Trump Melts Down in Fox Interview, Even Laura Ingraham Thinks He’s Crazy

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bulwark Takes – "Trump Melts Down in Fox Interview, Even Laura Ingraham Thinks He’s Crazy"

Release Date: March 19, 2025

Introduction

In this episode of Bulwark Takes, hosted by Tim Miller from The Bulwark, the team delves into Donald Trump's recent interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham. The conversation centers on Trump's unexpected and controversial proposal to annex Canada as the 51st state of the United States. Tim Miller provides an in-depth analysis of the interview, highlighting the key points, Trump's erratic statements, and Ingraham's attempts to anchor the conversation.

Overview of Trump's Interview with Laura Ingraham

The episode begins with Tim Miller summarizing the main event: Donald Trump's 22-minute interview on Fox News, where the final four minutes were disproportionately devoted to Trump's proposition of making Canada the 51st state. Miller expresses his astonishment at the focus on such an implausible idea, emphasizing the surreal nature of the discussion and Ingraham's role in attempting to maintain rationality.

Key Topics Discussed

1. Trump's Proposal to Make Canada the 51st State

   • Duration of Focus: The proposal consumed approximately the last 18% of the interview time (around [02:15] to [07:34]).
   • Reasoning: Trump argues that the U.S. has been subsidizing Canada by $200 billion annually and cites perceived inefficiencies and trade deficits.
     • Quote: “Canada was meant to be the 51st state because we subsidized Canada by 200 billion dol a year.” ([02:15])
   • Ingraham’s Reaction: Laura Ingraham attempts to question the feasibility and rationale behind the idea, portraying it as out of touch.
     • Quote: “We need their territory. They have territorial advantage. We're not going to get close to China.” ([03:08])

2. Trade Disputes and Deficits with Canada

   • Tariffs and Economic Strain: Trump highlights a supposed 250% tariff tax imposed by Canada, which he claims has created a significant trade deficit.
     • Quote: “Canada has a 250% tariff tax. 250. Nobody knows that.” ([10:05])
   • Impact on American Industries: He asserts that tariffs on lumber and automobiles harm U.S. manufacturing and housing costs.
     • Quote: “We don't need their lumber. We don't need their energy. We don't need anything.” ([02:59])

3. Critique of Canadian Policies and Leadership

   • Justin Trudeau's Administration: Trump criticizes Canadian leadership, labeling Trudeau and his team as dishonest and uncooperative.
     • Quote: “I call him Governor Trudeau. He was. His people were nasty and they weren't telling the truth.” ([03:03])
   • Military and Defense: He claims that Canada does not contribute adequately to NATO defenses, burdening the U.S. with disproportionate responsibilities.
     • Quote: “Canada pays very little for defense. They think we're going to defend them.” ([04:40])

4. Comparison with Relations with Other Countries

   • China and Mexico: Trump briefly compares his strained relationship with Canada to his dealings with China and Mexico, though Ingraham redirects the focus back to China when discussing broader geopolitical threats.
     • Quote: “Only because it's meant to be our 51st street.” ([03:03])
     • Quote: “China cheated on your 2019.” ([11:35])

Analysis and Insights from Tim Miller

Tim Miller offers a critical perspective on the interview, highlighting the irrationality of Trump's statements and Ingraham's exasperated attempts to steer the conversation back to more pressing issues like the trade deficit with China. Miller underscores the absurdity of advocating for the annexation of Canada, especially given the well-established and amicable relationship between the two nations.

• Trump's Perception Disconnect: Miller emphasizes that Trump's fixation on Canada reveals a deep disconnect with both domestic and international realities.

  • Quote: “This is lunacy.” ([06:50])

• Ingraham's Role: Even Laura Ingraham, known for her conservative stance, is portrayed as struggling to keep Trump grounded, indicating the extremity of his viewpoints.

  • Quote: “She has to fact check him a couple of times.” ([02:15])

• Impact on U.S.-Canada Relations: Miller suggests that such rhetoric could strain the historically positive relationship between the United States and Canada, despite economic interdependencies.

  • Quote: “We do need Canada's energy.” ([08:36])

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Trump on Annexing Canada:

  • “[02:15] “Canada was meant to be the 51st state because we subsidized Canada by 200 billion dol a year.”
  • “[07:34] “Here's my problem with Canada. Canada was meant to be the 51st state.”

• Ingraham on Trump's Stance:

  • “[03:08] Laura Ingraham: We need their territory. They have territorial advantage. We're not going to get close to China.”
  • “[10:48] Laura Ingraham: The Liberal Party is going to win now in the next election, most likely.”

• Tim Miller's Commentary:

  • “[06:50] Tim Miller: So I think the most important thing to say here Is that even on Fox? Even on primetime Fox. The primetime Fox hosts are like, why are you so crazy?”
  • “[10:10] Tim Miller: Is that even English? They charge tremendous. What are you even talking about?”

Conclusions

Tim Miller wraps up the episode by expressing concern over Trump's erratic behavior and the potential ramifications of his statements on national and international politics. He notes that even seasoned Fox News personalities find Trump's remarks unbecoming and out of step with reality, suggesting a troubling trajectory for the former president's public discourse.

• Mental State Concerns: Miller speculates on Trump's cognitive state, hinting that his "marbles" may be slipping.

  • Quote: “As for the President himself, the marbles, he's lost his marbles.” ([11:50])

• Impact on Public Perception: The episode concludes with Miller highlighting the unsettling nature of the interview and the broader implications for Trump's influence within his own base and the political landscape.

  • Quote: “Maybe the Yee half of his cabinet or Fox News personality. So maybe, maybe that'll have an impact somewhere.” ([12:00])

Overall, this episode of Bulwark Takes provides a comprehensive analysis of a particularly bizarre exchange between Donald Trump and Laura Ingraham, underscoring the challenges of grappling with misinformation and populist rhetoric within mainstream media platforms.

Transcript

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[Nicole Byer]

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[Tim Miller]

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[Donald Trump]

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[Tim Miller]

Hey y'all, it's Tim Miller from the bull war. Just finished watching Donald Trump's interview with Laura Ingraham, which covered a bunch of stuff, but I really want to hone in on the fact that the last four minutes of this 22 minute interview were all about Trump wanting to make Canada the 51st state. I swear to God, the four minutes of this, of this interview, like one fifth of the interview basically was dedicated to Canada and it is just wheels off. And I got to tell you, Laura Ingram is like playing the voice of reason on this. That's how you know how crazy this is that Laura Ingram is looking at him like, who is this insane grandpa talking about annexing Canada? Like, what are you even talking about? Laura Ingram has to fact check him a couple of times. Laura Ingram fact check Trump. That's how fucking crazy Trump was being. It is totally absurd and I'm sorry to punish you with it. So if you want, we're about to play the clip. If you want, you can just fast forward and get to my analysis on the other side. But it is worth just going through the highlight reel here because it is lunacy.

[Donald Trump]

Here's my problem with Canada. Canada was meant to be the 51st state because we subsidized Canada by 200 billion dol a year. We don't need their cars, we don't need their lumber. We have a lot of lumber. We got. We freed it up, as, you know, last week. We're freeing it up so that you can actually cut down a tree without being, you know, given the death penalty. Because what these, what these radical environmentalists have done to our country. But we freed it up. But we don't need their lumber. We don't need their energy. We don't need anything. We certainly don't want their automobiles. They make. A lot of millions of automobiles are sent in. I'd rather have them made in Michigan. I'd rather have them made in South Carolina or anyone around.

[Laura Ingraham]

But you're tougher with Canada than you are with some of our biggest adversaries.

[Donald Trump]

Only because it's meant to be our 51st street. But listen to this for a second.

[Laura Ingraham]

We need their territory. They have territorial advantage. We're not going to get close to China.

[Donald Trump]

Look, I deal with every country indirectly or directly. One of the nastiest countries to deal with is Canada. The people that. Now, this was Trudeau. The people that. Good old Justin, I call him Governor Trudeau. He was. His people were nasty and they weren't telling the truth. They never told the truth. You know that. You know, they'd say, well, we don't charge. Well, they do. They charge tremendous. They charge tremendous. And if you look at dairy products, what they've done to our farmers, I'd go up to Iowa, I'd go up to different places, Nebraska, and they would always complain about Canada, how they get ripped off. Do you know that Canada has a 250% tariff tax? 250. Nobody knows that. They charge us numbers that are crazy. We have a very big deficit with Canada and there's no reason. Much more. We have much more. Just so you understand, we subsidize Canada. And I like Canada. I love Canada.

[Laura Ingraham]

I love the Liberal guys.

[Donald Trump]

I love his wife.

[Laura Ingraham]

The Liberal Party is going to win now in the next election, most likely. And they were. They were down and I don't care. Isn't that going to make them more hostile to us? And possibly I'd rather deal with a Liberal than a China closer to Canada, and that would really put us in a bond.

[Donald Trump]

The Conservative that's running is stupidly no friend of mine. I don't know him, but he said negative things. So when he says negative things, I couldn't care less. I think it's easier to deal actually with a Liberal. And maybe they're going to win, but I don't really care. It doesn't matter to me at All.

[Laura Ingraham]

So your end game is what with them?

[Donald Trump]

My end game is I don't want to have a big deficit. I don't want to see the United States of America. And you say 60 and I say 200, but it doesn't matter. I don't want us to pay 60 or $200 billion to a. That if they were a state, think of this. It would be our biggest, most beautiful. It would be great, this state. It would be cherished. We'd take care of it. The people would pay half what they're paying right now. You know, Canada pays very little for defense. They think we're going to defend them.

[Laura Ingraham]

We protect them.

[Donald Trump]

What?

[Laura Ingraham]

We protect them.

[Donald Trump]

We protect them. We protect them. Do you know in NATO they pay less than anybody else in everything else they go, we bought. We're in the process of buying 48 icebreakers. All of a sudden I see Canada's involved where they're going to get a piece of them. I say, what are they paying? So I got tired of it. Here's the story. I had one of the most successful economies. I had the most successful economy in the history of our country in my first four years. We did a great job. Largest tax cuts ever, largest. Everything we had right to try where people are able to use drugs stupidly. For many years they weren't able to use, you know, the, the far reaching drugs because they weren't approved yet. Somebody's terminally ill. They couldn't do it with me. They can do it. We did so many things. We rebuilt our military. Canada doesn't pay for military. They don't give any. They give us nothing. And they are the worst people to negotiate with of everybody, they usmca.

[Laura Ingraham]

You finally got them around the edge on that though. You got.

[Donald Trump]

No, I got them there. And USMCA is good, but they cheat. You know, an agreement's good, but they cheat. And Mexico cheats also.

[Laura Ingraham]

China cheated on your 2019.

[Donald Trump]

Can I tell you what?

[Laura Ingraham]

Phase one, they totally cheated and dropped it. With Biden, you had a great deal.

[Donald Trump]

When Biden took over, he didn't push them. I would call up once every two weeks saying you're not living up to the agreement. And they'd buy more corn, more this. So the most we ever did was $15 billion with China, the farmers and everything and manufacturing. I had them up to 50 billion and they were doing it. When Biden get in. Do you think Biden called up President Xi and said, you're screwing us?

[Tim Miller]

So I think the most important thing to say here Is that even on Fox? Even on primetime Fox. The primetime Fox hosts are like, why are you so crazy? What do we need to do to bring you back to reality? She's just, like, nudging him, turning back. Come on, come on. This is a troll, right? This is a troll. No, it's not a troll. Trump gets angrier and angrier as he starts talking about Canada. Keeps riling himself up. He starts here. Canada is meant to be the 51st state. You know, Laura Ingram is trying to get him to realize that China is a bigger threat. There are trade deficit is bigger with China. That that should be the bigger concern. And Trump is just like, no, Canada's essence was meant to be the 51st state. So I need to deal with that.

[Donald Trump]

Here's my problem with Canada. Canada was meant to be the 51st state.

[Tim Miller]

Then he goes on talking about all the things we don't need from Canada. We don't need their lumber. This is an aside. I don't think that's true. I think that housing costs, insurance rates. I just got a note about my insurance going up. Part of that is that if a house gets hit by a hurricane or a tornado and you got to rebuild it, it costs more. Now, part of that is inflation, but the tariffs are a part of that. The actual. The wood and the lumber, the steel, that's going to cost more for building. So that's gonna raise housing prices on everybody. So anyway, he says we don't need their lumber. Wrong. We do. And then he goes on a weird tangent about how we can't cut down a tree in this country without getting the death penalty.

[Donald Trump]

That you can actually cut down a tree without being, you know, given the death penalty.

[Tim Miller]

I don't even know what you're talking about. We have a vibrant lumber industry, forestry industry here in this country. He then goes on about how we don't need Canada's energy.

[Donald Trump]

We don't need their energy. We don't need anything.

[Tim Miller]

We do need Canada's energy. I mean, again, Doug Ford threatened to cut off the electricity. He talked about all the homes in America that would have been impacted by that. And then Trump backed down. And so, again, like, just. Just like regardless of whether you think we don't need it in the biggest possible picture, in the long term, at least right now, yes, American homes are reliant on Canadian energy. He goes on, the nastiest people to deal with are the Canadians.

[Donald Trump]

One of the nastiest countries to deal with is Canada. The people that now, this was Trudeau. The people that Good old Justin. I call him Governor Trudeau. His people were nasty Canadians.

[Tim Miller]

Canadians are the nastiest people to deal with. And this is just farcical. And there's a whole stereotype about how nice the Canadians are, how Canadians are too nice and too agreeable and like, what are you even talking about? The Canadians are the nastiest ones to deal with. I think he just means that the Canadians aren't playing the oh, we gotta suck up to you Donald Trump game. And that's what being nice is to him. Like, it's like people flattering him, they're not flattering him enough because this is what it's all about. It's all about who can be, you know, the most ostentatious in their praise of Donald Trump's golf game or whatever. So anyway, then he goes on, he goes here. They charge tremendous.

[Donald Trump]

You know, they'd say, well, we don't charge. Well, they do. They charge tremendous. They charge tremendous.

[Tim Miller]

Is that even English? They charge tremendous. What are you even talking about? They charge what? What are you talking about? Then he gets into the trade deficit again. Trade deficits are not necessarily bad. It's fine for us to have a trade deficit just means that we're importing more goods from the other country. That is actually the sign of a successful country, really. But that's neither here nor there. Laura Ingraham then has to correct him on the trade deficit. Like I said, he gets fact checked by Laura Ingraham.

[Donald Trump]

They charge us numbers that are crazy. We have a very big deficit with Canada and there's no reason. Much more. We have much more.

[Tim Miller]

Laura then kind of again goes at him, is like, it's going to be your fault that the Conservative doesn't win in Canada. He doesn't care. He says he'd rather deal with a liberal than a conservative.

[Donald Trump]

The liberal guy, I love his wife.

[Laura Ingraham]

The Liberal Party is going to win now in the next election, most likely. And they were on, they were down tonight. Isn't that going to make them more hostile? Hostile to us?

[Tim Miller]

And then he kind of implies that we wouldn't protect Canada if Canada was attacked and that we shouldn't come to their defense. Even though Canada has sacrificed many, you know, resources and blood and treasure on our behalf in wars after we were attacked again. Then he talks about how Canada's cheating. Ingram's like, what are you talking about? Trump said he call up every two weeks to Canada to keep them from cheating. Like, is he just fabricating stories?

[Donald Trump]

You know, an agreement's good, but they Cheat. And Mexico cheats also.

[Laura Ingraham]

China cheated on your 2019.

[Donald Trump]

Can I tell you what?

[Laura Ingraham]

Phase one, they totally cheated and dropped it with Biden.

[Donald Trump]

You had a great deal when Biden took over. He didn't push them. I would call up once every two weeks saying you're not living up to the agreement and they'd buy more corn. More this.

[Tim Miller]

The whole thing is just preposterous. It's like, what are we doing? How can anybody any. If you're, if an interview is happening and you're a Republican president and Laura Ingraham is looking at you like you're a loon and is trying to reattach you to reality and you know, and try to get you off your weird grudge against our neighbor and ally to the north, then clearly you have fallen off the dark side of the moon. You're so far into crazy town. I mean like, imagine how far out there you have to be for Laura Ingram to be like, dude, let's touch grass. What are you doing? The Canadians are fine. Canadians are allies. And Laura, at the beginning there kind of gets to a fundamental question. Why are you meaner to the Canadians than you are to the autocrats and to the dictators throughout the world? And yeah, you don't, you, you know, you don't get an answer. You get the answer that Canada was nasty to him. Well, yeah, because you're giving Putin everything you want. But Putin's going to be nasty to you too if you actually showed some balls. So anyway, there you go to our Canadian friends. Not an encouraging interview, let me tell you. It's maybe slightly encouraging that even the craziest Fox News host thinks that this is lunacy. And so maybe, you know, Trump does have like half of his cabinet or Fox News, you know, personality. So maybe, maybe that'll have an impact somewhere. But as for the President himself, the marbles, he's lost his marbles. Things aren't going great in the brain. So anyway, there you go. I had to watch a Laura Ingram interview. So. You didn't have to. You're welcome. Well, I guess you might have had to if you watched through the whole four minutes. But if you skipped it just for my takes, I did that for you.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Tim Miller]

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