Rachel Maddow kicked off her MS NOW segment on Monday with a deep dive into one of the most bizarre and sketchy side sagas of the Trump administration's second term: his refusal to allow the Gordie Howe Bridge between Canada and the United States to open.
"The big, beautiful new bridge that Trump is not allowing us to use is that bridge that crosses the Detroit River ... to Windsor, Ontario, Canada," said Maddow, showing pictures of the completed but empty bridge and noting it is "fully financed and paid for" and will be "the biggest U.S. border crossing [with] Canada" and "one of the most important routes for trade in the entire world."
Unfortunately, she said, "This is why we can't have nice things." Trump has refused to let the bridge open, and is arguing Canada must allow the U.S. to claim joint ownership of the structure.
For their part, Maddow continued, "the White House insists that categorically, just because [Trump is] president, he can't have a conflict of interest. It's like dividing by zero. Doesn't make sense!"
Nonetheless, she added, there is something in all of this that does look like a glaring conflict of interest.
"There is a competing bridge a little way down the river. A privately owned, very old, very congested toll bridge that will likely lose some of its traffic because of competition," said Maddow, referring to the Ambassador Bridge owned by the ultra-wealthy Maroun family and their trucking empire. And that family "earlier this year made a $1 million donation to Donald Trump's super PAC," said Maddow, after which they got a meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Despite the White House and the super PAC both claiming this chain of events was a coincidence, Maddow said, "that night, Trump suddenly discovers new, supposedly trade-related reasons why he is now against this bridge, even though previously he had been for it."
"That all happened in February. Now it's June," said Maddow — and the bridge is still closed.
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