Trump Takes Wrecking Ball To East Wing, Wakes up Reagan's Ghost.

Trump's attempt to blame Canada for his disastrous tariff policy backfires spectacularly

Donald Trump is demolishing the White House East Wing and apparently decided to take a wrecking ball to his own trade policy while he was at it. In an unhinged overnight Truth Social post, Trump proclaimed he’s ending all negotiations with Canada because Ontario ran a television ad featuring Ronald Reagan’s 1987 speech opposing tariffs. Trump called it “FAKE” and “fraudulent,” threw a multi-hour tantrum ranting about Canada in an effort to deflect from the reality that talks failed because he’s not negotiating in good faith.

It backfired spectacularly.

Trump inadvertently woke up the ghost of Reagan and the former president’s principled belief that tariffs were disastrous economic policy. Reagan was right about everything, and Trump’s tariffs are proving it in real time.

Ontario ran ads on Fox News, Newsmax, and during baseball playoffs featuring Reagan’s actual words from his 1987 radio address. Nothing fancy—just letting Reagan explain why tariffs trigger trade wars, destroy jobs, and deepen recessions. The ads would have reached their intended audience and faded away.

Then came Trump’s early morning all-caps tantrum declaring them “FAKE,” canceling trade negotiations, and turning a television spot into a multi-day news story about serious economic malpractice by his regime. Every major news outlet played clips of Reagan condemning tariffs. CNN ran segments analyzing Reagan’s actual speech. NBC showed the ad in full. The CBC created video explainers with historical context. Even Fox News covered the “controversy,” giving Reagan’s message a second round of free airtime.

The Streisand Effect in its purest form. Ontario’s paid campaign reached perhaps 30-40 million Americans over several weeks. Trump’s meltdown delivered Reagan’s anti-tariff message to hundreds of millions in 48 hours. Every outlet covering the “controversy” had to show Reagan saying “high tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars” and that the Smoot-Hawley tariffs “greatly deepened the depression.”

Trump didn’t just amplify the message—he validated it. By freaking out over an accurate historical record, he confirmed that Reagan’s words threatened his entire narrative. Millions of Americans who would never have seen that speech got a civics lesson in why tariffs fail, courtesy of Trump’s tantrum.

Trump’s claim that the ad was “FAKE” collapsed within hours. Presidential speeches are public domain under federal law—no permission required, no copyright to infringe. Every word came directly from Reagan’s April 25, 1987 “Radio Address to the Nation on Free and Fair Trade.” The ad did splice different sections together, but nothing was fabricated, nothing was AI-generated, nothing was fraudulent.

Trump went further, claiming Reagan “LOVED TARIFFS FOR OUR COUNTRY.” This rewrites history so aggressively it borders on delusional. Reagan’s anti-tariff position is thoroughly documented. While he did impose limited tariffs on Japan in 1987 for specific trade violations, he framed them as reluctant exceptions, saying he was “loath” to take such steps. Reagan opposed tariffs as general policy—the exact opposite of Trump’s characterization.

Here’s what Reagan actually said in that 1987 speech

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