One major disappointment throughout the Wuhan flu crisis has been the constant injection of politics by those trying desperately to defeat Donald Trump in November. Conrad Black opines on the 3M masks “controversy”:
It has been disappointing to read of Canadian outrage at the treatment of 3M Corporation by the U.S. government, which interrupted its exports of respiratory masks. At the time, the scientific experts that U.S. President Donald Trump elevated to the vice-president’s emergency task force (to protect himself from the frenzied attacks of the Democratic media and office-holders that he was a flat-earth philistine who opposed science in general), were telling him that the American health-care system could collapse under the weight of the coronavirus. The Imperial College of Medicine in London had helpfully predicted that it could kill over two million Americans. The governor of New York was predicting a requirement of 20,000 ventilators, and the president had invoked the National Emergencies Act. An American company seemed to be selling to foreign countries articles required to save the lives of Americans. The administration’s reaction was unexceptionable and no other national government would have acted differently. Fortunately, the projected death toll has been revised down drastically.
If the roles were reversed and a Canadian Prime Minister refused to do the same then she [sic] should be removed immediately.
h/t Ontario John
Summed up in a letter to the Calgary Sun.
https://calgarysun.com/opinion/letters/letters-april-10-of-course-donald-trump-is-america-first
Too bad Turdo would throw this country under the bus to appease the CCP and also his pursuit of the elusive UN Security Council sear.
Logic has no place in knee-jerk anti-Americanism.
I wouldn’t be going around linking a letter writer that says “Trump doesn’t have many redeeming features.” Stopped clock, etc.
Or is it de rigueur in the Canadian press to first express your TDS credential before saying anything good about him?
Camouflage.
We know that already. “hmm, someone who thinks like me, thinks that Orange Man Bad might have a redeeming quality. Baa. Baa. Orange Man not-totally-bad.”
You assume too much. Despite the author’s TDS, the point was that Trump is responsible for America first.
I am very impressed by the job Trump is doing for America. If you read my letters to the Sun you’ll find I get offended by the vile hatred for all things Trump. For example, cartoonists Dolighan, Dewar and Donato have gone to my file for low-life assholes. As well, I told the National Post I’d pay an additional $10 per month if they would fire Clemente.
I’m not impressed Scott Moe.
I wonder if you would be as brave to chastise our PM and all federal parties for the way the federal government has been treating the Western Provinces and their very relevant issues.
And then lead us out of CON-federation.
I’ve always been impressed with Premier Moe. He comes across as a firm, strong leader which is exactly what we need in these shitty times. However, I was somewhat disappointed when he went on a tirade against President Trump regarding the mask issue. Now I can understand his anger to a point but where was the outrage when that useless pile of crap in Ottawa saw fit to ship tons of medical supplies to China just before this mess arrived in Canada? The President chose to ensure that there will be an ongoing supply of masks to protect Americans. Trudeau chose to put the welfare of the Chinese ahead of that of Canadians. Who deserves to be chastised?
Scott Moe AND Jason Kenny and Doug Ford. Our Big Three Conservative leaders. So disappointing they couldn’t have taken the time to investigate what the Trump administration was up against before they ranted their displeasure. The, at the time desperate State of Florida was told by 3M to get to the BACK of the line behind Canada and some Latin American countries so what the H$!! was any President to do. Trump’s man in charge, Peter Navarro, decided to press pause till he had a “discussion” with the 3M CEO and two days later if not less exports were flowing again. Instead of waiting 48 hours or less these men couldn’t help themselves from the easiest of virtual signaling. By bashing Trump.
“so what the H$!! was any President to do”
Find an alternate supplier and pony up.
Exactly.
Cheap political (lieberal) posturing.
Moe you and do better than this.
Let’s face it here folks, Canada more than any other county is filled with smug anti American jerks. You would think that not getting evil American masks would be a god send but oh no they were outraged.
A lot of Canadians think that they are liberal Americans.
” His punch-drunk Democratic opponents, to avoid the nomination of a raving Marxist, have had to elevate a spavined wheel-horse and they are heading for the last round-up.”
I think Canada has it’s Churchill….He has most dead-on, and a way with words beyond exceptional….
?? Perhaps you wish to rewrite that last, unintelligable sentence.
Well our government invited Chinese government researchers to work in the dangerous setting of our national virology lab, and the general public either don’t seem to care, or don’t know about it. So a small thing like the allocation of masks would not be likely to move public opinion. Maybe a bad hair day would.
Answer for 10 Alex:
Because it is wrong for a Canadian Prime Minister to protect Canadians?
You have nothing left to say do you, run out of hate?
Blocking companies that depend on global supply chains from exporting undermines the companies and, ultimately, harms Americans. There obviously needs to be a balance (i.e. all of production being exported would clearly be unacceptable) but there is absolutely nothing to admire about Trump’s obsession with optics over substance.
Trump also has no understanding that the majority of US power in the world does not come from military or economic might but from “soft power”. i.e. countries around the would respect the US and see it a trustworthy partner. Trump is systematically destroying US soft power by treating anyone who is not American like garbage. This will also greatly harm the US in the future.
IOW – Trump is constantly undermining US interests. It is simply laughable to suggest he is “protecting Americans”.
Wrongo
The greatest investment in human history has been the US military. Without it the Fed and the US dollar as reserve currency doesn’t happen.
As for global supply-chain and globalization – that all falls to pieces When you get a crisis like this. It happened a n Europe, Asia and North America. And it is completely understandable.
Imagine if there was a famine in Canada. Do you think a prime minister would allow the export of wheat under that circumstance?
If exporting wheat meant we get some other food back then yes I would expect that we would export wheat.
That is the situation with Canada and the US.
Canada ships stuff to the US that US turns into manufactured products.
It is only fair that we get to buy some of those outputs no matter what the crisis.
If we can’t buy those products we stop shipping the inputs and US industries suffer.
Trump is an idiot if he thinks that the US industry could function with only inputs made in the US. Trump is screwing Americans so he can sound good on TV. It is not something that should be admired.
TimG. America goes down the world goes down, with one hell of a bang.
America is not going “go down” if 10% of the gear produced get shipped to their neighbors. Remember this is a country where talking heads wonder if it would better to let the virus kill off hundreds of thousands because the cost of the lockdown is too high.
The idiocy of Trump’s trade policies can be illustrated when a US plant producing ventilators in Mexico was just shut down by the Mexican government because the company said it was not allowed to sell any of those ventilators to Mexico.
Trading with your neighbors – even in emergencies – is only a benefit. Beggar thy neighbor thinking leaves everyone poorer.
“:As for global supply-chain and globalization – that all falls to pieces When you get a crisis like this. ”
It doesn’t have to. It only does because of idiot strongmen like Trump. To the extent that the supply chain is left alone it’s actually working pretty great all things considered.
“The greatest investment in human history has been the US military. Without it the Fed and the US dollar as reserve currency doesn’t happen.”
I think we’ve got our causes and effects backward.
Yup. This is strongmanism and incompetency. Trump should’ve restored the stockpiles Obama drained. Further, this kind of thing can lead to another depression.
Agreed. But blaming Trump for Obama’s mistake seems partisan.
“We always proceed with insufficient knowledge. So be humble.”
Everyone is guilty of painting with a wide brush.
Turdo did not do “Canada” any favours by recently mocking the president of a country that has been importing 80% of our exports.
Trump allowed 3M to ship to Canada, however they might just be passing through.
Canada has been used as a back door for other countries to dump their inferior products into the United States so we should not be so arrogant and surprised when ever they take a second look at dealing with us.
“Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house.”
“Canada has been used as a back door for other countries to dump their inferior products into the United States”
If they were inferior then people wouldn’t buy them.
Like the Chinese medical masks that are the only ones available at high volumes internationally, and repeatedly fail to do what they say they’re gonna do? That’s what people aren’t going to buy anymore, when there is a huge demand and only the sub-standard producers have enough supply?
Shush, the grown-ups are talking.
Well yes. That’s the thing: my choices are for me to make, not you.
Interesting bit on Rush Limbaugh last week where he goes through the Obamacare tax on medical devices and how that lead to offshoring. Imported devices didn’t get taxed as high, so multi-national producers moved much of the production offshore where it was cheaper.