We’ve seen this act time and time again.
There was Donald Trump, directing his outrage at Canada for not capitulating to American demands in the NAFTA negotiations and trying to validate his rage with a disjointed cacophony of untruths.
He claimed to have turned down a request for a one-on-one meeting with Justin Trudeau, but the PMO said that no request for a meeting was ever made.
He ranted that Canada’s tariffs are too high, but a fact check by Global News chief correspondent David Akin shows that in truth, American tariffs are twice as high as Canada’s tariffs, and Canadian tariffs are among the lowest in the world.
It was reminiscent of one of the first meetings between Trump and Trudeau, at which Trump insisted that the United States had an unfair trade deficit with Canada.
WATCH: Trump slams Canada on NAFTA
Trudeau cited statistics from the American commerce secretary that showed that, in fact, America enjoys a significant trade surplus with Canada, causing Trump to admit that he just made the whole thing up.
And that’s the crux of the problem; Trump fabricates facts to validate his own uninformed and myopic views.
He drew snickering and laughter at the United Nations General Assembly for his braggadocio, but really, it’s no laughing matter when the leader of the most powerful country in the world cannot be believed when he speaks.
Bill Kelly is the host of the Bill Kelly Show on Global News Radio 900 CHML