Late Breaking Story on the CBC

I’ve been searching for a good map of where Ontario’s 25% tariffs on electricity will hit, and the best source I could find, a vague map, shows me that those areas are northern Minnesota, eastern Michigan and western and northern New York. With the exception of the urban part of eastern Michigan, Buffalo and Syracuse (Rochester has its own electric company), these are red areas of the country. Not to be the cliche pundit, (“Now that I have mastered carbon fiber submarine technology and tariffs, I’ll turn to the electric grid.”) but it looks like the reason the map is so vague is that electricity is re-sold when it gets to the US.

These tariffs are going to suck for all the MAGA voters in those areas. The CBC has helpfully interviewed a few of them. I’m not even going to bother quoting the story, which is good, since the headline tells the tale: Support for Trump remains solid in Upstate N.Y. Support for his tariffs? Not so much. Unlike a US media outlet Cletus safari, this one actually quotes some folks who are mad at Trump, though one of the people quoted said it would be worth it to save lives from fentanyl, so the Fox is strong in many of these folks.

We’ve come to the point in our politics where we start asking just how much shit these people will eat, while thinking it’s chocolate fudge because Fox tells them so.

Canadian politics at this moment are very interesting. In case you missed it, the Liberal Party nominated Mark Carney to lead them in a party election. Carney won 86% of the vote as what I’d characterize as a “steady Eddy” centrist candidate.

But the Tories are divided. Tory Ontario Premier Doug Ford, fresh off of his victory in last month’s election, pretty much gets it on tariffs, as far as I can tell. I dislike his politics and his family’s corruption, but he understands that there’s no bargaining with Trump:

However, as Ford points out in that piece, both Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe (both Tories, basically) have been reluctant to impose tariffs on oil and potash (fertilizer), respectively.

With Trump announcing a further 25% tariff on Canadian Steel and Aluminum, and melting down on Truth Social with more 51st state rhetoric, I’m planning on paying more for gas very soon. If Alberta is Canada’s Texas, then Saskatchewan is Canada’s Dakotas, both are pretty red. But if Smith and Moe have any political sense, they’ll follow Ford’s lead and impose tariffs.

Faster, faster disaster is my motto here. I don’t know what it will take to turn hard-core, Trump flag-flying MAGA voters, but a spike in energy prices will make anyone who isn’t bathing in the KoolAid think twice about the wisdom of voting for Trump.