Doc Searls Weblog

2 responses to “Headnesday, the Longer”

1. 

   Chris Corrigan

   March 6, 2026 at 1:28 pm

   The LA Times story says that Canadian boycotts of US goods are over tariffs. I do t think that is really true. At the moment our economy is still ruled by the free trade agreement and although some sectors have been baked by Trump’s tariffs the real reason Canadians are boycotting US products and travel is that Donald Trump and his foot soldiers regularly make threats to annex Canada. It is the existential threat that is pissing us off, not tariffs. I write about this on my blog today but it is astonishing to me that this isn’t obvious to Americans journalists and analysts. Trump and his cronies are actively supporting secessionist movements in western Canada and sowing chaos on platforms like Facebook through targeted bot campaigns.

   Canadians are saying “what the fuck?” to all that because, well, what the actual fuck? And that’s why we’ve stopped buying, stopped visiting and stopped saying nice things

   Of course, not all Americans etc. But Jesus. Enough of you with power and influence are meddling in our country and the least we can do is let your grapes rot on the vine.

   The Times article, as does much of the analysis, just glosses over how brutal this change in relations has been. And we don’t even have tariffs on most things at the moment.

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   1. 

      Doc Searls

      March 12, 2026 at 7:39 pm

      Years ago I knew a briliant guy with an amazing instinct for business and especially deals, but one time he threw a monkey wrench into a deal with which many of his friends and colleagues were involved (me included). In response this guy’s college roommate said “I don’t know whether it’s drugs, or hormones, or gas, but every once in a while that guy comes you straight off the wall.”

      That one-liner has echoed in my mind through the whole Trump Era. The difference is, everything Trump does is straight off the wall. His followers and fans, which include the whole Republican (now MAGA) party, seem to think that Trump is playing four dimensional chess. But, as one wise commentator put it, Trump is actually like a three year old eating the pieces. He is wrecking the world, and wrecking his country, its neighbors, its allies, and … so much more to say, but it’s being said already to little effect.

      My apologies, as an Arerican and a human being, to everyone. I just hope that democracy will win in November and in years to follow. In the meantime, we’re all living through a hurricane of Bad Shit that won’t go away.

      As for the NY Times, glossing is a lot of what it does. But it’s the last standing national newspaper. Most of the rest are damaged or gone. The mainstream has become the redstream: on radio, television, in social media, and in podcasting. I wrote this a year and a half ago. It’s much worse now.

      The reason I don’t talk politics much here is that I would rather write about and do stuff that has good effects, or is at least interesting and harmless. And there are so many great people, from all over the political spectra, that are better at that than I am.

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