Introduction

What is The New Yorker? I know it’s a great magazine and that it’s a tremendous source of pleasure in my life. But what exactly is it? This blog’s premise is that The New Yorker is a work of art, as worthy of comment and analysis as, say, Keats’s “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” Each week I review one or more aspects of the magazine’s latest issue. I suppose it’s possible to describe and analyze an entire issue, but I prefer to keep my reviews brief, and so I usually focus on just one or two pieces, to explore in each the signature style of its author. A piece by Nick Paumgarten is not like a piece by Jill Lepore, and neither is like a piece by Ian Frazier. One could not mistake Collins for Seabrook, or Bilger for Galchen, or Mogelson for Kolbert. Each has found a style, and it is that style that I respond to as I read, and want to understand and describe.

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

A Message to Americans

Photo from The New York Times










I’m angry. Yesterday, Trump escalated his attack on Canada, signing orders to impose a 50 percent tariff on a wide range of Canadian goods such as wine, hockey sticks, cement, dairy products, plywood, paper and furniture. This is in addition to the punitive tariffs he’s already imposed on Canadian steel, aluminum, lumber, autos, and many other products – all in direct violation of the free trade agreement between the two countries. Trump is trying to crush us. 

The response of many Canadians, including myself, is to boycott American products. I don’t buy anything American-made. Yet, here I am still blithely blogging about The New Yorker, an American publication. Yes, The New Yorker is fiercely anti-Trump. If it wasn’t, I’d have boycotted it a long time ago. But now, in light of Trump’s latest aggression towards Canada, I find it unconscionable to be blogging about anything American. 

Americans, your country is a cess pool. Recently, Ian Frazier described it as a “hell pit.” He’s right. Until you rise up and take back your country from this tyrant who is ruling you and gaming you like a gangland mobster, I don’t want to have anything more to do with you. 

The new tariffs that Trump ordered yesterday go into effect in 30 days. If they do, I’m discontinuing this blog. To hell with The New Yorker! To hell with everything American! You are such a putrid country!

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2 comments:

  1. Guilherme MadeiraJuly 21, 2026 at 10:28 AM

    John, I completely understand your anger. As a Brazilian, I also know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of punitive trade measures. Brazil, too, has recently been hit by steep U.S. tariffs. It is deeply frustrating to watch trade become a tool of coercion instead of cooperation. I sincerely hope things improve – for Canada, for Brazil, and for the United States as well.

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    1. John MacDougallJuly 22, 2026 at 4:00 AM

      Thanks for your comment, Guilherme. It’s a good reminder that Canada is not the only country in Trump’s crosshairs. This is war, as far as I’m concerned. I hope Canada retaliates dollar for dollar. No more concessions. I will wait the 30 days to see if these latest tariffs actually go into effect. If they do, my New Yorker blogging days are over. They may be over anyway. Time to find myself a new literary subject to blog about. Have a good day!

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