WEBVTT - Why Trump's Aggression Towards Canada Is "A Moral Outrage"

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<v Speaker 1>Well, let's continue the conversation as our next guest has

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<v Speaker 1>written and spoken out against the Trump tariffs. For over

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<v Speaker 1>ten years, Steven Smith ran Republican campaigns and war rooms,

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<v Speaker 1>including those for George W. Bush and John McCain's presidential bids.

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<v Speaker 1>He has since left the Republican Party and has founded

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<v Speaker 1>a sub stack called The Warning with Steve Schmidt. Steve Smith,

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<v Speaker 1>thank you for joining us.

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<v Speaker 2>My pleasure, happy to be with you.

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<v Speaker 1>So as I said, you have written and essentially come

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<v Speaker 1>to Canada's defense by criticizing Trump's languaging around making this

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<v Speaker 1>country the fifty first state. Why did you decide to

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<v Speaker 1>do that?

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<v Speaker 2>It's a moral outrage and every American should feel outraged

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<v Speaker 2>by it. Canada is a charter member of the nations

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<v Speaker 2>that rebuilt the world from the ashes. Canadian boys landed

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<v Speaker 2>on Juno Beach next to American and Britain and French

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<v Speaker 2>and Poles and Dutch and all of the members of

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<v Speaker 2>the United Nations that together came to a redwood grove

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<v Speaker 2>in Mere Woods outside of San Francisco to remember the

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<v Speaker 2>life of Franklin Roosevelt, and the plaque there commemorates in

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<v Speaker 2>his life a behalf of the United Nations that he

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<v Speaker 2>founded as an apostle of peace. Roosevelt and Mackenzie King,

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<v Speaker 2>the Canadian Prime Minister, late at night in the nineteen

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<v Speaker 2>forty four nineteen forty five timeframe, are imagining the world

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<v Speaker 2>to be, and Roosevelt says to him that he hopes

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<v Speaker 2>it will endure for as long as everybody who is

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<v Speaker 2>alive on the day the war is one is still alive.

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<v Speaker 2>The youngest of those people are eighty years old. Donald

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<v Speaker 2>Trump is smashing is the Atlantic Charter, is the agreements

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<v Speaker 2>in Quebec, in Tehran and Yalta that laid the foundation

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<v Speaker 2>for the greatest period of prosperity in world history. And

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<v Speaker 2>as an American, one of the great blessings we have

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<v Speaker 2>is the great nation to our north that we are

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<v Speaker 2>intertwined with by family, connection, by blood, connection by sacrifice.

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<v Speaker 2>And Canada, the oldest bilingual democracy in the world, the

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<v Speaker 2>second largest land mass in the world, is a great

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<v Speaker 2>force for good. And America is blessed to share the

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<v Speaker 2>longest undefended boundary in world history with Canada. And the

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<v Speaker 2>American people and American presidents all throughout our history have

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<v Speaker 2>recognized this relationship and its dignity, and there are a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of American to ours out raged as Canadians are

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<v Speaker 2>about the attack upon it.

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<v Speaker 1>Why do you think Donald Trump is so obsessed with

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<v Speaker 1>Canada and this languaging of aneking our country is Is

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<v Speaker 1>there actually something he wants out of Canada or is

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<v Speaker 1>this political distraction for what's going on in the United States.

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<v Speaker 2>I think Donald Trump's threat should be taken very seriously.

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<v Speaker 2>He waited for two hours on a phone for Vladimir

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<v Speaker 2>Putin to pick up. I can't explain to you what

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<v Speaker 2>his fetish is, what it may be. I just know

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<v Speaker 2>that Donald Trump admires every strong man in autocrat It

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<v Speaker 2>seems to have fantasies that day together will divide up

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<v Speaker 2>the world. That he's some sort of Caesar, a new king,

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<v Speaker 2>that Elon Musk is his duke, his prime minister, freed

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<v Speaker 2>to roam the planet, spending hundreds of millions of dollars

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<v Speaker 2>here and there to destabilize democracy, while delivering Hitler salutes

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<v Speaker 2>that he says are not Hitler salutes, and so on

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<v Speaker 2>and so forth. The reality is that Donald Trump is

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<v Speaker 2>a predator who sees riches in Canada, does not see

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<v Speaker 2>our shared values and ideals, He sees things. He looks

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<v Speaker 2>at the ground, he sees gold, and he says, that's

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<v Speaker 2>what makes us rich. Not our ideals, not our values,

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<v Speaker 2>not what Thomas Payne talked about. A quality that is

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<v Speaker 2>celestially priced and priced high, indeed, which is freedom. Donald

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<v Speaker 2>Trump doesn't understand the concept, doesn't appreciate it. When you

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<v Speaker 2>talk about pluralism, you talk about democracy, when you talk

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<v Speaker 2>about equality, he thinks those are weak and wishy, washy words.

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<v Speaker 2>He's a man who looks at Vladimir Putin and he

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<v Speaker 2>sees strength, and he believes that might makes right. And

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<v Speaker 2>he's a So he looks at Canada and he says,

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<v Speaker 2>what can I take from our friend? Because he perceives

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<v Speaker 2>Canada as weak and doesn't see the hidden beneath. The

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<v Speaker 2>benign nature of the Canadian people is a great strength,

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<v Speaker 2>and that strength is bound by the commitment to maintain freedom.

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<v Speaker 1>Now you say, in fact, that Canada needs to be

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<v Speaker 1>a rattlesnake and strike back against Trump. What do you

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<v Speaker 1>mean by that? What should Canada be doing right now?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, the rattlesnake is a great animal to use as

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<v Speaker 2>a metaphor. The best way to avoid a snake bite

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<v Speaker 2>is don't pick up the snake. This is a trillion

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<v Speaker 2>dollar trading relationship. And if Canada is to be pushed

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<v Speaker 2>into a recession by Donald Trump's madness, that what Canada

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<v Speaker 2>needs to do is push America into recession. That the

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<v Speaker 2>politician who seems most to understand Donald Trump in Canada

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<v Speaker 2>is Premier Doug Ford, who appreciates that when a bully

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<v Speaker 2>puts a finger in your chest, you break it. You

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<v Speaker 2>don't take a step backwards. And if it comes to it,

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<v Speaker 2>the American people need to have the lights turned out

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<v Speaker 2>on them by the Premiere of Ontario to get their

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<v Speaker 2>attention that Donald Trump's economic war, and it is an

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<v Speaker 2>economic war, will not be cost free for Americans, and

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<v Speaker 2>so Donald Trump has to be stopped. And what stops

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<v Speaker 2>Donald Trump is a quick cratering of the economy by

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<v Speaker 2>people escalating and not being pushed around, not being jerked around,

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<v Speaker 2>whim from erratic whim day to day, while forty million

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<v Speaker 2>people are made to feel anxious unsafe. Our democracies are

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<v Speaker 2>bound together by what Roosevelt called the four freedoms freedom

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<v Speaker 2>of speech, freedom of faith and religion, freedom from fear,

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<v Speaker 2>and freedom from want. And Donald Trump is using fear

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<v Speaker 2>as a weapon, and he's trying to destabilize the economy,

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<v Speaker 2>to weaken Canada politically. And what I would say is

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<v Speaker 2>to Canadians, do not spend a dollar in the United States.

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<v Speaker 2>Do not go on vacation in the United States. It's

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<v Speaker 2>a twenty billion dollar part of the American economy. Take

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<v Speaker 2>it away. What I say to Americans who are friends

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<v Speaker 2>of Canada, go to Canada on vacation this summer, go

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<v Speaker 2>skiing Canada this winter. Stand by Canada as Canada is

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<v Speaker 2>under assault, an attack by an American president who seeks

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<v Speaker 2>to obliterate what generations of Americans and Canadians built together,

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<v Speaker 2>which is a for human dignity across a vast frontier.

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<v Speaker 2>And so the answer to all of this is no,

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<v Speaker 2>thank you. We have to hold firm and we have

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<v Speaker 2>to make clear that Donald Trump's White House understands both

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<v Speaker 2>the American side of the border and the Canadian side

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<v Speaker 2>of the border will not tolerate this insanity.

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<v Speaker 1>Steve Smith, I appreciate the time, thank you for the words.

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<v Speaker 1>This evening

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<v Speaker 2>My pleasure