Because, like the rival mob boss says in The Godfather about Don Corleone: “He makes money for his friends.” Even Fox News said in open court that Carlson shouldn’t be taken seriously, but he is allowed to carry on anyway. The grievances are aided and abetted by wide-eyed Tucker Carlson, the prime-time evening host on Fox. Right wing and far right media are stirring things up, part of their overall business plan. The annual State Of The Union address is coming up, the first for President Biden, and there is the prospect of a truckers’/antivaxx/Big Lie alliance rally in DC on the day. They see the signs and are worried.Īnd this is how and where it could all get really, really bad. The US Homeland Security department has warned that a copycat truckers’ strike or worse could flare up. Now all are scrambling to shore up border controls in fright at what might spill over. Some facts: In addition to the state of Michigan: Alaska, Washington State, Montana, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine all share a border with Canada. These three countries share the same continent and this is beginning to be realised by the man and the woman on the street. It is Canada and Mexico that are the real “special relationship”. Which explains why the first trip that any new US president makes abroad is to Canada. The US trade deficit is tied to how well the country works with Canada and its southern neighbour, Mexico. There is the imagery: Confederate flags, mock-ups of the PM at the end of a noose, anti-vaxxers using the protest as a flag of convenience.Īs Brexiteers are discovering the age-old axiom that you should always trade with your nearest neighbour, Americans are starting to see that Canada and what happens there matters. And there is the sacking of the Capitol on January 6, 2020, something that had not happened since the War of 1812, when the British attacked it. There was that attempt to run a Joe Biden bus off the road during the 2020 election campaign, an action that was genuinely frightening in a country where violence is, shall we say, not uncommon. Uncivil and aggressive behaviour is escalating all over the world now, with agitators sharing tactics on social media. Meanwhile, the state of Michigan, which is losing millions because it relies on trade with Canada for machinery and auto parts to keep the state and its workers going, is begging the truckers to bring an end to all of this. Yet still supplies of petrol and food are being brought to them by sympathisers. The residents of the area in Ottawa where the honking went on all night finally got an injunction and, like proper Canadians, the truckers stopped the noise. It’s all there: the libertarians, the hipsters, folks just tired of being told what to do, all of them combined to wreak havoc on whatever and whomsoever. Highlights include protesters urinating on the National War Memorial and partying on the Tomb Of the Unknown Soldier. Out of Canada has come Freedom Convoy 2022, a protest of angry truckers against the vaccine mandates that has exploded into a crusade against those enraged by the government. So, as someone who grew up about 800 miles from Windsor, Ontario, where it is all happening – my first reaction to the chaotic scenes caused by a trucker protest is to say: “Canada? Really?” Most Americans have absolutely no idea that Canada is the second-largest country by total area in the world, that its border with the US is the longest bi-national border on earth, and that the republic’s dependence on trade with Canada in relation to electrical goods, car parts and the like is monumental.Įven in spite of the fact that, arguably, the richest guy who ever lived, Elon Musk, is Canadian and so are William Shatner, Margaret Atwood and Drake, Canada is still a blur.
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