Jon Liedtke joined The Gene Valaitis Show on Niagara’s 610 CKTB to discuss: In the fast-moving world of international diplomacy, sometimes the biggest headlines are written in 280 characters or less. We unpacked a week of unprecedented social media activity from President Donald Trump.
From racially charged AI-generated imagery superimposing the Obamas onto primates, to sudden threats against the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, the conversation dives deep into the “repost-and-retreat” tactics defining Trump’s rhetoric. Is it a calculated distraction from the ongoing Epstein file revelations, or a dangerous new shift in Canada-U.S. relations?
Transcript (Generated by Gemini):
Gene Valaitis: We have another regular guest every Tuesday. Man, he’s been hitting it out of the ballpark. Jon Liedtke is here. Good morning, Jon.
Jon Liedtke: Good morning, Gene.
Gene Valaitis: Well, my goodness. Since we last talked, a lot has happened, and I know that you’re writing a newspaper column about Trump’s post on Truth Social where he portrayed Michelle and Barack Obama as apes. But before we get to that, we wake up this morning and another post on Truth Social from last night: “Canada bad, Canada bad. China will take away hockey, there will be no more Stanley Cup, and the Gordie Howe Bridge between Windsor and Detroit—I’m not going to open it, even though Canada paid for every single penny.” The guy is out of control.
Jon Liedtke: I don’t know, my first thought is: what did Jamil Jivani do when he went to Washington? Because everything changed after he went there. And now Windsorites are looking at this bridge that’s taken 25 years to get to this point. We’re looking at an opening date hopefully sooner than later now—it’s been delayed and delayed because of COVID and supply chains and all of that stuff. And here we are in the year that it was scheduled to open and Donald Trump deciding that he wants to do what he does best: pull a little bit of extortion and try to get something out of it.
You know, ignore the fact that the bridge used American steel to build. Ignore the fact that it had American labor building it. Ignore the fact that Michigan already owns half of the bridge. Trump wants more. But what we’re seeing here is it’s just—it’s a dangerous shift from the Obama primate video to now this. It’s a dangerous shift where the White House is treating international diplomacy more like viral TikTok videos and the border is being seen as a ransom note.
But it’s not just about a racist AI video, Gene, of the Obamas superimposed onto primates—although that’s a big part of things. It’s about a president that uses digital parody and rhetoric as a smokescreen while he’s trying to seize our bridge right now and choke our economy with tariffs.
Gene Valaitis: Well, you know, I can’t disagree with anything you’re saying. But you have to wonder if, you know, if the guy is completely losing it. I mean, is this onset dementia? Now, you wrote a great article about the Barack Obama and his wife being portrayed as apes, and you had some very sincere and valid observations. Tell me more about your thoughts on that.
Jon Liedtke: Well, you know, it’s sort of a digital Rorschach test. This isn’t just Trump being Trump, although it is. It’s this digital Rorschach test. It’s a “choose your own adventure” of modern tribalism. For some people, it’s a harmless joke for the base, but for others, we see it as a dehumanizing dog whistle.
And we can’t just be distracted by him when he goes and pretends to be a clueless intern who had no idea about the content that he was sharing. This is a classic Trump repost-and-retreat maneuver. It signals to his base that they know exactly who he is, while maintaining just enough distance to keep his moderates from jumping ship. And let’s be honest, he knows what the money shot is, Gene, and he chooses to spray it onto all of our social media feeds to distract us from a domestic agenda that’s going off the rails.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. Well, it sure does distract from the Epstein files and what’s been happening in the last week, that’s for sure.
Jon Liedtke: And I think that’s one of the biggest parts of it. We know what—there’s over 10,000 references to Trump, his businesses, or his wife throughout the Epstein files, and they don’t want to talk about it. I found it hilarious that after what, 48 hours of the most recent files coming out—not all of them of course, there’s still three million more files plus the redactions that have been seen with these—but after what, 48 hours, Trump said, “Well, you know, it’s time for us to move on.”
And it’s like, dude, you’ve been talking about this stuff for eight to 12 years. We are not ready to move on. We are just scratching the surface on this. But this is how Trump continually operates, and we’re left with this situation now with a bridge ransom where he’s treating it as another distressed asset that Canada has being held for ransom. And if he can rewrite the script on the border span here, he’s suggesting of course that the 49th parallel isn’t something that’s solidified—it’s not a border, it’s a suggestion.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. You know, speaking of the ape posting on Truth Social, let me just lay the foundation for this. You know, I’ve been talking for a living for my entire life, and I’ve been doing it for a long, long time. I’m a lot older than you. And I’ve interviewed thousands and thousands of people. So, I know a little bit about when people are talking and how they’re talking and what’s going on in their brain.
And when I see his Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt—and there’s a rumor going around that when she doesn’t wear her cross to a news conference, that means she’s going to lie—but I listen to her. She talks very fast, she’s generally out of breath, and she’s always angry. And she kind of talks like this, and she, you know… And to me, that sends a message because, like I said, I’ve interviewed thousands of people. It means she’s not sure what she’s doing, she’s probably lying, but she doesn’t even believe that she is lying herself. And when she discounted the ape video that Trump posted—I mean, it was classic Karoline Leavitt: “I’m going to get mad that you would say anything about my President and talk about issues that really matter to American people.” Well, to African Americans in the United States, that matters a whole lot.
Jon Liedtke: Yeah, absolutely so. Listen, Karoline Leavitt is just the most refined version of Sean Spicer that we saw on day one. “The biggest crowds ever in history.” The job description says you have to be shameless and you have to lie. And if you can overcome those two hurdles, you’ll be incredibly successful at the job. For her, if she’s taking off her cross because she doesn’t feel comfortable lying while wearing so, I think that’s a big signifier.
First, she told us that President Trump was just the “King of the Jungle” and it was a parody of The Lion King. And that was just a classic, you know, “don’t go peeing on me and telling me that it’s raining” trope. I don’t think that Timon and Pumbaa, last I checked, were century-old racist tropes. The Lion King didn’t take place in the savanna, it took place in the jungle… and it didn’t even feature primates. This is just a blatant attempt to cheapen the currency of the executive branch by treating a racial slur like a Saturday morning cartoon.
But then came, of course, the inevitable pivot, right? And they threw it all onto a staffer. It was a staffer who made a mistake, they posted it. You could hear the bus tires screeching over the scapegoat. It was messy. But then, of course, in the era of our “Binger-in-Chief,” where statecraft is driven by cinematic impulses and a refusal to ever acknowledge his wrongdoing, Trump then said, “No, no, no, it wasn’t the staffer. I actually did do it.” And the White House must have just been like, “What the heck? We just did cleanup on aisle Trump.” And he said, “I liked the beginning, I just saw it and passed it on.” But let’s be honest: he didn’t miss the ending. He saw it, he didn’t care, he reveled in it. This is what he does.
Gene Valaitis: Jon, we got three more years of this.
Jon Liedtke: Yes, we do.
Gene Valaitis: I just don’t know what’s going to happen next. Nobody does.
Jon Liedtke: No, and that’s what’s most frustrating about this. We are living in his movie, we are all just extras, and we’re just waiting to see what comes next. And it’s not great, Gene.
Gene Valaitis: Well, I’ve said this—this will be the third time this hour I’ve said this—it certainly does set the table for 2:00 this afternoon when the Canadian women take on Team USA in, as Trump would call it, “ice hockey” at the Winter Games. I’m going to be watching, I hope you will be too.
Jon Liedtke: Well, it might be one of the last times that we’re able to ever watch hockey, Gene, so let’s enjoy it.
Gene Valaitis: Jon, you’re a beauty. Thanks. I’ll talk to you next week.
Jon Liedtke: Cheers, Gene.
Gene Valaitis: All right, there he goes. Jon Liedtke. Man, he has a way of making his point. That’s why we love his voice on the show as well.
This aired on 610 CKTB
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