26 August 2026

ALAN HAYES

 

THE antics of Donald Trump come as little surprise to anyone nowadays, but the very idea of a trade war with Canada – a neighbour, an ally and a nation that’s peaceful and whose people have a reputation for kindness – is absurd. But the Mad King is doing it anyway!

 

Trump is imposing a 50 percent tariff on goods coming from Canada — which, as we all know, is an import tax paid by American citizens. The tariffs account for $20 billion of the $382 billion worth of products Americans bought from Canada last year and cover a wide array of goods - more than 500 to be exact.

 

Trump has singled out several Canadian industries — especially forestry, including building products like plywood.

 

The obvious effect will be to make it more expensive to build houses in the United States. Couple this with the rise in long-term interest rates — i.e. mortgage interest rates — courtesy of Trump’s war spending, his tax cuts mainly for the rich and big corporations, and the giant corporate AI debt (encouraged by Trump) — and the result will be to make housing for Americans even less affordable than it already is.

 

This is another example of Trump’s perverse rage. And let's be fair-dinkum here, because no other word than “perverse” can describe what he does. It is deliberately contrary to what’s expected of a president of the United States — ways considered wrong if not stupid by most serious observers — which makes him want to do it all the more.

 

The Mad King has lost his war in Iran, with most Americans, along with the rest of the world, now struggling financially because of his actions.

 

Along with the massive debt being racked up, Trump's mass deportations are another bone of contention with most Americans and extremely unpopular — so what does he do? He gives Canada the finger - a single digit "up yours" - because Canada is exactly the kind of nation that an American bully targets. Bullies always go after targets that won’t or can’t fight back.

 

Trump has been bullying Canada since the start of his second term. Six months ago, Trump suggested the border between Canada and the U.S. was an “arbitrary” line. He’s repeatedly proposed that Canada be annexed as the 51st state. And if Canada doesn't  acquiesce to the Mad King, what then?  He repeatedly said that he’s willing to inflict “economic pain” on Canada to get what he wants.

 

On July 1 this year, Canada’s national holiday, Trump declined to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, which means the agreement will now undergo annual reviews.

 

Trump's revenge on Canada, however, has far more sinister motives, because, like all true megalomaniacal dictators, he detests not getting his own way. He doesn't play well in the sandbox.

 

Trump is enraged that Canadian prime minister Mark Carney claimed in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that the U.S. is no longer a guarantor of stability in the world, and that middle powers like Canada must unite in order to survive. It was a forceful speech, and the first time that a U.S. ally has stood up to Trump.

 

The day after Carney gave his speech, Trump told the same World Economic Forum: “Canada gets a lot of freebies from us. By the way, they should be grateful also, but they’re not. I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful — they should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

 

Trump is a peevish, angry, perverse child. A lunatic child that is very dangerous with the same machinations of what the world witnessed in 1930s Germany.

 

There is little doubt that Trump really is STARK-RAVING MAD, and the question I continually ask myself is how much worse will his behaviour have to get before Republicans and those sycophants that surround him take action to stop him before America falls into an irreversible downhill slide? But in reality do they want to give up all the grifting that they have been part of?

 

A reincarnation of yesteryear

 

It's difficult for us living in Australia to believe the exact import of Trump's actions and the devastating result that can befall our country. But history has a habit of repeating itself, and just like UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain did in the 1930s, countries like Australia are sucking up to a mad ruler and believing all will be well.

 

AUKUS is draining our economy, and apart from paying for phantom submarines - ones that we are unlikely to ever get - Australia is now expected to cough up, along with other western countries, 1.44 billion each to fix America’s F-35 planes after maintenance problems grounded most of the US air fleet.

 

To address why most of the F-35 fleet is out of action, the Pentagon is now spending an extra US$13.7 billion beyond original costings to “reset” its sustainment strategy for the plane, with more than half of that money going to purchase extra spare parts for the jets and to store them where they can be used to maintain working aircraft.

 

Who is paying for that reset? US taxpayers — and you. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Australia, as a “partner nation” for the F-35, is joining with other countries like Italy, Denmark and the United Kingdom to contribute US$1.03 billion (A$1.44 billion) to the reset.

 

This funding from Australian taxpayers to the Trump administration isn’t to fix problems with Australia’s 72 F-35s, which have all been delivered, but to fix problems with American F-35s.

 

On top of the billions of dollars being willing shovelled into wheelbarrows - bound for the Trump coffers - our government has rolled over to Trump's grab of Australian's biometric data.

 

Australia is deeply engaged in discussions with the United States about handing the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — and the militia-like ICE — access to Australians’ biometric data, documents obtained under freedom of information (FOI) show. They also reveal that the US grab for our most unique personal information is significantly wider in scope than indicated by other countries’ negotiations with the US.

 

So, it is not unreasonable to assume that while Trump views Canada as America's rightful 51st state, Australia is seen as a vassal state to kowtow to his inane machinations. But as Trump has repeatedly reiterated - "don't ask for my help if there is war".

 

Trump's machinations, however, go beyond Australia. Let's not forget Greenland! Trump wants that as well - he wants the entire Western Hemisphere. Sound familiar! - sure does. Adolf Hitler had the same dream!

 

Trump has also stated that the U.S. now has "total control" of the Strait of Hormuz, remarking that "we own it", and has threatened to formally declare the critical waterway a U.S. territory. He stated during a rally and media appearances that he would "pretty soon" designate or declare the strait a U.S. territory, which drew a swift pushback from Iranian leadership. Iranian officials dismissed the rhetoric as nonsense, with the foreign ministry asserting that the waterway remains under Iranian and regional sovereign authority.

 

The problem for the world is that Mad King Donald is capable of doing almost anything, and evidently the people around him are either unable to control him or just don't want to.

 

So, the unrestrained public rants, grievances about rigged elections, and unconventional geopolitical demands continue from a man, who the world at large view as dangerous, as he tries to convince anyone who will listen that he is an economic genius and a man of self-made victories. Yet the truth is that Mad King Donald is caught in his own Caligula Trap from which there is no escape, except being thrown out of office and enduring the humiliation that will befall him.

 

As my colleague and friend who lives in California said to me: "Trump's continuation in the presidency constitutes a clear and present danger to the United States. The 25th amendment must be invoked, or he needs to be impeached and convicted of high crimes and misdemeanors. Now!

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