In this hard-hitting segment from 610 CKTB, host Gene Valaitis sits down with journalist and storyteller Jon Liedtke to dissect what he calls the “Corleone Presidency”. The discussion centers on the stalled Gordie Howe International Bridge, a $6.5 billion project funded by Canadian taxpayers that Liedtke argues is being held hostage by private interests in Detroit and political maneuvers from the White House. Comparing modern trade tactics to “Mob Work 101,” the interview explores how the Windsor-Detroit border has transformed from a fluid economic artery into a high-stakes “pay-to-play” gauntlet.
Beyond the bridge, Liedtke explores a broader “global shakedown” involving massive hikes in land border fees and 15% revenue demands on major tech firms like Nvidia and AMD. He traces Donald Trump’s political style back to the “Roy Cohn Curriculum,” suggesting that the administration operates more like a criminal enterprise than a traditional branch of government. This segment provides a sobering look at the collateral damage faced by everyday commuters and the automotive industry as the border becomes a tool for political and financial leverage.
Transcript (Gemini Generated):
Certainly! Here is the word-for-word transcription of the interview between Gene Valaitis and Jon Liedtke on 610 CKTB.
Gene Valaitis: Right now though, we are joined by another regular voice here on the show, a great storyteller, Jon Liedtke. Good morning, Jon.
Jon Liedtke: Good morning, Gene.
Gene Valaitis: The, the great thing about, uh, you coming on the show, you’re not just a voice, you’re a great storyteller, and you always seem to take an idea and compare it to a movie. So I can’t wait for today. Uh, you’re talking about Donald Trump and you, and you, and you’re an old newspaper guy, so you always pitch me ideas, which I love. And today we’re talking about the art of the shakedown, welcome to the Corleone Presidency. Okay, explain, explain, Lucy.
Jon Liedtke: It’s the only label that fits, Gene. I mean, look, here down in Windsor, we’ve got the Gordie Howe Bridge. It’s supposed to be opening up, but we’ve got a shakedown going on with it. It connects Windsor to Detroit. It’s completely built, it’s been paid for entirely by Canadian taxpayers at six and a half billion dollars, and it’s being held hostage because a private bridge dynasty in Detroit whispered in the right ear at the White House. From the toll booths at the border to the corporate boardrooms, the squeeze is on. We’re validating lighting systems right now on the bridge. The thing is ready to go. It’s bleeding seven million dollars every week that it’s not open. This is mob work 101. Take a legitimate business, max out the credit lines, and leave the husk to burn. Think Goodfellas, but instead of doing the restaurant, they torch the most economically vital mile of pavement on the planet.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah, no kidding. Now, you’re talking about the pincer maneuver of border fees. Uh, you’re gonna have to explain that one.
Jon Liedtke: Yeah, I mean, look, we used to have a peaceful, predictable border, but it’s morphed into a classic shakedown. And it’s a pincer because people are being squeezed from both ends. On the US side, there’s a security surcharge, and it’s not just a fee, that’s a gate tax. As of 2025, the I-94 land border fee jumped from six dollars to a staggering thirty dollars. That’s a 400 percent freedom to enter hike that hits every occasional traveler. And that’s not us here in Canada specifically, but those are the ones who are outside of our continental, uh, entry zone. But on the other half of it is the pincer that’s coming from our own government in Ottawa. In response to the Trump steel and auto duties and other tariffs, we have hit with 25 percent retaliatory tariffs on US-made goods. So we’re not just paying, uh, you know, more at the border or waiting for the border, we’re also being hit with a retaliatory tax on the very groceries and car parts that people are used to crossing the border to get. What used to be a free-flowing economic artery is now a pay-to-play gauntlet where the average car that crosses is hit by collateral damage.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. This is probably the most important bridge in all of Canada. Now what you were talking about is just the government side, so what about the existing bridge?
Jon Liedtke: Well, that’s the other side of this pincer that exists too, Gene. While the White House isn’t technically setting the tolls of any of the the old bridges, they have mastered the chaos of the monopoly. And while we’re watching this Gordie Howe Bridge being treated like a poker chip and being threatened to not be open unless we potentially hand over more than 50 percent to the US, um, we are now just watching this, uh, be hit by national security reviews and the administration is handing the private monopoly Ambassador Bridge right now a monopoly still to, a license to print money. This is a classic protection racket. They’re keeping the new public bridge as a parking lot so their donors, and who have been hitting lobbyists, can keep squeezing every commuter and truck in the Windsor-Detroit corridor with impunity. While the politicians are playing Corleone, it’s the guy driving the F-150 who’s actually footing the bill with this shakedown.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. You know, this reminds me of like a scene in the Godfather. You know, hey, nice bridge you got there, Canada. Shame if nobody ever gets to drive it.
Jon Liedtke: Precisely, Gene. And it scales up too. Look at the 15 percent vig that’s being squeezed out of the tech sector. The administration isn’t just asking for export licenses, they’re demanding a 15 percent cut of top-line revenue or a percentage of, uh, the company from like Nvidia or AMD just for the privilege of doing business. This is the Paulie Cicero philosophy. Business bad, FU, pay me. Oh, you had a record quarter, FU, pay me. Oh, the business burned down, FU, pay me. But here’s the kicker, this isn’t just numbers on balance sheets, Gene. This is the tax on the brains of the next generation auto industry. When the cost of the chips for the EV platforms at the NextStar plant or Stellantis or any of the new auto plants that still exist here in the country increase because of a White House shakedown, that vig is being paid by every worker on the line and all of the ancillary businesses and the families buying the cars. It’s a global racket with a local invoice being sent, and we’re all being stuck with footing the bill.
Gene Valaitis: Yeah. So how is Trump getting away with this?
Jon Liedtke: Because he didn’t learn politics from a civics book. He learned it at the feet of Roy Cohn, the legendary consigliere to the Genovese and, uh, Gambino crime families of New York. That’s the Cohn curriculum. Never admit, never settle, bury the truth under a mountain of frivolous motions. This is the same tactic Trump used to gut contractors in Atlantic City decades ago and now he’s scaling it up to the United States government and the Constitution. But he’s not just stalling in court, he’s using emergency declarations to bypass budgets entirely. He’s essentially turning the Oval Office into a shell company. Lawyers are arguing over precedence in DC, but the vig is being collected in real time. This isn’t a legal strategy, it’s a hostile takeover.
Gene Valaitis: Now why do you say the Secret Service isn’t even safe?
Jon Liedtke: Because they’re in it as well. We’re seeing invoices for like 1200 dollars a night per room just so his security detail can sleep under a roof that he owns. If you think that, like, the double-dipped chocolate at Tim Hortons is something, this is a double dip. It’s a double-double. The taxpayer pays the salary and then the taxpayer pays the mortgage. And look at the tough guy act. This is a guy who said he had bone spurs to get out of the draft, makes fun of real war heroes like John McCain for getting captured. He’s getting into wars right now. He acts tough, but he hides behind walls of NDAs, high-priced consiglieres, and now he’s got Secret Service agent he charges rent to. This isn’t strength, it’s a predatory grift.
Gene Valaitis: Yikes. You know, I can’t stress enough the importance of this bridge. I mean, so, so much trade goes, you know, both ways on this bridge. We really need the new one open because it may be down in Windsor, Ontario, but it affects everybody here in the Niagara region as well. So, uh, just coming to the conclusion before I have to go, uh, what’s the end game here?
Jon Liedtke: Well, this is a survival play, Gene, for Trump. He’s trying to stay out of a jumpsuit. This is a man who knows that when the Epstein files get fully out, he’s going to be dealing with this from the House and the Senate and investigations and trials and impeachment. And so the realization here for us in Canada is that this is a bully and he’s not going to stop because we’re being civic or we’re going to find a win-win trade deal. What we need to do is punch the bully right in the face. That’s how you deal with things. It’s time to stop treating the Oval Office like it’s a branch of government, start treating it like it’s a criminal enterprise. Start pushing back now at the border, in the boardrooms, if you have American friends, tell them to do so at the ballot box, because we’re not talking about just losing a friendship here or losing a bridge here. This is a global shakedown we’re talking about, a complete change of how we know geopolitics, and I don’t want to see where we’re going to.
Gene Valaitis: Another great story, Jon. I sure do appreciate you. Have a sweet Passover, enjoy seder dinner number two tonight, and we’ll be talking to you next Tuesday.
Jon Liedtke: Thank you and Happy Easter to you and yours.
Gene Valaitis: There you go. Jon Liedtke. We love his storytelling abilities.
This aired on 610 CKTB
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