Updated for a story on Brexit from yesterday that I forgot earlier.

Yesterday, a report appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in which the Canadian Ambassador to the United States declared that “Canadians have to do a better job selling Americans on the benefits of our interdependence on issues like trade and security.” He means to defend trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Donald Trump ran against.[] I respond to His Excellency here.
I have previously commented on the gist of Rob Hoffman’s analysis in Politico here, here, and here, but one thing Hoffman observes is that “liberals are seemingly yet to grasp why they lost this election.”[] It’s early yet and there are occasional counter-indications,[] but I don’t see anything like enough to say he’s wrong. Indeed, when Democrats blame redistricting,[] they’re actually begging the question because the reason the Republicans are able to gerrymander in favor of Republicans is that Republicans have been winning at the state level pretty much throughout Barack Obama’s presidency.[] So an answer to the question of why Democrats are losing requires answering why they’re as unpopular as they are.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “Canada needs to do better job selling the U.S. on trade benefits, says ambassador,” November 19, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/nova-scotia/canada-ambassador-trade-benefits-with-u-s-1.3858829
Rob Hoffman, “How the Left Created Trump,” Politico, November 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/how-the-left-created-donald-trump-214472
Maggie Severns and Theodoric Meyer, “House Democrats lament blue-collar collapse,” Politico, November 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/house-democrats-worry-blue-collar-voters-231635
Now that Donald Trump has won in the U.S., European leaders are taking seriously the possibility that Marine Le Pen might win in France. Hoping to discourage that eventuality, they will adopt a harder line against Brexit.[]
Toby Helm, “Europe’s leaders to force Britain into hard Brexit,” Guardian, November 19, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/19/europes-leaders-force-uk-hard-brexit-farage-le-pen