Spencer Thomas | editor-in-chief

On Monday night, boos boomed from the rafters of Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. It was so pronounced that television producers turned down the crowd noise to a whimper. The Ottawa Senators were in town to face the Nashville Predators, but the game hadn’t even started yet. Rather, these boos were coming down during the pregame performance of the Canadian national anthem.

The crowd was jeering in retaliation, to get back at Ottawa fans who had done the same thing to “The Star-Spangled Banner” a few days before, as a response to the tariffs and comments President Donald Trump made toward our northern neighbors. Wherever Trump may be right now, hopefully he is proud of this: Increasing animosity between us and our closest ally, exactly 14 days into his term, defined by completely backward priorities.

Trump said that we were losing in our trade deal with Canada, and that these tariffs would put the pressure on lame duck Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make concessions to make things right. This included more security at the northern border — the one where authorities caught a whopping 43 pounds of fentanyl last year, only one-492nd of what was seized at the southern border. However, Trudeau responded with his own tariffs. And then, talks progressed, and Trump agreed to put the tariffs on hold for at least a month, so for now, angering our ally was all for nothing but a little more border control at our least problematic border.

Trump and his supporters argue that he’s flexing his muscle and intimidating other countries, but that isn’t what is happening. Trump is like a drunk guy at a bar that is running around acting tough and trying to fight people. When folks roll their eyes and ignore him, he acts like it’s an act of cowardice. It’s not. Very rarely is a trade war, or a bar fight, in anybody’s best interest.
 It’s not even as harmless as it seems. Trump can talk all he wants about putting money in Americans’ pockets, but every breath he takes to talk about adopting Canada into the union is a waste of taxpayer dollars as issues that are actually facing America get ignored. He spent Wednesday signing a bill that banned transgender athletes, of which there are very few, from competing in American sports. Researchers suggest it could be just a few hundred. The executive order will get fought in court, maybe lose in some states, win in others. Eventually, a Democrat will get into office and undo that executive order. It’s a winning issue for Trump, but also a pointless and inconsequential one.

Anyone can look tough going up against Trudeau or high school soccer players, but when it comes to Chinese President Xi Jingping, Trump acts a lot softer. After his game of chicken with Trudeau, Trump placed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods. That’s less than half of what he levied on our neighbors, who are anything but the greatest threat to us in the global economy. Despite the fact that the value of what we import from each country is nearly identical. Canada, meanwhile, is buying more from America than anybody else, according to the United States Trade Representative.

That’s not to say that Trump should gun even harder after China. The point is that he’s much less aggressive with our biggest rival than our biggest teammate. Bickering with Canada doesn’t impress anyone. It shows a reckless strategy and a fragile ego.

So far, Trump’s policies feel more like they’re meant to satisfy him and his base, regardless of whether there is any substance to them. That’s why his approval rating is hitting all-time highs. He ran a campaign that was based heavily on punchy four-word promises and in this honeymoon period, the promise to deliver coupled with an action in its infancy is enough to appease those who voted for him.

Overtime, when senseless notions like ending birthright citizenship die in courtrooms and senate caucuses, and real problems pile up on our front porch, people will see what a gaping hole this could be. Even if it’s as silly and laughable as renaming the Gulf of Mexico, these actions have consequences. They irritate our allies, and damage Trump’s reputation, in global circles and domestically.