Miles Taylor, who served as chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Trump’s first term, tore into the administration’s handling of its relationship with Canada in a new Substack post.
“Canada is demonstrating, for every democracy watching, that the response to Trump’s bullying should be neither submission nor hysteria… but the calm construction of alternatives,” he wrote. “Our allies aren’t leaving because they hate America. They’re leaving because they miss us, and they can’t stand the bully who’s holding us hostage.”
Remember boys and girls, if you get to your polling place and they try to say you can’t vote, you say “I’d like to request a provisional ballot as required by law”.
Be a dick about it if you have to, they expect people not to fight, don’t give the bastards an inch.
When is this, November right? Hope it goes well.
Yeah, he’s not exactly hiding it all that well
Anyone who is shocked - hell, even mildly surprised - by this is a complete fucking imbecile, at best.
I understand the “mind melting incompetence” on Canada policy. Destructive incompentence at everything else, and increasing by the week, is global/US collapse level stupid. From Iran war until they surrender costs of them/allies kicking ass every day, to “will stop trade with everyone because imports are theft” is a senility level that requires a Hitler’s bunker level of sycophancy of “agree or be fired” level from cabinet and GOP.
“You have to marvel at the mind-melting incompetence required to produce this outcome,” Taylor wrote, noting Canada and the U.S. share the "longest peaceful border"on Earth, an integrated defense relationship, and a history of fighting alongside each other, with roughly “70% of Canadian exports” flowing to the U.S.
Taylor didn’t hold back on Trump personally, calling him “the stupidest man” he believes has held office in Washington. He noted that even John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, has said Trump is “the most flawed person” he’s ever met.
Taylor added that previously overseas ally officials used to quietly ask “whether America was still America” — but that they’ve “since stopped asking.”
Trump isn’t holding the US hostage. He was elected and is still insanely popular.
Trump, as bad as he is, isn’t the problem. Trump being president is a consequence and manifestation of the dysfunctional political system and culture in the United States. The problems will not end when Trump’s term as president ends.
The United States is not an ally to be depended on. Canada needs to aggressively diversify its relationships and reduce its dependence on trade with the United States, to strengthen itself and improve its resistance and resilience to the ongoing assault and interference.
As the United States continues to decline, its aggressiveness will only increase.
You sure? He just told a crowd in North Carolina that their hurricane relief funds depend on the outcome of the midterms.
In my opinion, he is guilty of blackmail and extortion, regarding the people of North Carolina and many others. He is a despicable criminal enabled by his party and the administration, with no respect for the constitution, the law, the courts, congress, the senate, or anyone else, as far as I can see. But I don’t see that he is guilty of hostage taking, as described by Miles Taylor. And, as bad as he is, he is a small part of the problem for the people of the United States and the world.
You spend too much time on American based media if you think the rise of far-right fascism is exclusive to the United States. It’s happening in countries across the globe.
Go ahead and fan the flames of division with self righteous indignation.
Or you could remember “today you, tomorrow me”. Hate does not care about borders on a map. We are all human and most of us are just trying to get through life. Humanity would get a lot further if we spent more time lifting each other up instead of tearing each other down.
I don’t think the rise of far-right fascism is exclusive to the United States. What did I say that made you think that I did or even might?
Trump being president is a consequence and manifestation of the dysfunctional political system and culture in the United States.
I agree that the rise of the far right is a global phenomenon, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a problem in the United States and certainly doesn’t mean that the problems in the United States, of which the rise of the far right is just one, are not bigger than Trump’s behaviour and authority.
and is still insanely popular.
Based on what facts? Currently, depending on the day, his disapproval rating is lower than Carter’s, which is a historic achievement in unpopularity as presidencies go.
is still insanely popular with the the insane
Unfortunately he’s right, the Orange Turd is still popular among his base of supporters. Watch “the good liars” the guys from the daily show, they go to rally’s and interview the plebs. It’s truly heart breaking to see so many stupid / brain dead cult members. Trump can do no wrong in their eyes.
Key words there: “Among his supporters.”
You only really hear good things about carter these days so I had no idea he was an unpopular president. Looked it up and learned some new stuff, thanks! ☺️
Ratings and polls and sentiments are one thing. I would agree that he is still insanely popular. If a general election were held tomorrow in which Trump could stand he would receive millions of votes. Which is insane.
According to The Economist: 35% still approve and 5% are still undecided
According to Trump Timer: 38% still approve
According to CNN: 33% to 40% still approve depending on the survey
Those approval ratings are insanely high considering his performance.
You’re welcome to interpret the data as you like, but in a historical context, the reverse is true.
What are you trying to say? That in a historical context his current level of support is insanely low and should be higher?
I’ll say it again: his current level of support is insanely high. Given his performance, it should be much lower.
I’m saying that, if you honestly think that, your interpretation doesn’t fit the facts of historical polling on presidential popularity or lack thereof.
But you’re welcome to believe what you want. It’s a waste of time to argue about it.
One of you is thinking about this compared to history and one of you is thinking about this compared to what reality would seem to demand and neither of you are wrong.
We’ll see that unpopularity displayed in the midterm results, or we won’t. But there’s a lot of noise around supporting republicans policies. Whether that’s real or not remains to be seen.
There no way Trump is going to let the mid-terms be a free and fair election. There’s been more than enough signals that he’s going to outright cheat as much as he can.
Nearly every candidate that Donald has backed in 2025 and 2026 elections has lost (excluding primaries, which I don’t really count), and that’s been true in both red and blue states and in many districts he won by double digits in 2024.
This isn’t a scenario where we’re expecting an outcome simply due to polling. There is plenty of real-life, empirical evidence that Republicans are fucked.
Consider how historically unique it is that Republicans and Democrats have angered people to such an extent that we might get a dozen socialists elected this year.
Republicans and Democrats have angered people to such an extent that we might get a dozen socialists elected this year.
Here’s hoping!
I honestly think that some of these accounts will continue to call him “popular” until the guillotines come out. They seem to forget that there is an election coming up in less than 2 months. I guess it’s easy to demand political violence when it’s not their country.
Polls mean nothing, the polls had Kamala leading to win, the world was hopeful that Americans would vote in a competent person.
The debate where he blurted out “they’re eating the cats and dogs” should’ve been a death nail. Nope bloody Americans voted for an orange turd anyhow. The world gasped at how stupid a decision Americans made, and we’ve been gobsmacked since, everyday stupider than the last.
The same polls that find him to be unpopular predicted wins for Hillary and Harris.
The fact is the only popularity rating that matters is the election, and America failed it MISERABLY in 2024.
Yeah the polls are as biased as our media. I don’t trust them either. What I do trust is all of the local activation I have been seeing. It’s one thing to lie to a pollster from the couch, it’s another to physically show up at your local city council meeting. I have been seeing a lot of latter, ngl.
With who owns the big publications these days, a poll saying an opponent is “unpopular” is probably a psyop to get the voters less motivated to show up. Apathy “no way they win, so I dont need to vote”
It’s a “touch grass” situation honestly. Don’t believe the tv or internet. Do connect with your neighbors to chat and organize. No one else can do it for us, it’s just incredibly frustrating. I have mentioned, we’ve self selected into certain regions. The US is currently being held hostage by the tyranny of the minority so we’ve gotta do what we can. I hate that the rest of the country sees a Californian as a non-citizen but I can’t fix that where I am at. I just have to bully all of my friends and family to vote. And I demand those “I Voted” stickers!
Who is demanding violence? Certainly not demanded in anything I said. But it is typical of US rhetoric to jump to violence. That’s part of the problem.
Then what are you asking for? Americans are protesting, in record numbers in fact. They’re going to their local town halls and screaming at their representatives. Some cowards are ditching their public but people are going after them. The DSA has made incredible progress organizing their ground game. People are literally cutting down cameras. What is it that makes you think any of this is popular? What else should we be doing?
You need to educate the >30% that still support Trump and his party.
You need to educate people generally. There is no quick fix for what ails the United States. It will take decades and probably generations.
You need to restore the rule of law and compassion for your fellows. Not fascist brutality, but just laws applied to all with reasonable force and consequences. And it has to apply to presidents and billionaires as much as to homeless people.
You need to do something about the grotesque and harmful disparity of wealth. Not just the occasional, sensational murder. Real structural change and stop venerating the greedy sociopaths. There has never been a ‘free’ economy. Capitalism exists only to the extent that governments support it. Unregulated, it is harmful. You need to reign it in. Not eliminate it, there is much that is good about it. But currently, it has run amok and is obviously dysfunctional.
You need healthcare, shelter and food security for everyone. That the wealthiest society in the history of humanity has homeless people dying on the streets without healthcare is a travesty.
You have nailed the basic rot of our society but underestimate the work. Community has fragmented so much that reaching these people is, well difficult. There is a few major problems, first the media has done an incredible job of convincing a major portion of the population to hate their own children. I am still amazed they pulled off this alchemy, but people who identify as conservative are willing to believe that their own adult children are just lazy lairs corrupted by the liberal media instead of the basic fact that capitalism is failing young people. It’s baffling and terrifying that they’re willing to cut off family instead of examining their own circumstances. Second, furthering the community collapse is the lack of jobs in rural areas. Educated Americans go to get jobs, but jobs that require a college education only spawn in blue areas. So these folks tend to be branded traitors by the community they left behind and the new area they vote in already agrees with them. It’s a huge self selection bias. Ugh then there’s AI and social media making the disinformation even worse and I am trying to disentangle that in my own family.
TL:DR- we’re really sick and distrustful. People are trying and while you’re not wrong to criticize please give us some grace as we figure out how to out maneuver our billionaire controlled media to undo this brainwashing. Also you’re not wrong saying it will take decades.
Hear, hear!
It’s a long journey. I hope the upcoming elections prove a small step towards improvement.
Most of the world can’t vote in them, despite the outsized impact of them on everyone. The American Revolution long ago coined the slogan “No taxation without representation”, for good reason. I think a better slogan for the modern era would be “No invasion without representation” but, of course, it won’t happen. But maybe the United States at least will not progress to a hot war with Canada. That would be good.
I wish good luck to all the reasonable, moral people trying to do the right things, who are able to vote. I know there are many.
A year ago they’d be kinda sorta right.
Donald’s miscalculation was thinking that people supporting a mass deportation meant support for a Gestapo rebrand of ICE. Ever since LA, Chicago, Portland, and Minnesota he has been DEEPLY unpopular and the 2025 and 2026 elections (so far) represent that unpopularity well. Watching grown men chase down and tackle fifth graders and shooting people in the street pissed a lot of people off.
That’s part of it. The other part is there seems to be a looooot of local activation for data centers, flock cameras, and book bans. On a local level people are turning out to scream at their local officials, at a level I have never seen. I may be an optimist, but the American people seem to be more plugged in. The sky high gas rates for a pointless war of choice isn’t helping his cause any either. Don’t get me wrong the ICE stuff is a goddamn travesty, but there’s so much other bull shit going on too that we seem to have a lot of really strange coalitions forming these days.
Yes, the Iran War was the proverbial nail in the coffin.
The only reason he got elected by such a diverse coalition is that Donald and Harris were gaslighting people on the economy and largely disconnected from the struggle of the poor and middle class, and Republicans ran on affordability.
This. The republicans have completely failed on the “affordability” narrative to the point where their own base isn’t buying it anymore. Between defunding healthcare and the real time impacts of DOGE fucking up, well gestures vaguely at everything. It’s almost impossible to pick a single unifying issue since there is so much fucked up right now. I think it’s hard to build a narrative because there’s so much discontent but there’s so many angry people that I can’t call Trump popular.
