into the midterm battle.

Phillips also suspects that Canada is being set up as a scapegoat to explain the drubbing Republicans will likely take in the mid-terms.  My own cast of mind, however, suggests something more might be at work. While lying awake early one morning, a vivid scenario came to me: after the midterms, Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, refuses to allow the newly elected Representatives to be seated, citing election interference, ballot irregularities, and unsanctioned voting. He could very well say that until a full investigation is undertaken, he has a responsibility to  'protect' the integrity of the democratic process.

And his kind of election interference would be something only those who still believe in real American democracy could remedy.

An Undeniably Abusive Relationship

 

It should be clear to most Canadians by now that we are in a pernicious, abusive relationship with the United States. And as often occurs in such relationships, we go through a period, sometimes protracted, when we seek peace with the abuser, either justifying their abuse or going to great lengths to try to placate and appease them. All studies in such relationships suggest those are losing strategies; healing can only begin when we both acknowledge the abuse and, as much as possible, minimize our contact with the partner that so despises us.

Commendably, Prime Minister Mark Carney has expended considerable effort into widening our support network of new trading partners, efforts that will bear much fruit in the future. However, in many ways we are still in the denial/appeasement stages of our relationship with America, as I have written many times on this blog - caving to American demands on the Gordie Howe Bridge (which Carney misrepresented to the public), ditching the digital services tax, not filing complaints over unfair trading practices and widespread violations of CUSMA, etc. This behaviour, despite earning nothing but more abuse and more demands from an implacable Trump, suggest that it is well past time we started showing some national self-respect. 

Political Science professor Blayne Haggart says it is also time to wake up from the delusions some may be still labouring under, the hope that somehow we can get our relationship with the U.S. back on track. Indeed, he calls Carney's approach "magical thinking."

The Carney government, and groups like the Business Council of Canada, have consistently sought some kind of agreement with Trump’s United States. Proposals and plans for deeper economic, energy and security integration have been mooted under titles “Fortress Am-Can” and “Fortress North America.” Trump’s latest outrage doesn’t seem to have changed Carney’s approach. Initial reports are that, in response to Trump’s tariffs, Carney plans to “intensify” trade negotiations with Trump.

Unfortunately for Canadians, these strategies are an example of cargo-cult policy-making, imported from a world that no longer exists. They’re designed for a world in which the United States could be trusted to keep its word and to respect Canadian sovereignty. In such a liberal-international world, trade agreements are a normal way of regulating sovereign economic relations, with at least the potential for creating win-win situations.

There can be little question in most citizens' minds that the days of peacefully co-existing with the southern behemoth are over. According to Professor Haggart, it is time for Carney to realize that fact.

First, if Trump can’t be trusted, then it is literally impossible for any trade agreement to provide the “certainty” that Carney and so many business leaders desire.

In other words, it makes no sense to renegotiate the USMCA, an agreement that Trump has arbitrarily violated, in order to keep Trump from arbitrarily attacking the Canadian economy. Any agreement would bind only Canada, not the United States, while any concessions would only lead to more demands.

Second, Canadians and Canadian businesses have to get used to uncertainty. The old relationship is dead. A country with two-party system in which one party is openly authoritarian, that elected Trump twice, cannot credibly commit to long-term international agreements.

These are hard truths that our politicos are finding difficulty in accepting,  but accept them they must:

It’s a political fight with an authoritarian country that seeks to dominate and subjugate Canada. Tariffs are the weapon, not the game.

Trump’s new tariffs expose, once again, the folly of pursuing deeper integration with an authoritarian United States. Concessions — what less-kind observers would call appeasement — buy you nothing. Integration with an untrustworthy, authoritarian partner invites only vassalization. What’s more, it’s likely to overwhelm Carney’s other nation-building policies, because the only sure way to increase Canadian autonomy from the United States is to stop integrating with the United States.

This magical thinking — the refusal to acknowledge the reality implied by Trump’s authoritarian nature — has allowed Carney to pretend that his approach will deliver autonomy at a relatively low cost, while avoiding a realistic discussion about alternatives and the cost of policies that could actually deliver autonomy.

While solutions may be hard to find, Haggart suggests they could begin with a Royal Commision into how best to navigate the future to ensure our autonomy from the U.S. I don't know what might come out of such a commission, but I do know that we cannot continue on our present course. Too much of our sovereignty has already been compromised. Like any other victim of an abusive relationship, we must now take strong measures to break free from the abuser.

 

Happy Canada Day

Watching the following should give us all a deeper appreciation of our own country. I can't imagine any of our representatives speaking to the people with such contempt. This is Troy Edwin Nehls, a Texas congressman. To say that he is a Republican is to state the obvious.

Meet The Enemy

If you have young children or grandchildren, you will know who this lovely lady is. Unfortunately, In Trump's Amerika, she is regarded by some as a treasonous subversive for her advocacy.

They Never Learn

Just looking at the world today, it is clear that Americans never learn their lesson when it comes to 'excursions' into other countries, all of which have proven disastrous for the world. It is the essence of their hubris. 

The only American to have understood this is Bernie Sanders who, in 2010, had this to offer:

 10 years ago, Bernie Sanders warned America of the unintended consequences that could emerge from a regime change war with Iran. Watch

Some Pics From Bluesky

 I would say these capture the tenor of the times, eh?