People who truly understand Donald Trump know that he employs a variety of tactics to achieve his ends. He does come across as a bit ham-fisted on occasion, but to those who are able to read between the lines, we understand that, as Glenn Beck once quipped, many of Trump's remarks should be taken seriously, but not literally.
Trump is a negotiator and a tough-talker. But his enemies understand that Trump's comments and actions can and will be taken literally by the uninformed masses who are used to feasting on a regular diet of outrage and paranoia. The statist class hates the idea of negotiating, perhaps even more than it hates losing. The statist class relishes the feeling of having power but cherishes the ability to wield that power to attack its opponents. So it should come as no surprise that the Canucks are hitting back at Trump's tariff threat.
The Ontario Sun reports that Ontario Premier Doug Ford was speaking at a mining conference in Toronto on Monday. He said that in reaction to Trump's impending tariffs, he would be more than happy to cut the power supply to states in the U.S.:
If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything — including cut off their energy with a smile on my face. They rely on our energy; they need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard; we’re going to come back twice as hard.
He went on to say that he would match Trump tariff for tariff and dollar for dollar:
That’s exactly what we’re going to do. The provinces have a big say in it, but it’s the federal government that’s leading the charge, and we’re going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder no matter who’s in the federal government. I (didn’t) start this tariff war, but we’re going to win this tariff war.
According to the Sun, with the exception of Texas, every power grid in the U.S. is tied into the Canadian system. The paper says that Michigan, New York, and Minnesota are the biggest customers for Canadian power and would be the hardest hit. Not only would such a blackout be inconvenient, but it could be life-threatening to some.
Ford is obviously banking on Trump blinking at the possibility throwing the switch. Trump, of course, is not known for backing down. Some view that as a testament to his strength of character. Other people who agree with Trump on a wide range of policy issues may see it as an aspect of his "Ready, fire, aim" approach.
If it came down to it, Ford could shout to the U.S., "You see? You see? Look what Trump made me do!!! I didn't want to cut your power, but ORANGE MAN BAD!!! Do you understand what Donald Trump forced me to do to you? You don't have power, and it's all Trump's fault!"
Would Ford do it? I would like to say no, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did, even if it were only for a few hours so Americans could hear the branch creak and panic could set in. In any event, the self-styled Avengers would assemble in the media, academia, and elsewhere to use this incident as Exhibit Z in the case against Trump.
Theoretically, we could use our own energy had the Left, the Biden administration, lobbyists, and a host of money changers not made it as difficult as possible to produce energy here. But that is all part of the blob's agenda: the consolidation of power among the privileged few.
There will be great wailing and gnashing of teeth on the Left when the majority of the true believers who voted, ranted, screamed, and marched find out they do not have an invite to the Afterparty in Aspen. There isn't much room at the top of the blob.
Power is really at the heart of it. One does not have to go too far back in Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine to recall how the Canadian government treated the truckers or how the Canadian police almost gleefully brutalized dissenters. The lust for power is not just dangerous but contagious.
Humans may share about 98.8% of their DNA with chimps, but what places us above the chimps is our ability to reason. The Left and the statists (but I repeat myself) bank on our desire to avoid reason and act on instinct. Phobos and Deimos are the tools of their trade, not only in the ruthlessness they employ to seek and maintain power but also in the ability to instill fear and panic in a population.
They know the average person would prefer to turn the couch upside down to find the remote as opposed to walking four steps across the room to change the channel. We fear inconvenience more than we value freedom. And that is a very exploitable character trait.
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