What started out as a smile-worthy shake of the head over the breathlessly creative ways to troll people while waiting to be sworn in has grown into a true international crisis as Canadians start to take all the “51st State” stuff more seriously… On account of the fact that it appears that President Donald Trump wasn’t trolling, or he was – just that’s not all he was doing. The New York Times reports that Trump had a disconcerting phone call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in which Trump noted that he didn’t believe that treaties over 100 years old were valid and stated that he intends to rework the very border – the actual line on the map – between the two nations.
To say that the report is worrisome is to understate it in a near-comedic fashion:
Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau spoke twice on Feb. 3, once in the morning and again in the afternoon, as part of discussions to stave off tariffs on Canadian exports. But those early February calls were not just about tariffs. He told Mr. Trudeau that he did not believe that the treaty that demarcates the border between the two countries was valid and that he wants to revise the boundary. He offered no further explanation.
One gets the sense that “explanations” aren’t at the forefront of Trump’s mind. He appears to be far more focused on what he can get over explaining why he wants it in the first place. We use “he” intentionally here because it seems highly unlikely that the American public or Congress would vote to go along with such a radical and sudden paradigm shift. These are the moves that force every Western nation into a war posture. And one thing we know, war postures themselves can lead to outright war whether planned or not:
The border treaty Mr. Trump referred to was established in 1908 and finalized the international boundary between Canada, then a British dominion, and the United States. Mr. Trump also mentioned revisiting the sharing of lakes and rivers between the two nations, which is regulated by a number of treaties. Canadian officials took Mr. Trump’s comments seriously, not least because he had already publicly said he wanted to bring Canada to its knees.
Why does any American want to “bring Canada to its knees”? Of all the Trump administration’s new policies and actions this one is probably the hardest to explain with any sort of logic other than “Mine, mine, mine… ”
It actually – and impossibly – gets worse according to Grok, which, sophisticated as it is, still lacks the ability to imagine things. The “annexation” referenced below flows straight out of facts as presented by someone. It also fits what we’re seeing.
He reportedly offered no detailed explanation for his stance but suggested revising the boundary, with implications of potentially annexing parts of Canada, such as Toronto and lower Ontario. This aligns with broader statements Trump has made about possibly making Canada the “51st state,” as noted in various contexts by the Times and other sources.
None of this happens without a war. The fact that some in the administration are willing to push this despite knowing that it will lead to a confrontation with NATO – and add Japan, South Korea, Australia, and certainly various others (Israel?), including many nuclear-armed nations, and this becomes insanity. It is hard to get away from the examples set by Russia invading Ukraine (“Mine, mine, mine…”) or even Hitler invading neighbors for lebensraum or “living space.” I generally never make any comparisons to Hitler given the magnitude of such a claim – so let’s confine this to just an example of motivation and actions taken. The end results speak for themselves.
What does one gain by “annexing” southern Ontario when it costs you immense damage to cities and countryside everywhere from Boston to Minneapolis? Another weird element might be simply assuming that the entire American military – and American government – will simply go along with it to initiate a war with a country that truly was simply minding it’s own business until confronted with “Mine, mine, mine… ” Someone is going to have to explain how one turns this into a net gain or positive for the United States. Until then, it looks like a move to intentionally weaken us around the globe, blowing up all old alliances, leaving Russia, Saudi Arabia, and various others much stronger, while China gleefully gobbles up everything that it ever wanted, knowing that we’re busy.
It may be rude but it’s probably also worth pointing out that all of this is done – bad as it is – with the assumption that the U.S. will win any confrontation. Yes, we are strong. But align us against NATO and the Far East and it is really really stretching any assumptions. This is never more true than when proposing a war that the majority of Americans will oppose. It is far more likely than not that the U.S. loses such a confrontation – and may end up losing in economic ways even short of a war. It is insanity.
If Trump wanted to be removed from office by Congress, it’s difficult to imagine a more efficient means. The likelihood that Republicans in the House and Senate are willing to simply go along for the ride is impossible to imagine. They might even be able to stop a war with Canada… Tragically, it would likely only come at the cost of igniting one here.
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on twitter-X at @JasonMiciak, and follow now on Bluesky.Â
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Compare the orange turd’s statements about our border with Hitler’s bullshit about Czechoslovakia in 1938.
Truly chilling.
trump and his followers, enablers and the redst of the turd Reich are crazy. Like a heart attack.
Those who make democracy impossible, make revolution inevitable. John F Kennedy
These RW Rich, love to distract from all their Un-lawful, Unconstitutional, Nazi Policy changes! Trump & his RW minion’s “Love to Play War games, manipulate, intimidate & Extort to create FEAR & Chaos….just to AMUSE Themselves! BIG problem with this dangerous BS, this could-back-fire & tRUMP/HIS Nazi’s don’t care…..they’re BORED! Red States would be delighted to have a Replay of the CIVIL War. Be prepared for the worse. You might, start thinking about building a BOMB-Shelter?
It’s hardly surprising that Trump, stuck as he is with the emotional development of a four year old, fails to see that their are any relationships between people other than win/lose ones.
To him every interaction is one where someone wins and the other loses, he just can’t conceive of interactions or agreements that can be win-win. These agreements between normal empathic people are the norm in business in everyday life where relationships over time are appreciated and valued by virtually everyone. Trump isn’t like this, he has been insulated through his life by the bad consequences of letting other people down. He literally can’t understand the point of treaties or existing agreements of any sort – he thinks there must have been a winner and a loser. And since you only get to ‘win’ all the time by being strong and he lacks empathy or the ability to see a situation from someone else’s point of view, he continually views the world through this lens. Even when he has an agreement, he reneges on his end because he thinks cheating others is OK if he ‘wins’.
He has now taken this attitude through to The USA’s relationship with the rest of the world, which explains why he’s thrown away centuries of good will and the good name of the country, which he doesn’t perceive at all, in favor of tiny, brief, transactional ‘wins’.
And it’s going to take decades to recover what he’s thrown away on a whim. After all, why should anyone trust The USA not to elect into power a similar lot of untrustworthy nihilists in the future. This has obvious business and monetary connotations for America in the future. why buy into any sort of relationship with anything American when it’s financial or business rationale is undermined randomly and chaotically on a whim by the imposition of tariffs or sanctions or usage controls.
Why would someone outside The USA buy Boeing, Northrop, LockheedMartin, Textron, or General Dynamics aircraft or armaments when parts, service or functionality can be withdrawn or rapidly increased in price?
Why would Australia continue to commit to buying over a $ Trillion of US submarines as part of a US treaty, why would anyone buy 737, 767, 787, P8 Posieden, F15, F16, F35, Cessna, Sikorsky, Bell, Beechcraft, or Gulfstream aircaft; Cummins, General Electric, P&W, or Continental engines; or John Deere or Caterpillar heavy machinery?
Why would Canada now continue to commit to buying several $ Billion F35s?
Why would anyone continue to buy US fuels, lubricants, industrial goods, software, or management systems from any US company?
They won’t.
And this will be Dimwit Donny’s legacy.
Agree, and look what just happened with respect to SAAB. I have seen reports that a potential sale of JAS 39 NG Gripens to Colombia has been vetoed by the US, on the basis that they use GE 414G engines (built in Sweden, I think) and that Colombia is therefore an unsuitable country for their use because of the instability caused by the insatiable US demand for Colombian cocaine.
OK, whether or not that argument is valid is not the point I’m making. Go look at the Wikipedia article for the Gripen, and you will see that SAAB looked at the Eurojet EJ200 for the NG version before deciding on the 414G.
I STRONGLY suspect that:
1. A major factor in the choice was that Sweden was already locally manufacturing a closely related engine for the earlier Gripen versions, so technical risk was reduced by picking the 414G.
2. Eurojet salespeople are as we speak talking to people at both SAAB and the Colombian Air Force.
3. More generally, militaries the world over are taking a good hard look at their weapons systems. Certainly with respect to procurement going forward, and in some cases whether they can modify existing systems to make them operable regardless of US disapproval.
Would The USA do the same thing to Canada with a Gripen purchase?
At the moment, probably.