Luckily, there are no tariffs on Doug Ford’s media appearances.
Or this province would be bankrupt. The premier of Ontario is now the King of News south of the border. On Wednesday morning, Mr. Ford took to ABC airwaves to shred the Most Idiotic Trade War in History.
Canada loves America, Ford explained, but we can’t abide an unprovoked economic assault without fighting back hard. Ford was perched in front of a “Canada Is Not For Sale” backdrop. He exuded the body language of a reluctant street brawler with a gentle heart.
We didn’t ask for this. But we will finish it.
The night before, Ford was on MSNBC with host Nicolle Wallace. I marvelled at his message discipline and instant recall of trade arcana. If Ontario was a stand-alone country, we’d be the No. 1 trading partner to 17 states. Ontario keeps the lights on for 1.5 million homes and businesses in New York, Michigan and Minnesota. America needs our lumber, aluminum, potash and high-grade nickel. Ontario consumes more booze than Stephen King did circa “Cujo.”
This wasn’t a musty interview with a politician. Ford delivered a tour de force defending his country. He came across as both regretful of the situation and ready to rumble. As with a previous hit on CNN, Mr. Ford calibrated the blame: “There is one person who created this chaos and that’s President Trump.”
And with that, Ford is now trumping Donald Trump on TV.
The comms shop at Queen’s Park must be working overtime. In the last week, “Doug Ford” has appeared in 2,550 stories in the Factiva media database. That’s four times as many as for “Justin Bieber.” For segment producers, Ford is a bigger “get” than Meghan Markle.
One of Ford’s recent quotes: “If they (America) want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything, including cutting off their energy with a smile on my face.” That went viral. It was a most-read story on The Hill this week and it set off a barrage of angry comments on Fox News.
MSNBC’s Wallace smirked after Ford calmly explained why he killed a $100-million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink: “We tore it up. I can’t have anyone who is connected so deeply with President Trump trying to destroy our province and trying to destroy our country. It’s unacceptable.”
As Ford was interviewed on ABC, they briefly cut to footage of LCBO staffers removing American bottles from store shelves. As he explained: “That’s the last thing I want to do. I want to put more alcohol on the shelves. I want to give you more electricity. I want to do everything I can to continue having a great relationship with our closest friend that we absolutely love.”
In a previous life, I worked in PR. I’d be high-fiving Ford if he was my client for nailing the pitch-perfect tone.
I get that Ford is a polarizing figure in these parts. Anytime I say anything nice about the man, my wife glances at me as if I’m petting a scorpion. But Ford deserves credit for jumping into this trade war abyss with his metaphorical fists clenched toward the American cameras.
We will get hurt. But you will get hurt more.
Maybe I did get stung by a scorpion. Maybe I’m losing consciousness.
But I’ve never been so proud of our politicians.
Ford to NBC News: “I’m going to tell you exactly what’s going to happen here. You know, President Trump ran on a mandate to create more jobs, keep inflation low and lower costs. It’s going to work totally opposite. Plants will close down within a week … Manufacturing will stop. And the people of the U.S. — which I absolutely love the American people — they are going to be paying more. The market is going to go downhill faster than the American bobsled team.”
Ford is delivering great lines to the American media. Is it working?
There are signs members of Trump 2.0 — the ones who grasp the inescapable perils of taking a sledgehammer to the markets and global supply chains — may be gently leaning on the doofus-in-chief to rethink his bonkers tariffs. Then again, it’s easier to teach English to a Siberian Husky than to get Trump to change his mind. So we shall see what happens before Florida oranges become a luxury buy.
In the interim, a tip of my “Canada Is Not For Sale” hat to Doug Ford for his fighting spirit as he storms the American media with facts and quips and dire warnings. Trump watches more TV than a Netflix exec. He is now seeing Ford rip him a new one every day on every network.
Nobody wanted the Most Idiotic Trade War in History.
But it’s great to see Doug Ford pummel Donald Trump in the media war.
