07-02 Donald Trump

“Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau is philosophically a social democrat and a strong federalist.” This was part of a personal briefing by the head of the largest PR firm in Canada, who was helping me in 1970 oppose the government’s White Paper on Tax Reform.
It was a summary of a detailed report his firm had provided to its clients on the new PM and something that became widely distributed. And to my surprise, it was prepared by his security arm. Who knew PR firms were in the security and intelligence business?
In the world of intelligence, security networks exist between people that trust one another. And these unofficial networks are between people working in both the private and public sector.
When governments involved in controversial initiatives complain that their government leaks like a sieve, they are right. What we saw in the Nixon movie, “All the President’s Men” when Bob Woodward talked to an FBI informant called “Deep Throat” is happening today.
We have a unique problem in the United States under President Trump. We may question his basic competence and temperament to serve as President. But the issue of competence is only part of the problem.
Trump's close relations with Russia and President Putin suggests that he has been laundering Russian money, but in a way that may not be illegal. Nevertheless, the intelligence communities will know what is going on. The “word of mouth” networks will be alive and well.
Money can come from the Russian mafia, move through a Russian oligarch, then through questionable foreign banks, into a prominent German bank then into real estate projects. All done carefully through nations where laundering is not illegal.
And concerns about President Trump does not mean that people in the various security institutions in Canada and the US are not talking to each other. Rather, it is about a lot of intelligence that will not be sent up the line where it is read by Trump’s political appointees. So whether he reads his briefing notes or not will not matter.
Intelligence people, on the other hand, will have ways of ensuring important information is read by politicians, appointees and reporters that they trust. Nothing ever works like it appears to work from reading organization charts.
Here is a recent issue linked to President Trump’s leadership style, which I call “bullshit baffles brains”.
Apparently, he needed to put a tax on Canadian steel and aluminium exports for national security purposes. And, there is a clause in US trade legislation that grants the President this authority. And yet, if we sign a new NAFTA that he likes, he will take off the steel and aluminium tariffs.
Back in the 1950s when I was an engineering student, I learned about all the components that go into the different types of steel and the plants designed to produce steel for stamping, steel for pipes, steel for reinforced concrete and so on.
The US would have to spend years building new facilities to meet the domestic demand for all these various types of steel. Informed people know that President Trump’s tweets are just a lot of uninformed bluster.
The latest Trump threat is to put a 25% tariff on cars coming into the US. He is thinking of doing real damage to Canada and taxing something like the Chevrolet Impala that is assembled in Oshawa. But this car has components that are 60% US and 20% Mexican. His plan, if serious, would destroy the American automobile industry. And, of course, do serious harm to the Ontario economy.
I am old enough to remember Canada and the world before globalism and free trade agreements. I remember when Canadian businesses did more east-west trade than north-south trade. And we can move either way as we contemplate our future relationship with the US.
And America First? That was a slogan stolen from the national hero of the day before WW2, Charles Lindberg, the famous cross-Atlantic flier. He was a nationalist, protectionist and Nazi sympathizer.