# I'm an old Canadian and America is starting to freak me out **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 3, 2016, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546 "2016-11-03T18:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/21 "2016-11-03T20:21:20Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > How long till you build a wall and make us pay for it? They’re Canadiens-They’d end up building a 3 ft. high white picket fence, then offer to split the bill with us after throwing a “Get To Know Us” party. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/22 "2016-11-03T20:22:48Z")
Not that it’s any comfort, but there’s a lot of _us_ looking at this whole situation with just as much, if not more horror. I’ve pretty much stopped watching or listening to the news in any medium, because it was doing a number on my digestion and my mood. Instead, I’m taking an online class on Ancient Egypt. I’m sure the citizens then thought things were going to hell in a hand basket, too, but since it was 3000 or so years ago, I’m not having issues. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/23 "2016-11-03T20:29:17Z")
I’m an old American and I’ve decided that America has gone insane although not for all the reasons you state. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/24 "2016-11-03T20:39:03Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > They’ll build a wall and make all the new ex-pat Americans pay for it! Nah. The Canadian retirees will mount armor plating on those humongous RVs they drive down to Florida and other vacation spots. The rest will just amp up their indignant letters to the editor. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/25 "2016-11-03T20:44:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > They’re Canadiens-They’d end up building a 3 ft. high white picket fence, then offer to split the bill with us after throwing a “Get To Know Us” party. I’ll bring pie! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/26 "2016-11-03T20:49:37Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Once the baby boomers die off enough, things should start to improve. They have been in control too long and are trump’s biggest supporters. Once they are no longer a voting power and also not the majority of our politicians, things will improve. But then young people get old, and become stubborn and more conservative. > [@Oakminster](#): > > Chill the fuck out already. Trump is not going to win. Even if he somehow does win, it will make no perceptible difference in your daily life. I wish this were true but it is not. One of the few campaign promises Trump could legitimately deliver on is cancellation of NAFTA, which would be an economic calamity for Canada (it’d be bad for everyone, but us more so.) The doubling of the unemployment rate is quite a perceptible thing indeed. His overall economic plans, if even half implemented, could cause an international trade war and further the cause of nationalists and protectionists the world over, quite possibly causing a depression. And that’s frankly the \*best case \*scenario; Trump is sufficiently mercurial, stupid and thin-skinned to start a nuclear war. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/27 "2016-11-03T21:06:18Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > Not that it’s any comfort, but there’s a lot of _us_ looking at this whole situation with just as much, if not more horror. > > I’ve pretty much stopped watching or listening to the news in any medium, because it was doing a number on my digestion and my mood. Instead, I’m taking an online class on Ancient Egypt. I’m sure the citizens then thought things were going to hell in a hand basket, too, but since it was 3000 or so years ago, I’m not having issues. I did that for awhile, also. I can take the nightly news now, but nothing else if I can avoid it. My wife avidly follows Nate Silver and bemoans every twitch in the polls, even at this late date. As far as I’m concerned this thing was over a couple of months ago, and whatever happens will be dealt with by saner heads. Trump has no interest in governance, only in winning. He’ll get bored within a week or two and abdicate everything to whatever sorry motherfuckers he drags into his cabinet. Hopefully, Congress will sober up long enough to realize that they will need to exercise control and think carefully about what sort of language goes into a bill, as he’ll sign any fucking thing. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/28 "2016-11-03T21:15:14Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Chill the fuck out already. Trump is not going to win. Even if he somehow does win, it will make no perceptible difference in your daily life. You’re a fucking Canadianstanigan. Your country gets along with everybody. The rest of the world will look forward to your stories about your crazy neighbor. And Trump probably won’t nuke you by accident. I hope. There seems to be a substantial number of folks who get some sort of emotional satisfaction out of viewing themselves as some sort of victim in this whole process. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/29 "2016-11-03T22:01:39Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > A true Canadian would have said “Please go fuck yourself !!!”, then “Sorry”. See how far we’ve pushed them? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/30 "2016-11-03T22:18:59Z")
They needn’t worry, they hold the world’s most abundant reserves of strategic resources such as whale blubber and badger pee. Long as they’re willing to sign over their water, we won’t raise their rent. You’re welcome, beaver-boy! ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/31 "2016-11-03T22:19:30Z")
Ok, My Canadian Brethren, let us band together and burn down the White House if Trump sets foot in it as Persident Elect. Since our ancestors have proven it will in fact go up in flames this shouldn’t be too difficult. As a kindness would you have Michelle take out all of her favourite possessions plus anything Dolly Madison may have fancied? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/32 "2016-11-03T22:28:58Z")
First off, whoever is president doesn’t make all that much difference, especially in the first term. Especially with a divided congress. Also, if Putin hadn’t yet nuked anyone, odds are good Trump won’t either. If the various Kims haven’t been nuked yet, odds are Trump won’t either. As to what the Trump support means for the makeup of the American masses, you have to understand that a big chunk of his supporters are prefectly fine people. They just see Trump as the Loot-crate or mystery box equivalent of politics - since they don’t know what he’s going to do, maybe he will do the right thing. Probably not, but, you know, maybe… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/33 "2016-11-03T22:46:46Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Thanks to Donald Trump it appears that a substantial group of these peers now have a great difficulty with having a black or female president and ready to fuck over the world with a peeping tom groping sexual deviant ready to take us back to the middle ages. It’s not Trump. None of those voting for Trump that I know are voting for him because he’s Trump. They’re voting for him for reasons like the Supreme Court nominations, as a protest, because they dislike Clinton, because they fear gun control, because they have nothing to lose, etc. It’s nothing to do with him being a man or white (well, orange :)). ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/34 "2016-11-03T22:56:36Z")
> [@Isosleepy](#): > > First off, whoever is president doesn’t make all that much difference, especially in the first term. Especially with a divided congress. Also, if Putin hadn’t yet nuked anyone, odds are good Trump won’t either. If the various Kims haven’t been nuked yet, odds are Trump won’t either. > > As to what the Trump support means for the makeup of the American masses, you have to understand that a big chunk of his supporters are prefectly fine people. They just see Trump as the Loot-crate or mystery box equivalent of politics - since they don’t know what he’s going to do, maybe he will do the right thing. Probably not, but, you know, maybe… I pray you are right about the nukes. I pray. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/35 "2016-11-03T23:09:09Z")
[ > [@watchwolf49](#): > > Sure … 1960’s were a great time … Presidential candidates were murdered in cold blood? Not to forget the odd confrontation between protesting students and the National Guard which went pear-shaped. > [@Oakminster](#): > > Chill the fuck out already. Trump is not going to win. Even if he somehow does win, it will make no perceptible difference in your daily life. Trump winning doesn’t concern me (on the far side of the puddle) so much as the 50 million who think that’s the direction the US needs to move. And that’s not going to change if he comes second. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > They’re Canadiens-They’d end up building a 3 ft. high white picket fence, then offer to split the bill with us after throwing a “Get To Know Us” party. See, again simply generous to a fault. The 'merkins fleeing north would pay for the wall themselves as a condition of obtaining a visa. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/36 "2016-11-03T23:42:18Z")
Economic, social & physical divides are changing America. And I don’t like it much. That said, Obama was a damn fin POTUS, & although I’d have preferred Sanders to be the first Jewish POTUS, I can live with Hillary winning. And she will. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/37 "2016-11-03T23:46:24Z")
Having lived in Canada, I’m amazed how Canadians come to predominately American forums and spout how different they are, whereas most Canadians that I’ve gotten to know very well are pretty much exactly like us. So either Michiganders are anti-American, or Ontarians don’t represent the rest of Canada. I was actually surprised at the amount of racism I encountered in Canada, as I’d always been led to believe how “enlightened” things were there. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/38 "2016-11-03T23:52:30Z")
If Trump takes the White House I’m concerned about Hillary and Bill’s retirement plans, to be honest. They’re not getting any younger and Golly, how much more of this crap are they supposed to willingly subject themselves to? Four years of being called Crooked Hillary and her rapist husband? That’s beyond undignified for such elder statesmen, I should think. I believe the truly Canadian thing to do is offer them asylum. Why not? They’d like it here, no one slinging shit at them 24/7. Their socialist leanings will find a very warm reception I expect. They would likely be respected, even admired for their years in government. Most likely they’d actually be fawned over! Thinking about it, perhaps we should offer Barry and Michelle a generous asylum/ retirement package, as well! (Remember, we don’t have that stupid ‘natural born citizen’ stuff either!) (Also, I’m blaming the American election cycle, with all that, 'I’ll move to Canada!" chatter, for the immigration minister NOT increasing immigration numbers for next year. Bastard!) ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/39 "2016-11-03T23:56:09Z")
Well to be sure, there’s a large chunk of border up here that is water. Rainy River, Great Lakes, St Lawrence. Can’t exactly build a wall there. Eh, I ended up doing early voting and it just turned out that I voted for 6 women and 1 man. The man being my local state senator. For Congress we have a choice between Angie Craig, a new to political office democrat vs Jason Lewis, a right wing radio guy who says bad things and then crows about how 'unlike the other guys, I believe what I say!" Also a close race and that disturbs me. I get that there are a lot of Republicans out there that aren’t happy with their nominees, but the idea of voting Democrat is just a hill too far. They’re just too polarized. But to vote for people like Trump and Lewis? Please people, have some human decency. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546/40 "2016-11-04T00:25:26Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > One of the few campaign promises Trump could legitimately deliver on is cancellation of NAFTA, which would be an economic calamity for Canada How so? Bill Clinton has admitted that it was a bad move. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-an-old-canadian-and-america-is-starting-to-freak-me-out/770546.md?page=3)