Latest / Kvetch & Release / Checking Washington into the Boards: Liedtke Debunks the U.S. Embassy’s “Election Interference” Claims

Transcript

Checking Washington into the Boards: Liedtke Debunks the U.S. Embassy’s “Election Interference” Claims · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right now, though, it is time for another edition of
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Letge's Got a Take. Good morning, John. Good morning, Gene. So,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: you know, we were texting back and forth, you and me, yesterday.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, you sent me an email.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: And I got the link to this official U.S. government
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: site set up by Pete Hawksborough, the U.S. ambassador to Canada.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And basically, he was telling Canada, stop interfering in our elections.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: There were quotes from the Prime Minister, from Doug Ford,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: from Melanie Jolie, and the list of a whole 12 people, Canadians,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: who were busted because they voted illegally in a U.S. election.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure that probably... Had a big factor in
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the outcome, 12 people. It's quite the sight, and it's
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: incredibly insulting. Now, Litke, the U.S. Embassy claims Canadian counter-tariff
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: targeting specific U.S. states are election interference. Now, Canadian leaders
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: say that's just standard trade retaliation. What's your take?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: You know, Gene, Washington started this trade war, and the
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: purpose of it was to crush us economically, to annex us,
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: to make us the 51st state. Now they're whining because
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: of counter-tariffs and how they hurt. Get real. I'm sorry.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: And I'm sorry that they have congressional elections. every two years.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: So no matter what we do, we'll always be able
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: to be put through a prism as interfering in an election.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: But I don't buy it. A guy punches you at
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: a bar, you elbow him in the ribs and he
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: calls the bouncer. Come on, that's a coward behavior. That's
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: bully behavior. We didn't start this. We are strapped in though.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: So sorry of defending steel and auto jobs, inconveniences of
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Michigan midterm. But what did they expect? We're not going
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: to turn the cheek. You push a Canadian, we're going
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: to check you into the boards.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, there is a double standard here. The U.S.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: warns Canada to keep its, and I quote, nose out
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: of American politics, while President Trump calls Canadian leaders governor,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: and the U.S. State Department meets with Alberta separatist leaders
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: multiple times, and had planned to meet with a Parti
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Quebecois official. So how do you view that?
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: I view what the United States is doing as pure projection.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: American pressure used to be subtle. Trump threw subtle into
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the trash. He screams it into his megaphone, or more aptly,
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: he tweets it out on his platform, calls our prime ministers, governors,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: threatens to make us the 51st state. This is a
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: man who acts like he's a cheesy 80s movie villain
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: who belongs on a ski hill trying to take away
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: the kid's winter vacation. The State Department hosts tea parties
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: these days with Alberta separatists and even, you know, sets
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: up meetings that would be canceled with Quebec separatists. But
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: if Doug Ford buys an anti-terror fad with a Ronald
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Reagan quote, Washington cries foreign meddling. This is hilarious. They
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: dish it out, but they can't take it back. So
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: don't fight the North if you can't handle the cold.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, there's an interesting fact that we should
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: talk about here. Data shows over half of the give-send-go
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: donations to the Ottawa convoy came from the U.S. In fact,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: it prompted new FinTrack rules. So should foreign money be
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: allowed in domestic protests?
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Foreign money should not be able to cross any of
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: our borders from coast to coast to coast and the
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: land border with the United States whatsoever, period. This is
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: domestic interference. An American stands in the snow with a sign,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: go for it. That's free expression. But using dark money,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: untraceable crypto, wire transfers, funding illegal blockades at the Ambassador
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Bridge and helping the convoy in Ottawa, and in Coutts
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: as well, I mean, that's foreign financial intervention. And if
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Beijing can't buy a Canadian election, Washington shouldn't be able
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: to fund Canadian blockades.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, so... Former U.S. President Barack Obama endorsed former Prime
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Minister Katy Perry's boyfriend. So is a president weighing in
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: on a foreign election acceptable, or is that interference, or
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: does it even matter?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I don't think any former president or current president should
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: weigh in on our elections. I don't think any political
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: operatives from outside of our country should be weighing in.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: But of course, you know, they have free speech for sure.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: And Obama is able to tweet from the couch and
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Trump is able to tweet from the golf course. But
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: legal doesn't necessarily mean smart. This is soft interference. If
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: a sitting leader uses state resources to cut an ad,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: of course, that crosses a line. But What we're talking
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: about here, politicians should recognize that they should stop. They
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: wouldn't want it reciprocated back towards them. It muddies the water,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: and quite frankly, I find it redundant. We already know
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: who Washington likes in Ottawa today, just like we knew
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: who Washington liked when Obama was in office. We don't
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: need a tweet to figure out the family tree.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I remember when Barack Obama visited Ottawa
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: while he was president, and he addressed the House of Commons.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: And at the end of his speech, members from all
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: parties started shouting four more years, four more years. You know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: nobody made a big deal about that. So that's interesting.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Long-term strategy, though, John, with trade wars and political friction escalating,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: how should Canadian leaders navigate this relationship moving forward? Because
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: it is a very important relationship, and it was right
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: up until Donald Trump.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: The United States remains and will continue to remain the
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: most important relationship with Canada, regardless of the tumultuous relationship
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: that we have right now. And I certainly don't expect
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: things to bounce back to the way things were under
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: a new administration, regardless whether or not it will be
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Republican or Democrat. You know, how to navigate it today?
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Walk softly and carry a big stick. And, you know,
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: quite frankly, spy rules apply. Moscow rules are watch your back.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: British rules are cover your backside. Canadian rules today, make
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: sure people respect your boundaries or make them terrified to
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: cross them. We have to survive these friction years. We've
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: got to hold our ground. We have to wait for
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: a rational counterpart. And anyone expecting a reset button, that's dreaming.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: The cozy, border-free fairy tale, that's dead. And rebuilding trust
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: is going to take generations, so we need to hold firm.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Hey, let's have some fun here. If you had 30 seconds,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: like a radio commercial, to speak directly to everyday Americans
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: across the border in places like Michigan, Ohio, or New
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: York State, what would your message be? I can't wait
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: for this.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Americans, my name is John. Stop fighting with your Canadian family.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: This brawl is a terrible Thanksgiving dinner. Two drunk uncles
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: screaming over the turkey. The rest of us are standing
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: out on the back porch in the freezing cold, having
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: a smoke, waiting for the yelling to stop so we
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: can finally eat some pie. Let's cut this nonsense. We're
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: in the interregnum right now between the Canadian and the
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: American Thanksgivings. Let's get back to business as good neighbors.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: Let's pass that pie. And the pie in this case
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: is regular trade, open travel, mutual respect. Let's just get
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: back to the way things were, you guys. It'll take
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: a little bit, eh? Sorry. Sorry. If we have to
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: say sorry, I'll do it.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Sorry, eh? Eh. You know what's funny? I've been talking
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: about this on the latest on the news. Donald Trump
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: is out campaigning every single day. You know, good for that.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: You know, 81 years old, he's traveling like crazy, getting
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: no sleep, but he is slowly losing his mind. So
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: last night at a rally, in addition to talking about
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: how many male candidates are really handsome and have nice
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: rear ends, which is another story in itself. Last night
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: he was upset because he did not get the Nobel
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Peace Prize, but he kept calling it the Pulitzer Prize, which,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: of course, is for journalism. And, you know, talking about
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: one of the male candidates in Kansas, and, I mean,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: he spent a lot of time admiring this candidate's rear end.
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: CNN is running all these clips. I mean, if it
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: wasn't so sad, it would be hysterical. I mean, he's
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: having a meltdown.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: You know, I think there should be an intervention at
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: some point here, quite frankly, Gene. But, you know, it's
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: hard to make sense of it. You can't really decompile
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: what he's saying. But I've said, and former co-hosts of
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: mine on another podcast have said, you know, this is
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: a guy who would be perfect for a late-night comedy show.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: And I think we should just give him a desk.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Give him the microphone. And when it comes to, you know,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: his outlandish ideas and statements, you know, let him say it.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: And quite frankly, if we can get through this period
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: by just giving him the Nobel Peace Prize and the Pulitzer, like,
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: let's just do it. I mean, come on. Like, it's
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: just one year. We can cancel it afterwards.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Great take this morning. Thank you. And we'll be talking
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: to you, let's see, 9.15 Friday morning. How's that?
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Looking forward to it, Gene.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: Thank you. There he goes, John Letke. Letke's got a take.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: You just never know, but I love them.