Beware of Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ The man has sinister thoughts on his mind.

The words of German Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemoller about the Nazi holocaust, as visitors to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC look on.

U.S. President Trump basked in his own accomplishments this week as he doled out his tariffs to the world. But despite the continuing popularity at home of his mantra Make America Great Again, Canada, the World and the United States itself must be very wary of the dictums of this dangerous showman.

Just as he did at the Republican Convention last July and in his speech to the two Houses of Congress on March 4, Trump took advantage of less fortunate individuals, treating them as trophies in his ongoing campaign. 

This week he used all the skills of a Nazi propagandist, standing in front of massive Stars and Stripes flags draped on the White House. The world has not seen this type of menace since Adolf Hitler draped his Swastika’s flags at his rallies during his rise to power close to 90 years ago. 

One of the chief Nazis of that era, Herman Goring, said of Hitler at that time, the “Fuhrer is infallible.” 

All the signs of a dictator were on display in the White House Rose Garden. The Secretaries of Trump’s cabinet were in the front row nodding their heads and smiling in agreement. Even auto workers from Detroit were shipped in for the occasion, and they did not need to be prompted to cheer their President.

The tech billionaires were not as prominent as at Trump’s inauguration, but few will forget the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, delivering the Heil Hitler salute in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, the home of U.S. democracy. 

Is this blog column making too much of this connection between Trumpism and fascism? I think not.

The new Republican administration has been rounding up “illegal immigrants” and shipping them in hand cuffs and chains on board planes headed for inhumane jails in Central American counties paid to take them. Legitimate students have been rounded up on American streets by U.S. Government agents. Musk has been clearing out whole government departments with his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The work of the Free Press in American is dismissed as “fake news.”

During Trump’s address this week, it was not difficult to notice his fond reference Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a Democrat, as the only U.S. President in history who served for three terms (1933-1945) and helped greatly in leading his country through the Great Depression and the Second World War. It is no secret that Trump is dropping hints about serving for a third term.

We say all this while wanting to reassure Canadians who have family and friends in the USA, that we are speaking of Trump and not of Americans generally.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first reaction to Donald Trump’s Liberation Day was worldly and rational. He said the Trump tariffs will “fundamentally change the international trading system.”

How could they not? But he spoke with a sincere and reassuring tone.

In fact, Carney mentioned how so many Canadians (parents, grand parents, and in some cases, great grandparents) fought fascism in World War Two. In the case of our own family, one of our granddaughters recently gave a speech before her school class naming, as her hero, her great grandmother who was commanding officer of the Women’s Air Force for Canada in the Second World War.

Carney went on later to make an impressive statement, saying he would continue to fight against Trump’s tariffs despite the fact that the countries of Canada and Mexico were not listed in the chart of virtually all the trading countries of the world who would be subject to tariffs of a minimum of 10 per cent.

In response to these new tariffs, the world is blowing up with anger, and stock and money markets are crashing. The new tariffs have been denounced by the Chancellor of Germany and the President of France.

Large automobile manufacturing nations like Japan are on Trump’s list for new tariffs, because the Japanese discourage entry for U.S.-made vehicles into their country. Japan manufactures high quality and durable cars. But as the industry wag asked, who in Japan would want to buy a U.S.-made car?

Carney noted that one of the Big Three Automobile makers, Stellantis is instituting temporary layoffs, 600 in the U.S. with over 3,000 jobs affected in Canada.

Carney said that a 25 per cent Canadian tariff would be applied on U.S.-made vehicles not covered under the CUSMA (Canada, US, Mexico Trade Agreement). This is all part of the effort to persuade Trump to renew CUSMA and put trade relations back on a North American model.

While Trump’s actions are those of a demagogue, they are also poor economics. Stocks ended with their heaviest losses in five years, and the Dow Jones Industrial average was down over 1,000 points.

Carla Hills, Chief U.S. trade negotiator under an earlier U.S. Republican President, George Bush Sr. commented: “Our credibility has been fractured.” Hills added: “As an American I want to apologise (to) Canada.”

What of the Opposition parties in this country?

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh came up with a sound idea for raising funds for workers affected by the tariffs, proposing a tax-free victory bond similar to those used in fighting wars in the past.

Meanwhile national commentators said that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre today awoke to his proper role and responded directly to the tariff issue. He also made a positive suggestion to help consumers and builders of Canadian-made vehicles, a holiday from HST. However, Poilievre continues to run, incessantly, a TV advertisement which advocates a trading “fortress”, (not a good bet for a trading nation), while Poilievre looks to the heavens in a rather exalted way. 

In the U.S., minor cracks are appearing in Trump’s near unanimous support among Republican Senators. The Senate voted 51-48 to approve a trades bill supporting Canada, and send it to the House of Representatives, where it is considered likely to be shelved. Four Senate Republicans teamed up with Democrats to advance the legislation. It is unlikely that this will break Trump’s MAGA dream.
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Lastly, the Martin Niemoller questions still apply: under Trump, who will be left to speak for truth, freedom and democracy?