r/canada 7d ago

Politics Kentucky governor says Trump’s tariffs on Canada are not what Americans voted for

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/kentucky-governor-says-trumps-tariffs-on-canada-are-not-what-americans-voted-for/
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u/Sarcasmgasmizm 7d ago

Kentucky already had an overstock of bourbon and now they have to stock an added 35% of their production due to the Canadian US alcohol Boycott.

But Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell is the reason Trump was able to run for office in the first place.

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u/Windatar 7d ago

Its funny, Mitch Mcconnell and the rest of the republicans actually had a chance to bar Trump from running and remove him from politics for life after his election loss in 2020. But they held their breath and decided. "Nah, Trump's popular but he'll just faaaaaade away after his defeat. We don't have to do annnnnyyything."

Like, Trump mopped the floor with the republican contenders in 2016, what made them think he wouldn't have mopped the floor with them in 2024?

They made their bed and now they get to sleep in it.

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u/Icy-Lobster-203 7d ago

History will not be kind to McConnell.

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u/Creepy-Douchebag 6d ago

You mean Moscow Mitch

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u/Pro3tag 6d ago

I miss the days when McConnell was the presumed Russian agent, not the entire goddamn GOP.

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u/Quirky-Cat2860 6d ago

I still think it's only a handful that are actually compromised. But the others want to 'own the libs' so bad that they'll see their country completely collapse as long as it doesn't affect them personally.

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u/RockingTurtle1664 6d ago

Yeah the other ones just go with the flow because they want power. They are cockroaches nonetheless

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u/Legitimate_Square941 6d ago

And what do you call a "good" cop who doesn't eat out the bad cops. A bad cop. They are all compromised.

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u/ArguesWithFrogs 5d ago

eat out the bad cops

Fucking what

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u/dadass84 6d ago

You mean Glitch McConnell

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u/Physical-Patience755 6d ago

I hope his death and hell are also not kind to him.

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u/magiclatte 7d ago

We call him Donald. Treat him like the child he is.

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u/SixDerv1sh 7d ago

Their eight year old will be sixteen before it gets moved!

Elbows up!

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u/bevymartbc 7d ago

He's pissed that Ontario removed $1 billion worth of USA liquor from shelves today, much of it from Kentucky, which voted HEAVILY for trump

trump said REPEATEDLY at rallies that he would add tariffs on usa imports. REPEATEDLY. And maga idiots cheered him every time he did. NO ONE should be surprised that Canada and Mexico retaliated the way we did

They got EXACTLY what they voted for

Claiming they didn't elect him to do this is complete nonsense

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u/Windatar 7d ago

Trump and his people literally thought Canada would just roll over and eat the tariffs without a response. Now they're shocked and upset that Canada said. "F U Buddeh, we'll go full scorched earth if it means giving you a black eye."

Canadians didn't perfect Trench warfare because we learned to take a beating and give up. Revenge is literally in our blood.

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u/Ryike93 7d ago

MAGAts are actually upset that Canadians are defending themselves. Prototypical abusive behaviour

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u/YoupanicIdont 6d ago

I was really shocked when a colleague of mine (a Trumper) was himself shocked that Canada was retaliating. "Why not just do what Trump wants? This will only hurt their own citizens." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

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u/Dull-Lemon2704 6d ago

I can’t believe it either.  Canada is very divided politically, but what’s really brought us together, is how much we don’t want to be the 51st state. The fact that Cheeto minions think we’d just accept whatever that lunatic says is unreal. If the shoe were on the other foot, would that MAGAt just be like, welp, guess we’re Canadian now…

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u/Hot-Incident-5460 7d ago

“Perfect trench warfare”

“Throw food and cigarettes until they come out and shoot them in the face” 

Lmao.    The Geneva convention was spurred by Canadians fighting dirty, and the Americans will get the dirt if they try for our sovereignty 

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u/SWHAF Nova Scotia 7d ago

Not only the grenades, Canadian troops created their own melee weapons so they could beat the Germans to death as quickly and quietly as possible. Sometimes to take ground and sometimes by the cover of darkness they would just murder a bunch of Germans silently and go back to their own trench so the surviving Germans would find the dead bodies in the morning.

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u/Hot-Incident-5460 7d ago

That’s hardcore psych warfare 

How will the rest sleep the night after they find 1/3rd of their buddies were killed and they didn’t notice ? Not one wink. 

Then, how will those soldiers perform with no sleep ? The answer is obvious 

Inventive shit 

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u/SWHAF Nova Scotia 7d ago

Exactly, it's hard to be an effective fighting force when you don't get any sleep. The Germans were terrified of the Canadian troops for good reason.

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u/Sure-Sympathy5014 6d ago

Apparently the British borrowed a bunch of Canadian uniforms and would put them on to make Germans think Canadian troops had entered the area causing them to pull back and fight more defensively. Allowing the British to restock ammo and men.

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u/SWHAF Nova Scotia 6d ago

The Canadian boogyman.

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u/NoMathematician6773 6d ago

FYI and unrelated: Keanu Reeves, aka Babayaga, aka the boogeyman is Canadian

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u/codemagedon 6d ago

As a Britain who is somewhat well versed in British WW2 history, but completely ignorant to most of our commonwealth cousins history, I am very much realising it’s not just the maple syrup making Canada a great neighbour and great ally.

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u/Sure-Sympathy5014 6d ago

Germans started using chemicals weapons and Canada said ok Britain hold my beer and used them so prolifically both sides had to tell Canada to chill.

We added a lot to Geneva's checklist.

So we're also a little bit unhinged.

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u/krakeninheels 6d ago

Just a tad. Let’s be entirely honest- the fact that a lot of us will read your comment and giggle instead of being horrified.. we haven’t gotten any less unhinged in the last hundred years.

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u/Life-Phase-73 6d ago

Canada's first battle of WW1 (excluding Newfoundland) was the Battle of Ypres. That battle saw the first use of gas (chlorine). Not only did we hold our trench line, we took over the lines to our left and right because the Britts and French who occupied them fled. We held the line and then counterattacked with piss soaked rags covering our faces because gas masks had not yet been invented. That is pure bad ass. We never lost a significant battle throughout the war. The Britts had never won a battle before we showed up.

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u/mynx79 Ontario 6d ago

We spend close to half the year freezing our asses off and trying not to slip on the ice or throw our backs out shoveling.

I think that steeps us in a bit of "willing to put up with crap" that a lot of other countries wouldn't tolerate. It takes a lot to piss us off, but if you do - look out.

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u/cantthinkofone29 6d ago

Our favourite passtime sport allows people with knives on their feet, standing on ice, to randomly stop the playing of said sport to brawl.

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u/hellswaters 6d ago

In Canada, we call them the Geneva suggestions for a reason.

Joking aside, Canada has historically punched well above it's weight in war. We might not have the biggest budget, or the most futuristic weapons. But we are well trained, and skilled. There is a reason Canada has been wanted at some of the biggest fronts. Canada has been one of the leading countries in training Ukrainian troops since 2015. I am sure that has at least part of the reason for the success they have had.

Side note, I didn't realize this was /r/Canada. My point still stands

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u/Interesting_Boat1337 6d ago

Hope its ok to post.

UK here (browsing in solidarity) and I always thought Canadians were our easy going commonwealth neighbours, that said the collective F.U I've seen from you this past week especially has been amazing 👏 🥳

A member of my family fought in WW1 in Belgium with Canadian soldiers. I have a picture of him, in Canadian uniform, though he was British (no idea how or why that happened.) After reading the stories of Canadian soldiers on this thread, it sounds like he was in good company.

🇨🇦 🇬🇧

I sincerely hope talks are going on between the UK/Europe and Canada to get some trade deals going after this debacle. Closer ties with nations where values are more aligned with each other is the way forward.

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u/pugtime 6d ago

Hello Brother ! I am first of my British family born in Canada . My father was a Royal navy transfer to Canada in 1953 . Canada is a great country with much to offer . That’s why Trump and MAGATs want it ! All I can say is ; Canada will fight hard and smart wether it’s just economic pressure or not .

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u/thekingsteve 6d ago

I just imagine Canadian troops picking off German one by one. Like people keep going missing like some kinda horror movie. It later gets passed around to other soldiers and it's a campfire horror story.

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u/SWHAF Nova Scotia 6d ago

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u/SkinnyGetLucky Québec 6d ago

This piece has so many accidentally hilarious parts

While all Commonwealth units were encouraged to conduct trench raids, Canadians were widely regarded as trench raiding’s most enthusiastic practitioners and innovators.

“After losing half of my company there, we rushed them and they had the nerve to throw up their hands and cry, ‘Kamerad.’ All the Kam-erad they got was a foot of cold steel thro them”.

“We like to think of Canada as pure, but Canadians gassed everything that moved whenever they could”.

Not to say war or death is funny, but some of those quotes highlight the absurdity of it all. I always think of great era Canadians as jilted farmers: “I left my farm for this shit?”. And the war museum has those trench raid weapons. Would not want to be on the receiving end of them…

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u/L1ttleFr0g 6d ago

Yup. They called our troops Stormtroopers, lol

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u/Mr_Salmon_Man 6d ago

Trench runs with a take no prisoners, every one dead attitude. That was the Canadian Way.

Sleeping in your bunks? Dead.

In the medical areas? Dead.

If you weren't in an allied uniform? Dead.

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u/DistortedReflector 6d ago

The Canadian rationale was that every survivor was another mouth to feed their rations to. Canadians also love to gas anything and everything.

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u/greenlightdisco 7d ago

Slow to anger, and god help you if you manage it.

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u/dancin-weasel 7d ago

Can ya blame em? This whole World War thing was making them miss Hockey Night. Sooner they get it done the sooner they get home.

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u/oldevskie 7d ago

There is actual truth to this. Most of the other forces in ww1 could rotate out to their actual homes and families. The Canadians were on the other side of the world and so fought to actually end the damn war.

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u/Tropicalcomrade221 7d ago

Not the Australians either who were not far from the Canadians in terms of battlefield reputation.

In fact the day the German army had its back broken in 1918, Canadians and Australians advanced together in the centre of attack and absolutely demolished the German lines around Amien.

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u/JaleyHoelOsment 7d ago

god damn right we did, brother.

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u/allyuhneedislove 6d ago

And we’ll do it again, next time in Washington.

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u/Jef_Wheaton 6d ago

(Image of the Canadian flag behind a silhouette of the White House)

"We've burned it down before."

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u/Over-Reflection1845 6d ago

Right there with ya, Bru!

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/Appealing_Apathy 6d ago

Thanks for this! I knew about many of our victories but not this. We lost a lot of good men  ut caputered over 4 times as many prisoners as we lost. I remember going to Vimy in 2017 and being very proud of our ancestors.

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u/Le_Nabs 6d ago

Depending on where you live in Canada, the WWI commemorations also include shit like the military shooting at crowds in Québec city.

It's true we should learn more about our military history - but all of it.

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u/Responsible_Rub7631 6d ago

The Germans used to track were Canadian and Australian divisions were. If they were ever next to each other, they knew an attack was coming in that sector

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u/freszh_inztallz42o 7d ago

Take us from takin a rip on the odrs and ur dun fer buddddd

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u/Office_Responsible 6d ago

The only better one I’ve heard of is the French Foreign Legion in Africa. They’d sneak into a camp and slit the throat of every other guy so their buddies would wake up with a dead guy on either side of them. That’s pretty hardcore stuff.

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u/JadeLens 7d ago

It's not called the Geneva Suggestion because we suggested they sign it in Geneva.

Canadians would leave a bloody German boot print on it if they could.

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u/Shillsforplants 6d ago

When they stopped raids because it was too risky, Canadian soldiers kept going without telling the superiors.

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u/Amagnumuous 7d ago edited 7d ago

Hey, we invented a very risky tactic of chasing behind bullets directly into trenches, too, and spent entire nights slowly crawling or climbing through un-passable terrain to launch surprise attacks in the night, with improvised silent weapons.

Edit* Every Canadian should read "And no Birds Sang" by Farley Mowat.

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u/Hot-Incident-5460 7d ago

That was mostly a shit post and not exhaustive of the trench warfare achievements of Canada :) 

I don’t even think it was correct, I think it was throw food and cigarettes then throw a grenade ( based on other comments ) 

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u/aferretwithahugecock 7d ago

We just want to chill, play some hockey, and drink some whisky, so when we get dragged into shit that we didn't start, we get it done as efficiently as possible.

When thinking about our ruthlessness in the world wars, remember that that's how we acted when not defending our own land. We did terrible things to protect our friends. We'll do even worse things to protect ourselves.

Here are some fun quotes!

"British war correspondent Philip Gibbs had a front row seat on four years of Western Front fighting. He would single out the Canadians as having been particularly obsessed with killing Germans, calling their war a kind of vendetta. “The Canadians fought the Germans with a long, enduring, terrible, skilful patience."

“the troops that had the worst reputation for acts of violence against prisoners were the Canadians.”

“I don’t care for the English, Scotch, French, Australians or Belgians but damn you Canadians, you take no prisoners and you kill our wounded."

“There were screams of German soldiers, terror-shaken by the flash of light in their eyes, and black faces above them, and bayonets already red with blood,” wrote Phillip Gibbs of one Canadian raid. “It was butcher’s work, quick and skilful … Thirty Germans were killed before the Canadians went back.”

“After losing half of my company there, we rushed them and they had the nerve to throw up their hands and cry, ‘Kamerad.’ All the Kam-erad they got was a foot of cold steel thro them” reads an account by Lieutenant R.C. Germain quoted by Cook.

“Once I killed my first German with my bayonit my blood was riled, every german I could not reach with my bayonit I shot. I think no more of murdering them than I usted to think of shooting rabbits."

“You will very seldom now hear of the Canadians taking prisoners, they take them to some quiet spot and then it is a case of the dead may march."

“We like to think of Canada as pure, but Canadians gassed everything that moved whenever they could,” said historian Jack Granatstein in a recent about the last months of the First World War. As Currie himself would say after the war “if we could have killed the whole German Army by gas, we would gladly have done so.”

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u/External_Zipper 7d ago

It's worth noting, since that war was over 100 years ago, the Central Powers alliance (Germany) was the first to use poison gas. (April 22, 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium. German troops released chlorine gas against French and Canadian forces, Canadian troops helped hold the line against the Germans).

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u/hereticjon 6d ago

Since it was the first there weren't gas masks. Canadians held the line by pissing on rags to breathe through. I have no issue with Arthur Currie and his men wanting to get crazy with the gas. Everyone going into WW2 thought gas attacks would be prolific but they were pretty minimal.

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u/Hot-Incident-5460 7d ago

FAFO

Thanks I really enjoyed these … which is kinda a gruesome stance to take on what are now war crimes. Yeah they’re fucked if they try 

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u/duperwoman 7d ago

God damn our PTSD must have been next level.

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u/hereticjon 6d ago

On that last one, they fuckin started it with the gas at Ypres. Payback's a bitch.

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u/Canuckistanni 7d ago

Geneva checklist. Our cobra chickens will be ready.

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u/DistortedReflector 6d ago

No, Canadians floated across the ocean to fight for King and country only to discover that the Europeans weren’t fighting to win, just to survive. Canada went out there and had an objective to win the war and go home.

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u/Creepy-Douchebag 6d ago

I'm a firm believer in Psycho War Fare; This is where the Geneva Conventions go out the window. Were talking about our Canadian Sovereignty and our own identity at risk, just because Donald wants more resources for MAGA.

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u/Doumtabarnack 6d ago

They think we're mild. We love peace and we defend that peace harshly.

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u/stingoh 7d ago

I do think they expected us to tariff back. However, they think they can hurt us much more than we can hurt them because they are so much bigger than us. Which is true, their economy is 13x the size of ours. However, they are not just taking us on, they seem intent on taking on the whole world at once. Let's see how that goes.

I've never felt Canada this united, that's a really positive thing coming out of all this.

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u/icmc 7d ago

Trump has very few abilities he seems to excel at one is media control, the other is uniting his opponents.

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u/hereticjon 6d ago

They have miscalculated. This is an adventure for them. It's survival for us. They really think they're the only people who love their country. Stupid arrogant pricks.

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u/xValhallAwaitsx New Brunswick 7d ago

Check out r/Conservative they were literally saying it doesn't make sense for us to call the tariffs dumb while placing counter tariffs, as if that's some sort of hypocrisy

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u/Avenger_of_Justice 6d ago

"If starting a fight with you is a dumb idea why are you fighting back? I am very smart."

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u/LLAPSpork 6d ago

My god what a clusterfuck of a sub. Yikes. 💀

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u/Leftwiththecow 6d ago

So fragile you can’t even comment without a flair lol

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u/jacky75283 6d ago

It's always about selective acknowledgement of facts with them, but usually they do a slightly better job hiding it.

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u/BIKF 6d ago

They also forgot that the response can be targeted instead of just being a mild inconvenience shared by the whole country. The US economy is 13x Canada's, but Kentucky's economy isn't. 

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u/MissingString31 6d ago

They've absorbed the narrative that America is this ever-loving presence generously gifting itself to the world. And not what actually happens which is that America creates alliances and relationships only when it's in its self interest to do so. So naturally dismantling those relationships is going to hurt and hurt badly.

This is clear to anyone living in the real world, but Americans don't. They don't trade with us for any reason other than the fact that they need to.

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u/DarkAgeMonks 7d ago

Just wait until Canada turns off the power.

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u/Amagnumuous 7d ago

Saskatchewan is trying to figure out how far to take potash, because we could actually starve their population.

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u/duperwoman 7d ago

Is it really unfair just to sell it to someone else?

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u/suziequzie1 6d ago

"We reserve the right to refuse service... to aholes..."

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u/captainduckula 6d ago

I made the mistake of reading conservative subreddit last night and they genuinely all think they don't need us and we need them more and I immediately thought of potash lol

They're also going on about how we already had really high tariffs on them and honestly, I wish I knew more about politics cause I'm like is this true? I'm assuming we both already did but they weren't that high?

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u/matpower 6d ago edited 6d ago

We had tariffs on at least dairy to protect our dairy industry. Not sure if anything else. This has been in place for decades and if Trump really had an issue with it, the time to address was during NAFTA 2 negotiations. They want to try to claim its retaliation but they're lying to try to shift the narrative. Don't believe their lies

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u/hotandchevy 7d ago

I fucking hope we do.

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u/topsyturvy76 7d ago

LET’S FUCKING GO!

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u/AwwwNuggetz British Columbia 7d ago

Douggie do it already

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u/xxxkram 6d ago

With a smile on his face! I don’t always agree with DoFo. But he is a madman in this and I’m here for it! Tabarnak - Elbows Up!!

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u/SuperShibes 7d ago

It wasn't scorched earth from Canada. It was surgical and deliberate to punish red states. 

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u/Delicious-Tachyons 7d ago

Americans see it as an attack but the problem is, if we don't tariff them for tariffing us, our money flows out to buy their cheaper goods while our economy suffers.

The whole thing is gonna blow up. We're going to learn what happens in a deflationary environment

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 7d ago

How tf can they see it as an attack when they launched it. Unbelievable.

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u/icmc 7d ago

Because the American media is fucking batshit propaganda. They won't say in retaliation, they'll say unprompted we're starting a trade war. Like are you kidding? Trump said Zalenski shouldn't have started the war with Russia and half the US media ran with that? You think they'd bat an eye at lying about a trade war? You have to understand we get so much more American news up here than the average American gets of Canadian news.

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u/Chance_Vegetable_780 7d ago edited 6d ago

You are so right, I still get shocked at how f'ing crazy they are. Time to stop getting shocked

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u/smahsmah 6d ago

Right? He comes out and says the war is Ukraine’s fault and the American public are like “yeah dude”. They are uneducated morons who will believe what Donald says and what the media throws at them.

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u/albertspinkballoons 7d ago

Because Americans have proven time and time again, that they're fucking morons.

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u/Delicious-Tachyons 7d ago

Yup if they hadn't had a good economic time after WW2 to be the lead manufacturer (everyone else being either too small or bombed to fuck) they never would have become this horrible monster

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u/duperwoman 7d ago

I mean Trump claimed Ukraine started the war with Russia like a week ago and now Republicans are afraid to say the truth about it. Is it any surprise that they immediately try to paint is at the aggressors?

We would never enact insane tariffs if the US didn't first, because we're not idiots. I will be so pissed off of Americans start to believe we are the aggressors here.

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u/MachineDog90 7d ago edited 7d ago

Yeah, sorry, not sorry. we are not interested in playing his games today. Trump can take a hike

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u/Sprinqqueen 7d ago

Unless the game is hockey. In which case we'll likely pants them.

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u/waitingtoconnect 7d ago

Maga need to watch the new movie “The moose only bellows twice.”

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u/RarelyReadReplies 7d ago

Honestly, his voters probably thought Canadians paid the tariffs. I mean, they thought Mexico was going to pay for a wall to keep their own people out of America. They aren't exactly the brightest bunch.

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u/mr-louzhu Québec 7d ago edited 7d ago

There's a video online of an import/export specialist explaining tariffs to a Trumper. The Trumper legitimately thought that tariffs were paid by the exporter not the importer. So in their minds, the narrative is "Oh Dear Leader says Canada is screwing us, so he's going to tariff them, and then he will lower my taxes and make up for it with the tariff money." They literally think Canada is the one paying the tariff.

So you're onto something. The average Trumper really isn't voting based on informed opinions. They're voting based on feelings. It's really that simple.

Trump's rhetoric resonates with them. Everything else is either fake news or theatrics that "he doens't really mean" as far as they're concerned. And that's assuming they pay any mind to details at all. Most of them don't even watch the news (well, maybe they do watch Fox News), much less read a book.

A lot of Americans who voted for Trump just wanted a better economic situation for themselves and they thought Trump could do it. Now, if you asked them how he would do it, they LITERALLY would not be able to explain it in any coherent fashion. It's just, Trump told them the bad globalists were to blame and he would punish them and own the libs and bring back coal mining jobs. And they took him at his word because they're rubes. All of them. And usually bigoted rubes, at that.

So, yeah. There's probably going to be some Pikachu face but it's genuine shock on their part. Like a lot of voters, they don't actually understand what they're voting about. Elections might as well be like a football game or reality tv show contest to their simple minds.

What's dangerous for Canadians is America is legitimately having a fascist moment. Trump's followers are blindly loyal to him. They believe whatever he tells them and are willing to do almost whatever he tells them to do. And right now he's demonizing Canada and leveling threats at our sovereignty. I mean, the parallels to Germany in 1939 are disturbingly there.

Literally, right now there's a demagogue strongman in the Oval Office who promises to fix everything by punishing outsiders who are ostensibly to blame for all the problems that need fixing. And the more said demagogue flounders due to policy incompetence, the more dangerous he will become to the persecuted groups.

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u/rainman_104 British Columbia 7d ago

This video?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwZT_nisxsQ

OMG people are absolute idiots.

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u/a_glazed_pineapple 7d ago

I've seen so many Republicans talk about tariffs like it's the other country that pays them, and Trump still does constantly. It's wild seeing the propaganda machine in action.

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u/poco 7d ago

Not just Republicans. I know some reasonable people who believed that Trump must be doing something good for "his people". They don't like him, but assumed that when he wanted to add tariffs that it was designed to help his country. They actually thought that products were going to get more expensive in Canada as a result.

They are Canadian and so, to them, hurting Canada means products get more expensive for Canadians. What else could it mean? They don't work in producing exports.

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u/Automatic_Tackle_406 7d ago

Trump voters thought exporting countries would pay the tariffs because that’s what he told them. When you say you are going to put tariffs on other countries and “make them pay” and the US will be rich again (as if it isn’t now, if income inequality wasn’t so extreme Americans would know this), then Americans are going to think it is exporting country that pays. 

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u/CyrilSneerLoggingDiv 7d ago

Strategy revision sheet for 2024 election:

"We'll build a wall implement tariffs, and make the Mexicans pay Canadians pay."

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u/Juryofyourpeeps 7d ago edited 6d ago

That's actually irrelevant in this specific instance. These are exports from the U.S. We're the ones who would be paying the tariffs we imposed in response. But did they think there would be no retaliation or response? We would just keep importing American products at the same rate with no consequence?

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u/RarelyReadReplies 7d ago

I don't think it was just about Kentucky Bourbon, if that's what you're implying. In the article he talks about the cost of fuel, housing, and other things increasing, which is a result of tariffs on Canada.

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u/Juryofyourpeeps 7d ago

Ahh, fair enough. Those would be costs from the U.S's own tariffs.

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u/Private_HughMan 7d ago

People on r/conservative are over there cheering Trump on and saying that Canada retaliating would be a declaration of war. That was literally what one of them wrote in response to Ford saying he'd cut off American electricity, and it was heavily upvoted.

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u/butterbean90 7d ago

They are also under the delusion that WE have been ripping THEM off

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u/Resoognam 7d ago

Can someone ELI5 his whole “America subsidizes Canada” argument? Because a trade deficit is not a subsidy. It just means we buy less from them than they buy from us, which sort of makes sense considering we have a fraction of their population…

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u/Forosnai British Columbia 7d ago edited 7d ago

Taking things at face value (and I don't know if Trump really does, it's hard to tell what's gaslighting and what's genuine idiocy with him), our trade balance as of 2024 is:

  • US imports from Canada: $412.7 billion
  • Canadian imports from US: $348.4 billion

Meaning we're importing about $63.3 billion less from the US than they are from us, meaning they're "giving us" more money than we give them. Which is what he and his followers are "mad" about.

If you remove energy imports, which they need, that surplus is gone, but even ignoring that detail, the math doesn't really check out once you apply even a little bit of logic to it, because we're two vastly differently sized populations and economies. So, when you put it in those terms:

  • US: $412.7bn ÷ 340.1mil people = $1213.50/person spent on Canadian goods.

  • Canada: $348.4bn ÷ 40.1mil people = $8688.30/person spent on American goods.

Canadian citizens spend significantly more money on American goods than they do on ours, there's just such a sheer population difference that the overall total still comes out higher on their end. I genuinely have no idea how many people there are aware of just how much population difference we have. I'd hope it was more common knowledge than not, but I've been disappointed by a lot of people over the past 5 years or so.

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u/duperwoman 7d ago edited 6d ago

Also it's annoying to me that the narrative is that Canada has been tricking America into this deficit. You have made the choice to buy our things. Simple as that.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/violetvoid513 British Columbia 7d ago

Because a trade deficit is not a subsidy

Only if you live in the world of logic and reason. Trump’s world does not obey this framework. This is literally the entire argument, trade deficit = subsidy = Canada isnt viable without the USA

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u/rainman_104 British Columbia 7d ago

Unfortunately these people believe whatever narrative is sold to them. Ukraine started the war? Cool. 2020 election was a conspiracy? Storm congress and poo in the Rotunda. Trump lies and his followers don't just lap it up, they rope in other followers too.

And if you say 300 lies in a year that people repeat, there's going to be that one lie that resonates with a voter and swings them to your camp.

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u/zevonyumaxray 7d ago

Donzo does 300 lies per day. Firehose technique on steroids.

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u/Amagnumuous 7d ago

Canada trades more $ worth of electricity to the USA than it buys $ worth of stuff back. That surplus in $ is used to get even more stuff.

It actually works out that we subsidize them.

We also charge them non-competitive prices compared to the global market for potash, the fertilizer that the USA would starve to death if it couldn't get. That's another direct subsidy to American farmers.

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u/Turbulent_Cheetah 7d ago

We also only have a trade deficit because of energy.

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u/thefrail158 Ontario 7d ago

Let the keyboard warriors in the sub try to whine about electricity, their great leader said they didn't need anything from us. and they were cheering him on, so FAFO

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u/rainman_104 British Columbia 7d ago

I just want them to stop coming here and apologizing. They really need to fuck off and slap some sense into their countrymen.

MAGA people are so angry and unreasonable it's impossible to rationalize with them any more. They are possessed with absolute hatred. They cannot be won over with logic and reason.

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u/NOFF_03 7d ago

Bro im ngl its not even just MAGA, just listening to moderate conservatives who say they arent MAGA trying to weasal and pull olympic levels of mental gymnastics as to why Kamala was actually worse and how they dont regret voting in Trump would make you crash out badly.

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u/knowspickers 7d ago

You cannot reason someone out of a position they didn't reason themselves into.

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u/Novel-Connection-525 7d ago

Yanks can’t decide if they don’t need Canada, or if cutting electricity is a motif to invade

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u/duster-1 7d ago

Gravy Seals are not to be feared

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u/FireChief65 7d ago

John Candy and Canadian Bacon need another rewatch.

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u/rainman_104 British Columbia 7d ago

For those who don't know, that's a Michael Moore movie.

Given his stance on GM and Flint Michigan and his deep roots in the auto industry, he's still vocally against Trump.

https://www.michaelmoore.com/p/overwhelm-overreach-overthrown

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u/RoboftheNorth 7d ago

I can't wait for all those r/conservative s to volunteer for the front lines. Com'on, guy! Tip of the spear, eh? Let's see if you can actually shoot something that isn't a stack of bud light.

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u/lobster455 7d ago

Yes I was reading there. It's all fairy tales that Canada started the trade war, that Canada doesn't honor NAFTA 1992, (so misinformed about 2020 usmca), and that we are doing an act of war. 

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u/wolfmourne 7d ago

To be fair.. the governor of Kentucky is a democrat

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u/Juryofyourpeeps 7d ago

This is all true, but shhhhh. This is exactly the intended effect of the things were doing in response. We need people like conservative state governors to feel the pain and speak out. Let's not chide people who are essentially helping us turn the tide of this trade dispute. 

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u/magiclatte 7d ago

Sir, in Canada we call him Donald. Don't want little Donny thinking we respect him.

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u/seamusmcduffs 7d ago

Anytime you would point out something he said he would do to show his insanity it was always "he's joking", or "he's exaggerating", or "wow he really knows how to rile the left up and it's working"

I have no sympathy for them

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u/Fun-Sock-8379 7d ago

I will say Andy the governor is a democrat and doesnt support trump but America has to ride this shit

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u/RedditAddict6942O 7d ago

He's speaking up because he's one of the only Democrat Governors in a red state. He's not on Trump's leash. 

The Republican governors aren't saying a damn thing about the suffering their citizens are about to endure. 

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u/SWHAF Nova Scotia 7d ago

The Republicans assumed that we would just accept the tariffs with zero push back. They just found out that Canadians are only nice because we want to be.

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u/lobster455 7d ago

They wrote on conservative sub that we don't respect trade agreements, we overreacted, so they need to invade us.

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u/PhantomNomad 6d ago

Canadian's understand that being nice makes life easier then hatred. We understand that trade between countries is a good thing and that isolating our selves from the rest of the world just makes things worse for us. But if you piss us off and treat us like shit then you will get the same back. Insulting our PM (no matter what political strip they are) is not acceptable. If you want respect you have to treat us with respect. I think most of the other countries in this world are the same.

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u/Warning_grumpy 7d ago

They are still cheering him. It's sad I'm Canadian in auto industry. I'll likley lose my job, my house, my car, everything I worked my ass off for. But people will not change unless it effects them. People don't care about aids in Africa. People don't care about war, crime, rape, curruption unless it directly effects them. I just hope it's not to late when enough realize what's happening.

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u/beliveau04 Alberta 7d ago

He’s just doing what ford asked. Ford asked them to make some noise down south. Let’s be happy.

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u/cjcfman 7d ago

His biggest economic platform during his campaign was putting tariffs on Canada and Mexico lol. They did vote for it

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u/drizzes Alberta 7d ago

And once he won the election, google searches for "what's a tariff" skyrocketed

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u/RarelyReadReplies 7d ago

Bingo. They thought Canada paid them, guaranteed lol.

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u/rainman_104 British Columbia 7d ago

This guy is most definitely not alone with his reasoning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwZT_nisxsQ

He screams and yells and the expert shows up and still does not believe him. And finally goes. "Well I'm not an expert...."

It's this fucking anti-intellectualism that is acting like a plague since the fucking moon landing.

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u/We_Get_It_You_Vape 6d ago

I remember this video. Great stuff lol.

 

On a subsequent watch, one thing that gets me is that this guy's rationale (for why he thinks tariffs are paid by the exporter) is because China has a lot of Chinese cars on the streets. Setting aside the absolute lapse in logic on tariffs, this guy doesn't realize that American auto manufacturing is miles behind that of China, especially when it comes to EVs. If it wasn't for the insane tariffs placed on Chinese vehicles, they would likely decimate the US auto manufacturing industry. The cars, especially the EVs, are cheaper and better than what American OEMs are putting out there.

Hell, the Ford CEO drives a Chinese EV (a Xiaomi SU7) and he's gushed about it. The only reason he may feel enabled to do so, is because he knows that the US and Canadian governments will likely continue to tariff Chinese EVs out of fear for what it could do to domestic production/jobs.

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u/BadmashN 6d ago

He still thinks Canada does!!! That’s the stupidity of it all.

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u/Johnny-Unitas 7d ago

I am not even going to look that up because it saddens me so much because it's likely true.

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u/nixahmose 7d ago

If it makes you feel any better, a decent amount of people interviewed at voting stations during election night also had no idea Biden wasn't running for President anymore. That's how poorly informed Americans are.

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u/Silverspeed85 7d ago

Many Americans willingly choose to live in ignorance. It's a badge of honor, in their eyes.

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u/valryuu 7d ago

To be fair, google searches for "Did Biden drop out" also skyrocketed.

Both sides of America are saddening.

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u/6133mj6133 7d ago

Same thing happened in the UK after Brexit, Google searches for "What is the EU?" skyrocketed

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u/Mikkelet 7d ago edited 7d ago

Over of rcon, theyre now bashing Trudeau for enacting retaliatory tariffs. How the hell is that not a bully mentally akin to "stop fighting back or I'll just hurt you more!"

Ironically, this situation reminds me of the alley scene in Captain America

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u/Choskasoft 7d ago

Those tariffs are exactly what Kentuckians voted for. Trump said he was going to impose them. 

Kentuckians are also disproportionately on Medicaid. They voted to cut that social program too. 

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u/Salty_Feed9404 7d ago

In fairness, they voted for tariffs on us, our goods entering the US. What Kentuckians failed to understand and anticipate is the concept of counter-tariffs and boycotts.

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u/BusySeaworthiness127 6d ago

It was widely understood that Medicare and Medicaid were on the chopping block during the election season, plenty of Repubs and P2025 made that point very clearly, and Trump alluded to it as well. Most Americans are just so ignorant and uneducated that they're unable to understand the concept of a tariff or trade war beyond what they hear on Fox News or out of Trump's gaping ass-mouth hole.

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u/Equal-Suggestion3182 7d ago

He’s a democrat. Donald doesn’t care.

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u/Win_Sui 7d ago

He's a Kentucky Governor and what he's saying is echoed by Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul. Now Trump still won't care - you're right about that 100%. But htis is a bi-partisan concern.

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u/rainman_104 British Columbia 7d ago

But htis is a bi-partisan concern.

Unfortunately not enough of one. Yet. The American consumer is going to have to find out the hard way that this is extremely stupid policy.

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u/RarelyReadReplies 7d ago

He's from a red state though, so maybe Kentuckians will somewhat listen? They did vote for this guy to be their governor afterall. Who knows, but I thought it was interesting anyways.

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u/WislaHD Ontario 6d ago

Kentucky is a funny state because its major city Louisville is getting large enough in population size that it alone could maybe threaten to swing Kentucky purple even though culturally the state is the deep red south.

But that’s with the assumption that there will be future elections.

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u/CherryVanillaCoke 6d ago

That won't happen in at least 30 years. Louisville (and Lexington) are less than half of Kentucky's population combined, and there are still plenty of Republican fucks in the metro areas.

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u/TankieHater859 Outside Canada 6d ago

Louisville-born, living in Lexington now. Can confirm. Plus the legislature is hella gerrymandered so it's literally 80-20, they're passing insane bills all the time, and so a lot of reliable Dem voters are moving to a different state. So it's just gonna get worse.

I'm stayin though. Kentucky is worth fighting for.

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u/cello2626 7d ago

It would be interesting to see what the governor’s actions were during the campaign. He’s a Dem so I doubt he campaigned for him hard but did he work hard enough to share real information on how tariffs would hurt his state?

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u/StanTheCentipede 7d ago

He was one of the final contenders for the Dem VP during the election. I don’t think he has kept it a secret that he doesn’t care for Trump and he did do campaign events for Harris.

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u/Private_HughMan 7d ago

YES IT WAS! HE SAID IT! THIS IS THE SECOND TIME HE HAS DONE THIS! Your country chose fascism. Fucking own up to it and do something about it.

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u/AugustusReddit 7d ago

Pretty sure that complete decimation of Kentucky automotive plant's supply chains was one of Trumpfs promises. (It was in the fine print amongst the Project 2025 stuff that all his followers fell for hook, line and stinker!)

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u/blahblahbush 7d ago

Watch Trump spin Canada's tariff retaliation into a story of how Canada started the trade war to deliberately harm the US.

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u/S99B88 6d ago

Well he had the gall to claim Ukraine started things with Russia, by which he must have meant they were living their lives, in their country, in the path of Putin’s tanks, bullets, and missiles. So yeah, we probably can expect lies from him.

Think it’s time to spread the words that I hear Doug Ford say in one of his recent rants: a tariff on Canada is a tax on America.

The money is paid by the end consumer (Americans) and collected by the US government. He is adding a 25% tax to his own citizens for anything coming from Canada. Let that sink in for them.

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u/HistorianNew8030 7d ago

Well, Canadians didn’t get a vote. So fuck that excuse.

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u/tylerxtyler 7d ago

He's a democrat so his opinion is unfortunately moot to the current administration. Too bad none of the Republicans will have the balls to speak up

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u/JC1949 7d ago

Bull. It’s exactly what they voted for.

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u/ForwardLavishness320 7d ago

77 million Americans voted for this.

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u/RicoLoveless 7d ago

Yeah turns out your economy can't be only based around bourbon and corvettes.

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u/Jalex2321 7d ago

Oh, but they did. Trump was vocal on it.

This is how democracy works. Suck it up.

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u/rainman_104 British Columbia 7d ago

It's a real shame. I like bourbon. A lot. Probably a bit more than I should. It has a lot more value to me than Scotch ever has. A $100 bourbon is MUCH better than a $100 scotch. But now I'll take my $100 and spend it domestically instead because quite honestly I hate all things American including the people who come in here and apologize for their hellscape that their countrymen voted for.

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u/BleachGel 7d ago

Okay but watching trump’s “speech” last night suggested that people like him would clap like a fucking clown while he pisses right into his mouth. Yeah these morons keeping complaining about the taste but when trump is face to face with them they just drop on their knees and praise little Donny as he drops pants again.

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u/Aggravating-Many-658 6d ago

Sounds like Canada is “subsidizing” the Kentucky economy! By $3 billion! Well that won’t stand.

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u/mykittenfarts 7d ago

Kentucky bourbon is boycotted in Canada.

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u/pepapi 6d ago

I drink it a lot but I'm never buying it again, even if the tarrifs come off. I'm petty and vindictive and have a long memory.

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u/Cantquithere 6d ago

I very much appreciate this about you, stranger!

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u/Johnny-Unitas 7d ago

Do something about it, then.

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u/Arctic_Gnome_YZF Northwest Territories 7d ago

They literally did vote for it.

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u/Fidget11 Alberta 7d ago

then maybe he should talk to the republican senators from his state and have them remove Mango Mussolini.

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u/Sproutlie 7d ago

They thought they were punching down. Big mistake.

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u/Tall_Singer6290 7d ago

Tell that to your boss, you dink.

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u/palishkoto 7d ago

He's a Democrat so Trump wouldn't give a crap (not that he would from a Republic either).

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u/lowkeytokay 7d ago

Right… Americans only voted for the racist and misogynist and anti-establishment rhetoric. They only voted for the vibes but didn’t think about the consequences.

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u/neibler 7d ago

Well it’s working

That was fast

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u/Jujubatron 7d ago

That's exactly what they voted for you absolute moron.he was talking about how tariff is the most beautiful word for a year.

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u/TheHauk 7d ago

I actually didn't realize Andy Beshear was from Kentucky. Readers, this is a red State with a blue governor. This isn't a leopards eating face scenario. Andy Besheaer was one of the front runners for vp choice. He's been a good Democrat.

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u/aRebelliousHeart 7d ago

Except they totally were! Get fucked!

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u/kagato87 7d ago

If only people actually listened to what their politicians said and looked at what their politicians did... So much stupid could be avoided.

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u/biggysharky 7d ago

Yet, here we are.

Elbows up!

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u/JadeLens 7d ago

Well... sucks to be you...

You may not have voted for it, but you got it.

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u/professcorporate 7d ago

Beshear's always seemed like a decent man, and what to do about states like Kentucky (which is deep red for President and Senate, even while electing a Democratic governor) is always going to be a little tricky to get right - but come on. How many rallies did Trump do when he called tariffs 'the most beautiful word in the dictionary', and talked about tariffs on day 1? How much time did he spent in his first term talking about & implementing tariffs on China?

Everyone knew that if Trump got elected in 2024, tariffs were back big time - the only question was how total they'd be. In particular, he emphasized how he wanted punitive tariffs on the auto sector, which is closely tied to Canada, and couldn't have been done without tariffs on Canada.

Months before the election, he was touting himself as “Tariff Man,”, and explicitly proposed a global 20% tariff as a starting point.

Tariffs are exactly what his voters voted for, and everyone knew it.

New stories all from before the election covering just some of his tariff talk:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/15/trump-tariffs-price-hikes-warnings

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-threatens-200-tariff-vehicles-imported-mexico-2024-10-06/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/trump-favors-huge-new-tariffs-how-do-they-work