Today in The Stupid: Canada v. Trump

Canada got to see its premiers in action yesterday, facing the first of the many existential crises that will define the Trump Administration, and it wasn't a pretty sight. 

Dale Smith / Routine Proceedings

Roundup: The virtual meeting with the premiers over Trump

...Jagmeet Singh is panicking and demanding performative forcefulness, while Pierre Poilievre is trying to leverage the moment for his own political ends, claiming that the solution is to do everything he says (conveniently!). Premiers have been all over the map, going from caution to outright boot-licking (looking at you, Danielle Smith), and this was one of the messages that emerged from that meeting. I also find it particularly crass the number of premiers who set up American flags for their backdrops before their media availabilities before and after the meeting. Seriously, guys?

Chrystia Freeland met with reporters and spoke about the need for a united front and not to be seen to be squabbling with one another, but premiers with their own agendas haven’t really seemed to warm to that necessity, because they’d rather score points against the current government with boneheaded accusations that they were “blindsided” by the threats, and that they don’t have a plan. (They’ve had a plan for over a year, guys. You might want to actually pay attention). And after the meeting, most of the premiers made their own individual points about how they want so many more resources poured into their province (such as more RCMP members that don’t exist because they can’t recruit and train them fast enough, or retain them in the toxic culture of the Force), but Smith remains particularly stubborn in trying to leverage this into foregoing the emissions cap and trying to say that Trudeau shouldn’t be leading the effort to defend Canada (again, to her benefit).

... Trudeau has talked about strengthening border measures, which has been an ongoing process, particularly since the amendment of the Safe Third Country Agreement, so maybe that too [as with Mexico] will be enough to get Trump to declare victory? I guess we shall see, but in the meantime, we’ll see how many premiers can keep their cool.

Well, here they are, bowing and scraping:

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God…” 🇺🇸🫡

[image or embed]

— Luke LeBrun (@lukelebrun.ca) November 27, 2024 at 9:55 PM

Why not put a white flag up while you’re at it? https://t.co/zPm65sdJjD

— Andrew Coyne 🇺🇦🇮🇱🇬🇪🇲🇩 (@acoyne) November 26, 2024

If Scott Moe thinks his buddy Lindsey Graham is going to stand up to the orange orangutang then he’s not paying attention. Graham is scared of his own shadow. pic.twitter.com/6I0Dai76En

— Larry Hubich (@LHubich) November 28, 2024

Even worse than crawlers for Trump, 🇨🇦 crawlers for Trump. 😔#CdnPoli pic.twitter.com/DfCzAYY31O

— Joanbeam3000 (@Joanbeam3000) November 28, 2024

Also not impressive:

I am furious that conservatives are defending Donald Trump over Canada.
Pierre Poilievre's convoy clowns are hoping Trump sends in his military to arrest Trudeau.
What a bunch of treasonous bastards.
Jesus Christ Canada.
Can't you see what's going on?
Poilievre is a traitor.

— Clay Thompson. (@harryt59_harry) November 27, 2024

Here's one for the ages.

"Blinded by their hatred of Trudeau"

- John Ivison #TrumpTariffs#NeverVoteConservative 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/fDlGvE8OsG

— 𝙰𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚘𝚗 🇨🇦 🇺🇦 (@AvalonResists) November 26, 2024

Other good comments: 

 Scott Stinson / Toronto Star

This is what Canada should do about Donald Trump’s completely illogical, counterproductive and totally bonkers trade threat

...The problem with not really knowing where Trump is coming from with all this is that makes it harder to know how to respond. Should Canadian officials prepare a “Tariffs for Dummies” slideshow based on economics textbooks? (They should probably think of a different name for the presentation if so.) Should they argue against the logic of starting a trade war over something completely unrelated to trade? Should they appeal to the fact that Trump would be violating the trade agreement that he signed himself with Canada and Mexico in 2020? Actually, best not waste time with that last one. It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that would give him much pause.

The best move might be to do nothing. To wait and see, that is, if a policy change fired off with a couple of thumbs on a social media account survives once the affected parties, in this case U.S. importers, get the president-elect’s ear.

Deep breaths, everyone. One imagines there will be a lot of that in the coming years.

Andrew Coyne / Globe and Mail

This is how Canada should deal with Donald Trump, irrational actor

...if the government seems uncertain about how to proceed, it is at least not taking out a billboard to advertise how panicked and compliant it is. It has at least not seized the opportunity, in the early days of what looks to be a lengthy crisis, to say something provably stupid, or appallingly self-serving. It has at least not turned its guns inward, or deserted the country in the face of the enemy.

Let’s all take a deep breath, shall we? And after we have, let us agree that there is no practical benefit in attempting to meet Mr. Trump’s demands.

...There is no point in negotiating with terrorists.

... He is not rational, and does not think far enough ahead to connect cause and effect in the usual ways. He is a narcissistic psychopath – a Neroist, as I have called him. His primary motive is not self-interest, as we might understand it, but self-aggrandizement, the constant nourishing and enlargement of his vision of himself, which in his case can only be achieved by destroying everything else.

...In every situation, then, he will do, not merely the wrong thing, but the worst possible thing; the worse it is, and the more damage it causes, the more the people he despises object, and the greater his feeling of triumph.

... I think we have to look at the current crisis, then, not through the lens of trade or diplomacy or even extortion, but through the psychology of a deeply disturbed man. Grovelling before him, for example, as some of our Premiers seem inclined to do, is unlikely to assuage him: It’s the sort of thing he lives for.

Caving to his demands, likewise, is futile: not because he will rationally conclude that our willingness to accept a first demand suggests we might concede to others, but because the dopamine high he experiences from dominating others will take control of him, demanding to be supplied with further hits.

What should we do instead?

1. Play for time. Whatever he might imagine, Mr. Trump was elected with the thinnest of mandates. He is, what is more, a lame duck: The clock began ticking on his presidency from the day he was elected, as it is ticking on his mental and physical health. His thirst for dictatorship is real, but is in competition with his emotional instability and sheer incompetence. The longer time goes on, the more mistakes he is likely to make, and the weaker he is likely to become, politically and otherwise.

2. Prey upon his weaknesses. Probe his psyche. Figure out his break points. Do not be afraid to annoy him. Most people do stupid things when they’re angry; multiply by 100 in the case of Mr. Trump. Tempt him to give into his demons; lead him onto the rocks of his own intemperance. His mistakes are your opportunities.

3. Stand together. Work with allies, in Canada – yes, that means getting the Premiers onside, if only to shut them up – in Washington and state capitals, around the world. We are dealing with a dangerous lunatic. That is inescapable, at least for the foreseeable future. As with the Soviet Union, we cannot defeat him. But we can contain him.

4. Stand up straight. Ultimately we can’t control what Mr. Trump does. We can, however, control what we do. Maybe we can’t prevent him from wrecking the North American economy, or whatever else he decides to do to us. But we can at least maintain our dignity, our composure and our self-respect. That’s not the only thing that matters, but it’s something.