The Line Podcast: Trump gifts the Liberals a post-Trudeau bump

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on February 14, 2025 — Valentine's Day, bummer — your hosts are skeptical that the premiers have accomplished much by their recent jaunt down to Washington, D.C., but we hope they had a lovely time.This episode of The Line Podcast is brought to you by Unsmoke Canada. Canada can be a global leader in reducing the harm caused by smoking, but it requires actionable steps, including giving adult smokers the information they need to choose potentially less harmful alternatives. Learn more at Unsmoke.ca.It's not that we object to them going. We are a little cynical about their motives, but we understand that navigating this new era is going to involve a measure of diplomacy. But do we think we're better off sending 13 people to be politely received by the deputy White House chief of staff? Who then dismissively tweeted about the entire visit and said Canada being annexed was still on the table? Like does that make us look stronger? Does Trump respect us more now? Are we sure we know what we're doing?This episode has also been brought to you by Forestry For The Future. Forestry supports 200,000 Canadians in hundreds of communities, generating $87 billion in annual revenues and $37 billion in exports — including $29 billion to the United States. It's also key to addressing some of our biggest challenges. We need an action plan for our forest sector and its employees, one that will help build the homes we need with Canadian wood, reduce the risk of wildfires and create more family-supporting jobs right here at home. To learn more about what forestry can do for Canada, visit ForestryForTheFuture.ca. After that, your hosts move onto chatting about the polling bump that the Liberals have clearly received ... but the latest poll, which came out as we were sitting down to record, actually muddies the water somewhat. Something is happening in the polls, certainly. But is it what people think? They discuss. They also discuss, at some length, matters of identity. How Canadians see themselves, how Americans see us, and what Americans are blind to in their own country. Jen also makes a confession: she's more sympathetic to American progressives than she was last week. She explains why.All that, and more, in the latest episode of The Line Podcast.YouTube:Spotify:Apple:And plenty more options here.Please sign up at those options not just for this episode, or future episodes of The Line Podcast, but so that you can also receive our new podcast series, On the Line, which will release new episodes every Tuesday morning. It’s gonna take us a while to master the algorithms, which only expect us to release content in the evenings. It would be hugely helpful for us every Tuesday morning if you would make a point of opening up the podcast in your app of choice and enjoying it. After a few weeks of this, our future computer overlords should get the point. We asked you to do this last week and we already saw a huge improvement this week! We are winning! We are outsmarting the computers!In case you missed it, here is last Tuesday’s episode. Tons of great stuff in it. We hope you enjoyed it. More to come on Tuesday of next week.Thanks for all your support. Talk to you soon.The Line is entirely reader and advertiser funded — no federal subsidy for us! If you value our work, have already subscribed, and still worry about what will happen when the conventional media finishes collapsing, please make a donation today.The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected] Get full access to The Line at www.readtheline.ca/subscribe