Insane King Sparks Trade War With Ally – The Monday AM Quickie 8/24/26
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) are demanding answers about the massive no-bid contracts the Trump administration dolled out to inexperienced cronies to provide legal aid to unaccompanied immigrant kids. They referenced in one letter my story about a contract that went to disgraced anti-sex-trafficking group Our Rescue, whose CEO was dramatized in the movie “Sound of Freedom,” and who left because multiple women said he himself was a sex trafficker. Check out my coverage here. -Whitney
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THE BIG NEWS
Trump Hits Canada With 50 Percent Tariffs
Trump further alienated America’s northern ally by slapping 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian products starting early Saturday, the AP and the Wall Street Journal reported. They apply to a long list of goods that appear to be “organized at random,” as the New York Times put it, including “Anoraks and suit jackets. National flags. Some Christmas ornaments. And 36 different kinds of plywood.” They join the items on which Trump already placed 50 percent levies, including Canadian aluminum, cars and steel.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney responded by saying he will match the tariffs dollar-for-dollar “to protect our workers and businesses.” According to Politico, he is targeting “U.S. steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics.”
The two ordered the levies after negotiations broke down on Friday night, an outcome Carney said was Trump’s fault for making 11th-hour changes to the agreement that were “unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.’” Carney halted the negotiations, told his delegation to go home to Ottawa and said he “recognized that ‘America has changed’ and that the two countries would ‘not return to our old relationship.’”
Much like Trump’s illegal war on Iran, his trade war on Canada is completely unforced, unnecessary and serves only to harm the rest of us. As readers of this newsletter already know, politicians who disdain and/or outright hate their constituents like to pretend that tariffs raise costs for businesses alone. But executives pass those costs on to the rest of us, because there is nothing stopping them from simply raising their prices. Trump’s trade war is only going to worsen the affordability crisis, which is increasingly bleeding Americans dry.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Feds Limit Colorado River Consumption in Three States
In response to the impending collapse of water resources in the American Southwest, as the AMQ discussed last week, the Trump administration is severely limiting how much water people in Arizona, California and Nevada can draw from the Colorado River for the next two years. According to the NYT, the US Bureau of Reclamation cut Arizona’s share of the water by a third, while it cut the other two states’ by about a quarter. The states must now rely more on groundwater and find ways to conserve water, which could include cutting water for certain domestic and industrial users. Per the NYT:
The plan formalized voluntary cuts the states had already offered to accept and settles months of uncertainty over how the water supply will be managed in the coming years. But it does little to solve the underlying crisis: The river’s flow is diminishing and reservoirs are drying up, but communities and farms still use unsustainable amounts of water. …
The Trump administration’s plan sidestepped a conflict over how to bring water consumption in line with that dwindling supply, a question that water officials say may ultimately be up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Alex Jones Gets Handout from Texas Court
The conspiracy theorist who repeatedly lied about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre got a handout from a Texas appeals court on Friday, the AP and NBC News reported. Although he was ordered to pay the families of the victims $50 million, the Third Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that now he only has to pay $6 million. The families have not seen a single cent from the walking societal cancer who founded Infowars.
The Texas court’s big sloppy kiss to one of the worst people in the world “does not affect a separate $1.25 billion judgment against Jones in Connecticut, where he was also found liable for defaming and causing emotional distress to relatives of the 20 first-graders and six educators killed in the Newtown shooting.” It also does not affect the fact that The Onion took Infowars away from him.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Aircraft Carrier Arrives in Arabian Sea to Relieve Beleaguered USS Lincoln Following Reports of Food Shortages, Deteriorating Mental Health Those aboard the Lincoln had been at sea for nine months without a port stop; they’ve endured filthy conditions and mental health crises so severe that some have attempted to kill themselves. The journey home takes longer than a month. via the AP and the Washington Post.
- Tens of Thousands Still Without Power in Indiana After Massive Storm Today marks the 13th day of the blackout; Northern Indiana Public Service Company expects to restore power by tomorrow. State officials say damages to residential buildings alone range from $550 million to more than $5 billion. via the Indianapolis Star, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post.
- Trump’s High Priest OKs Ballroom/Five-Story Underground Führerbunker Construction Would you believe that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Robert said Trump could continue building out his multi-million project, which is already about 65 percent finished? Shocking, I know. via the Guardian.
- Perv Glasses Merchant Hides Money in Foreign Real Estate as Massive Lawsuit Grinds On Mark Zuckerberg is facing a trillion-dollar lawsuit from multiple states for alloing his social media companies to harm children on purpose, so naturally he bought an Irish castle built for a Tory politician that is so humongous that it takes a “brisk walk of 4½ minutes to reach the diningroom from the kitchen.” via the Irish Times and the Los Angeles Times.
SOME NUMBER
312 to 1
That was how much more money CEOs made than workers last year, according to the AFL-CIO's 2026 Executive Paywatch report. That’s up from the year before, when the ratio was 285 to 1.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
8/24: Emma is hosting solo today. Her guests are Mohammad Hesham Huraini, independent journalist and human rights activist based in the West Bank; and Lori Wallach director of the Rethink Trade program at American Economic Liberties Project and senior advisor to the Citizens Trade Campaign, on to discuss her piece published Foreign Affairs, “The Right Way to Balance Trade: What Comes After the Neoliberal Order.”
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Angie Nixon Stuns On MSM And Is Attacked By Right
It reflects contempt for the public when journalists like Welker refuse to ask politicians about the policies they support.
Puerto Rico’s Water Emergency | Andrea González-Ramírez | TMR
The rationing system gives households water for 48 hours, then cuts it off for the next 48 hours, but some have been without water for days on end. Check out González-Ramírez’s piece in The Cut.
PARTING WORDS
“Trump’s plans to steal the 2026 midterm elections are already underway. It’s not alarmism to say this. He is saying it out loud and the Republican Party has shown just how far they will go for this fascist. If people do not mobilize now, it may be too late.”
– Ralph Nader, arguing in Common Dreams for Congress to “mount an Impeachment drive, which, as it intensifies, can serve as a deterrent to Trump.” Trump and the GOP are losing voters while Democrats are gaining, so starting that process again now would allow a Democrat-controlled Senate to tell Trump “you’re fired,” he reasoned, adding that “impeachment and removal from office in the Senate are final, not reviewable in the federal courts.” His essay referenced the Washington Spectator’s years-long series on how Trump is consolidating power to stage a coup.
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