By Zach Gorchow
Gongwer News Service
A multibillion international border crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, on the cusp of opening after a 20-year saga thrown into chaos by one presidential social media post?
Sure, why not?
President Donald Trump’s Monday evening post to his Truth Social platform denouncing the soon-to-open Gordie Howe International Bridge and declaring he would prevent it from opening hit like a thunderbolt.
There’s a lot to unpack here, be it Trump’s inaccurate claims about the bridge, exactly how he intends to stop the opening (most likely by having U.S. Customs and Border Protection refuse entry from Canada), the continued escalation of tensions with Canada and the notion of the gleaming new bridge sitting ludicrously dormant over the Detroit River.
This was a huge story from the start, but what really rocketed it up several notches was the revelation in reporting by The New York Times that Trump’s post was not just fired off because he is mad at Canada or because of his social media whims, but it was actually the latest chapter in a long war between the Moroun family, owners of the Ambassador Bridge, and the backers of the new bridge.
The Moroun family pulled every lever it could, going back more than 20 years, to stop the new bridge.
When Gov. Jennifer Granholm decided to support the span, they locked in opposition among majority Republicans in the Senate, blocking it from moving forward.
When Gov. Rick Snyder decided in 2011 to support the bridge, the Moroun family succeeded in blocking support in the Republican Legislature for legislation to create an authority and appropriations to fund Michigan’s share.
As an aside, Snyder pulled one of the all-time great State of the State surprises when he unexpectedly declared he supported building the new bridge in his first address. The then-Senate majority leader, Randy Richardville, and then-House speaker, Jase Bolger, seated behind Snyder, both looked like they had just taken a slap shot to the gut.
Snyder, however, in one of the most vivid displays of executive power in state history, used a state law allowing for an interlocal agreement to use two state agencies to create an authority with the Canadian government. Further, he secured Canada’s support to pay for the cost of building the entire bridge – including the U.S. Customs Plaza – with exactly $0 in state funding.
With the Legislature sidelined, the Morouns turned to the ballot box. They obtained the necessary petition signatures to put on the ballot a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval for a new border crossing with Canada and spent about $40 million in their own fortune on 5 trillion television commercials saying, “the people should decide.” Then the people did decide and defeated their ballot proposal in a landslide, 60% to 40%.
Then the Morouns sued to stop the bridge. They lost.
At every step of the way, each potential hurdle to the new bridge was climbed. The bridge is now virtually finished with the opening date expected this year. Finally, it seems the Moroun family, led by Matthew Moroun, are trying to play one last card. The New York Times reported he met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and urged the president’s opposition to the bridge.
Hours later, Trump hit “Truth!” and this story was off and running.
Can we just note the interesting difference in response between Snyder and Whitmer? Snyder, who even seven years out of office is usually averse to getting into a public back-and-forth with anyone, wrote a scorching and funny op-ed for The Detroit News. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took a positively Snyderian posture, disagreeing with Trump without criticizing him. She said the bridge would “open one way or another,” which I found funny. What does that mean?
Does one of those ways involve the governor offering Customs and Border Protection staff free tickets to watch a Tarik Skubal-Justin Verlander doubleheader at Comerica Park this summer to lure them away from the bridge? It might work!
For years now, the Morouns have been relatively quiet. It’s seemed like perhaps they were prepared to accept competition for commercial traffic at North America’s busiest crossing.
Instead, they seemed to wait for one last possible moment to stop the competing bridge from opening.
Now we’ll see if the bridge does, in fact, open – one way or the other.
Gongwer News Service
A multibillion international border crossing between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, on the cusp of opening after a 20-year saga thrown into chaos by one presidential social media post?
Sure, why not?
President Donald Trump’s Monday evening post to his Truth Social platform denouncing the soon-to-open Gordie Howe International Bridge and declaring he would prevent it from opening hit like a thunderbolt.
There’s a lot to unpack here, be it Trump’s inaccurate claims about the bridge, exactly how he intends to stop the opening (most likely by having U.S. Customs and Border Protection refuse entry from Canada), the continued escalation of tensions with Canada and the notion of the gleaming new bridge sitting ludicrously dormant over the Detroit River.
This was a huge story from the start, but what really rocketed it up several notches was the revelation in reporting by The New York Times that Trump’s post was not just fired off because he is mad at Canada or because of his social media whims, but it was actually the latest chapter in a long war between the Moroun family, owners of the Ambassador Bridge, and the backers of the new bridge.
The Moroun family pulled every lever it could, going back more than 20 years, to stop the new bridge.
When Gov. Jennifer Granholm decided to support the span, they locked in opposition among majority Republicans in the Senate, blocking it from moving forward.
When Gov. Rick Snyder decided in 2011 to support the bridge, the Moroun family succeeded in blocking support in the Republican Legislature for legislation to create an authority and appropriations to fund Michigan’s share.
As an aside, Snyder pulled one of the all-time great State of the State surprises when he unexpectedly declared he supported building the new bridge in his first address. The then-Senate majority leader, Randy Richardville, and then-House speaker, Jase Bolger, seated behind Snyder, both looked like they had just taken a slap shot to the gut.
Snyder, however, in one of the most vivid displays of executive power in state history, used a state law allowing for an interlocal agreement to use two state agencies to create an authority with the Canadian government. Further, he secured Canada’s support to pay for the cost of building the entire bridge – including the U.S. Customs Plaza – with exactly $0 in state funding.
With the Legislature sidelined, the Morouns turned to the ballot box. They obtained the necessary petition signatures to put on the ballot a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval for a new border crossing with Canada and spent about $40 million in their own fortune on 5 trillion television commercials saying, “the people should decide.” Then the people did decide and defeated their ballot proposal in a landslide, 60% to 40%.
Then the Morouns sued to stop the bridge. They lost.
At every step of the way, each potential hurdle to the new bridge was climbed. The bridge is now virtually finished with the opening date expected this year. Finally, it seems the Moroun family, led by Matthew Moroun, are trying to play one last card. The New York Times reported he met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and urged the president’s opposition to the bridge.
Hours later, Trump hit “Truth!” and this story was off and running.
Can we just note the interesting difference in response between Snyder and Whitmer? Snyder, who even seven years out of office is usually averse to getting into a public back-and-forth with anyone, wrote a scorching and funny op-ed for The Detroit News. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took a positively Snyderian posture, disagreeing with Trump without criticizing him. She said the bridge would “open one way or another,” which I found funny. What does that mean?
Does one of those ways involve the governor offering Customs and Border Protection staff free tickets to watch a Tarik Skubal-Justin Verlander doubleheader at Comerica Park this summer to lure them away from the bridge? It might work!
For years now, the Morouns have been relatively quiet. It’s seemed like perhaps they were prepared to accept competition for commercial traffic at North America’s busiest crossing.
Instead, they seemed to wait for one last possible moment to stop the competing bridge from opening.
Now we’ll see if the bridge does, in fact, open – one way or the other.
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