White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, speaking recently at an event in Washington, D.C., sent a chilling and unmistakable warning to Ottawa. He said: “…if you interfere in our elections in Maine or Michigan you will pay even more dearly.” An ominous threat that, should those and perhaps other races not go well for Republicans, suggests the U.S. is prepared to put the blame squarely on Ottawa. Navarro’s comments imply the White House has found its scapegoat for what is shaping up to be a historic political defeat. Such language makes clear the Trump administration continues to foster disdain for the Great White North, and the acrimony between the two neighbours won’t dissipate post-election, but could grow much worse. Polls continue to show Democrats leading Republicans across the country. Even in states President Donald Trump won by more than 20 points, just two years ago, are now seeing GOP candidates either losing or desperately struggling to stay within the margin of error. Perhaps more damaging for the president is that some candidates are now distancing themselves from the White House or criticizing Trump for various mishaps. MAGA loyalist and Florida gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds scrubbed his campaign website of any mention of the two-term president. Moreover, embattled Senate candidate Ken Paxton recently lashed out at the White House decision to host a midterm convention. Speaking to donors in the nation’s capital, the once-impeached attorney general said that “everybody’s numbers dropped” post-convention. The party of Trump continues to implode and as the elections head towards their climactic conclusion, rank and file candidates are placing their blame squarely on the shoulders of the MAGA Godfather himself. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is lining up culprits to take the blame, with Canada rapidly ascending to the top of the list. In the United States, off-year elections are historically seen as referendums on the party in power and this year’s election does not deviate from this historical marker. Republicans control all levers of power in Washington and beyond. Across the nation, according to data compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures, Republicans control 58 state chambers to 39 for Democrats. Additionally, the GOP controls 26 governorships compared to 24 for the opposition party. Trump’s grip on his base and the nation is undeniable. His policies have cast a pall over the country and the world. He has single-handedly upended entire regions, dismantled the global economy, and undone the very world order — orchestrated largely in part by the United States — that has undergirded the geopolitical landscape post Second World War. The new ‘middle power’ threat Never mind the fact that Russia is openly attacking and undermining Europe as well as Western safeguards, ranging from outright war to clandestine psy-op campaigns even within U.S. borders. Iran openly offers bounties on the president’s head and his cabinet. Chinese hackers perennially test America’s technological resolve. Yet, Canada — not Russia, nor China, nor even Iran — has become America’s most menacing adversary. Trump said Monday that Canada is “one of the worst countries in the entire world.” Seated in the Oval Office, he went on to say, “The problem is that they’ve treated the United States very unfairly. They have been one of the worst countries in the entire world. You know, we get along with China, we get along with people and we make good deals. They want to have a deal with us,” Trump said of Canada. ” … Canada has been really very difficult to deal with, actually, and they charge our farmers 400 per cent tariffs and more. They take advantage of us. They feel entitled." Trump is now using Ottawa’s alleged intolerance and hostile position towards the U.S. as a cudgel, as he paints Canada as a nation now capable of interfering in another sovereign nation’s elections, as a “Middle Powers” champion suddenly gone rogue. The consequences of all this could be enormous. The end of a robust and productive cross-border relationship, certainly, but also a boomerang effect that will cause irreparable damage to America’s global standing, as a failing president’s refusal to take account of his disastrous tenure.
