This week on Podcast Is Broken, Lisa, Steve, and guest host Farah Nasser gather around the flaming campfire that is global politics and try to toast some marshmallows of insight without getting burned.
We start with Canada's whiplash-inducing jump from 2% to 5% GDP military spending—more than we spend on education. More than we’ve ever spent outside of an active war. And all because Daddy Trump said we had to. That’s right. The NATO Secretary General literally called Trump “Daddy.” (Still waiting for the NATO-branded therapy journals.)
Farah, in true veteran-journalist fashion, breaks it all down while recounting her own harrowing experience interviewing Trump during his Toronto tower days—spoiler: he was already a condescending jerk, and the cameraman may or may not have recorded it. Steve theorizes Carney’s defence splurge is really an economic stimulus plan in disguise, and Lisa, as always, delivers the dry, devastating truth: “So we’ll be spending more on blowing things up than educating people who might figure out how not to blow things up.”
Then we detour into tariff territory: Trump rage-posts that Canada’s digital services tax is reason enough to kill trade talks and slap new tariffs on us. Apparently, “3%” is now the international incident threshold. Someone tell his spray tan artist.
We pivot to Alberta—because finally, some good news. Naheed Nenshi cruises to a commanding NDP by-election win, and even in Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, the NDP places second. Are the UCP’s Frankenstein coalition seams showing? Are we watching the Alberta GOP’s villain origin story in real time? Possibly. But Lisa’s hope is clear: may they all retreat to their conspiracy corners so the rest of us can get back to governing.
We wrap things up with a surprisingly compassionate conversation about the new Mayor of Mayhem documentary on Rob Ford. Farah shares her regrets from covering him in the moment—before we all talked more openly about addiction—and reflects on how populism paved his path to power. Doug Ford, predictably, is furious. Which, honestly, might be the best marketing the documentary could ask for.
Also: Farah’s kids (Muslim-Jewish Canadians, or “Mujus”) may be our best hope for Middle East peace, Lisa brings a bag of granola to the closing theme song, and Steve’s office still smells like chemical dog peanut butter.
Honestly, it's the most fun you'll have talking about the collapse of international diplomacy.
🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe so you can join us for next week’s musical finale—same dog peanut butter time, same dog peanut butter channel.
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