CBCNEWS — Live Cross Country Check Up
20261011 200000 UTC
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[00:00:30] in the host of cross country checkup, we're about to start the
[00:00:33] of show and we have lot to talk about, but first here are few stories to get you
[00:00:37] ready for that
[00:00:38] of conversation
[00:00:38] of
[00:00:38] today.
[00:00:39] of is there
[00:00:42] anything like a trump rally? is there anything like?
[00:00:49] in i don't. it used to be that US president Donald Trump could count on Texas for mammoth devoted crowds. but
[00:00:53] Wednesday night's
[00:00:54] of rally, interrupted by protester. these are
[00:00:57] of paid protesters, they're paid by enemies of... our nation
[00:01:01] after protester after
[00:01:03] of protester, he's
[00:01:04] of going back home to
[00:01:05] of mom right now, he's going to get
[00:01:06] of the hell b out, those rude gestures, indicative
[00:01:10] a of
[00:01:10] a how polls suggest many in the country are feeling, trump's
[00:01:15] in of approval at rock bottom
[00:01:19] of of and his policies and decisions fair no better, voters turned off by tariffs and the war in Iran, and
[00:01:23] one stubborn issue in particular, he absolutely failed to
[00:01:26] deliver on the thing that made lot of voters swing to him.
[00:01:30] prices are 33% higher than they were before
[00:01:34] of the uh pandemic. Democrats are
[00:01:36] in widely expected to win control
[00:01:38] of the house, but the senate could also be slipping from the
[00:01:41] GOP's grasp. A recent New York Times CNA poll
[00:01:44] showing
[00:01:45] of democratic contenders ahead in Texas,
[00:01:48] of Ohio
[00:01:49] of and of Alaska, of and
[00:01:50] of a surprisingly tight of races in deep red Iowa and
[00:01:54] Kansas. The policies main
[00:01:56] of senator Susan Collins
[00:01:57] of tried of to distance herself from Trump during a... I'm not
[00:02:00] exactly his favorite uh senator, and then
[00:02:04] there's Mike Rogers big flip flop in Michigan. This was the
[00:02:08] Trump aligned Senate candidate
[00:02:10] in august. The
[00:02:11] a Canadians of in have not been good partners on this, but as Trump's trade war with
[00:02:15] of of Canada has proved
[00:02:16] in disastrous with voters, drinking a la bat and watching the red wings.
[00:02:20] Rogers is now practically wrapping himself
[00:02:22] in a maple leaf flag. We know that Canada is not our enemy.
[00:02:26] We need to end this tariff war now,
[00:02:29] of but Republicans. do have one major advantage over
[00:02:32] democrats, vastly larger multi-million dollar war
[00:02:36] chest. the fact that the money is there uh, and we're leading and
[00:02:40] spending
[00:02:41] of in in several
[00:02:41] of the the swing states here, that's actually a great sign, and of course
[00:02:45] the president also has his
[00:02:46] of own $400 million campaign coffer, he's been
[00:02:49] in
[00:02:49] of prying open to help Republicans, but time is growing
[00:02:52] short. and Katy, I mean, despite Trump being a
[00:02:56] drag on some Republican candidates, democrats are hardly.
[00:03:00] success across the board, are they? no, not at all. mean, there's a governor's
[00:03:04] race that's tighten in Wisconsin and Michigan Senate race with razerthin margins
[00:03:08] in take Minnesota. there's a senate seat up for grabs, once
[00:03:11] of considered reliably safe for democrats, but it's a toss up between the democratic
[00:03:15] candidate and the republican, a former NFL sideline reporter Michelle
[00:03:18] Tafoya. that's in part
[00:03:20] of because the democrat led state uh, it's been turnished by by
[00:03:24] fraud and spending headlines. all right, thank you Katie. that's Katie
[00:03:28] Nicholson in Washington. in the border state of
[00:03:32] Maine, Donald Trump is not very
[00:03:33] of popular a and his tariffs aren't either. Maine is pretty important in US politics
[00:03:37] right now, that's because there's a tight race here for US senate, and its
[00:03:41] winner could
[00:03:44] of in determine which party controls congress after the
[00:03:45] of of mid-terms. Republican Susan Collins has held her
[00:03:46] of seat of in Maine for 30
[00:03:51] of of years. You can't spell season without USA. I asked her if she thinks Trump's
[00:03:55] trade war will
[00:03:56] of hurt her re-election chances. I'm
[00:03:58] of much more concerned about the... impact on the
[00:04:03] of of people of Maine in general, um, many of our products, whether it's
[00:04:06] of blueberries a or
[00:04:07] a potatoes or timber
[00:04:09] of or lobster are harvested here, but
[00:04:12] processed in
[00:04:14] of of Canada, of means
[00:04:15] of of of economy is really closely tied to Canada's, each year there's about 6
[00:04:19] billion US dollars in
[00:04:21] of two-way trade crossing the
[00:04:22] of border. At this annual country fair, voters aren't too thrilled about
[00:04:25] of Trump's of trade war. Can I ask you about Canada? I love Canada, it's
[00:04:29] embarrassing. Absolutely embarrassing, I'm embarrassed,
[00:04:32] the way we've treated you. our relationship is is
[00:04:36] of awful, of canadians of hate us, we have horrible, mean,
[00:04:40] selfish president, but head over to this parade
[00:04:43] in a different town, you'll find different takes. I think Canada's taken advantage
[00:04:47] of the United States lot, they had unfair tariffs on us for
[00:04:51] many, many years, especially on Lobster, mumber. Susan Collins
[00:04:54] has held to her seat for so long, partly because she's been willing to
[00:04:58] defy Trump, including... on the trade war, Canada's our
[00:05:02] friend, our neighbor, our biggest trading
[00:05:05] partner, and I've burge the administration to get back to the
[00:05:09] table. This is her democrat
[00:05:11] of opponent, of Troy of Jack. and he's not impressed by what Collins has done about
[00:05:15] tariffs, everything costs more for people, and you can
[00:05:18] tell uh, it's a big deal, because Susan Collins was writing concerned
[00:05:22] letters, Donald Trump about trying to get these things straightened
[00:05:26] out, people are uh really, really
[00:05:28] frustrated, and uh, and they're frustrated that
[00:05:32] a president just unilaterally puts these on, takes them off, to
[00:05:36] win control the senate, the democrats need to flip at least four republican
[00:05:40] seats in the midterms, that'll be almost impossible.
[00:05:46] Choose clicks, choose the algorithm, choose doom scrolling at
[00:05:50] 3:00 a.m. choose headlines that scream, choose fake friends,
[00:05:54] deep fakes and comment wars that never end, choose the
[00:05:57] chaos, choose the noise or
[00:06:01] don't, choose news that's checked, verified,
[00:06:05] accountable, choose being there where the stories are, choose
[00:06:09] proof over panic, sense over madness.
[00:06:13] Choose news, not noise. The complicated
[00:06:17] logistics the world's biggest election. You walk into the
[00:06:20] hospital and what hits you? The chaos. This is our world,
[00:06:24] this is the
[00:06:25] national.
[00:06:31] At this point before a midterm election, you're talking about your September, October
[00:06:35] polling. The worst I've ever seen is Donald
[00:06:38] John Trump. Hi, I'm Saroja
[00:06:42] Queelo. cross-country checkup is live. Some
[00:06:45] Canadians are sort of putting eggs in the basket of thinking, well, if the house
[00:06:49] and it flipped and Trump will have his wings clipped and there won't be lot he can
[00:06:53] do, and maybe the temperature will come down,
[00:06:56] maybe. What questions do you have about the
[00:07:00] US mid-term elections? What's it stake for Canada, and what's it
[00:07:03] stake for
[00:07:04] you?
[00:07:08] You can call us at 1888-416.
[00:07:12] 8333 again, that number is
[00:07:15] 1888-416-833.
[00:07:20] Will we face more hurdles, will there be
[00:07:22] investigations, supinas to his family, to his
[00:07:26] business associates, other things like that, will he face impeachment? How much
[00:07:30] would actually change if power does go to the
[00:07:34] Democrats in Congress? The countdown is
[00:07:37] to the US mid-term elections, with less than a month until the Americans go
[00:07:41] back to the pool. and if the polls are to be believed,
[00:07:45] republicans are in for major shakeup and democrats are gaining
[00:07:49] ground in traditionally safe red states. inflation is up, gas
[00:07:53] prices too, and experts warn that Trump's tariff policy
[00:07:57] could be making economic situations even more difficult. so
[00:08:00] how could the outcome these mid-term elections change the balance of
[00:08:04] power in the United States? what questions do you have
[00:08:08] about the US mid-term elections, what's at stake for Canada and what? at
[00:08:12] stake for you. You can call us with your questions or talk
[00:08:16] about how shaky Canada-US relations are impacting
[00:08:20] you. What do you want to know about what comes next?
[00:08:23] You can call us at
[00:08:24] 1888-416-83-3-3.
[00:08:29] You can also share your comments if you go to
[00:08:31] CBC.ca/aircheck. Then in
[00:08:35] hour two, one in three parents with
[00:08:39] kids under the age of 40 are still helping them out with their... bills, including
[00:08:43] their groceries. What, when should a parents step in and bail out their
[00:08:47] adult kids? What's your story of giving or getting
[00:08:50] financial help? I'm Seroja Queelo, live on CBC
[00:08:54] radio and CBC News Network. This is Cross Country Checkup,
[00:08:58] your voice, Canada's
[00:08:59] voice.
[00:09:06] In the lead up to the mid-term elections, the conversation has
[00:09:10] gone from whether the democ can win the house to whether they
[00:09:14] can win both the house and the Senate. Republican strongholds like
[00:09:18] Texas, Iowa and Kansas are suddenly on the
[00:09:22] line. So we've got two experts to explain what this could mean for
[00:09:26] Donald Trump and for Canada-US
[00:09:27] relations.
[00:09:32] Brian Marroony Institute of Government at St. Francis University.
[00:09:36] His focus is on Canada-US relations. He is
[00:09:40] joining us from Edmonton today. We also have have Chris Galdieri in this
[00:09:44] conversation, professor of political science at St. Allen
[00:09:47] college in New Hampshire. He's in Concord, New Hampshire
[00:09:50] today. Welcome to both of you.
[00:09:54] Hi, Chris, thanks for being here. Chris, maybe you could start
[00:09:58] for us and put things into perspective. Which numbers really stand out for
[00:10:02] you as serious trouble for the Republicans and for Donald
[00:10:06] Trump? Well, I think the most important
[00:10:09] number going into this election is Donald Trump. approval
[00:10:13] rating uh, he came into office uh at about
[00:10:17] 50% approval, give or take, and it's that number has
[00:10:20] gone steadily downward, basically every single month since
[00:10:24] the... spring of 2025 uh, there have been surveys out just in
[00:10:28] the last week that have him as low as 30% for
[00:10:32] context, when he left office in 2021 following
[00:10:36] COVID, following January 6th, he was at
[00:10:38] 29%. so uh, Trump is going into these
[00:10:42] elections as unpopular as any president has
[00:10:46] ever been, barring maybe Richard Nixon at the very end of
[00:10:50] Watergate, and uh, that is been
[00:10:53] absolutely toxic for, the Republican brand
[00:10:56] and so what we're seeing is that Republicans across the board, including in
[00:11:00] places you mentioned like Texas and Kansas that have not been
[00:11:03] competitive uh at the statewide level in decades in
[00:11:06] many cases um are seeing serious signs of Republican
[00:11:10] erosion and opportunities for democrats that they haven't seen uh in
[00:11:14] decades. So Chris is describing a situation that feels
[00:11:18] unprecedented, but the president has had bad polls before.
[00:11:22] Aza, why does this moment feel different? Uh, I mean,
[00:11:26] former Canadian Prime Minister John Defenbicker used to say pololls are for dogs, um, but
[00:11:30] there's some truth to the idea the again, the unpopulated American president, as Chris
[00:11:34] noted, these are historically low levels for an American president,
[00:11:37] and kind of a parallel we might sort of think of is the 26
[00:11:41] elections in which George W. Bush was at historic
[00:11:44] lows uh rivaling this, and that was a complete washout for the
[00:11:48] Republicans, so there's a blue wave in that election, um, and certainly,
[00:11:52] if if kind of recent history of that kind of election as any guy um, that that
[00:11:56] seems to be the the case here. now Donald Trump has sort of
[00:11:59] underperformed polling before, um, but I think this the
[00:12:03] potential in this election, if if even if say Republican voters or Donald Trump friendly
[00:12:07] voters are not going to somehow switch to the Democrats, there's the potential for lot them just to
[00:12:11] stay home, because their
[00:12:14] just um feeling that again the Republicans, but particularly Donald Trump
[00:12:18] is just
[00:12:18] an inadequate president who promised lot
[00:12:20] of things and has failed to deliver on on many of those things and indeed what he has
[00:12:24] delivered. are are things like higher prices uh and a war overseas that
[00:12:28] shows shows no sign of ending. thanks for that isa. Chris, maybe you could expand for
[00:12:32] us exactly what the issues are that are driving down support for the
[00:12:35] president and for his party. right, and I think uh, as we
[00:12:39] just heard, one the big ones is affordability. Trump uh ran in 2024
[00:12:43] a platform of bringing down prices, lowering the
[00:12:46] inflation uh that had caused so much hardship for so many people
[00:12:50] during uh the Biden administration and he has not been able
[00:12:54] to follow through. on that, the prices that went up uh
[00:12:57] during the uh biden years are in most cases still
[00:13:01] up where they were um and related to that
[00:13:04] he also
[00:13:04] ran a platform of ending foreign wars, remember he said he would end the war in
[00:13:08] Ukraine in 24 hours,
[00:13:10] he would negotiate a settlement uh in the middle east, not only
[00:13:13] has that not happened, but he launched a war against Iran
[00:13:17] expecting it would be cakewalk uh and it hasn't been, it not only
[00:13:21] has not been a cakewalk, it has significant
[00:13:25] raised the price of gas, it's raised the price of diesel uh
[00:13:28] and those things both uh affect the prices of other goods that are shipped by
[00:13:32] truck for instance or that uh farmers have to uh
[00:13:35] produce, and that has uh reminded
[00:13:39] people of uh Trump's role in those higher prices every time
[00:13:43] they go to fill up their gas tank, so what we see is just
[00:13:47] this huge gap between uh the presidency that Trump promised down
[00:13:51] the trail in 2024 and the reality that he's deliver. since he
[00:13:55] took office last year, and if I can just add another issue
[00:13:59] that really is think depressing republican votes is something like the Epsteen files,
[00:14:03] whatever your views on that, that's something that Donald Trump promised to go through, it
[00:14:07] was very much at the heart for many the sort of maga movement people,
[00:14:11] and there's been a perceived kind of failure to deliver on that, which is one these issues that's sort
[00:14:15] of depressing Republican votes and and depressing Donald Trump's popularity
[00:14:18] amongst people who would normally lean towards him. Aza, what
[00:14:22] about the tariff, the trade? with Canada, how's that
[00:14:26] played out on the campaign trail? yeah, mean it's it's the promise of
[00:14:30] tariffs was that they were going to
[00:14:31] sort of deliver this golden age and what they've delivered is higher prices, there's
[00:14:35] there's there has been some movement of new jobs and new investments in manufacturing in the United States,
[00:14:39] but those things take a while to get started, and so what
[00:14:42] what what what you voters, what what what consumers are seeing in the United States is
[00:14:46] higher prices, partly that's do things like gasoline, but there's also the perception that tariffs are raising
[00:14:50] prices, which they do, and that it's not foreigners paying for these tariffs,
[00:14:54] it's... It's the Americans paying through through higher prices and
[00:14:57] so to an extent Americans in 2024, the
[00:15:01] 2024 presidential election, if I could use a popular parphase, they they
[00:15:05] sort of screwed around and now they're sort of finding out the reality of
[00:15:09] what mega policies are uh in reality.
[00:15:12] Thanks for that. If you are just joining us, you are hearing the voice of
[00:15:16] Zacurcher. He is the Hudson chair in Canada-US relations
[00:15:19] at St. Francis Xavier University. Chris
[00:15:23] Galdieri is also in. conversation, professor of political science
[00:15:27] at St. Allen College. Uh, our question
[00:15:30] today, what questions do you have about the midterm, about the US
[00:15:34] mid-term elections, what's it stake for Canada and what? at stake for
[00:15:38] you. You can join us in this conversation at
[00:15:41] 1888-416-83-3.
[00:15:46] You can also go online.
[00:15:47] CBC.ca/aircheck.
[00:15:51] Chris, Donald Trump has started campaigning in support of
[00:15:54] Republican candidates. He was in Ohio this past week. Let's
[00:15:58] just have listen to that. We're going to win strong and the
[00:16:02] Republican majorities in the house and the Senate.
[00:16:06] And nobody count. on the fact that Trump was going to go out a campaign
[00:16:10] for all these people, because when I do,
[00:16:13] we win, when I run, we win, but
[00:16:17] for some
[00:16:17] reason,
[00:16:21] for some reason when I don't run, they draw 44% less
[00:16:25] people, so what I'm going to do is ask you to just pretend that
[00:16:29] I'm running, so that's president
[00:16:32] Donald Trump a mid-term rally this past week, uh, the
[00:16:36] US president is... unpopular, as both of you have been describing to
[00:16:40] us, is his appearance um on that campaign trail helping
[00:16:43] or hurting his candidates, Chris? um, I think it might be doing a little
[00:16:47] bit of both. uh, Trump, as you said, is is very unpopular
[00:16:51] um across the board, however, he does have that dedicated core
[00:16:55] of maga voters who will still turn out to see him and that sort of thing,
[00:16:59] so it's possible that his appearances on the trail are going to bring out
[00:17:02] folks who might not otherwise uh have voted this year,
[00:17:06] and to the... extent that Trump has an electoral superpower, it's that
[00:17:10] he was in all three of his campaigns able to
[00:17:14] bring out these sort of uh low propensity, low
[00:17:17] attention voters and get them to show up to the polls and that's why he
[00:17:21] overperformed the polls in 2016 uh in 2024 when he won
[00:17:25] and also in 2020 when he lost um so I think there is
[00:17:29] a bit of method uh to the uh
[00:17:32] madness here, but I don't know that's enough to
[00:17:36] overcome uh his... or popularity or bring out those folks
[00:17:39] who don't really pay attention to politics, don't really engage
[00:17:43] with turning out to vote, except when Trump himself is on the ballot. thanks
[00:17:47] for that. if you're hearing this conversation and you'd like to join us,
[00:17:50] 1888-416-8333
[00:17:55] is the number to call. you can also go to
[00:17:57] cbc.ca/aircheck. we have our
[00:18:01] first caller on the line. greg Moore is joining us from Kingston,
[00:18:05] Ontario. hi Greg, welcome to show, you don't
[00:18:08] think that there's anything at stake here for Canada, um, what is your
[00:18:12] question for our experts today? well, my question is is,
[00:18:16] what are the tangible things that we're going to see, should there
[00:18:20] be democratic, senate majority and
[00:18:24] a democratic uh congress, because I
[00:18:27] i'm concerned that Canadians are putting a little bit too much
[00:18:31] weight on the outcome of another country's
[00:18:34] election, yes, it's the biggest economy. Yes, it's their biggest trading
[00:18:38] partner, but if anything uh, it's demonstrated in the
[00:18:42] last two years of his antics uh that we need to move on
[00:18:46] and broiden our horizon and and move
[00:18:50] on, i i what i'm just wondering what
[00:18:53] what's going to really happen, should that happen? mean the leafs are going to win the cup
[00:18:57] one these days too, but uh what can
[00:19:01] really happen when there's an election, should it go democrat in
[00:19:05] both houses because ' think we're weighing a bit too much on that and we need
[00:19:09] to move on and move wider. thanks for that, Greg.
[00:19:13] aza, do
[00:19:14] you want to weigh in? yeah, mean, the the big bet is that the
[00:19:17] sort of
[00:19:18] be democratic held congress um that could hold Donald Trump to account, the sort of famous checks and
[00:19:22] balances
[00:19:23] that really haven't obviously been working with the republican dominated senate and
[00:19:26] congress. uh, certainly we can expect to see lot of
[00:19:29] investigations into the sort of patent corruption and sort of things that the trump
[00:19:33] administration has been engaged in, the self-dealing, all these sorts of things i
[00:19:37] number of cabinet secretaries will be up for impeachment votes, that doesn't neces have anything to do
[00:19:41] with Canada of course, um, but what we could see is Congress sort of
[00:19:45] begin to wrestle back some the powers that they're supposed to have over over tariffs,
[00:19:49] for instance, obviously a big issue of concern for us in Canada, lot the legislation that
[00:19:53] enables presidential power um on
[00:19:56] tariffs are have their roots in congress, things like the trade
[00:20:00] expansion act and other sorts of things, so there could be some amendments there, there are a lot of sort
[00:20:03] of
[00:20:04] in the very polarized kind of politics in United States,
[00:20:08] Canada is not a not a target for
[00:20:11] democrats necessarily, and so there could be some some
[00:20:15] efforts by democrats to sort of relieve the economic pressure if you like on Canada,
[00:20:18] but also the democrats are traditionally the party that's not been in favor
[00:20:22] of of free trade, the been the party that's skeptical of of of things like the Kusma
[00:20:26] agreement, number of democrats voting against the Kusma agreement when it came up
[00:20:30] for vote uh six years ago or seven years ago remember that would have
[00:20:34] been, and so you know there's there's a perhaps a bit of...
[00:20:38] bit of caution there, but as we've seen even some republicans have been breaking
[00:20:42] with Donald Trump over this issue of tariffs, Susan Collins, the senator from
[00:20:46] Maine up for reelection, and Mike, what the heck? pardon
[00:20:50] me uh the senate candidate in in in Michigan who
[00:20:53] just released a campaign the other day drinking a little about about blue and talking about
[00:20:57] how Canada should be our friend so the potential for some Republicans and some democrats to get together
[00:21:01] and push back um on on the tariffs is is a
[00:21:05] potential um but as the caller noted right that's a that's a big bet
[00:21:09] uh that the Canadian governor is is making that Canadians might be making. Chris did you want to
[00:21:13] add anything? yeah
[00:21:15] i do think there's some significance to these republicans who have broken with Trump on tariffs
[00:21:19] in in the last or so uh we do have number of high
[00:21:22] profile races in uh border states, Alaska, Minnesota,
[00:21:26] Michigan, Maine, uh, my own state of New Hampshire, um, so I
[00:21:29] think that's noteworthy and I think it's possible that uh, if this election
[00:21:33] does go very well for Democrats, um, and if we do see uh
[00:21:37] Republicans losing in places that would have been unthinkable even a year
[00:21:41] ago, that we might finally see uh more Republicans willing to
[00:21:45] break with Trump, and that could be something that could spill over into an effect uh
[00:21:48] tariff policy among. Thanks for that and Greg, thank you for that
[00:21:52] call. If you want to join in in this conversation,
[00:21:55] 1888-4168333.
[00:22:00] James Mulhern is joining us now from Lindsay Ontario. James, you
[00:22:04] have a question about the role the Democrats? Uh,
[00:22:08] yeah, I mean, I guess it's almost partially been answered already, but I
[00:22:11] hope that that it does go back
[00:22:15] to you, the democrats and they do hold the house and senate
[00:22:19] because... 'then I hope there would be some check and
[00:22:23] balances that would help us with you, the
[00:22:26] they like to say free trade, but I wish they would call it fair
[00:22:30] trade, and to have a
[00:22:32] more friendlier uh pasture
[00:22:36] with Canada and and United States were counseling
[00:22:40] with uh everything every time Trump wakes up in the
[00:22:43] morning, I swear he must, well I don't even if he sleeps at
[00:22:47] night, but I mean he wakes up and says oh Canadas have been
[00:22:51] really bad to us and he gets and he gets
[00:22:54] the he puts out the wrong information like saying there's
[00:22:58] a oh we've been having high tips and we've been
[00:23:01] charging them for dairy which which there isn't and then there people that
[00:23:05] believe it and it's the same thing with polls like hope the
[00:23:09] poles are are right where his popularity is down
[00:23:13] but we've seen it before pole could be down and then next
[00:23:17] minute uh when election comes '
[00:23:21] that certain people he might get back in or he might
[00:23:24] be might get more uh more in and
[00:23:28] also the fact that and i god
[00:23:32] hope not but and i know that the democrats and there's groups up
[00:23:35] there trying to think ahead to see what what happened at the midturn
[00:23:39] but i just hope um the people that follow
[00:23:43] him don't do do anything at the mid terms i
[00:23:47] uh when you like he's already said it's wants to put
[00:23:51] uh, the ice or something around polling station, which is
[00:23:55] against law, but he doesn't follow the constitution or
[00:23:58] law, he he does whatever he thinks he that he thinks he has a
[00:24:02] right to, that's it, thanks very much for that,
[00:24:06] james, aza, do you want to weigh in on that? yeah,
[00:24:09] I mean, Pierre Tradeau, the former Canadian Prime Minister, you famously described living next
[00:24:13] to the United States says
[00:24:14] sort of sleeping with an elephant, every sort of twitch and grunt uh we feel, and so
[00:24:18] we feel sometimes the effects of America.
[00:24:20] and what balances what would be American domestic legislation or domestic
[00:24:23] upevals uh sometimes that ripples into Canadian politics and so that could
[00:24:27] be, we could potentially you feel the effects if if the
[00:24:30] situation in the United States goes goes a really bad way
[00:24:33] um more more positively,
[00:24:36] I again this to
[00:24:37] for sort guess there's possibility of checks be upheld in the United we could States. sort
[00:24:40] think some I the
[00:24:40] see of cast of characters who as as as the caller
[00:24:44] noted have been kind of nasty to to Canadians, Pete Heggsff the defense
[00:24:48] secretary or Howard like the commerce. secretary, we could see some these people called to
[00:24:51] account, we could see potentially
[00:24:54] um, impeachment, particular, there's there's already articles of impeachment
[00:24:58] put forward from Mr. Hegzath, it's the top the congressional agenda, which is one
[00:25:02] the reasons why the congress is not sitting uh, and that's actually legislation put forward by
[00:25:06] uh by by republican uh Thomas Massy to impeach the defense secretary
[00:25:10] for his um his conduct the Iraq war or the Iran war part of me
[00:25:14] um so there's a potential for some these people who've been really anti-canadian if you like um to to
[00:25:18] be held to account by uh by congress if it switches.
[00:25:22] If you are just joining us in this conversation, the number to call if you want
[00:25:26] to ask a question or make a comment about the upcoming US
[00:25:30] mid-term elections,
[00:25:31] 1888-416-8333.
[00:25:36] You can also join us by going to uh
[00:25:38] CBC.ca/aircheck. John Ledston has reached
[00:25:42] us that way from Huntsville on Terio. He reached us by text and
[00:25:45] says, would it be responsible to have a travel advisory for
[00:25:49] Canadian? to avoid the United States while the mid-term
[00:25:53] elections are on, there is potential for lot of bad news happening
[00:25:57] during the elections, whether it be ice or the
[00:26:00] military. Chris,
[00:26:01] do you want to weigh in on that? Sure, um, I can't speak to
[00:26:05] necessarily a travel advisory, what I can say is that Canadians,
[00:26:09] um, even without an advisory appear to be staying away from the US in
[00:26:12] significant numbers. Uh, here in New Hampshire, uh, tourism from
[00:26:16] Canada is major source of uh
[00:26:19] revenue, and that has been down each the last two
[00:26:23] summers. Uh, clearly Canadians are voting with their feet and voting with their
[00:26:26] wallets to stay out the US uh, while the Trump administration is
[00:26:30] in power. With regards... to the election and the possibility of
[00:26:34] ice and the military. um, you, I,
[00:26:37] I'm,
[00:26:38] I don't want to say I am uh skeptical the idea that Trump's going to use force,
[00:26:42] but I think trying to use force around the elections is much
[00:26:46] more complicated endeavor than lot of people really give it
[00:26:50] credit. um, this is huge country with
[00:26:54] you, tens, if not hundreds of millions of people who will be casting
[00:26:58] votes uh next month. uh, it's really difficult even
[00:27:02] with some as vast as the US military to imagine a
[00:27:05] scenario where Trump is able to use force to
[00:27:08] meaningfully affect uh ballot counting or the number
[00:27:12] of ballots being cast and that sort of thing. um, I think
[00:27:16] you know, that's sort of uh, the sort
[00:27:20] of thing that if Trump were to try, I think he would find
[00:27:22] that it was lot harder than he imagined it to be. That
[00:27:25] said, um, just the fact that we're having this conversation and trying to game
[00:27:29] out these scenarios uh really says
[00:27:31] a lot about
[00:27:32] the state of... American democracy heading into these elections.
[00:27:35] Thanks for that, Chris. We have our next caller on the line,
[00:27:39] Ishvan Sabo is joining us from Stratford, Ontario, uh,
[00:27:43] and has a concern about, this
[00:27:47] week, uh, something that's going to happen online. Uh, U.S.
[00:27:50] Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that he plans to live
[00:27:54] stream the execution of Forthood Shooter, a Forthood
[00:27:58] Shooter who killed 13 unarmed US soldiers
[00:28:02] a military base uh, hi there Isfan, welcome to the
[00:28:05] show, what is your question about that? hi, thanks for
[00:28:09] taking the call. my question to your experts is whether they think
[00:28:13] that there is a chance if the democrats win the senate and the house that
[00:28:17] they somehow we will be able to stop this in my eyes
[00:28:21] barbaric idea of public
[00:28:23] execution. is i'm going to let you
[00:28:27] weigh in on that one and maybe you could also provide just a little bit of context for folks who
[00:28:31] might not know lot about this. peace: yeah, this is a person
[00:28:35] who shot, he was a US service member who shot, i think
[00:28:39] 2009 uh, number of fellow serviceman in act of sort
[00:28:43] of terror at fort hood texas military
[00:28:46] base, he found guilty, he's been in prison since then um
[00:28:50] and
[00:28:52] the defense secretaries announced that he's going to be publicly executed by firing squad i think uh the
[00:28:56] first
[00:28:56] week of december i think is when it's it's planned for uh and then announced that this would
[00:29:00] be televised so you know as as caller noted, this is kind of barbaric kind of
[00:29:04] stuff, um, the very things, I think this civilized world sort of
[00:29:08] condemned ISIS for doing, these kind of snuff videos, um,
[00:29:11] and so in terms the caller's question though, this would
[00:29:15] would occur if it does indeed occur in December, before the
[00:29:19] new the new Congress would take power, and so I don't forcey any way
[00:29:23] that that the incoming congress again which wouldn't take power until January
[00:29:27] would would potentially be able to stop it. Istvan, thank you so much for
[00:29:31] that question, Mark Ross. is joining us next from Windsor
[00:29:34] Ontario. Hi there, Mark, what is your question for two experts
[00:29:37] today? Yes, I uh, I'm
[00:29:41] wondering if uh the
[00:29:42] democrats are get get
[00:29:46] elected
[00:29:48] or they have majority, would they uh impeach
[00:29:52] Trump? That's a really interesting
[00:29:56] question, especially considering um how hot some the debate has been during
[00:29:59] this campaign. Um, aza, do you want to weigh in on that? one: yeah, there's
[00:30:03] a potential for for Donald Trump to be impeached, again there will be a third
[00:30:07] time, record breaking achievement, I
[00:30:10] guess, um, but as we saw the previous two two impeachments, there
[00:30:14] was the sort of rally around the Trump effect among Republicans, both
[00:30:17] voters, Republican supporters and Republican members of Congress,
[00:30:21] even though the president in both those cases, was patently guilty of the things
[00:30:25] in my opinion anyway, I guess I should say, um, and certainly he's committed
[00:30:29] high crimes and misdemeaners left and right uh, in in his second
[00:30:33] term um so again impeachment would be well founded again, but there's this
[00:30:36] potential for members of congress to and and republican voters to rally around
[00:30:40] and and see a boost in support uh for Donald Trump which again he he
[00:30:44] experienced in the last two rounds of of impeachment um so I think the the
[00:30:47] probably better or or more productive thing from those people who want to hold
[00:30:51] the administration to account would be the impeachment of uh of various cabinet
[00:30:55] secretaries for their part um in in
[00:30:59] in sort of
[00:30:59] you illegal policies um in in acts of corruption,
[00:31:03] self-dealing, um, etc. and I think again we can expect
[00:31:07] to see lots of investigations of Trump family members who've been
[00:31:11] involved in in in self-dealing of all various kinds.
[00:31:15] uh again, why the why the president's son-in-law, Jared Kuschner is is
[00:31:19] basically conducting US foreign policy in violation of American law is
[00:31:23] is
[00:31:23] is is incredible uh sort of act of of lawlessness, just as one
[00:31:26] example. Chris, would you like to add any thoughts?
[00:31:30] yeah, I do think a lot depends if democrats uh take the senate as
[00:31:34] well as the house uh, if they take the senate uh then they would be the ones
[00:31:38] uh controlling the uh presentation of uh senate
[00:31:42] impeachment trials, and so I think in addition to the
[00:31:45] impeachment votes in the house against cabinet secretaries and I think we also need
[00:31:49] to uh uh expect uh something like that
[00:31:52] against Robert Kennedy Jr. who has been the health secretary uh for the
[00:31:56] last two years and tried to dismantle the vaccine infrastructure in
[00:32:00] the country, we've seen Measles outbreaks particularly in uh Pennsylvania
[00:32:04] lately. um I think that would be an opportunity for Democrats to
[00:32:07] essentially put the focus the country on the
[00:32:11] actions these cabinet secretaries, whether uh it's corruption. and
[00:32:15] self-dealing, whether it is uh the human cost
[00:32:19] of uh for instance vaccine policy being changed under
[00:32:22] Kennedy. Um, essentially, if you are republican
[00:32:26] appointey in this administration, um, or if you are member the
[00:32:30] Trump family, if democrats win both Houses of Congress,
[00:32:32] congratulations, uh, you're now Hunter Biden, and I
[00:32:36] think that is uh, going to be a real
[00:32:40] drag on the last two years of Trump's presidency, whether or
[00:32:44] not, Trump himself uh winds up being impeached
[00:32:47] again. Um Asa, I'm going to direct this next question
[00:32:51] to you. Um, we've seen border state candidates and
[00:32:54] auto industry leaders who are pushing back against tariffs amid all
[00:32:58] of this conversation. Um, our Canadian retaliatory tariffs
[00:33:02] actually working to turn US voters against the trade
[00:33:06] war? Uh, I don't think they're they're hurting, you hurting
[00:33:10] sort the the case against against sort the wider terror policy pursuing by
[00:33:14] Donald Trump, they make. case again that tariffs and and trade
[00:33:18] wars generally cost consumers, they cost average people, and they certainly
[00:33:21] cost both small, medium and and large businesses, and
[00:33:25] so to the extent that the tariffs are having an effect, it's
[00:33:29] it's I think generally a positive one in reminding Americans that this trade war is very
[00:33:32] silly, that that turning Canada from a friend to an enemy, Canadians
[00:33:36] from from from friends to enemies is is is backwards kind of
[00:33:39] policy, if Donald Trump is truly concerned for instance about the
[00:33:43] threat of of China sort the geop. and economic competition with
[00:33:46] China, why not partner with Canada as opposed to
[00:33:50] to to to spurning us away, I think it sort of fits this general pattern that Donald Trump's
[00:33:53] policies
[00:33:55] are are backwards thinking and certainly are costing Americans, so I don't perceive that they're
[00:33:59] actually hurting like the Canadian case, if if you'd like to frame it in those
[00:34:03] terms. Thanks for that. If you're listening to this conversation and you
[00:34:07] have your own question to ask or you have some thoughts on the conversation so
[00:34:10] far, you can give us call at
[00:34:12] 1888-416.
[00:34:15] 6833. you can also reach us online, that's
[00:34:19] cbc.ca/aircheck. text
[00:34:22] message is also possible
[00:34:24] 226758-8924.
[00:34:29] let me give that to you again, for text message
[00:34:31] 226-758-8924.
[00:34:36] our question is, what do you want to know about the
[00:34:40] US mid-term elections? what's it stake for Canada and what's it stake
[00:34:44] for? you. Sean Barry is joining us now from
[00:34:48] Peterborough Ontario. You have a question about celebrity
[00:34:51] endorsements. What would you like to know,
[00:34:53] Sean?
[00:34:57] I'd like to ask your guests here
[00:34:59] about the effectiveness of celebrity
[00:35:03] endorsements and let me just preface this or preficent.
[00:35:07] Um, I listened to Steve Harvey and of lot,
[00:35:09] and on his uh final thoughts, he
[00:35:13] normally um... let's or he
[00:35:17] encourages his users who are predominantly black to like let's
[00:35:21] get out the vote kind of similar to you know what they did the rock the vote kind of
[00:35:24] thing and um sugessing that there's a lot of
[00:35:28] contingent the population that's apathetic that
[00:35:32] is maybe complacent maybe they think that their vote doesn't count my
[00:35:35] question however is you know in in the more broad scope as far
[00:35:39] as like not just
[00:35:40] you know the black population but other uh the
[00:35:44] more generally apathetic or dis uh
[00:35:47] disengaged uh voters um
[00:35:51] is celebrity endorsement effective in you know mobilizing
[00:35:54] this uh group of people to perhaps you
[00:35:58] know like yeah you know you're right um i should be voting
[00:36:02] because didn't sign up for my you know prices to go up
[00:36:06] things like that i just want to know if if that's if there's like maybe
[00:36:09] something in the literature or if there's a if there's examples that
[00:36:13] maybe i'm missing that "now maybe could be mobilizing
[00:36:17] people to change the tide. Sean, that is
[00:36:21] such an interesting question, because Starpower has clearly played into so much of
[00:36:25] American politics over the last eight years." at least the last
[00:36:28] four. um, Chris, I'd like to go to you first, and then to
[00:36:31] to Aza, how effective do you think celebrity endorsement will be
[00:36:35] or could be uh, as the mid-term elections approach? I
[00:36:39] think it's possible that they might make a little bit of difference on the fringes,
[00:36:43] uh, you, I think, someone like Steve Harvey talking to his radio audience is a really good
[00:36:47] example, people might not pay that much attention to politicians, but maybe
[00:36:51] they listen to uh, TV actors or musicians
[00:36:55] or whomever, but I... really struggle to think of an
[00:36:59] election where they have tipped the outcome, you remember
[00:37:03] in uh 2016, I think most the cast the
[00:37:06] Avengers did a bunch of ads for Hillary Clinton and that didn't really
[00:37:10] uh do her a whole lot of good in the final analysis, it seemed like one
[00:37:14] celebrity after another came out for Camela Harris in uh
[00:37:18] 2024, um so I I think there are plenty of
[00:37:21] examples of candidates who mustered incredible star
[00:37:25] power and found that it just... did not make
[00:37:28] um, a big difference in the outcome the election. Aza, do
[00:37:32] you want to add anything on celebrity endorsements and and what role they might
[00:37:36] play in the upcoming elections in the United States? Sure, certainly in the
[00:37:40] 2024 election, there was a lot of post-election sort
[00:37:43] of focus on the so-called manosphere, the idea that there sort these these
[00:37:47] um political
[00:37:50] podcasters in particular, people like Joe Rogan or or Tim Dillin
[00:37:54] or or kill Tony, um who have... sort of
[00:37:58] mobilized young, particularly young males and that many these were
[00:38:02] traditionally sort of non-voters, apathetic uh sort
[00:38:05] of of people who hadn't really voted in the past um
[00:38:08] and certainly turned out to the polls uh in the 2024
[00:38:12] election to cast their votes for Donald Trump, that was sort
[00:38:14] the kind of media narrative if you like, there was truth behind it in terms of
[00:38:18] numbers and other sorts of things and many of those same
[00:38:22] podcasters and comedians have sort of again turned broadly
[00:38:25] against the Donald Trump administration. question a lot of its policies and
[00:38:29] question things like the war um in the middle east, gas
[00:38:33] prices, again these these are people fascinated by the epsteen
[00:38:37] files um and again so their sort of listeners
[00:38:40] perhaps might be motivated not necessarily to switch to the democrats but again just
[00:38:44] to to stay home and i think there could be depressed vote this could be again another sign of prep the
[00:38:48] depressed vote um among among people who had voted for Donald
[00:38:52] Trump in the 2024 election
[00:38:55] uh who will just not show up um to the pole a few weeks, it's
[00:38:58] it's certainly turning into this litmus test for how the country is feeling
[00:39:02] um about the president, even though the president isn't actually on the ballot. um,
[00:39:06] we have someone joining us from south the border next, susan Ryan
[00:39:10] white, susan Ryan is in Whitehaven, Pennsylvania.
[00:39:14] uh, hi Susan, thanks for joining us. you're a swing
[00:39:17] state, uh, how are you feeling about the upcoming
[00:39:20] elections? well, it's it's gonna be
[00:39:24] hard in Pennsylvania, I think, because there's a... lot of
[00:39:27] people, I live around Scranton, Pennsylvania, it's still coal
[00:39:31] country, and
[00:39:32] you now we've been, I, I drive by a coal strip mine every day, and
[00:39:36] it's really busy, and people around where I am love
[00:39:40] Trump, and uh, they're there's a lot of
[00:39:44] people that want to vote for Trump where I am, and it's really, very
[00:39:48] scary, so everybody has to make sure that they do get out and not
[00:39:52] get too relaxed, um, the one thing that concerns me
[00:39:56] is lot of people, democrats and and Canadians think that
[00:40:00] once Trump is done in the next two years, that maybe
[00:40:04] it'll go back to normal, but the scary thing is he's messed
[00:40:08] up the Supreme Court, and I know they're also talking about one the older
[00:40:11] guys on the one the Republican Supreme Justices
[00:40:15] retiring and having Trump replace him too as well with
[00:40:19] somebody else younger, and it's really scary
[00:40:23] that the Supreme Court is full of 40 and 50 year old...
[00:40:28] republican justices who are making rules and
[00:40:32] laws, not just for the next two years, but for the
[00:40:36] next 20 or 30 years, so this could go a long
[00:40:39] time. thanks for that, Susan, um,
[00:40:43] Chris, I was wondering if you could weigh in on the idea that
[00:40:46] despite whatever the outcome the upcoming US mid-term
[00:40:49] elections, the shift in the Supreme Court could have
[00:40:53] could define the future the way that Susan seeing it, yeah, and this is...
[00:40:57] become huge issue um uh both uh for uh the
[00:41:01] country at large with lot the rulings we've seen come out the court uh stuff like
[00:41:05] the Dob's decision uh striking down Rowy Wade, decisions on
[00:41:09] presidential immunity from criminal prosecution uh and
[00:41:13] more um you the Supreme Court is
[00:41:16] unusual in that they serve what are effectively life terms on the
[00:41:20] court and I think we've seen a lot of democrats in the last decade
[00:41:24] or so uh bring themselves around to the idea that if when
[00:41:28] they control the presidency in Congress uh that they
[00:41:31] might uh find themselves wanting to impose major reforms on the Supreme
[00:41:35] Court. Things like expanding the size the court to add
[00:41:39] more justices. to it uh splitting up some the courts
[00:41:42] jurisdiction uh stripping them of power over which
[00:41:45] cases they hear and other things um and I think
[00:41:49] that really shows uh the extent to which uh the Supreme Court
[00:41:53] has sort of been functioning in recent years, not just like a courp, it
[00:41:56] is almost
[00:41:57] like this this unelected super legislature that gets a final vote
[00:42:01] over um policies coming out of Congress and coming out
[00:42:05] of uh the White House. aza, would you like to add anything? yeah, if I can
[00:42:09] just sort of piggy back on what this sort of in terms of
[00:42:12] the the the the caller's question you means sort of for
[00:42:15] Canada um
[00:42:16] you know the idea that the sort of politics the United States the
[00:42:20] Canadas relationship are not going back to normal that's the sort of central line that
[00:42:24] um prime minister mark carne has made that's the the very idea of this kind of rupture point right a rupture is
[00:42:28] kind of irreversible break um and so that's I
[00:42:32] think what certainly the federal government seems to be counting on that seems to be
[00:42:35] the the view of some some Canadians at least um but there's obviously some people who think that the
[00:42:39] relationship can go back.
[00:42:40] to normal that American politics again is there you call sort of note there's a perception that once
[00:42:44] Donald Trump has gone uh once the sort of you Republicans
[00:42:48] sort of punished by voters and potentially in this this
[00:42:51] mid-term election that things might go back to normal and and some Canadians certainly have that view
[00:42:55] too and so this is I think a central through line that we'll see in in some
[00:42:59] upcoming debates in Canada about should be purchased the
[00:43:02] F-35 um and tire ourselves more to the United States or not these are
[00:43:06] some sort of
[00:43:07] is is the United States going back to normal or not these are some central. I think those Canadians
[00:43:11] will have to figure out and and draw our evidence as we will
[00:43:15] from from events like the election a few weeks time. Thanks for that is uh that's the
[00:43:19] voice of Aza Mckercher. He is associate professor at the
[00:43:22] Brian Malboroney Institute of Government at St. Francis University,
[00:43:26] and also in this conversation we have Chris Gadieri who is a professor of
[00:43:30] political science at St. Anselm College in New
[00:43:33] Hampshire. So we are asking for your questions about the
[00:43:37] US mid-term elections.
[00:43:39] You may simply have. thoughts that you want to share about what is it stake for you,
[00:43:43] what's it stake for Canada or what you're curious about uh what
[00:43:47] might unfold in the
[00:43:49] in in as this election approaches? that is something that our
[00:43:52] our next um participant in the show is
[00:43:56] interested in. our brewer has written in from Toronto
[00:43:59] and says, I'm concerned that the president may declare
[00:44:03] a national emergency and cancel the mid-term
[00:44:06] elections, how likely is this to happen? according to your
[00:44:10] experts, Chris. I think it's unlikely uh, there is
[00:44:14] no um button in the oval office that Trump could
[00:44:18] push that would automatically cancel the mid-term elections, he could try to declare
[00:44:22] emergency, he could urge states to cancel their
[00:44:25] elections, but uh, one the things about the US federal system
[00:44:29] is that elections are administered and controlled by
[00:44:33] the states and uh through local governments and Trump doesn't
[00:44:37] have direct control over that, so I I think... It's
[00:44:40] tempting uh for him to want to do that sort of thing.
[00:44:44] I'm sure he believes that he is president has those
[00:44:47] powers uh,
[00:44:48] but the fact is uh if he
[00:44:50] were to try to do it he would find that he was making a declaration, but he
[00:44:53] would probably not find um
[00:44:57] you know much um uh in the many folks in
[00:45:01] the states who were willing to follow his lead on that, so I
[00:45:05] think it's it's profoundly unlikely uh the only reason we're talking
[00:45:09] about that is because Trump has such distorted uh and
[00:45:12] magnified view of his own power. Aza, what do you think
[00:45:16] about the safety and security situation that could unfold around these
[00:45:20] elections? Chris put well there, I
[00:45:23] think, some some notes of caution or sort the
[00:45:27] catastrophizing
[00:45:28] that that could occur, um, I think just the important thing to is the very fact that we're kind
[00:45:32] of having this discussion shows the kind of state of American
[00:45:35] democracy that that you know we're we're witnessing as Canadians
[00:45:39] across our. across our border, um, America is very far away from the sort
[00:45:43] the shining city a hill that Ronald Reagan used to invoke,
[00:45:46] um, and I think that says a lot about the problems
[00:45:49] internally um in in that country. Thanks very much for that.
[00:45:53] We've received another text message, Kenneth P. Mitton from Sterling
[00:45:57] Heights, Michigan reached us via Air Check, and Kenneth says, as
[00:46:01] a dual citizen and university professor, I know that even young adults in
[00:46:05] college here are often not understanding that journalism is
[00:46:09] evidenced-based. news, they mostly do not follow real news
[00:46:13] sites on their phones, many them tend not to get off the couch to
[00:46:17] go to vote, so do not be surprised if the blue wave in
[00:46:20] November does not match what you might expect from the opinion
[00:46:24] polls, so aza that connects with something that you were saying earlier about
[00:46:28] not not counting the chickens before they're hatched.
[00:46:31] yeah, mean again polls um give you
[00:46:35] a slice of you opinion and slice of time, usually few days or
[00:46:39] few weeks back. from when when when they're actually released um and
[00:46:43] so they don't necessarily count for um apathetic voters or voters
[00:46:47] who might mislead polsters, sometimes people don't want to admit that they might want to vote for Donald Trump
[00:46:50] or one the sort of download candidates, fellow like Ken
[00:46:54] Paxton for instance, the senate candidate in Texas, Serial
[00:46:57] Fallanderer, uh, someone cheated on his
[00:47:00] wife, um, you know, if I was a,
[00:47:03] methodist, voter in in Texas, I might not want to admit that I'm going
[00:47:07] to vote for someone whose own personal politics maybe might be at
[00:47:11] odds with my religious values and I might mislead posters on that, so there's the potential
[00:47:15] again for polls to be wrong and for these kind of election surprises um to
[00:47:19] occur. Chris, maybe I could get you to zero a little more closely.
[00:47:23] on Kenneth's concern about young voters, maybe not feeling entirely
[00:47:26] inspired or maybe not being particularly well informed in his
[00:47:30] opinion. um, he's he's really speaking to the experience as a professor who's looking
[00:47:34] at his students. what's your sense about where young people lie on the
[00:47:37] upcoming US mid-term elections? well, i think, first of
[00:47:41] all, young voters are among the hardest people to turn out simply
[00:47:45] because they have not gotten in the habit of voting, right? when you're in your 40s and
[00:47:49] 50s, voting is just something you do uh,
[00:47:52] as a good citizen and member of your community and and all that sort of
[00:47:56] thing. young voters haven't necessarily gotten into that habit, they might be away from
[00:48:00] home at college. uh, it can be difficult to vote absent or to vote with a
[00:48:04] student ID in different states and that sort of thing. that said,
[00:48:08] um, I think,
[00:48:09] you know, if you if you again, if you look at the uh polling data
[00:48:13] we've seen over the course of this campaign, young voters um
[00:48:17] have really soured on Trump, uh, he did very well
[00:48:20] with young men who turned out to vote in the 2024 election,
[00:48:24] that really doesn't seem to be the case anymore, if you look at uh
[00:48:28] opinion among uh gen z voters
[00:48:31] um folks in that 18 to 25 or 29 range or so
[00:48:35] um they really do seem to have decisively turned against Trump so if they turn
[00:48:39] out I think that will be another headwind for Republicans in this
[00:48:43] election, if they stay home uh then that's probably good news for
[00:48:47] Republicans um heading into uh November 3rd,
[00:48:51] thanks very much for that, caller is on the line, suckfinder
[00:48:55] sadou is joining us from Brampton, Ontario, hi there,
[00:48:58] Suckfinder, hi, how are you? good, thank you, thanks so much for
[00:49:02] calling in, you are crossborder truck driver, wow, what a what
[00:49:06] a year you've had, uh, how do
[00:49:08] you feel about, how do you feel as you're looking at American politics right
[00:49:12] now? there's a big disconnect, um, the
[00:49:16] American population doesn't know what's really going on,
[00:49:20] look at what's happened with ice, people have been shot. "I think the
[00:49:24] American voter needs to wake up, forget about red, blue or
[00:49:27] green, yellow color, like you got to wake up and see this
[00:49:31] guy was worth two billion dollars, once he
[00:49:34] got elected he's worth $4 billion dollars, like I'm being very
[00:49:38] honest with you, you, I go to work every
[00:49:41] morning to provide for my family and I'm
[00:49:45] struggling, diesel prices, gas
[00:49:48] prices, I'm a trucker, so naturally I seen..."
[00:49:52] because we have an app where our prices come up every day, it
[00:49:56] was $1.90 a gallon was my price early,
[00:50:00] i'm sorry today it was
[00:50:02] $202.12 all of
[00:50:05] sudden, like people need to understand this guy
[00:50:09] is scamming the American public, i'm sorry to
[00:50:13] say we love Americans,
[00:50:15] you know my son just got his green card in the US and my
[00:50:18] daughter-in-law, but this guy is the biggest
[00:50:22] sc in the world, people need to wake up to
[00:50:25] this, you know, there's so much I can say, but
[00:50:29] as people who are hard working, I'm from an immigrant family,
[00:50:33] people hate immigrants right now in the US and in Canada,
[00:50:36] there's so much anti hate against immigrants, why,
[00:50:40] but we're just people who want to work and look, look after our
[00:50:43] families, why are we hated so much,
[00:50:47] like you know what I mean, so this guy is the biggest
[00:50:51] fraud in the world.
[00:50:53] and Americans need to wake up with this time is, so Vinder, thanks for
[00:50:57] for calling, you have such a unique insight because of your job as
[00:51:00] a as crossborder trucker and also being an immigrant
[00:51:04] who's uh clearly scratching your head over some the um some
[00:51:08] the hateful sentiment that you're encountering. I want to do a quick fact check
[00:51:12] a little bit of what you've said, Chris, um, is it also your sense what
[00:51:15] Sukvender says that Americans don't know what's going on, and
[00:51:19] he's expressing lot of very strong opinion, which he you are his own
[00:51:23] opinions, but um, when it comes to the way that
[00:51:26] Ice has interacted in communities across the United States, when it comes to things
[00:51:30] like personal financial gain of politicians who are associated with Maga
[00:51:34] or with Donald Trump, or Donald Trump himself, is your
[00:51:37] is it your sense, first of all that those things are things that we can verify, and second of
[00:51:41] all, um, whether or not Americans actually know that these things are
[00:51:45] happening? I do think Americans know that these things are happening, and
[00:51:48] I think that's the reason we've seen this steady erosion of...
[00:51:52] support for Trump uh basically since the moment he uh
[00:51:56] returned to office last January. Um, it's not that there's
[00:52:00] been a decisive turning point. It's not
[00:52:03] like um, 9/11 happened and George W. Bush's
[00:52:07] numbers went up, or the US withdrew from Afghanistan and Joe
[00:52:10] Biden's numbers went down. Uh, instead, it's just been this ongoing
[00:52:14] drip, drip, drip reminders of uh, Trump and his
[00:52:18] families uh profiting from the presidency, or
[00:52:21] uh, the, um, incredibly aggressive
[00:52:25] and violent actions of ice in places like
[00:52:29] Minneapolis earlier this year. Um, I, I don't think,
[00:52:33] if if you're looking for a, moment where things changed, I
[00:52:37] don't think you're going to see one them, but I think we've just seen a slow
[00:52:40] grinding away Trump's standing with the public, and I think that's why we're
[00:52:44] seeing Democrats making headway in places uh that were
[00:52:48] pipe dreams to them for years. Uh, Kansas, has not
[00:52:52] had a competitive senate election a century. Uh, Texas has been
[00:52:56] out of reach for democrats since the early
[00:53:00] 1990s. Um, it's possible
[00:53:04] that if these... elections actually break in the democrat's favor uh
[00:53:08] that that's the result the uh sort of uh
[00:53:11] realization of uh Trump's true nature and
[00:53:14] the the way he's using the presidency uh that the caller is hoping
[00:53:18] for. Aza, would you like to weigh in on some of Suicfinder's
[00:53:21] thoughts? Yeah, I think he he obviously reflects I
[00:53:25] think
[00:53:25] the the position of many Americans who go to the gas pumps, who go to the grocery store
[00:53:29] and see nothing but but higher prices and then they you turn on social media
[00:53:33] or they turn on the news or whatever. they might be doing
[00:53:35] and what is the president talking about? he's talking about ballroom, he's talking about an arch, he's
[00:53:39] talking about new hellipad uh, and the beautiful granite
[00:53:43] on the in the white house lawn and issues of course that are not of importance to voters
[00:53:47] in the least uh that voters don't care about and that are
[00:53:51] reminder the fact that he's living off the larges
[00:53:54] the the American taxpayer, the time in which the American taxpayer is paying more for the basic
[00:53:58] necessities of life, and again this this this's point, this is sort of
[00:54:02] part of this drip drip drip daily reminders from the president. um about
[00:54:06] what his true interests are, which is he's interested in himself, enriching
[00:54:09] himself, enriching his family, um, bettering the white house and not
[00:54:13] bettering the lives the
[00:54:14] of American people. thanks very much for that. if you are
[00:54:18] joining us, the voices that you are hearing our mckercher,
[00:54:22] who is a associate professor at the Brian
[00:54:25] M Rooney Institute of Government at St. Francis University, and his focus is
[00:54:29] on Canada-US relations. Chris Galdieri is in this conversation as
[00:54:33] well, professor of political... science at St. Alonso college
[00:54:37] in New Hampshire. We are taking your questions about the US
[00:54:41] mid-term elections. What is it mean for Canada? What does it mean for
[00:54:44] you? You can join us at
[00:54:46] 1888-416-8-3-3-3.
[00:54:52] Arnold Hegberg is joining us next from New Hazelton, British
[00:54:55] Columbia. Hi there, you have a question about Trump
[00:54:59] and Russian leader uh, Putin, what is your question? Well,
[00:55:03] my question, my concern is... is is if the American peoples
[00:55:07] are watching us, you look at the chaos that he's created in the middle east,
[00:55:11] now we all agree that we do not want Iran to have
[00:55:15] nuclear weapons, they could not be trusted with it, but when
[00:55:18] he says that he would
[00:55:20] like to have Vladimir Putin
[00:55:24] release his diesel oil reserves to the
[00:55:27] Americans, but the critical call for that is
[00:55:30] for the Ukrainians to stop attacking his petrochemical
[00:55:34] industries. but the splip side of that is
[00:55:38] the Ukraines would like him to stop killing their citizens in the
[00:55:41] cities and that's not agreed agreed
[00:55:44] upon and then Trump saying today that they need
[00:55:48] to change the presidency the Ukraine uh I'd
[00:55:52] like to understand if this is the American people, the American
[00:55:56] military personnel that are involved in that middle east
[00:55:59] problem that uh is this part the
[00:56:03] consideration or able point during the
[00:56:06] election. Thanks very much for that. Arnold. Um, Chris,
[00:56:10] before you answer Arnold's question, perhaps you could just set a little context for
[00:56:14] us about what, what Trump has actually said uh
[00:56:17] in relation to um gas and oil and the Russian
[00:56:21] leader and his and his sense of of where that relationship could go and what would be
[00:56:25] allowed. Sure. Well, and Trump has been all over the place when it comes
[00:56:29] to gas prices this year. At times he said, well, it's just a small increase,
[00:56:32] it's a small price to pay for. Iran not having uh
[00:56:36] nuclear weapons and that is sort
[00:56:39] of uh landed with a wet thud with
[00:56:42] most voters uh more recently he said he would uh make
[00:56:46] arrangement with uh Russia to uh for the US to import
[00:56:50] Russian diesel fuel to try to uh ease the cost
[00:56:54] of diesel for uh truckers and farmers and other folks who use
[00:56:57] that um I am
[00:57:01] not sure that's going to have the intended effect ' I
[00:57:05] am not sure they can get enough diesel here in the numbers uh that it would
[00:57:09] take to really bring down prices before uh the election, which is
[00:57:13] just three weeks from this Tuesday, um, but I think this is also part
[00:57:16] the, ongoing Trump Putin romance for
[00:57:20] one of better term for it. Trump clearly admires Putin in the same
[00:57:24] way that he admire admires other authoritarian leaders. Um,
[00:57:28] I think he's jealous at the fact that they don't face the same sorts of checks and balances
[00:57:32] that an American president does. Um, and we've heard
[00:57:36] him, wax nostalgic about uh Putin
[00:57:39] and uh Victor Orban and Hungary and and other
[00:57:43] folks so you generally would not expect to hear an American president
[00:57:46] speaking. fondly of um, I think also Trump
[00:57:50] has uh wanted to get uh Vlodimir Zelensky
[00:57:54] out of power in in Ukraine, in part
[00:57:57] because he associates him with his very first
[00:58:01] impeachment back in 2019 and 2020, so I
[00:58:05] I I think there is lot of uh longstanding and
[00:58:08] complicated relationships at work, but it really comes down to
[00:58:12] is, Trump admires Putin and he's hoping Putin can help him out of this
[00:58:15] jam with the mid-term election. and exchange Trump would like
[00:58:19] to uh remove Zelensky from power in Ukraine. Thanks very much for
[00:58:23] that. We have already reached the end here,
[00:58:25] I have about 30 seconds for each of
[00:58:27] you to have just closing thought. Can I start with you? Yeah,
[00:58:31] I'd say just addition to the bad polls that
[00:58:35] Donald Trump is is facing.
[00:58:36] I think there's also a candidate problem in the for the Republicans, they've chosen lot of
[00:58:40] really bad candidates again. I mentioned moment ago, Ken Paxton, the
[00:58:44] Senate candidate in Texas, he's was impeached by his own. party when he was
[00:58:48] attorney general of Texas, um, so this is not contributing to
[00:58:52] to Republican Fortunes. Thanks very much for that. uh, Chris, would
[00:58:56] you like to weigh in with final thought just
[00:58:58] briefly? um, sure, I think uh, one thing Canadian
[00:59:02] viewers might not appreciate is how long this campaign has been going
[00:59:05] on. uh, I know Canada, like lot of parliamentary uh systems, has
[00:59:09] pretty short campaigns for for parliament, uh, here in the
[00:59:13] US, lot these candidates for Congress have been running since early...
[00:59:17] 2025 and I mentioned that not as a specifics lesson,
[00:59:21] but to uh put forth the idea that you a lot of ways this
[00:59:25] cake is already baked uh and I think it is really tough
[00:59:29] um for a party that is struggling to change the trajectory
[00:59:32] their fortunes a big way with just three weeks and a couple of
[00:59:36] days uh to go until the election. Thank you very much to both of
[00:59:40] you for the conversation today. I've been speaking
[00:59:43] with, thank you. I've been speaking with Zarcher, associate professor.
[00:59:47] at the Brian Marroony Institute of Government at St. Francis University and Chris
[00:59:51] Galdieri, professor of political science at St. Alsum College
[00:59:55] in New Hampshire. And we are going to say
[00:59:59] goodbye to our TV viewers on CBC News
[01:00:02] Network. We're gonna continue with live uh on CBC radio
[01:00:06] and on CBC News app. Uh Rosie Barton Live
[01:00:10] is next on CBC News Network. Thank you so much for spending some
[01:00:14] time thinking about the US mid-term elections. with us this