Skip to content

PAINFUL TRUTH: Four years of frantic Trumpology

Reading the tea leaves about Trump's true intentions
web1_20241210101220-20241210081220-0d8680fdd858b52530f5941c03ff854634ac9307d2923851285ee0271602ccdf
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump arrive to take part in a plenary session at the NATO Summit in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019. Trump referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the governor of the “Great State of Canada,” doubling down on taunting comments the U.S. president-elect reportedly made during a recent dinner between the two leaders.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

As a Canadian, the best thing about the Biden presidency was how boring it was.

Joe Biden didn't have much to say about Canada in general. When he did, it was almost guaranteed to be blandly complimentary, the sort of things a president says about a close ally and trading partner.

Insofar as Canada had problems with the United States during the Biden years, they were run of the mill. There were concerns about his Buy American plan, and of course there was the never-ending battle over softwood lumber.

In contrast, Trump isn't even president again yet, and we're already dealing with almost as much drama as we had during the entire first four years of his presidency. In case you forgot, that included a brief tit-for-tat trade war, a renegotiation of NAFTA, and repeated complaints about our lackluster defence spending.

So far this time around, we have Trump's campaign pledge for 10 (or 20) per cent tariffs against all other countries, followed up by his post-election outburst that Mexico and Canada would face 25 per cent tariffs if we don't stop all fentanyl and undocumented immigrants from crossing the border.

Our leaders are now scrambling to both do Trump's bidding (hardening the border with patrols, drones, and helicopters) and also head off the tariffs through diplomatic means, including warnings of retaliation.

Then his quip at dinner with PM Justin Trudeau about Canada becoming the 51st state went public, and things really went sideways. 

Since then, Trump has been greeted with chants of "51st!" by the crowd at a Fox News event. He's posted a weird AI-generated image of himself on a mountaintop next to a Canadian flag. And he's needled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about being the "governor" of the "great state of Canada."

This is going to be a running bit for Trump, possibly for the next four years. I'm already sick of it, and he's still only the president elect!

To be clear, unlike the 25 per cent tariffs (which I think Trump definitely wants to impose, and will unless someone can talk him out of it) I don't think Trump was serious when he started joking about the U.S. annexing Canada.

The problem is that Trump is, in part, an improv comedian. Whatever gets his crowds riled up joins his regular repertoire of bits. And the line between "things the MAGA faithful like to hear at rallies" and "things Trump treats as policy" is a thin one.

Will Trump actually annex Canada?

No.

Will he try?

Probably not that hard.

Will he keep saying alarming things, such as offering to buy Alberta, musing about making Don Jr. the Governor-General, or claiming that "many people are saying" Canada has always been a part of the U.S., actually?

Yes, almost certainly.

The Canadian terror of American annexation has been around since Confederation. It hasn't been a real threat for a very, very long time, and it's barely a threat now. But Trump's poking at the wound is going to define our relationship with the U.S. for this coming presidential term, maybe longer.



Matthew Claxton

About the Author: Matthew Claxton

Raised in Langley, as a journalist today I focus on local politics, crime and homelessness.
Read more