{"id":891220,"date":"2026-09-11T02:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T02:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/891220\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T02:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T02:30:12","slug":"trump-stumbles-as-flunkies-around-him-give-dumber-and-dumber-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/891220\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump stumbles as flunkies around him give dumber and dumber advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump at the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas on Wednesday.RONALDO SCHEMIDT\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gus Carlson is a U.S.-based columnist for The Globe and Mail.<\/p>\n

Conventional wisdom suggests that in politics and in business, a leader\u2019s ability to make sound decisions depends heavily on the accuracy and insight of the information received from advisers \u2013 and his or her willingness to listen.<\/p>\n

For U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>, his stumble on Monday over the demonization of Bombardier as an example of inequitable trade with Canada proved once again that the White House flunkies \u2013 including some in cabinet positions \u2013 giving Mr. Trump policy guidance need to do more homework. And he needs to check his sources.<\/p>\n

Rather than being a symptom of what Mr. Trump describes as Canada using the U.S. as a \u201cpiggybank,\u201d Bombardier is actually the poster child for cross-border co-operation that is benefiting the U.S. as much as anyone. His rant on Truth Social that \u201cif they want our Market, they must build here\u201d was quickly torpedoed by a blizzard of evidence showing that Bombardier does, in fact, build in the U.S. A lot. <\/p>\n

Bombardier shares fall after Trump threatens ban on U.S. sales<\/a><\/p>\n

The company employs more than 3,500 people in 20 states and its supply chain comprises almost 3,000 companies in 47 states. Underscoring the holes in Mr. Trump\u2019s ultimatum, Bombardier actually sources more than 50 per cent of its aircraft components from U.S. manufacturers \u2013 more than its American competitors such as Gulfstream. Bombardier is also a preferred partner to the U.S. military.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen this movie before in this administration \u2013 some instances have been consequential; others have been just plain weird, and in any other context, would have been a source of embarrassment. <\/p>\n

On the consequential scale, the failure of senior advisers to heed U.S. intelligence warnings that if attacked, Iran would block the Strait of Hormuz, and who then encouraged Mr. Trump to move forward with an attack, was right up there on the dumb-and-dumber scale. The experts in question, including Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, should have known better. After all, about one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply passes through the strait, and any disruption would be felt in markets around the world \u2013 including those in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The repercussions of the war on global oil markets have been predictably significant. Oil prices rose immediately on the first attacks \u2013 they are still yo-yoing, sometimes in the US$100 per barrel range \u2013 and gas prices followed. The forced Mr. Trump\u2019s hand to dip into the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a move that did little to ease the pressure at the pumps or on the pocketbooks of his GOP faithful. <\/p>\n

On the weird side is the White House\u2019s obsessive \u2013 and unpopular \u2013 battle with media outlets critical of Mr. Trump, especially late night talk show hosts such as Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert. <\/p>\n

ABC\u2019s Jimmy Kimmel says James Talarico interview to air on YouTube after FCC threats<\/a><\/p>\n

Leading the charge has been Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, who has threatened to revoke the broadcast licences of major networks because of critical coverage of Mr. Trump that he blames for driving down the President\u2019s approval ratings to historically low levels. The posture backfired \u2013 public sentiment was solidly against the threats and a flood of lawsuits has followed.<\/p>\n

Some have argued that Mr Carr was just doing Mr. Trump\u2019s bidding and is nothing more than a water-carrier for a notoriously thin-skinned boss who has no problem going on the attack against those who say mean things about him. And clearly, as former Trump cabinet members such as Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi learned the hard way, if you\u2019re not part of the solution \u2013 as in his solution \u2013 you\u2019re part of the problem. <\/p>\n

One pressing question is whether these missteps will hurt GOP candidates in the midterm elections this November. Reaction to Mr. Trump\u2019s comments on Bombardier suggest the party is concerned. Several prominent Republicans from Kansas, where Bombardier\u2019s U.S. operations are headquartered, pushed back on Mr. Trump, desperate to protect local jobs and economic stability.<\/p>\n

Roger Marshall, for example, a Republican U.S. senator for Kansas up for re-election, said he would fight to save Bombardier jobs in his state: \u201cI\u2019ve already taken that concern inside the Oval Office,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

The other \u2013 and perhaps more pressing question \u2013 is whether Mr. Trump and his advisers are listening.<\/p>\n

New reports this week suggest that the President\u2019s aides have stopped giving him advice or trying steer him away from potential potholes because he doesn\u2019t listen to them anyway. <\/p>\n

One widely quoted anonymous administration source said many in Mr. Trump\u2019s inner circle have adopted a \u201cWhy bother? He\u2019s the boss\u201d policy.<\/p>\n

That means we can expect more Bombardier-esque whiffs to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. President Donald Trump at the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":891221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-891220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/891221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}