SpankyMcFarland

I am trying to show you that there is an obvious difference of opinion between these two people about tariffs. They only rarely agreed on tariffs. Reagan disliked tariffs in general. Trump likes them in general. That is a disagreement. The ad was accurate on what was important. It accurately conveyed Reagan’s general dislike of tariffs. Trump actually disagreed with him at the time over this and he still disagrees with him. That’s one reason why he’s so touchy about it. That and the fact that he spends his life watching TV.

They do not agree on tariffs. Read this article from the conservative NRO: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trump-is-mad-at-canada-but-not-for-misquoting-reagan/

NRO is a classically conservative publication. This is what it had to say on the matter: https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trump-is-mad-at-canada-but-not-for-misquoting-reagan/

Again, I’m not hearing much concern about a potential rare earth crunch in supply: https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/concerned-carmakers-race-beat-chinas-rare-earths-deadline-2025-10-21/ Of course, we can play a role in protecting the US from future metal shortages: https://www.aol.com/news/opinion-canada-quietly-building-trusted-130000839.html But America doesn’t seem to value what we do and can do for them these days,

Their product is inferior anyway and they’re heading for the scrap heap. If Trump does destroy our car industry we should buy Asian cars, preferably but not necessarily made here. I’ve been buying Japanese and Korean cars nearly all my adult life because they are simply better. Most of us don’t need those monstrous, gas-guzzling American trucks

If Trump does destroy our car industry then the solution will have to be to buy from Asia. No more American trucks.

In general, was Ronald Reagan for or against tariffs?

The ad quoted a well documented speech by Reagan. It did not make an obscure allegation impossible to refute. Anybody can look up that speech and judge for themselves how fair the ad was. What is clear in that speech and every other one he made is that Reagan saw tariffs as an occasional necessary evil. In no way can any serious person claim that he loved tariffs - that would be simply false. And it is also deeply misleading to claim that ‘Canada’ made the ad. Only an utter turnip would believe that. Doug Ford made it.

For sure. Free trade is good for trade. Its benefits for everything else can be debated. Should the West have let China assume a frighteningly dominant role in global trade? Did we do enough to compensate the local victims of freer trade that has been a huge driver of rural alienation since the Nineties? We are a country with an economy, not vice versa.

Defending Trump is such an arduous business with the constant changes, lies, lawbreaking, theft, childishness, hatred of Canada and inability to understand basic economics. You’d almost pity the wretched souls who feel called to this grim daily task.

What’s clear to me is that Lennon set a tone for McCartney to work within where self-indulgent, lovey-dovey sentimentality and nonsensical whimsy had to be severely pruned. You can what happened in the absence of that when Macca had Linda as an editor instead. Lennon was an undisciplined person in many ways but he had a vision for the Beatles that served them well. By contrast, McCartney remained a highly industrious songwriter who lacked that steely core. Instead he made a fortune with Wings which was his main aim after the financial missteps of the Beatles years.

Here’s the speech: https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ontario-tariff-ad-ronald-reagan Here’s the ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pABUi669v3g I don’t think any fair person could claim that Reagan’s generally unfavourable attitude to tariffs was misrepresented in that ad. BTW here is another excerpt from the speech. My italics. Free trade. As Reagan says, free trade is fair trade. In its entirety the speech illustrates for anybody who didn’t know already that there is a clear as day difference between Trump and Reagan on tariffs and is worth reading for that alone. One likes them and thinks they magically solve all sorts of problems while the other clearly didn’t even when he felt he had to use them.

Smith wants to testify about Trump’s crimes. What he doesn’t want is to do that behind closed doors where his words could be twisted by Republicans. What is difficult to understand about that?

Some of Trump’s fans don’t think he’s leaving office when he is obliged to do so in 2029. That sounds rather king-adjacent to me. How many of his predecessors (after WWII, let’s not be silly) have had prominent supporters saying there’s a plan for that? https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannon-reveals-theres-a-plan-for-third-donald-trump-term/ It would be funny in the darkest way imaginable if Trump installed a puppet as Putin did with Medvedev.

Again, I can understand Americans defending Trump but any Canadian who does is siding with an avowed enemy during a profound national crisis. If they hate our country so much they really should not stay here.

That ad was a lot fairer than the vast majority of political ads. Reagan generally opposed tariffs but was willing to impose them selectively. By contrast, Trump has alienated the entire world with his shotgun approach to tariffs and made China (China!) look like a more reasonable country to deal with. Ford did not cheat. He used Reagan’s real, spoken words. Whether his ad was wise is a different matter.

It’s funny how particular Trump’s defenders are about the truth all of a sudden. They ignore the torrent of daily lies pouring from their disgusting idol yet expect every ad about him to be an impartial civics lesson. Reagan said that stuff. It’s not fake. There was no AI involved. He really didn’t want to slap on those tariffs.

Did he say those words or not? Did he speak those sentences?

When I am Shah of the world I will permit Belgium and Germany to continue making beer without let or hindrance because they seem to know what they are doing. Everyone else will have apply for special exemptions. In Canada, only Happy Valley by Iron Rock and Blanche de Chambly can expect approval so far. IPAs will be forbidden. They are an utter abomination. We will not speak of them again.

I am not American in any way, shape or form. I chose to become Canadian and thank God daily for choosing citizenship of this wonderful country when both options were available to me long ago. BTW many of my snowbird neighbours are ruing the day they ever got mixed up in Florida real estate.

Do the Tories really want to force Canadians into another election? That may not be universally welcomed.

Obviously, he does not want lies about his testimony to be leaked. The best way to prevent that is to do the talking himself in public. I did say that this evidence will be directed to those willing to listen to the facts.

The reason he brought charges was because the evidence was there to convict Trump. He is happy to explain those reasons to Americans willing to listen. It’s a simple matter, really.

Smith wants to testify in public:

Like any reasonable Canadian, I find nothing wrong with having a flexible approach to an unprecedented threat. We’re not the primary problem here and it will take a while to figure things out and fix on an optimal strategy.