THE MASTER SALESMAN
Let’s rise above protectionism: Simons
Once, they loved us.
On Feb. 28, Gallup released a poll showing Canada was the country viewed most favourably by Americans. Four months ago, Gallup found 94 per cent of Americans had a positive view of Canada. Only six per cent viewed North Korea favourably. That was then.
On Wednesday, another American polling company, Public Policy Polling, released new numbers, tracking American public opinion on a wide range of issues. The polling was done on Saturday and Sunday, as Donald Trump and his senior advisers were staging their post- G7 tantrums and consigning Justin Trudeau to a super-special place in Hell.
It would be nice to think that Trump’s Trudeau-taunting Twitter snit wouldn’t be able to shake America’s faith in Canadians. But it would appear that where their president leads, many Americans dutifully follow.
This new poll found just 66 per cent of Americans have a favourable view of Canada. Among those who voted for Trump, only 54 per cent have a positive view of this country.
It could be worse. When asked if they thought America should seek to punish Canada for its role in the War of 1812, only eight per cent of Trump voters actually thought the U.S. government should retaliate for that whole burning-down-the-White-House business. Another 17 per cent just weren’t sure.
Jim Williams, a polling analyst with Public Policy Polling, said they added the questions about Canada to the poll just before the G7 summit began. They hadn’t expected the poll to be as timely as it was.
But Williams said this kind of Trump Effect is nothing new.
“Before 2016, when we did polls, Republican voters did not like Vladimir Putin. They thought he was a despot. Then Trump was elected, and all of a sudden, Republicans in America now like Putin.”
It’s not entirely fair to compare the Gallup numbers from February with the Public Policy Polling numbers now. Two different polling companies, two different methodologies.
But last June, Public Policy Polling did ask a poll question about prominent national leaders, which found that, a year ago, Trudeau was more popular with American voters than was Trump, their own president.
We could just laugh this off. After all, the same poll that showed Americans souring on Canada also asked people how they’d react if Trump shot former FBI director James Comey. (The answer? Only 63 per cent of Republicans thought the president should be prosecuted for shooting a political enemy.)
But there is something deeply unnerving in Trump’s genius for manipulating public opinion. He’s the master salesman. He’s truth-proof.
He tells Americans the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada. He tells them a trade deficit is a terrible thing. He tells them Trudeau stabbed him in the back. Those statements are manifestly false. No matter. Trump and his staffers simply repeat them over and over, aided and abetted by simplistic headline news reporting that amplifies their assertions without context. Hey presto! People are convinced.
Trump meets with Kim Jong Un, praises him as a boy genius with a great personality who loves his people. Hey presto! Trump’s followers believe a murderous demagogue is a dear, great leader.
Orwell wrote about a Ministry of Truth, a sinister agency to brainwash people. But Trump doesn’t even need the kind of coercive state propaganda that Kim uses to manipulate his people. He just does his Jedi mind trick, casts his Confundus charm like a Harry Potter character, and suddenly, millions accept that up is down, that hot is cold, that Canada is a threat to America and North Korea is not.
Canada’s leaders, across the political spectrum, have done an exemplary job of presenting a coherent united front. Sure, my own Twitter feed is clogged with Canadian conservatives who hate Trudeau and love Trump so much that they’re now fawning over Kim. But a recent Abacus poll says 80 per cent of Canadians oppose Trump’s tariffs and almost as many say they’re responding, whether that means cancelling a holiday or buying a different brand of ketchup.
Yet while a surge of patriotic feeling seems called for, we shouldn’t fall too deeply into nationalist or protectionist thinking ourselves. A full-on trade war could have catastrophic economic casualties. That leaves us to navigate Trump’s minefield, never knowing what word or gesture might trigger an explosion.
Meantime, rather than American-bashing, we must muster all the American goodwill we can — if not from Washington, then from the ordinary Americans who once saw us as their trusted friend. Right now, we need all the allies we can get.