Day 420: Trump Brags About Ignorance, Lying to Trudeau

In a fundraising speech Wednesday, Donald Trump admitted to donors he was ignorant if Canada actually had a trade deficit with the U.S., but insisted they did anyway when he met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

According to The Washington Post, Trump’s remarks were caught on recorded audio and he acknowledged to rambling about the trade relationship despite having “no idea” of the facts.

“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,’ ” Trump said, mimicking Trudeau, according to audio of the private event in Missouri obtained by The Washington Post. “Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.

“… So, he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. … I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong, Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, ‘Check, because I can’t believe it.’

‘Well, sir, you’re actually right. We have no deficit, but that doesn’t include energy and timber. … And when you do, we lose $17 billion a year.’ It’s incredible.”

As the Post also reported, the U.S. actually enjoys a trade surplus with Canada according the U.S. government’s own statistics.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative says the United States has a trade surplus with Canada. It reports that in 2016, the United States exported $12.5 billion more in goods and services than it imported from Canada, leading to a trade surplus, not a deficit.

It’s one thing to be wrong, it’s another thing to be willfully ignorant of the facts and wrong. Trump’s boorish behavior confirms every American stereotype. Trump clearly came to the Trudeau meeting unprepared and was outflanked by someone with more knowledge, which doesn’t exactly bode well considering an anticipated meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

After the Post’s article, Trump defended his position by simply claiming that Canada has the surplus, despite numbers saying the opposite.

For Trump, this follows a familiar pattern: if the facts don’t line up with his position, he’ll just lie.

420 days in, 1042 to go

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