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BLAME CANADA: Trump Preps to Blame Others for Election Loss · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
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• 0:20
  Speaker 1: That was easy.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: He knows his name sounds like a disease, but we
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: guess that means his show must be contagious.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: It's Jean Valaitis on CKTV News. Blame Canada! Blame Canada!
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: It seems that everything's gone wrong since Canada came along.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Blame Canada! Blame Canada!
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's South Park, that famous song, Blame Canada. You know,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the Republicans are not doing well in the midterm elections.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: If you take a look at the polling numbers, they're
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: coming up next week, and they just might be crushed.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: So it is time for Lidke's Got a Take on
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Blame Canada. Good morning, John.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene Volaitis.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Hey, listen, the United States government is claiming Ottawa is
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: meddling in its midterm elections. Now, as somebody sitting right
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: on the border there across from Detroit City, What's your
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: first reaction to this blame Canada, blame Canada routine?
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  Speaker 2: Well, Gene, listen, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, they wrote
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: this exact musical number in 1999, but it was hyperbole.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: And now the U.S. embassy, the U.S. government has officially
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: adopted South Park as official foreign policy. Sitting here in
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Windsor looking across the border at Detroit, the idea that
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Canada is some sinister geopolitical puppet master rigging U.S. elections
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: is absurd. And columnist Andrew Coyne nailed it on Twitter yesterday.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: He said if Canada pulls off flipping the Congress and
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: stopping Trump's agenda, every Canadian across the country who travels
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: abroad will have their drinks covered for life.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Okay. Now, to be clear, the Trump administration has called
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: out Doug Ford in Ontario for running those ads featuring
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: a Ronald Reagan speech and Canadian ministers pushing back on tariffs. So,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I mean, come on. Is buying an ad or defending
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: trade actually election interference?
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: It's a 30-second commercial spot with Ronald Reagan clips praising
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: free trade as foreign interference. Words mean nothing, Gene. Real
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: foreign interference includes bot farms, hacked servers, laundering dark money.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: What Canadians did, Canadian politicians, was buy airtime on television
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: to say, hey, don't wreck your integrated supply chains and
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: spike your own prices. That's called public diplomacy. Every trading
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: partner does this.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Well, you're across the river from Detroit and Michigan. And
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers, who Donald Trump really likes
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: his rear end, but that's a story for another day.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: He ran ads saying Canada is not our enemy. It's interesting.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: How much of this is Washington panic and fear of
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: losing border states like Michigan, like Ohio, like Maine?
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's a big deal, Gene. This is pure panic
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  Speaker 2: for them. I mean, down here on the border, and
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: you guys know this in your region as well, but
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  Speaker 2: primarily on the Ambassador Bridge, we see auto parts cross
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: the Ambassador and now the Gordie Howe half a dozen
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  Speaker 2: times before a car is finished. We're completely integrated. When
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Washington slapped those tariffs on Canadian steel and parts, they
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: didn't hurt Ottawa. They hammered Michigan's wool and dye shops
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: and auto workers as well. So Mike Rogers isn't running
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: ads saying Canada... isn't not our enemy because he loves
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  Speaker 2: butter tarts. He's doing it because his internal polling is
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: on fire. Washington's not mad that Canada is speaking up.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: They're terrified that Michigan voters have eyes and ears and
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: know exactly who drove up the tariffs and their cost
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: of living.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: The U.S. ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, a couple of
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: days ago put up an official U.S. government website telling
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Canadians and politicians from Canada to get their nose out
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: of their elections. They put down quotes from various ministers,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: the prime minister, and they named a whole 12 people
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  Speaker 1: Canadians who apparently voted illegally in U.S. elections. Not like
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  Speaker 1: 12 people are going to make a big difference. And
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  Speaker 1: CTV was reporting yesterday. that in a private lunch, Hoekstra
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  Speaker 1: again said, if the United States loses in these midterms,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: the Republican Party, I mean, that they're going to blame Canada. Interestingly,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: after that website went up, and this kind of surprised me,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: made me a little irritated. Global Affairs Canada told all
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  Speaker 1: of our diplomats in the U.S. to steer clear of U.S.
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  Speaker 1: campaign events entirely. Now, do you think Ottawa overreacted by
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: going full bunker mode, and was this the right call?
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: I mean, Trump has been making fun of Canada and
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  Speaker 1: interfering in our elections for over a year now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Trump undoubtedly has been interfering in our elections, and
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  Speaker 2: I'll respectfully disagree with you. It was a drastic decision,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: but I think it was the right move. When an
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  Speaker 2: administration in the United States, any administration, is desperate for
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  Speaker 2: any excuse to play the victim, don't hand them matches
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  Speaker 2: and gasoline. Having an MP or a diplomat knocking on
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  Speaker 2: doors in Florida or a consul general standing next to
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  Speaker 2: a Democrat at a trade mixer gives bad faith actors
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  Speaker 2: the exact ammunition they need to manufacture a headline to
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: go through, I guess I would admittedly say, right-wing ecosystems first,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: because they would be the most to align with the
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: president on this. But of course, we picked up by
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: CNN and then the left-wing outlets as well. So Global
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Affairs Canada slammed the blast door shut to starve Washington
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  Speaker 2: of oxygen right before this vote. It looks defensive, but
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: it killed the trap.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Now, we can play pretend here. If the Democrats take
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  Speaker 1: Maine and Michigan, two very important states for the GOP,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: and in general, if the Republican Party takes a beating,
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  Speaker 1: I'm just wondering how Trump will react. I mean, will
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: he tariff Canadian air flowing across the border and everything else?
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: It's going to go one of two ways, Gene. He's
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: either going to lash out if the House and the Senate,
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  Speaker 2: either one of them, flip, quite frankly, and wake up
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Wednesday morning looking for a scapegoat He's not going to
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: be able to fire American voters because they get to
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: choose how they vote. But we're sitting right across the
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: border with a giant target on our back, a wounded,
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  Speaker 2: politically cornered president with nothing left to lose. He's got
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: an executive pen and a bruised ego, and I wouldn't
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: be shocked if he slaps on spite tariffs before lunch,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: regardless of whether it blows up his own economy.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Final question. John, at the end of the day, are
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  Speaker 1: Canadian businesses facing a real imminent economic threat here, or...
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Is this just classic Trump bluster that'll all just vanish
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  Speaker 1: the day after the midterms?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's both, because Trump probably doesn't even
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  Speaker 2: know what he'll do until he picks up his phone
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  Speaker 2: at 6 a.m. after the vote. The threat is real
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: because border town jobs get hit within 48 hours of
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: an executive order, but we've also seen this movie for
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: a decade. Scream bloody murder, threaten total destruction, accuse the
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  Speaker 2: neighbor of treason, and then two weeks later sign a
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  Speaker 2: slightly tweaked press release and declare total victory. Canadian businesses
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: need to brace for impact, but nobody should mistake Washington's
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  Speaker 2: temper tantrum for a coherent economic strategy.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: All right. Great take this morning. We will talk to
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: you again tomorrow, 9.15. Thank you, Gene. All right. There
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: we go. John Litke with Litke's Got a Take. Let's
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: take a break.