SpankyMcFarland

Forget about the old track. We’re on a new one now, courtesy of Trump.

The grip of the old empires was restored in 1815 but had been present a long time before the French Revolution as well.

He’s been talking about it since the Eighties, took out ads on it and talked about it on TV, all as a private businessman. He also mentioned multiple countries back then apart from Japan. It appears in The Art of the Deal as well. So he has been carrying these ideas around for many decades. When he started with this preoccupation he had a more benign view of Canada. Obviously, now as president he has the chance to do it on a grand scale and make everybody come begging for mercy. It’s really one of his few fixed political beliefs in life. On most other things he has said whatever is expedient in the moment.

All political leaders ask whether a policy that’s good for the country is also good for them. Generally, a popular and effective policy will bring more influence and the possibility of re-election as well as more abstract benefits like serving the nation and entering the history books. But what of a policy that’s clearly bad for the country, both unpopular and damaging? How long would they persist with that if they made personal gains from it? I’d say most would find another course fairly briskly. Here’s where America may be with Trump. His tariffs may be dreadful for the economy and America’s geopolitical position but will mean that large numbers of wealthy, powerful people will come to him cap in hand looking for exemptions for their company or their country. That’s basically his dream situation. Great rivers of money and flattery will flow. Hard to let go of that for the sake of cheaper groceries.

He has publicly supported tariffs since the Eighties at the latest. Back then Japan was a major focus of his ire: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/trump-tariff-history-1.7469877 Here’s some info from several articles: ‘Three decades before President Trump’s trade agenda jolted the world, he laid out his vision in full-page newspaper advertisements foreshadowing what was to come,’ writes Jacob M. Schlesinger of The New York Times in ‘Trump Forged His Ideas on Trade in the 1980s—and Never Deviated.’ “Japan and other nations have been taking advantage of the United States” for years, wrote the New York real-estate developer, in the typewritten letter addressed “To The American People,” his signature affixed to the bottom.’ “ ‘Tax’ these wealthy nations, not America. End our huge deficits, reduce our taxes…” the September 1987 ads demanded.’ “Let’s not let our great country be laughed at anymore.” ‘Asked in a recent Wall Street Journal interview about the origin of his views on trade, Mr. Trump said, “I just hate to see our country taken advantage of. I would see cars, you know, pour in from Japan by the millions.” ‘In the interview, Mr. Trump called Japan “interchangeable with China, interchangeable with other countries. But it’s all the same thing.” ‘Shortly after the 1987 publication of Mr. Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal,” he applied his world view in speeches and television interviews to a raging trade debate as Japan flooded the U.S. with inexpensive, high-quality autos and electronics.’ ‘He continued gaining attention, and the book became a best seller.’ 'He followed his newspaper ads—they ran in the New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe—and a brief flirtation with the 1988 presidential campaign with appearances on talk shows, telling hosts such as Larry King and Oprah Winfrey:’ “I do get tired of seeing the country ripped off.” He told Diane Sawyer in 1989 he would impose a 15% to 20% tariff on Japanese imports, adding: “I’m not afraid of a trade war.” ‘He complained specifically about the persistent trade deficit with Japan costing the U.S. money, as well as Japanese “import quotas and tariffs to protect their own interest,” as he put it in his 1990 book “Trump: Surviving at the Top.”

And those nasty-radical-left penguins on the Heard and McDonald Islands are asking for it. No more will they mock us: And we’ve just obtained exclusive footage of White House negotiations with a Heard Islander:

In days of yore, it was left-wingers who couldn’t follow the party line during campaigns. Now Tory insiders past and present are making Poilievre’s life a lot more difficult. This time it’s Preston Manning threatening the rest of Canada. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-poilievre-distances-himself-from-ex-reform-leader-preston-mannings/

B’y, his surname is listed on the video in block capitals - Hanson with an ‘o’.

And I very much fear you will have to explain it again. You’re a bit of a saint in your spare time, BF, with tousands of patience as we say on the Rock.

He has to inspire trust on the Trump file. That’s what he’s missing I think.

The US still runs a large trade surplus with us on dairy products and a truly YUGE one on agricultural products overall. How do they manage that despite all our nasty, unfair trade practices? Might it have anything to do with the large subsidies paid to farmers down there or the army of illegal workers who do the milking and picking? I didn’t hear much talk from Trump about all that in yesterday’s deranged borefest.

He’s had this daft idea most of his life.

It would extremely odd to agree with everything a party proposes or did.

Poilievre doesn’t have to mention Carney and the Liberals every time he talks about Trump. It’s mixing domestic and foreign policy in an awkward way. He’s already seen as too divisive, partisan and extreme by many in the centrist target group he needs to win over and not a committed Team Canada player. Let people draw their own conclusions about how he measures up to Carney on the Trump file. By contrast, he can talk about affordability and the Liberals as much as he likes. That’s a regular election issue where he has credibility across a wide swathe of the political spectrum. Just my opinion.

The Falkland Islanders better mend their ways, all three thousand of them: And those nasty-radical-left penguins on the Heard and McDonald Islands are asking for it. No more will they mock us: