Eric Ham: Why Trump said he’d rather ‘deal with a Liberal than a Conservative’ prime minister of Canada

Liberal Leader Mark Carney is back in Ottawa to address the latest developments in President Donald Trump's tariff threats.

Eric Ham is based in Washington, D.C. and is a political analyst for CTV News. He’s a bestselling author and former congressional staffer in the U.S. Congress and writes for CTVNews.ca.

U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to wage a coordinated attack against one of the United States’ most trusted and integral allies, Canada.

First, he went after its top elected official, former prime minister Justin Trudeau. Next, he attempted, with disastrous results, to go after its economy, slapping debilitating tariffs on a range of items including aluminum and steel; and now, vehicles not made in the U.S.

Now that Canada is in the middle of a snap general election after Trudeau resigned, the American (wanna-be) strongman is now attempting to shape the Great White North’s leadership by inserting himself into the sovereign and independent nation’s domestic politics. In a recent interview with the obsequious MAGA-supporting Fox News, Trump said: “I think it’s easier to deal actually with a Liberal, and maybe they’re going to win, but I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter to me at all.”

Well, it certainly it does matter. Trump has grand ambitions of making Canada a state of the U.S. and should that come to fruition, like the diva he is, the master showman wants all the world to be privy to undoubtedly his greatest triumph as a politician -- to force a nation of equals to submit and bend to his will.

For Trump, ‘fear is currency’

The authoritarian-in-training wants other world leaders to see the power he wields through the hostile takeover of America’s northern neighbour. For Trump, fear is currency; fear is clout; fear brings elation. He undoubtedly believes a Liberal leader will eventually bow in the face of relentless and caustic attacks. The party that once had Trudeau at the helm, Trump believes, will cower in the face of unprecedented humiliation and disrespect.

For the president, building, unifying, and promoting are meaningless. He eschews partnership; he disdains equanimity; he scoffs at mutual respect. Therefore, all these traits which seem to be imbued in the Liberal Party of Canada, are the very traits that Trump sees as weak.

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Ten years since he came down that gilded escalator, the two-time president still refuses to accept the norms, sensibilities and essence of statesmen. Therefore, the election, which American democracy once upheld as sacrosanct and vital to any functioning and healthy democracy, is now the target by this White House.

The U.S. Senate chose not to convict Trump on impeachment charges brought by the House of Representatives for attempting to blackmail a foreign leader. The Department of Justice indicted then ex-president Trump for absconding with classified and top secret documents. Trump, standing on stage with Russian autocrat Vladimir Putin, chose to believe the denials of the former KGB operative rather than the U.S. intelligence assertions of Russian meddling in American elections.

In Isaac Stanley-Becker’s most recent Atlantic article titled, The United States of Fear, he writes:

The U.S. president is not just at war with the nation he twice swore an oath to protect, he is also at war with everyone that has stood with and for the United States. That is especially true right now for Ottawa. Meddling, interfering, and impeding a nation’s efforts to exercise its sovereignty through the nefarious hindrance of a free and fair election was never, until now, the actions of the U.S. government.

By picking a side in the forthcoming elections of a neighbour and one-time friend, Trump not only moves the U.S. further away from its democratic bedrock, but he moves Canada (he hopes) closer to surrendering to American control.

Retribution was always the theme that underscored Trump’s second run for the White House; the chance to get back at his enemies both real and perceived. However, largely ignored were equally troubling and devastating underpinnings such as dominance and dread. Now, like a dangerous and deadly plague spreading throughout the ether, America’s strongman is using (he hopes) the country’s waning influence and credibility to get the outcome he desires in a neighbouring election.

Trump is after Canada’s resources

There seems to be another reason the American president has placed his thumb on the Canadian political scale – and that is so he can control the country’s precious and invaluable natural resources and minerals.

Rare and invaluable resources which generate enormous revenues now to be doled out to the oligarchs, patrons, and wealthy confidants all too eager to placate and submit to the whimsical and dastardly aims of an erratic and impulsive leader. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s call for a snap election has unleashed a torrent of complexities as Canada seeks a reset from the Trudeau era. Now, however, instead of a battle of ideas, candidates are dramatically auditioning to become sparring partners to an American president.

Alarmingly, these elections now revolve around a Trump/MAGA platform which only highlights the dire consequences of what is at stake for Canada in the age of Trump. Shockingly, the leader of the free world would not have it any other way. He has weighed in, not for the better, but certainly for the worse. This interference neither bolsters Canada nor America; in fact, it exponentially weakens a region.