The Daily Blast: Trump’s Fury at Canada Takes Unhinged Turn—and Backfires Badly for Him

I'm your host, Greg Sgt.

Donald Trump's war on Canada is escalating.

He just posted some juvenile threats that were designed to titulate mega. But a funny thing happened. Canada just released its list of American products that it will target with retaliatory tariffs, and they're aimed right at weakening Republicans in the midterms. Republicans are caught in a trap, even though they themselves know Trump's trade war with Canada

as utter madness that will hurt their own constituents. They must be extraordinarily careful about how they distance themselves from the despot if they're willing to do it at all.

“So how can Democrats fully exploit this developing fiasco?”

We're working through it all with one of our go-to people on midterm elections, Democratic strategist Christina Reynolds. Good to have you on, Christina. Great to be with you. So over the weekend, Trump's trade talks with Canada collapsed, unleashing 50% American tariffs

on a whole range of Canadian goods. Canada's now retaliating. We'll get to that in the sec.

But first, Trump is in a fury he posted this quote.

The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don't expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer.

“Close quote. Christina, this is meant to make Maga think what?”

He's owning Canada. What do you make of it? I guess I have long given up trying to put some logic behind some of Donald Trump's moves. I will tell you if I was a Republican candidate right now, I would be panicking. Because this is 100% a self-inflicted wound that Donald Trump is bringing in on them.

This is something that will impact consumers.

This is something that will in particular impact states where Republicans have to win in the midterms. And Donald Trump has done this to those states to all consumers and to these candidates. And so they're going to be in a tough spot of probably owning this economic trouble that we're in. And having to decide, do I risk ticking off the the despot as you put it?

“Do I risk and flaming him and having him come after me?”

Do I risk standing with him if he decides to come campaign knowing that he owns this? Right, and Canada is following this very closely. Canada released its list of American products that it's now going to hit with retaliatory tariffs. Among these are things like dairy products, cheese, farm equipment. Now I talked to some Democrats in the Midwest for a piece I did at newerpholic.com,

especially Democrats in Iowa and they told me that Canadian tariffs on things like farm equipment will be a serious problem for manufacturers who export their products to Canada. So the Iowa Senate race is very contested. There are several house seats in Iowa that are up for grabs as well. It sure looks like Canada is directly aiming these retaliatory tariffs right at the midterm map, doesn't it? Well, if they're not, they're looking into it.

I mean, you have not just Iowa where you also have a governor's race that is within striking distance for Democrats. You have Ohio, you have Maine and you have Alaska. All of those states have Senate races that are potentially within Democrats' grasp. All of those states could be the ones that flipped the Senate for Democrats. You have house races that Democrats would love to either hold or flip.

And all of this, you mentioned farm equipment. That matters in Wisconsin where we've got house seats and a governor's race that Republicans would love to flip. That's half of the, half of the background, this cycle. It's a huge number of seats to say nothing for, again, this will impact consumers across the country. And people have a pretty good understanding of who's in charge when they pay more at the grocery store, you know, online, all for all of the things, they're aware of who's fault it is.

So the Midwest is sort of this place that we kind of think of in our political mythology as being the place that Donald Trump really used his economic populism to, to transform. And it's true that he transformed it, but the flip side of this, as I think Ron Brownstein wrote very well the other day, is that Trump is now so on popular, that he's pushing Ohio and Iowa, which are red now, he's pushing them back into the kind of realm of swing state.

And at the same time, you've got Democratic governors in Michigan was constant in Pennsylvania and a lot of Democratic successes in there driven by Trump's unpopularity.

“So for Donald Trump's new trade war to be really shaking up the globe kind of in the Midwest and making it even harder for Republicans there, I think really shows that Trump being populism is kind of running out of steam in a sense.”

What do you make of all that? Couldn't agree more. I think that Donald Trump ran with a specific worldview in that worldview hasn't changed despite the fact that the world has changed around him. So far, this cycle Democrats have flipped 31 legislative seats.

And that's, that's in places like Iowa, that's in places like Pennsylvania, just this last week, Republicans have flipped none, right?

He owns it all right now. I think there's a very clear understanding of who got us into this trade war. There's a very clear understanding, voters generally blame the party in charge when their prices go up. But voters right now have an even clearer understanding of what's causing gas prices to go up that Donald Trump went to war with Iran that is now going on for almost six months. What's causing things like groceries to go up and in these places where the industry really impacts their economy, they have a good understanding of what drives that industry.

So he's going to suffer, you know, and his candidates are going to suffer even more as a result. I think we should highlight the race you're talking about in Pennsylvania was in northwestern Pennsylvania in Butler County, which is the county where there was an assassination attempt on the president, a Democrat just flipped a state legislative seat there in a district that went for Donald Trump by around 18 points. So that's around an 18 point shift in the Democratic direction. And again, this is in Pennsylvania state that Trump on twice and is kind of like the storybook center of the Trumpist transformation of the Midwest.

“And you've got a Democratic governor there, Josh Shapiro who's, you know, way ahead of the mega candidate right now. So Trump is I think is toxic right in Trump country now. That's what I take from this.”

Yes, and that's true when we look at Pennsylvania when we look at at states like that, but it's also true in Iowa, one of the first flips of the cycle was Caitlin Dre, who flipped a Republican seat in one by ten points. And a seat that Trump had won. And in Iowa, we're seeing both Josh Turk as you mentioned and Rob Sand, the Democratic, the Democratic, the total candidate incredibly competitive in that race in Ohio, we're seeing not just shared brown who is leading in polls against his the Republican incumbent senator there.

But also Amy acting, the Democratic candidate for governor is incredibly competitive for that governor's seat. So these receipts that I think many people or states that many people had shifted into the red category, as you mentioned,

that are suddenly seeming a little more purple this cycle.

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To get your 20% off, go to DSR network dot sub stack dot com slash august 26. That's DSR network dot sub stack dot com slash august 26. Well, let's talk about Susan Collins as well, because she is really in a pretty serious pickle over this as well. Susan Collins while campaigning Monday actually mentioned products that she thinks will be hit by this trade war. She talked about Lobsters, blueberries, lumber, and so she went out and she kind of said, okay, well, I think Donald Trump's trade war is a mistake.

But I think this kind of milk toast criticism all it actually accomplishes is it reminds people that Susan Collins is, you know, milk toast concern about Donald Trump isn't doing anything to protect voters from Donald Trump.

“We have to show that a democratic Congress is the only way in Washington to push back against Donald Trump and Susan Collins is not that.”

If we reelect Susan Collins, we don't get a democratic Congress, and I think the more we can lean on what Trump is doing and how there's no way for that party to distance themselves from his actions that they have enabled those actions for years.

Well, so Christina are Democrats prosecuting this case effectively, they've been handed this enormous political weapon to use against Republicans right now.

The thing about the trade war with Canada is it's perfectly suited to making this case in a number of ways. Number one, Donald Trump is ridiculously and heinously abusing his power by waging these trade wars, right, the tariffs that came before were really illegal. Now they might be legal, but they're really of total violation of the spirit of the way the system is supposed to work, Congress is supposed to set these kinds of things or at least have a say.

“And so this shows this catastrophic situation with Canada shows I think with great crystal clarity that if you have a Republican Congress, they're just going to let Trump run rough shot over everything in ways that wreck your life.”

And so our Democrats taking this on directly enough or is there some sort of sneaking fear underneath it that tariffs sound, I don't know, vaguely pro worker.

So Democrats can't really condemn Trump for tariffs because it'll sound like their elitist or whatever our Democrats doing this properly. Well, I will say I am a campaign hack and so I am very and we have, you know, as of recording 70 days until the election. So I am very focused on what the candidates are doing and I think that by and large the candidates are prosecuting this well. And the case needs to be made that Trump is destroying the economy and the Republicans are walking with him right off that cliff, they are helping him do it.

“And so I think the more we define them as the party that does that it, you can say tariffs, you can talk about his taxes on, you know, how this is attacks on consumers, how this impacts raises prices, I think the simplest way we say it is the best.”

I think we need to not be too precious about how we're saying it voters have an understanding here. And so we just need to remind them who is doing this. And as I think you and I have talked about before Greg Donald Trump is not going to stop talking about this. He thinks that he can talk his way out of this and so he's going to keep talking about it as if it's a win. And Democrats need to hang that on every single around every single Republicans neck, you know, it is the albatross that they should carry through the election.

And so I think in any time we're doing that, we are winning the race. Any time we're driving into other things or getting wrapped up around the axle, we're losing ground.

“Yes, I think you're raising a really important point, which is Donald Trump is going to spin his trade war with Canada in all kinds of ways Democrats can't let him get away with that.”

They have to say that Trump is losing Trump is failing Trump is weak. Trump doesn't know what he's doing. Trump is in chaos, right? Trump has created this. Trump did this as his fault. This Trump did this to you. Donald Trump did this to you. Trump who pulls at 33 percent in some polls is destroying your local economy and Republicans are letting him do it because they're essentially lick spiddles for him. It's just got to be really clear, right? Donald Trump is destroying your life. Yeah, I think the goal should be that it should be hard for every Republican to stand on a stage with him. And we're already seeing some of that, but I think it needs to continue to happen.

The Ohio Senator, the incumbent Senator Houston, just didn't event with JD Vance. We need to make sure that voters understand that he's standing on a stage with someone who is a part of this administration that is making this happen to them. And so everything needs to focus on that. On the impact on people's lives, I think the more we're talking about actual impact and the more we're talking about who got us here, Donald Trump and his Republican allies. And who can take us out Democrats, the specific candidate in whichever case, the better off we are.

Can I just pause and say what's happening in Ohio is so interesting because Ohio's transformation into basically a red state from a state that Barack Obama won twice. Yes, folks, that actually happened, believe it or not, Barack Obama won Ohio twice.

It's now basically a red state. It's considered like maybe the crown jewel of Donald Trump's transformation of the industrial Midwest.

And now, and his vice president is from Ohio and his in fact a spokesperson for the, you know, white working classable, Ohio.

And so for Sherrod Brown to be leading in Ohio to be up a few points in polls is simply remarkable. Donald Trump won Ohio by double digits less than two years ago and Sherrod Brown is ahead there. Can you talk about that?

“I think what we're seeing and we're going to see this in other places, I think we may see it in Alaska.”

Where we're seeing these Republicans who have failed to make much of a name for themselves who've been there and been happy to be a part of the majority party.

And to walk right along with Trump as he did these things. They're now going to suffer the consequences. They don't have anything that can distance themselves from it. It's way too late to do that. And so if they decide they're just going to hope that their voters turn out that's I think that's a losing bet. I think what we're seeing one of the most interesting things that we're seeing in polls right now. And to me, one of the biggest indicators of what's coming is when you look at numbers of enthusiasm amongst voters and democratic enthusiasm is way up.

Republican enthusiasm is down because they see what's happening. They see what their party has done and what they're bringing them and they're not enthused to go out and vote for them for another term. And so people like John Houston are going to suffer as a result.

“And that's why we have to keep talking about what's happening.”

All right, I think your point is that John Houston when he appears with the JVNs, this is a really desperate attempt to get that mega base energized. Like, look, John Houston, he's a Trumpist. He's with vans, right. They're really desperately trying to get that mega base engaged. And I think that's going to be really hard for them. And to your point in a democratic enthusiasm. And 18 point shifts in Western Pennsylvania and in Butler County, that's democratic enthusiasm for you right there, isn't it?

Absolutely. You don't flip 31 seats to zero without some democratic enthusiasm. In some cases, very red places, Butler, Pennsylvania, being just one of the latest. And what we're seeing is that, you know, we're seeing more people, more independence lean towards Democrats. And we're seeing those Democrats want to turn out midterms are lower turnout elections, who you turn out determines who wins and right now Democrats want to go out and make change because they don't like what's happening. Republicans don't like what's happening either in in in many cases. And so they're not enthused to come out and vote for their party.

Exactly. I've said it on here before, but to people who like Donald Trump or people who voted for Donald Trump and are sowing on him a little Donald Trump is not on the ballot, but to everybody who hates Donald Trump.

He really is on the ballot very much. So I want to close this out by flagging a quote from a Republican mark short. He used to advise former vice president Mike Pence during Trump's first term.

Short says this is a real problem for Republicans, meaning the trade war with Canada. He says this quote. It's hard because you don't want to incur the wrath of the president, but at the same time, if you're representing agricultural states, your voters are probably anxious to have somebody representing their interests in Washington. Right now, close quote Christina, that's the essence of this Republicans have to choose between working for Trump and working for their own voters, right? Are Democrats making this clear enough? How do you see this all playing out?

I think we can always make it more clear.

I think that we can always be very direct with voters and remind them of what's at stake here. And again, who got us here? We should never leave off the who's to blame part of this because Donald Trump did this.

“I think it's it's very important for us to remember and to always remind voters who's to blame.”

This is not the same thing as COVID shut down the global economy and slow it down. This is something where Donald Trump chose to get into a trade war that thus far has only resulted in higher prices. It is not helped industry the way he promised it would. And it is promising right now further damage to states that desperately need more help. And we need to just keep reminding voters and being very clear about what the danger is in re-electing people who will just walk in lockstep with him. Yes, the message has to be Donald Trump that raging maniac with the 33% approval rating who everybody hates. He did this to you and Republicans are letting him do it.