Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Aug 18, 2025

The Great Canadian Betrayal

On The Time of Monsters: Luke Savage on how Mark Carney sold out the Canadian people.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The Great Canadian Betrayal | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

In April, the Liberal Party of Canada, under the leadership of Mark Carney, won an election that heartened opponents of the right-wing. Carney had run on the promise of fighting Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada and also to bolster the Canadian state to deal with issues like affordable housing. But in office, Carney has been delivering something different than his rhetoric suggested: he has been servile to Trump and is promoting austerity. The journalist Luke Savage has written about Carney’s turn-around for both The Baffler and the Toronto Star. I talked to Luke not only about Carney’s policies but also why centrist technocratic liberals are so inept in fighting the far right.  

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomes United States President Donald Trump during an arrival ceremony at the Group of Seven (G7) Summit at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada on June 16, 2025.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomes United States President Donald Trump during an arrival ceremony at the Group of Seven (G7) Summit at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada on June 16, 2025.

(Government of Canada / Anadolu via Getty Images)

In April, the Liberal Party of Canada, under the leadership of Mark Carney, won an election that heartened opponents of the right. Carney had run on the promise of fighting Donald Trump’s threats to annex Canada and also to bolster the Canadian state to deal with issues like affordable housing. But in office, Carney has been delivering something different than his rhetoric suggested: he has been servile to Trump and is promoting austerity. The journalist Luke Savage has written about Carney’s turnaround for both The Baffler and The Toronto Star. I talked to Luke not only about Carney’s policies but also why centrist technocratic liberals are so inept in fighting the far right. 

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

The Nation Podcasts
The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

The End of American Global Power? W/ Anusar Farooqui | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
byThe Nation Magazine

The conflict in the Middle East is currently in an intermittent holding action with an extended ceasefire but no diplomatic breakthrough. To assess where things are going, I sat down with the foreign policy analyst Anusar Farooqui, who runs an excellent substack called Policy Tensor and posts on Twitter here. We discussed the resiliency and growing stature of Iran, as well as the signs that unipolar US hegemony is coming to an end, to be replaced by a multipolar world. 

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Your support makes stories like this possible

From illegal war on Iran to an inhumane fuel blockade of Cuba, from AI weapons to crypto corruption, this is a time of staggering chaos, cruelty, and violence. 

Unlike other publications that parrot the views of authoritarians, billionaires, and corporations, The Nation publishes stories that hold the powerful to account and center the communities too often denied a voice in the national media—stories like the one you’ve just read.

Each day, our journalism cuts through lies and distortions, contextualizes the developments reshaping politics around the globe, and advances progressive ideas that oxygenate our movements and instigate change in the halls of power. 

This independent journalism is only possible with the support of our readers. If you want to see more urgent coverage like this, please donate to The Nation today.

Jeet Heer

Jeet Heer is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, The Time of Monsters. He also pens the monthly column “Morbid Symptoms.” The author of In Love with Art: Francoise Mouly’s Adventures in Comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: Reviews, Essays and Profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Prospect, The GuardianThe New Republic, and The Boston Globe.

More from The Nation

American President Harry S. Truman seated in White House library, with “The Buck Stops Here” on a placard in foreground, circa 1950.

Cold War Liberal Empire—With Michael Brenes Cold War Liberal Empire—With Michael Brenes

On American Prestige: Derek speaks with Danny and Mike Brenes about Cold War liberalism, its shaping of the American empire, and more from their new co-edited volume.

Daniel Bessner and Derek Davison

Demonstrators gather outside the Iraqi embassy in Tehran to thank Iraq for what they consider its support of Iran and the “Axis of Resistance” during the war with the US and Israel.

The End of American Global Power? The End of American Global Power?

Podcast / The Time of Monsters / Aug 18, 2025 The Great Canadian Betrayal Anusar Farooqui on the long-term consequences of the Iran War. Jeet Heer Share Copy Link Facebook…

Podcast / The Time of Monsters

Peter Magyar (C), lead candidate of the Tisza party, speaks to supporters after polling stations closed during Hungarian parliamentary elections on April 12, 2026, in Budapest, Hungary.

How Hungary Fought Its Fascists—With Zack Beauchamp and Jennifer McCoy How Hungary Fought Its Fascists—With Zack Beauchamp and Jennifer McCoy

Podcast / Aug 18, 2025 The Great Canadian Betrayal We have, of course, always been experts on Hungary… but just in case we’re missing something, we brought on two actual expert…

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu visits an Israeli military unit stationed in the occupied territory of southern Lebanon on April 12, 2026.

Palestine and the Iran War Palestine and the Iran War

Yousef Munayyer on the divergence between the US and Israel.

Jeet Heer

Why Iran Is Attacking Data Centers—With Sam Biddle

Why Iran Is Attacking Data Centers—With Sam Biddle Why Iran Is Attacking Data Centers—With Sam Biddle

Paris Marx is joined by Sam Biddle to discuss what it means for data centers to become targets in a war.

Paris Marx

Protesters gather in Times Square as the nation reacts to

The Long History of the US War on Iran—With Spencer Ackerman The Long History of the US War on Iran—With Spencer Ackerman

Paris Marx is joined by Spencer Ackerman to discuss the US and Israeli war on Iran, including the history that led to this moment and what we might see from here.

Podcast / Tech Won't Save Us

x