I appreciate the kind words, someone’s got to wade in on Canadas behalf I’m not exactly sure why it seems to fall mostly to me. I pick up heavy things and put them down for a living and routinely butcher the English language.
I think what often gets missed is some of the more vocal members that participate in this thread (myself included) are actually pretty pro-Canada (and pro-European allies) and also. while largely conservative in beliefs/ideology, are NOT on the Trump train..
I openly admit that I am on board with much of Trumps agenda in its foundational premise.. I believe a head of state should put his state first and strongly negotiate (or straight up fight if necessary) in support of what is in his countrys national interest (strategic, financial, cultural, or anything else).. Im all for putting to bed what I think has been the insanity of extreme leftism that has riddled the US (and much of the rest of the world) for the last several years.. etc.. etc..
At the same time, Im not much of a fan of the manner in which the Trump Administration is going about pursuing its agenda.. I could care less about mean tweets, silly nicknames, etc.. its pretty easy for me to ignore the childish bravado of a billionaire new yorker.. I don't get offended or even remotely concerned about "51st state", "Pocahontas", and all of the things that flow out of Trumps mouth and then stay in the headlines of our collective newsfeeds for the next few weeks.. If anything I find it both somewhat confusing and amusing when people that seem otherwise intelligent and knowledgeable get bent out of shape over it... If you know what is said isn't true, why would you care whats been said? Peoples words and opinions only matter if you allow them to matter... and if you believe it to actually be true, why get offended? wouldn't the better response be to do something about it instead of throwing a fit over someone stating a truth that you didn't want to hear?
What concerns me about the manner in which the Trump Administration is going about pursuing its agenda is the actual methodology..
For example.. Im all for reciprocal tariffs.. if Canada can protect its dairy industry with a tariff, then the US can protect its steel industry with a tariff.. you cant have it both ways.. and if its important enough to Canada to be able to sell steel to the US, it is then incumbent on Canada to figure out a way to convince the US government to allow it (i.e. Canada is going to have to give up something somewhere if it expects the US to give up protection of its steel industry)..
Tariffing the entire world at once however isn't a very pragmatic approach in my opinion.. I think a better approach would have been to pick the 4 or 5 biggest issues the US has with international trade, and attack them with the full weight, force, and power of the US economy.. and get a handful of very notable and very influential "wins" under our belt.. then, with the standard set and all the rest of the world watching, start picking off every other issue on the list one by one.. I think that would have been less disruptive to the economy.. would have gained much more support from the US courts, the US congress, and the US people that are not part of the MAGA movement, and been much more unifying for the US, while at the same time sent a very strong message to the rest of the world that you're getting a phone call pretty soon.. you're not going to like it.. so be prepared for it.. and have a plan together to negotiate... as opposed to sending the entire globe into panic mode..
I don't readily buy into the "friends" argument (i.e. this isn't how you treat your friends), although at times I think it applies.. countries that rely on each other militarily, economically, etc at a minimum need to trust each other... Trump clearly doesn't care at all about "friends".. he sees a much more black and white world I think where you're either a winner or a loser.. I think the problem there is he isn't paying attention to the long term impact on trust..
That said, I find it curious that many Europeans, Canadians (and others) have had governments and heads of state that very clearly have not acted in a trustworthy manner toward the US, and/or that have gone out of their way to purposefully insult Trump individually or the US generally.. and think that is ok and acceptable.. but get highly offended when the roles are reversed and the trust breach comes from the other direction..
Merkel immediately labeled the US as no longer a friend (specifically saying her party was not a friend of the US) after Trump was elected the last time.. and then rushed to sit her plump ass in the Whitehouse and laugh it up with Biden shortly after he took office..
Zelenskky purposefully stumped for Biden in Pennsylvania during our last national election..
Before Trump took office the last time Trudeau made numerous negative statements about how naive Americans were and what a terrible blight Trump was on US politics..
Anyone remember the Trump Baby balloon flown over Londons parliament square?
So offensive comments, offensive behaviors, etc. condoned and supported by governments and heads of state about the US and its senior officials are ok? but God forbid Trump act like a dick when addressing Carney or making a 51st state comment? Lets all lose our minds over that.. and just write off baby balloons...
(FWIW I thought the baby balloon was childish and beneath the brits.. but admittedly it was funny.. I did indeed laugh)..
I think perhaps we should all step back and admit ALL of our respective politicians are shit birds to one degree or another.. they all take cheap shots at each other whenever given the opportunity.. they all will take advantage of someone else whenever given a chance.. none of them are completely honest.. all of them have been caught in lies, deciet, and poor behavior at some point or another.. We can talk about Trump "grabbing them by the pussy".. or Trudeau in blackface and having improper relationships with students.. or Carneys relationship to China... or Starmer accepting excessive "gifts".. or Von der Leyens relationship with phizer.. but so what? Are we really going to argue who is the worst human being within a collection of bad human beings? You don't get to those positions of power and influence without skeletans in the closet piled all the way to the ceiling.. they all suck...
The only difference is Ramaposa sucking has negligible impact on the US.. Trudeau and Carney sucking, as bad as Canadians don't want to hear it, has more impact than South Africa.. but its still not enough impact for most Americans to worry about it.. The EU sucking, UK sucking, etc.. a bit more impact.. but, again the majority of Americans arent going to be bothered by it much... so the average American doesn't pay a whole lot of attention, and doesn't really care.. their attitude is going to be "oh.. Starmer is pissed at Trump? that's sorta funny... fuck that guy.." and they arent going to think much about it past that..
Whereas the US, with its economy and military.. when its leaders suck.. the rest of the world is impacted noticibly.. and obviously its citizens care and pay attention..
funny and pretty much true!
