"Beware of the demagogues"

Reagan warned us. Now Canada and the United States will both suffer.

In October, 1962, the United States announced it had photographs that proved the Soviet Union had installed missiles armed with nuclear warheads in Cuba. A third world war loomed. American officials fanned out around the globe to rally America’s friends and allies, with one of the toughest jobs falling to former Secretary of State Dean Acheson. He flew to France.

America’s post-war relationship with France had been rocky, in part thanks to the personality of the French president. Charles de Gaulle had fought in the killing fields of the First World War and led Free French forces in the Second World War. He was notoriously proud and prickly. And demanding.

Acheson hustled into de Gaulle’s office, followed by an aide carrying maps and documents, but before Acheson could begin his presentation, de Gaulle spoke.

“I understand you have not come to consult me but to inform me,” de Gaulle said.

That is true, Acheson responded. The White House had already made key decisions. There was no turning back.

Acheson reached for his files and prepared to make America’s case for the French president.

De Gaulle wasn’t having it. “Put your documents away,” he ordered.

Then he added: “The word of the President of the United States is good enough for me.”

De Gaulle promised France would back the United States. Then he immediately flew off to lobby other Europeans leaders and urge them to fall in line with the United States.

Try to imagine any foreign leader speaking those words about the American president today. Try to imagine any foreign leader trusting the United States so utterly that he would not only do as the US asked, but put his own name on the line by urging others to do the same. It’s inconceivable.

Donald Trump is not solely responsible for the decline of America’s reputation, naturally. But by turning against Canada, of all countries, he will accelerate it. What was slow and gradual will become a free-fall.

I’m Canadian. You may be forgiven for thinking this is personal pride and injury speaking. But I really don’t think so.

For more than a century, Canada has been both friend and ally of the United States. Our militaries are highly integrated. Our economies are all the more integrated. Our famously undefended border is a symbol of a relationship of trust that has brought enormous mutual benefit to each of us.

And Canada is Canada. To say that Canada is no threat to the United States, no cause for concern, no source of irritant that can’t be taken care of with a few phone calls, understates the reality. We have accommodated ourselves to the United States in every way our neighbour has asked. It is impossible for a sovereign nation to be a more loyal and supportive friend than Canada is of the United States.

But still, Donald Trump is about to impose 25% tariffs which will absolutely devastate this country. Estimates of the impact suggest we will suffer the worst recession since the recession of the early 1980s. Or the worst since the Great Depression.

And for what? I won’t even repeat Trump’s asinine pretexts. They’re flimsy on their face and his behaviour — particularly his disinterest in what Canada is doing to satisfy his demands — has shown quite clearly that they are nothing more than excuses. The truth increasingly apprears to lie in Trump’s “jokes” about making Canada “the 51st state.” Jokes became comments. Comments became statements. And Trump is now speaking openly about using “economic force” to compel Canadians to surrender their sovereignty and hand over their country.

This is a threat to Canada the likes of which we haven’t seen since the American invasions of 1812.

But I won’t ask readers to contemplate this from a Canadian perspective. If you’re Canadian, you already are. If you’re American or foreign, Canadian problems just aren’t terribly interesting. Even now. I get why. “Canada” has always meant “boring.” So even though the President of the United States is increasingly talking and behaving like Vladimir Putin, it all feels a little unreal. Surely, it doesn’t mean anything, you might think. After all, Canada means boring. And Trump is doing so many other crazy things that must be so much more important.

So forget the Canadian perspective. Instead, let’s consider the ramifications of Trump’s attack on Canada from the perspective of America and the world.

From that perspective, what Trump is doing to Canada is not a sideshow. In fact, as boring as Canada is, what Trump is doing to this country is highly likely to be the worst item on the long list of destructive actions he is taking. If you are American, in particular, you should be concerned not for reasons of simple justice — or not only for that — but because what Trump is doing to Canada is highly likely to cause America’s standing in the world to enter long-term decline.

In time, it will make America much weaker. The reason can be summed up in one word: trust.

Ordinary people around the world may not be watching what Trump is doing to Canada, but you can be sure governments around the world are. They know how close Canada’s relationship is to the United States. And they understand the implication of Trump’s actions: If the United States will betray even Canada, there is no one it would not betray.

That perception, if it becomes widespread, spells the end of American power as we know it today.

Trust is fundamental to human flourishing. When others trust you, you can cooperate. With enough trust, you can move mountains.

When Charles de Gaulle said, “the word of the President of the United States is good enough for me” he was acting on the trust that generations of American statesmen had built up through their actions. When the United States said something was so, it was so. When the United States made a promise, you could take that promise to the bank. When the United States asked for support, the United States got support, because others trusted the United States would show up for them.

You could trust the United States. Everyone knew that in de Gaulle’s day.

But what happens if you lose trust? What if you are notorious for having betrayed even your most loyal friend and ally? What if you are known as someone whose word is worthless, someone who will stick a knife in anyone’s back for a momentary advantage?

You may be fine if you are rich and powerful. For a while, at least. But with time, you will find it increasingly hard to get others to do what you want them to do, despite your wealth and power. And even if you can coerce them, they will never truly trust you, so they will only ever do the minimum necessary. They will never fully cooperate.

And should you find yourself in a time of need -- and we all find ourselves in need now and then -- they will not be there. Or worse, they will be there, but with a knife to stick in your back.

All of this is perfectly obvious to any observer of human affairs, and its application to statecraft is older than Thucydides. (As I wrote here and here.) Trust is a treasure worth more than gold. It is a power greater than any sword. Trust builds friendships and alliances, and no empire, no matter how much money and weaponry it possesses, can long remain powerful without friendships and alliances.

Donald Trump does not understand any of this. His whole life is a testament to that fact. He has always been a grasping cheat who will lie and betray for momentary advantage. As a result, he was a serial failure. He only narrowly escaped final collapse and ignominy thanks to a reality TV producer who fabricated an image of success that Trump traded on all the way to the White House.

Now Trump is once more busily destroying the trust built by generations of American statesmen, and he has hit upon the scheme that could burn trust faster than any other: Trump is pouring gasoline on his neighbour’s house while loudly insisting that his neighbour can avoid this unfortunate fate if he will simply hand over the keys and the deed. Everyone in the neighbourhood is watching. What do you suppose Trump’s reputation will be, however this little drama resolves? How likely is it the other neighbours will ever again trust this man? Will they ever want to cooperate with him, support him — make themselves vulnerable to him? The answer is self-evident.

To fully grasp how immoral and destructive Trump’s behaviour is, consider another man whose name is still revered in the Republican Party.

Ronald Reagan had his faults but he understood in his bones that America needed friends and allies. And he knew that it took more than money and power to win friends and allies. It took honesty, reliability, fair dealing, and free trade.

Here is Ronald Reagan giving a radio address in 1988 shortly after Brian Mulroney had won re-election in Canada on a platform in support of the free trade agreement Mulroney and Reagan had negotiated.

The contrast with Donald Trump is total. In tone and temperament. But also in ideas.

Consider this line from Reagan’s speech: “We too often talk about trade while using the vocabulary of war. In war, for one side to win, the other must lose. But commerce is not warfare. Trade is an economic alliance that benefits both countries.” Exactly right. But Trump himself is incapable of thinking in anything but zero-sum terms so he has often compared business to war.

And please note this gem in Reagan’s speech: "Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies. They are our allies. We should beware of the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends—weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world—all while cynically waving the American flag."

Ronald Reagan was right, my American friends. You should beware the demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against your friends.

Or rather, you should have been wary. But you weren’t. And you put just such a demagogue in the White House.

Now Canada will burn. And America’s reputation with it.

This is our shared tragedy.