Latest / Kvetch & Release / Former US Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman reacts to President Biden not seeking reelection

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Former US Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman reacts to President Biden not seeking reelection · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: That this is going to be a really good one.
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  Speaker 1: There's so much to talk about, you know, I look
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: here in our backyard. There's a lot going on in Canada,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: but there's a lot right now going on in the
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  Speaker 1: United States and in the world, quite frankly, and one
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  Speaker 1: person who has had, you know, a front row, quite
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  Speaker 1: frankly to a lot of the politics that affects all
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  Speaker 1: of us is former US Ambassador to Canada, Bruce Hayman,
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  Speaker 1: who joins me now on the line, Ambassador, how are
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: you today?
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  Speaker 2: I'm well. I hope everybody's enjoying the end of this week.
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  Speaker 2: It's been a long one.
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  Speaker 1: It certainly, sure, it has been a long week. There,
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  Speaker 1: it's been, you know, quite frankly, the past three weeks
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  Speaker 1: have really been a whirlwind playing attention to US politics.
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  Speaker 1: We had the disastrous debate performance of President Biden three
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago, three and a half weeks ago, the assassination
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  Speaker 1: attempt of former President Donald Trump, and now last night
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  Speaker 1: we saw President Biden in a Oval office address state
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  Speaker 1: why he wouldn't be running for reelection. And I would
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  Speaker 1: like to start things off there with you, Ambassador. A
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  Speaker 1: very unique situation, really not one from modern times. That
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  Speaker 1: were used to a president willingly walking away from a
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  Speaker 1: reelection bid. What are your thoughts about that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, for me, it was very emotional, as I know
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  Speaker 2: the president on a personal basis, he swore me in
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  Speaker 2: his ambassador when he was vice president. I traveled with
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  Speaker 2: him to Vancouver into Ottawa, and you know, I worked
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  Speaker 2: very hard on his twenty twenty campaign. And he's a
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  Speaker 2: good man, and he achieved so much actually that many
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  Speaker 2: other presidents never were able to achieve legislatively, The Infrastructure Act,
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  Speaker 2: rebuilding America's infrastructure bridges, tunnels, roads, Wi Fi, etc. That
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  Speaker 2: actually much of which was in need of repair, Inflation
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  Speaker 2: Reduction Act, Energy Sustainability focusing on lowering drug prices for
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  Speaker 2: the elderly. He did a lot, but the reality, as
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  Speaker 2: you mentioned it, we saw what was happening to him
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  Speaker 2: on an age basis, we saw three weeks ago. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we can't unsee what we saw is a He's a
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  Speaker 2: man who is getting older, and he didn't have what
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  Speaker 2: it took to go do the battle to fight to
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  Speaker 2: win another presidential term, no less be president for another term.
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  Speaker 2: But he had to come to that realization and he
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  Speaker 2: did over this last week and handed the torch on
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  Speaker 2: nineteen sixty eight was the last time that happened. March
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  Speaker 2: of nineteen sixty eight, Lyndon Baines Johnson, our president who
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  Speaker 2: became president after John F. Kennedy was assassinated and was
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  Speaker 2: up for a second term. He made the decision not
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  Speaker 2: to run. So it's been that long since the president
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  Speaker 2: willingly walked away from reelection other than Richard Nixon, who
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  Speaker 2: resigned the office in shamee.
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  Speaker 1: It's a stark contrast to see President Biden step away willingly,
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  Speaker 1: as we're discussing right now, versus the actions of former
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  Speaker 1: President Donald Trump. I think to January sixth at the
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  Speaker 1: Capitol and everything that led up to that moment, trying
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  Speaker 1: to hold on to power for as long as possible.
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  Speaker 1: It really is the tale of two presidents.
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  Speaker 2: Well where we are now. There was an extraordinary contrast
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  Speaker 2: between these two men in policy and approach. But now
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  Speaker 2: we have a generational difference as well. Americans are going
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  Speaker 2: to have a very stark choice as to what type
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  Speaker 2: of country they want. Do they want a country and
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  Speaker 2: here we're talking our best friend, next door neighbor, Canada.
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  Speaker 2: Do they want a country that builds allies and has
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  Speaker 2: a multilateral approach to the world and know that the
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  Speaker 2: United States is stronger with our friends and allies. Or
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  Speaker 2: do we want a unilateral authoritarian leader. Do we want
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  Speaker 2: somebody who wants to put tariffs on all imported goods
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  Speaker 2: and you know for Canada that hits hard. Do we
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  Speaker 2: want somebody who wants to give up environmental work that
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  Speaker 2: we've been doing, knowing that climate change is real? Do
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  Speaker 2: we want somebody to take the rights away from women
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  Speaker 2: in their choice? All of that is stark and clear,
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  Speaker 2: but we also now have it's the Republicans or for
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  Speaker 2: three years have been leading a campaign about how old
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  Speaker 2: Joe is and he's old, he's old, he's old. They
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  Speaker 2: actually have the oldest nominee in the history of the
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  Speaker 2: country now and so you know, it turns right on them.
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  Speaker 2: Their whole campaign turns right on them. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: They have been working towards this moment for four and
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  Speaker 1: a half years, building up, you know, their attacks and
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  Speaker 1: what they would use against the president. And now that
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  Speaker 1: playbook gets thrown into the garbage. And I mean, just
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  Speaker 1: politically speaking, it seems like we're going to be heading
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  Speaker 1: into a pretty turbulent election here. What are your thoughts
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  Speaker 1: about how things might shape out, just to politically in
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  Speaker 1: terms of the discourse and the sentiment of the country,
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  Speaker 1: knowing that the playbook's been thrown away for the Republicans.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I'm always hopeful that we get into we can
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  Speaker 2: disagree without being disagreeable, but that that's not the reality.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not naive about what's happening here. So buckle your seatbelts, everyone.
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  Speaker 2: This is going to be a pretty difficult campaign for
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  Speaker 2: fight for the power of leading the United States of America.
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  Speaker 2: We're already seeing early signs of misogyny, racism, commentary coming
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  Speaker 2: out of the far right, and they're going to throw
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  Speaker 2: everything they can at Kamala. That will be quite shocking,
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  Speaker 2: I think, and disturbing the approach that they're going to take.
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  Speaker 2: They don't really have a good playbook, so they're going
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  Speaker 2: to just start throwing stuff and see what sticks. And
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  Speaker 2: with that it's I think it's going to be an
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  Speaker 2: unsettling time period. That being said, I've said it before
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  Speaker 2: to folks, especially in your neck of the woods right there,
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  Speaker 2: right next to the border, You've got to vote. Americans
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  Speaker 2: living in Canada have to vote, and it's really simple.
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  Speaker 2: Go to vote from abroad dot org and register and
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  Speaker 2: guess what you get to vote. And Hillary Clinton lost
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  Speaker 2: Michigan by just a little bit more than ten thousand votes.
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  Speaker 2: And I'll bet there are ten thousand Americans, you know,
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  Speaker 2: with Michigan roots, maybe living in the neighborhood that you
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  Speaker 2: live in currently, that should have voted, that didn't vote.
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  Speaker 2: I think Canada can't as a country get involved in
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  Speaker 2: our election at all. It would be improper. But Americans
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  Speaker 2: in Canada can be the magic secret swing state vote
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  Speaker 2: that can take place and vote from abroad dot org.
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  Speaker 2: That's simple. Most Americans don't realize they can, and then
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  Speaker 2: they don't realize they don't know how. And the pathway
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  Speaker 2: is pretty easy.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I can tell you that my father, who is
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  Speaker 1: a dual citizen, he received his letter from a vote
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  Speaker 1: from abroad and they said make sure to get your
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  Speaker 1: ballots and get signed up with us and everything. And
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  Speaker 1: he called and he said, send me my stuff, and
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  Speaker 1: they went, we don't know who the nominee is yet.
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  Speaker 1: For the Democrats, it still has to be settled out
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  Speaker 1: to get the ballets and everything ready. Calm down, we're
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  Speaker 1: working on it, yeah, which was too funny for me.
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  Speaker 1: I laughed about that, but you know, in all seriousness,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, it's a tumultuous time and the special relationship
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  Speaker 1: that Canada and the United States have, it's not that
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  Speaker 1: it is unbreakable. Of course, anything can be broken and shattered.
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  Speaker 1: And I wonder what you think the potential is for
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  Speaker 1: our relationship. You had alluded to it under a President
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  Speaker 1: Trump again with maybe renewed tariffs for various reasons, whether
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  Speaker 1: it be because of trade or maybe because we haven't
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  Speaker 1: met our NATO targets or whatever it could be to
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  Speaker 1: justify that ten percent hit. Is this an existential crisis
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  Speaker 1: for Canada moving forward? Do you think our relationship is
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  Speaker 1: able to with another four years of tumultuousness?
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  Speaker 2: So first of all, the answer is, of course you'll
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  Speaker 2: withstand it. Of course we'll get through it. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I don't. I'm not going to be hyperbolic like the
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  Speaker 2: end of the world as we know it. This is it.
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  Speaker 2: That being said, it could be a really, really challenging
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  Speaker 2: and tough journey. One of my bigger fears is and
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  Speaker 2: he seems pretty pretty bent to do it. That is,
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  Speaker 2: he wants to round up migrants and he's going to
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  Speaker 2: put a build a police force to round up what
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  Speaker 2: he claims is eleven million people, ladies and gentlemen. If
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  Speaker 2: he starts trying to round up people, they're not going
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  Speaker 2: to sit around and wait to be arrested to be
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  Speaker 2: rounded up, and they're not running south and so they're
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  Speaker 2: going to run and they're going to move in. I
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  Speaker 2: fear we saw during his last administration that we had
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  Speaker 2: border problems of rocks and road and quebec, et cetera.
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  Speaker 2: I think those numbers could be some very high multiple
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  Speaker 2: larger than you've ever experienced ever in countries all through
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  Speaker 2: Europe experienced migration problems coming in from Northern Africa and
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  Speaker 2: in the Middle East over this, you know, last ten years,
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  Speaker 2: we've all seen that and known that. You've taken in
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  Speaker 2: Syrian refugees as a country, knowing that what was happening,
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  Speaker 2: but never would you have ever imagine you'd have a
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  Speaker 2: challenge at your own border five five and twenty five
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  Speaker 2: mile border, as we all say, undefended, peaceful border. But
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  Speaker 2: what happens if people start running and how are you
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  Speaker 2: going to handle that, and what happens if it's in
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  Speaker 2: the winter, And I just you have to gain that
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  Speaker 2: out and be prepared for it. I hope it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: happen at every level. I hope he isn't president. But
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  Speaker 2: that's one of the things I fear. I also fear
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  Speaker 2: the tariffs, and I also far NATO, and I also
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  Speaker 2: fear the environment. I fear all of these things for
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  Speaker 2: our own country. But as I've tried to tell Canada,
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  Speaker 2: you know, this isn't going to be you know, Trump
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  Speaker 2: one point. I know all over again.
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  Speaker 1: No, it's going to be a Trump coming in with
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  Speaker 1: an agenda and with people that are ready and willing
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  Speaker 1: to execute it on day one and not have to
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  Speaker 1: learn how to put the wheel on the car, so
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  Speaker 1: to speak. They're going to have that experience. It's again,
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  Speaker 1: I guess tumultuous is the only word that I can
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  Speaker 1: use for it. But I want to thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for your time today, ambassador. I really appreciate it.
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  Speaker 1: You've got a front row seat to the politics and
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  Speaker 1: the United States still and it's just such a privilege
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  Speaker 1: to be able to have you break it down for
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  Speaker 1: us and discuss. Thank you so much for your time.
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  Speaker 2: It's a pleasure. And Americans go to vote from abroad
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  Speaker 2: at Oregon help us win this election and so all
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  Speaker 2: those things I talked about don't happen. So have a
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  Speaker 2: good weekend.
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  Speaker 1: And my father just texted me and he said I
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  Speaker 1: just got my actual ballot. It says fill in the
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  Speaker 1: blank space. So there you go. That's from abroad. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much. Former US Ambassador to Canada, Bruce Hayman.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate your time.
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  Speaker 2: Pleasure. Fine now