Munk Dialogue with Andrew Coyne: Trump loses his grip on the GOP and Mark Carney opens the spending taps

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Rudyard and Andrew examine the aftershocks of the U.S. midterm elections, with Trump refusing to take responsibility for the Republicans’ heavy losses and some of his most loyal allies beginning to distance themselves. One clear miscalculation was his failure to recognize just how unpopular the Iran war had become, even among his own supporters. Have we reached the uncomfortable conclusion that Iran has won the war on its own terms? What might a negotiated settlement look like? And for Canada, should the election results prompt a rethink of our approach to trade negotiations with Washington?

In the second half of the program, Rudyard and Andrew turn to last week’s federal budget. What grade would Andrew give it? With revenues rising and spending falling, the government has roughly $30 billion a year in additional fiscal room. Yet rather than put that money toward reducing the deficit, the budget commits it to new spending. Why is the government choosing to spend rather than save? And does the budget signal that the prime minister may be preparing for a spring election?