On Saturday, two days before Donald J. Trump’s second inauguration as President of the United States, David L. Cohen will fly home to Philadelphia with his law-school sweetheart and wife of 47 years, Rhonda. The flight will mark the end of David Cohen’s term as U.S. ambassador to Canada.
When he came to the National Arts Centre, a couple of blocks from the immense embassy building, for our interview, his staff gave me an idea of the schedule he’s been keeping in his last days on the job. It’s been a typically punishing schedule, from early in the morning until late at night, and his team says Cohen will probably be dealing with a few files on his way to the airport.
I am sorry to see the Cohens leave town. David Cohen has been a friend to this podcast in concrete ways. He was my first guest when I launched this podcast in September of 2022. I had recently left a magazine and wasn’t sure I could do good work as an independent. Or rather, I was pretty sure I could do the work, but I wasn’t at all sure I could catch a break from movers and shakers. Cohen gave me an important early credibility boost as a free agent.
Later, when the formidable U.S. journalist Buzz Bissinger came to Ottawa on a book tour, Cohen invited me to interview Bissinger. Audio from that exchange became another podcast episode. Why was the U.S. ambassador wrangling Bissinger’s book tour? Because Bissinger’s 1998 book A Prayer for the City is about the way Ed Rendell helped turn around the fortunes of Philadelphia as its mayor in the 1990s, with Cohen as Rendell’s smart, driven chief of staff. It’s the kind of book you’d still be giving away copies of 20 years later, too, if you were lucky enough to be portrayed the way Bissinger portrayed Cohen. He works his butt off. He sweats details. He figures out who matters and approaches them directly. That sort of thing.
Anyway. Given the menace and recrimination currently characterizing the Canada-US relationship, maybe fond anecdotes aren’t what you want right now. There are files to sweat, and it’s been an eventful three years. We got into all of it in a conversation that, even edited, fills an hour: Biden’s decline and withdrawal from the re-election race; watching Trump win again; the need to keep checking Canada’s homework on defence spending and Canada’s commitment to crucial military alliances; and, finally, tariffs and even annexation as new elements in the cross-border — or no-border? — relationship.
Cohen was cautious as always, but he didn’t leave many of my questions unanswered. He addresses all of it, even the most lurid headline-grabbing issues. I get the distinct impression the Biden-Trudeau relationship isn’t ending the way Biden’s man in Ottawa hoped, or even expected, it to end. What’s a guy to do? Pass on some observations, perhaps, and keep sweating details until you get to the airport.
As is often the case, I’m grateful to the National Arts Centre for making my work easier. We skipped a bunch of logistical hassle, thanks to the NAC’s studio a few steps from their Elgin Street entrance.
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I am grateful to be the Max Bell Foundation Senior Fellow at McGill University, the principal patron of this podcast. Antica Productions turns these interviews into a podcast every week. Kevin Breit wrote and performed the theme music. Andy Milne plays it on piano at the end of each episode. Thanks to all of them and to you. Please tell your friends to subscribe to The Paul Wells Show on their favourite podcast app, or here on the newsletter.
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