The Don shows tough love to friends and allies on Valentines DayThe author of The Art of the Deal has no patience with the weatherworn adage — Build Bridges, Not Walls. Donald Trump has a penchant for doing the exact opposite to ‘win friends and influence people.’In a fresh display of tough love ahead of Valentine’s Day, Trump accusing Canada of trying to “take advantage of America” threatened to block the opening of a new bridge between the US and its northern neighbour.
In a lengthy post on his mouthpiece Truth Social, Trump doubled down on his often-cited claim that Canada has “treated the United States very unfairly for decades.”Demanding that the US be “fully compensated for everything we have given them,” Trump claimed that Canada will own both sides of the $4.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan, to Windsor, Ontario. He also accused Ontario of refusing to stock some US-produced alcoholic products in shops and complained about Canada’s tariffs on dairy products.The latest spat with Canada came weeks after Prime Minister Mark Carney earned his wrath at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January for boldly asking middle powers to stand up to “great powers” using economic pressure.This time the provocation came from nearer home with six Republican lawmakers joining Democrats to adopt a House resolution to block Trump’s Canada tariffs.Not the one to retreat, he defiantly dug in accusing Canada of having “taken advantage of the United States on Trade for many years,” and suggesting, “They are among the worst in the World to deal with, especially as it relates to our Northern Border.”Then came the inevitable ominous warning to the lawmakers: “Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!”Faithful MAGA followers were quick to endorse with, “Hey Canada👇 your days are numbered‼️😆”Then as America’s European allies gathered at the annual security conference in Munich under the looming shadow of an absent Trump, German chancellor Friedrich Merz offered him a rare public rebuke.Under Trump in his second term, the United States’ claim to global leadership “has been challenged, and possibly squandered,” said Merz warning Washington not to make things worse and further squander the trust of its allies.“In the era of great power rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone,” he said even as he acknowledged a more vigorous Europe, better able to defend itself and its own interests, would help “forge a healthier trans-Atlantic relationship.”But the staff at the security conference was more blunt. In a report before the gathering, they called Trump a “wrecking ball” and one of the “demolition men” destroying the norms and institutions of the international order.And at home, Trump took his wrecking ball to the climate change fight by erasing a 2009 bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life.At a White House event Trump, who has referred to climate change as “a hoax” and a “scam,” hailed the decision to erase limits on emissions from cars, power plants and other industries “the single largest deregulatory action in American history.”As a part of his attempt to boost the fossil fuel industry, Trump later signed an executive order instructing the US military to purchase more coal-based electricity and said that the Energy Department will pay for upgrading coal plants in four states.Meanwhile, the ghost of Epstein that has dogged Trump for more than a year, again loomed large as the Justice Department released about three million pages of documents related to its years long investigation into the convicted sex offender.The New York Times found more than 5,300 files with references to Trump and related terms, including salacious and unverified claims, as well as documents that had already been made public.Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche was quick to absolve Trump saying the Justice Department looked into sexual misconduct allegations against the President, but did not find credible information to merit further investigation.Trump himself praised Attorney General Pam Bondi for her “fantastic” performance “under intense fire from the Trump Deranged Radical Left Lunatics,” at a Congressional “Hearing on the never ending saga of Jeffrey Epstein.”“The one thing that has been proven conclusively, much to their chagrin, was that President Donald J. Trump has been 100% exonerated of their ridiculous Russia, Russia, Russia type charges,” he posted proclaiming, “Actually, it is the SLIMEBALL Democrats, many of them big Donors and Politicians, that have been proven GUILTY!”But Bondi, according to an NBC report, is under pressure from Trump to produce a result more than a year after she created a “Weaponization Working Group” to prosecute his perceived enemies. The group was created ostensibly to root out “abuses of the criminal justice process” by federal law enforcement officers in their investigations of Trump when he was out of power.Even as he has criticized Bondi in private, Trump publicly declared his trust in her saying,“Pam is doing an excellent job. She has been my friend for many years. Tremendous progress is being made against radical left lunatics, who are good at only one thing, cheating in elections and the crimes they commit.”Come Valentine Day, Trump greeted his followers with three cards “Made just for you 💌”One with a map of Greenland in a heart served notice on his latest object of desire asking, “It’s time we define our situationship.”The second took a dig at Democrats avowing “My love for you is as strong as Democrats’ love for illegal aliens” and “l’d fly 1,537 miles to have a drink with you!”And the third one depicted POTUS 45 & 47 holding his latest fiat “Executive Order: 4547” proclaiming, “UR MyValentine” — Love it or hate it!(By arrangement with The American Bazaar, www.americanbazaaronline.com)
