When President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday to “immediately” change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” it seemed like a parody, like he was telling Andy Borowitz “hold my beer…and charred steak”
But no, it was real, and it begs the question: why is he making such an empty, impotent gesture, practically shouting that America is losing a trade war that he started and escalated for no reason?
Why, for that matter did he hit Canada with 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods this past weekend—about 550 product lines, including dairy, beer and cider, cement, cosmetics, electronics, furniture, plywood, paint, hockey sticks and skates. Why then add threats of tariffs on Canadian autos, auto parts and steel?
Why, Republicans had to wonder, pick this fight when we are 10 weeks away from swing Senate races in border states? You know who does lots of auto business with Canada? Michigan. You know who does lots of other business with Canada? Border states Maine, Alaska and Ohio (it’s a water border, but still). Susan Collins has even gone from concerned to troubled.
All of which captures a common theme in this week’s Political Rehab: why does it always come back to chaos, corruption, and coverup?
This week, Matt Wylie and I hit:
The big Supreme Court ruling on Trump’s mail-in voting executive order, and what he’s actually after
The pointless self-own of the Canada trade war
The even more pointless “Economic D-Day”…which amounts to even more of an admission of failure in a war Trump started
The exploding issue that Republican and Democratic candidates all seemingly agree on now
And what the $18 billion Meta settlement really means
Plus, we take our weekly look at The Battlefield (which readers here got a sneak preview of in yesterday’s Midterm HQ), Matt Wylie gets encouraged by robots with pants, and we bid farewell to Dolly Parton.
📩 Read Matt’s full analysis and the Battlefield dashboard every week on Substack: https://worthknowing.substack.com📩 Subscribe for exclusive essays and deeper dives: https://worthknowing.substack.com/subscribeTIMESTAMPS:00:00 – SCOTUS, Canada, Iran, AI and Meta00:50 – Trump’s mail-voting win04:26 – Trade war with Canada06:53 – “Economic D-Day” against Iran10:23 – Data centers become political poison13:13 – Meta pays $17.1 billion16:58 – THE BATTLEFIELD23:25 – DOSE OF HOPE: the $30 robot housekeeper25:37 – Remembering Dolly Parton#PoliticalRehab #Trump #Canada #Iran #Meta #Midterms2026 #DollyParton
