“It’s Always Cute When Canada Thinks It Matters”

Howard Polskin is the President and Chief Curator of TheRighting.com. Sign up for his free daily newsletter to get a quick scan of stories not to be missed from right-wing media without having to swim through right-wing media sludge. Here are the links to the stories Howard picked for you this week: Canadian Trade War Welcome to Lake America, Where Canada’s Free Ride Ends source: PJ Media Canada spent years learning which American objections could be delayed, negotiated, challenged, or simply survived. Canada’s Mark Carney is discovering that the old song doesn’t play in Washington anymore. He wanted the big-boy jeans, so now he gets the bill. It’s Always Cute When Canada Thinks It Matters source: Townhall By Kurt Schlichter: It’s about time to be done with the country that is touted as America’s best buddy but is actually tied for its most annoying next-door neighbor. They cry that America is being mean because it’s looking out for its own interests. Anti-Woman What the Hell Is Wrong with Women? source: Townhall By Kurt Schlichter: From bizarre social media imbroglios, like a mom demanding all the other moms stop sending Oreos to school because her kid isn’t allowed to have Oreos, to the morally bankrupt embrace of a psychotic killer who strangled her three little kids, there’s clearly something wrong in Chicksville. And it’s about time we say so. Why Are Liberal White Women So Angry? source: American Thinker The left told them that only anger against perceived injustices creates meaning and happiness, and they’ll destroy everything in their paths to achieve those goals. Michigan Dem candidate Abdul El-Sayed No Daylight Between El-Sayed and Hasan Piker source: National Review El-Sayed spent months campaigning with the antisemitic online personality when his views were well known. El-Sayed’s Train Wreck Appearance with Fox’s Jesse Watters May Sink His Chances source: RedState El-Sayed had the nerve to compare ICE to “tyranny” that we threw off 250 years ago, insulting all the hard-working federal agents and the job they do to protect us. That’s turning reality on its head, where enforcing the law is somehow “tyranny.” War with Iran Trump Is Winning the Iran War. Stay the Course source: NY Post Oil is now flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, meaning Tehran’s gambit of closing it has failed. And the neighbors that Iran has been attacking have had enough: Its largest trading partner, the United Arab Emirates, last week cut off all transactions including financial ones. The Stalemate Increasingly Suits Trump Over Iran source: Washington Examiner Inflation is soaring, goods shortages are growing, and the regime fears a boiling point of new public protests. Operation Economic Outcast Is a Recipe for Success Against Iran source: NY Post Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday launched what he called Operation Economic Outcast — a global campaign to shut down every last source of financial oxygen feeding a fractured rump regime in Tehran that’s already circling the economic drain. Transcript of the episode: Brigitte Pellerin (00:03): I’m joined today by Howard Polskin, who’s the president and chief curator of The Righting — a website that aggregates news from right-wing sources and summarizes it for you, so you don’t have to read it. They also do some original reporting on right-wing media. Howard, it’s a pleasure to have you. How did you wind up in this position? Basically you’re swimming in the sludge all the time so we don’t have to — so thank you for that. But how did you get there? Howard Polskin (00:35): It’s a tough job. Someone’s gotta do it. It was November 2016, the day after Trump got elected president. And I thought I was a smart guy — I read the New York Times, I read the Wall Street Journal, Time magazine. And I thought, how the hell did this happen? So I started going to right-wing media outlets I’d never been to before. Foxnews.com. Nationalreview.com. More far-right places like the Gateway Pundit, InfoWars. And it was a revelation to me. It was a whole other world. A whole other way of thinking. And all of a sudden it dawned on me how America could have made this decision — what I considered this awful decision. And I thought, well, there’s got to be someone who puts all these headlines together so I don’t have to spend hours every morning going through it. And no one was doing it. That’s when I thought: I guess this falls to me. It was really my “what did you do in the war, daddy?” moment. Sitting on the sidelines and rubbing my hands in concern wasn’t cutting it. I wanted to do something. So this is what I did. Brigitte Pellerin (01:57): So I guess the way to look at it is: if we had generally been more aware of what was happening in right-wing and extreme-right media before Trump got elected, we would have seen it coming earlier. And the job you’re doing now — one of the reasons I wanted to have you on this podcast, and I’m hoping regularly — is to give my audience a sense of it. Not to say, can you believe the crazy stuff these people are talking about. That’s not the spirit. I want to help folks know what’s out there that matters, what could bubble up to the surface and become policy before it happens, so that at least we’re not surprised when it does. That’s the spirit in which I want to do this with you. Howard Polskin (02:50): I’m with you a hundred percent. And frankly, I’ve run out of adjectives to describe Donald Trump. Brigitte Pellerin (02:58): The dictionary is tired. This week it’s fortuitous that a lot of the stories you’ve been swimming through are about us — about Canada. You’re based in New York City. And I must warn you: in Canada right now, we’re not happy. The mood is not friendly. Howard Polskin (03:16): I don’t blame you. I do not blame you. I have relatives in Canada — I met my wife in Toronto — so I have a lot of friends and family there. I’m like: will you still see me at Christmas? Come on. Brigitte Pellerin (03:29): So what have they been saying about us this week? Howard Polskin (03:35): Not good. I think the way right-wing media portrays Canada is as a bunch of freeloaders, based on trade. First of all, I’ve spent more time in the last eighteen months trying to understand tariffs and trade agreements than I ever wanted to. I don’t want to immerse myself in this, but I force myself to. And basically it comes down to — the way I read it — there’s a trade imbalance with Canada. And it feels like, well, we can work that out. Canada has been such an amazing partner for America. We’re fortunate to have such a progressive, powerful nation on our northern border. I love Canadians. I embrace Canada. So to see this trade war taking place, and the insults flying from the Oval Office, is quite alarming to me. And now some of the right-wing media are reflecting what’s coming out of Trump’s mouth. For instance, I saw just today, in an outlet called PJ Media, they wrote: welcome to Lake America, where Canada’s free ride ends. Come on. That is so deeply insulting. No one, in all the decades, has accused Canada of having a free ride. And yes, I get that there are trade imbalances — but it’s nothing that can’t get worked out. That’s business. That’s the way business operates. The peace and the cooperation that has existed between both countries has helped both countries. And it’s been good for the Western world as well. So it’s really baffling to me. (05:20) And there’s another headline I want to point to that’s just as insulting to Canada and Canadians. It’s from Townhall, a right-wing outlet, and the headline is: it’s always cute when Canada thinks it matters. Wow. That doesn’t fly. Now, are these outlets trying to be funny, or cute? Some of it. But a lot of it is that they’re taking their cues from President Trump. He sets the tone. He gives the okay — the gloves are off. And then the insults start flying. Brigitte Pellerin (06:23): I’m going to put you on the spot a little bit. Do you remember when Donald Trump started talking about Canada as the fifty-first state? Certainly in Canada we noticed. I’m not sure the right-wing media noticed quite as much as we did here, because we felt very much threatened. What did they say back then? Howard Polskin (06:36): Oh, they did notice. They were in favour of Alberta becoming the fifty-first state. It was: we’ll just take Alberta and the oil, and you guys can have everything else. Brigitte Pellerin (06:43): Because of the oil, obviously. Howard Polskin (06:53): It feels like a very aggressive posture. And that’s no way to treat — that’s like looking at your neighbour and saying, I like your SUV, I think I’ll take that. Brigitte Pellerin (06:53): Classy. Very classy. I feel so loved right now. This is great. (07:11) Also — aren’t these people Christians? Isn’t there something in the Ten Commandments about not coveting thy neighbour’s ass? It’s in the Bible, right? So don’t touch my stuff. It’s mine. Howard Polskin (07:16): Yes. I mean — be glad that your friendly neighbour has energy sources of its own, and is solvent, and has an educated population. That is a blessing for America. Brigitte Pellerin (07:40): It’s easy to defend, because we’re not dangerous. I remember Jon Stewart talking about this at the time, saying: what is he doing, attacking the labradoodle of allies? Canada. We’re just the labradoodle of allies. It’s a little bit insulting, but cute — so we’ll take it over what the right-wing media is saying. (07:55) The other thing that’s happened this week is that they’re not very keen on women these days in the right-wing media sphere. There’s one story in particular — I’m sorry, I forget her name — the story of the woman in Massachusetts accused of strangling her three children to death. The defence said it was postpartum psychosis, if I understand correctly. And as we record this, the jury is still deliberating, so this may be overtaken by events. That’s one story that’s in the news in a lot of places. And then there was another, more generic story about white women being somehow especially angry. Howard Polskin (08:15): Lindsay Clancy. Yes. (08:40) “Why are liberal white women so angry?” This is a recurrent theme in right-wing media. It’s just very anti-liberal-white-women. They’re called Karens, and it’s always: living with their cats and their poetry books. They look down on that. They look down on any woman who doesn’t have four kids running around and isn’t baking bread at home. Brigitte Pellerin (09:17): Bare feet in the kitchen, yeah. Howard Polskin (09:17): And then of course the Trump administration points to all the women in the administration and says, no, we’re cool with women. But what comes through pretty loud and clear in right-wing media is how they feel about white liberal women. (09:42) They’re also down on — and again, the tone is set from the Oval Office — powerful women of color. That always comes through as well. Trump often calls powerful women of color low-IQ. And a lot of the time, right-wing media picks up on that as well. Brigitte Pellerin (10:11): That becomes a thing out there. And it normalizes that language. Howard Polskin (10:12): Yes. And just back to the overall anti-woman piece — there’s that story, “what the hell is wrong with women.” That article made my jaw drop. Usually I go through the headlines every day — it takes me two or three hours — in a very dispassionate way. I look at it like a scientist looking through a microscope at a virus. When a scientist looks at a virus, he or she isn’t gagging, going, that’s so disgusting. You look, and you try to understand it. How do we combat it? How do we work with it? How is it adapting? But sometimes there’s a story that absolutely makes me gag, and that’s “what the hell is wrong with women.” The last line I just have to read to you, because it’s the most gag-inducing line. It says: “there’s clearly something wrong in Chicksville. It’s about time I say so.” Brigitte Pellerin (11:15): Okay. All right then. And this is a man who wrote this story — just guessing? Howard Polskin (11:19): Yes. And it was the same man, I should say, who wrote the story “it’s always cute when Canada thinks it matters.” It’s this writer — his name is Kurt Schlichter. I must say: extremely talented. Maybe one of the best writers on the right. He’s a Los Angeles attorney, a veteran, a former stand-up comedian. So he’s good with words, and he has very far-right thoughts. I could never debate him — he would pulverize me. His anger comes out all the time, and he comes out with both guns blazing. Brigitte Pellerin (11:31): I think I wouldn’t like him. (12:11) Does someone ask him to try smiling more? Howard Polskin (12:14): It would help. That’s a good point. I like your suggestion. Brigitte Pellerin (12:16): Because I would suggest that. You’re a good-looking man, Kurt. You should smile more. Why not? Fair turnaround is fair play, right? (12:34) And then the piece on this woman accused of strangling her children. Again — as we’re recording this, we don’t have a verdict. So who knows? It’s quite possible she’s guilty. It’s quite possible the psychosis makes her not guilty. We don’t know. But apparently some people in the right-wing media already know the answer. Howard Polskin (12:47): They look at this and say: why defend her? She’s guilty of murder. I think it’s more that mainstream and liberal outlets are taking up her cause and are more sympathetic to what happened. It’s a terrible situation. It’s really terrible. There are no winners in this. But I think right-wing media is reacting to any calls for mercy, or a more merciful interpretation of what happened. If you had any of that, right-wing media would look at you like you’re a snowflake. Brigitte Pellerin (13:35): In a previous life I was training to be a lawyer. And when you’re looking at convicting someone of a crime, you have to prove not only that the act was committed, but that the person had the intention of committing it and had the capacity to tell right from wrong. And that’s precisely what’s at stake here: whether the psychosis made it impossible for her, at that moment, to know whether this was right or wrong — and whether she really had the will to do what she did. Nobody is dismissing or negating the fact that she did strangle her children. It’s whether she had the intention of committing that crime. That’s what’s at stake. And so instead of going through that argument and dissecting it, they go straight to: she did it, therefore she must be guilty. Which is not the way our system works. But I guess we can have that conversation some other time, once we’re done smiling. (14:32) Now — the war. That was supposed to last four to six weeks, if memory serves. Is it past six months already? Howard Polskin (14:36): Six months. Yes. (14:43) It’s funny. First of all, there has been division in right-wing media, and among some right-wing politicians as well. But just this week, the New York Post — which is really probably Donald Trump’s favourite newspaper — came out and said, I’m reading here: Trump is winning the Iran war. Stay the course. That really made my jaw drop. No one is saying that — except maybe Scott Jennings on CNN, who’s vying for the job as White House press secretary. By any measure, we are doing quite poorly in the war. He’s in a box. He’s in a quagmire. He can’t find an off-ramp. Yet the New York Post says we’re winning. (15:41) And then even the Washington Examiner, another right-wing source, wrote: the stalemate increasingly suits Trump over Iran. That’s like — no. I think it’s the other way around. I think the stalemate suits Iran, especially with the midterms coming up. They’re going to slow-roll this. And as we get deeper into the fall, Trump’s going to have to do something. Brigitte Pellerin (15:51): What do they come up with as justifications for that? Howard Polskin (16:10): So that oil flows more freely and the price of gasoline goes down — so that when people go to the polls at the beginning of November, they’re not thinking about all the money it takes to fill up their SUVs. Brigitte Pellerin (16:25): And everything else that gets more expensive as gasoline does, because it costs more to transport goods, the things you buy at the store. Everything goes up, and people don’t always seem to see that. Howard Polskin (16:33): Exactly. It’s clear from everything I read that this war was not well thought out. He tried selling it as a quick knockout punch. Brigitte Pellerin (16:51): Like Venezuela — because it did work in Venezuela. They were able to go and snatch Maduro and his wife. Howard Polskin (17:01): And, you know, we bombed these hapless drug runners coming out of Venezuela like it was target practice or something. These are human beings out there in the water. It’s really pathetic. So I think this is going to be an ongoing problem for the president and the Republicans. And in a way it’s good for the Democrats, because they’re going to use it as a hammer to bludgeon the Republicans in the midterms. Brigitte Pellerin (17:32): Before I ask what you’re keeping an eye on in the coming week — I want to say that I’ll put a link to your website, because people can sign up. You have a daily newsletter. Completely free? Howard Polskin (17:43): Free. It’s a free daily newsletter. You get it late in the morning. I try to clear my schedule — don’t take any phone calls, don’t do any texts, don’t scroll on social media for the first three hours when I’m up in the morning — to get that newsletter out, so people can be informed and go about their day. Brigitte Pellerin (18:05): And not have to swim through all the sludge that you have to go through. Howard Polskin (18:07): Yes. And it probably takes you two minutes to go through the newsletter to get a sense of what’s going on. That’s why I always get, from people: how do you stand it? How do you go through it? It’s actually interesting to me. I’m always wondering — what is right-wing media going to say about Canada? How is this going to unfold? Brigitte Pellerin (18:25): Well, I’m grateful that you’re doing this job. So what are you keeping your eyes on for the coming days and next week? Howard Polskin (18:32): It’s funny, because some things you can kind of predict. But other things — all of a sudden it becomes a story. Brigitte Pellerin (18:48): Like Lake Ontario. This was on nobody’s bingo card. Howard Polskin (18:48): Exactly. At the beginning of the year, no one was talking about the reflecting pool, or anything like that. So some of this stuff just happens. (19:02) Or the victory in the primary in Michigan of Abdul El-Sayed. Where did that come from? Who knew that was coming? Graham Platner, who was running in the Democratic primary in Maine, a very critical position — first he was the poster boy of the left. He was great. This handsome, virile Democrat who was a lobster fisherman. And it was like: wow, that’s what we need. Brigitte Pellerin (19:39): A tough guy — but also on the left, right? Howard Polskin (19:31): Exactly. And then he had some other problems that surfaced, which he denied — but the evidence really appeared overwhelming. He had to drop out. And that consumed all of June; it became a big story. (20:00) So what’s going to happen in the next few months? Obviously the midterms — once we get around Labour Day, that is just going to consume everything. The economy is going to be focused on a lot. And certainly politicians like Abdul El-Sayed and James Talarico in Texas are going to be punching bags from the right. There’s going to be a lot of opposition research. There’s the far-left politician in Florida — Nixon. I just saw a story that ran, I think on Laura Loomer’s website, that said this politician had four driving misdemeanours fifteen years ago. Three years in a row. Like — where did that come from? That’s the best you’ve got? Four car accidents fifteen years ago? So I think you’re going to see more attacks on politicians, especially on the farther-left side of the Democrats. And again, transgenderism is always a perennial punching bag for the right. Brigitte Pellerin (21:38): There was just a request today, I think, for the Supreme Court to reinstate the ban against transgender folks in the military. Howard Polskin (21:49): So those are the things I’m looking at. And there’s always a surprise, for sure. Oh wait — let’s not forget. I’m just thinking: Joe Biden’s got his autobiography coming out this fall. Brigitte Pellerin (21:59): Well, yes. Go for it. (22:06) Have you read any advance copies? Have you been able to review it? Howard Polskin (22:09): No. And I’m sorry to say this: I wish he would just be quiet until next year. I was upset that Jill Biden put out her book at the beginning of the summer. I’m not happy about Joe Biden’s book coming out. I don’t think it does the Democrats any favour. Brigitte Pellerin (22:17): People who have read it early said the same thing. (22:31) Not now. They could have waited. Howard Polskin (22:37): I view this as — the Democrats are in a war to save our democracy, really, and to preserve our ties with valuable allies like Canada. And anything that distracts from that mission is not good, and I’m not in favour of it. Brigitte Pellerin (22:52): I just wanted to leave you on a funnier note. One of our former premiers of Quebec, Jean Charest, was on CNN with Kaitlan Collins recently — last night, I think. And he said — I’m paraphrasing — last time your president messed with a body of water, it was the reflecting pool, and it didn’t go very well. So maybe you should just leave Lake Ontario alone. So there are some fun moments. Sometimes some of us punch back a little. And you know what? We’re not even sorry. (23:20) I want to thank you for this, Howard. Continue the good work, and we’ll talk soon. Have a great weekend. Howard Polskin (23:25): Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here. You too. Get full access to Bench Presse by Brigitte Pellerin at brigittepellerin.substack.com/subscribe