# Predict the outcome of Trump's Canada obsession **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [March 19, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820 "2025-03-19T14:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/201 "2025-03-27T22:10:10Z")
Americans have been deaden to it. The insanity is normal to them. They will still eat tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/202 "2025-03-27T22:10:12Z")
> [@velomont](#): > > I genuinely don’t get how or why you can’t see this. I see this just fine. What I don’t see is where anyone is concluding that he must be planning to invade and conquer Canada, because at no point in his insane ramblings has he ever even suggested such a thing, and if he wanted to do it he’d be saying so. He has no filter. **Zero**. If he were intending to invade Canada it wouldn’t be necessary to read between the lines and look for some secret meaning in his words, because he’d be saying “We’re going to do military, and it will be incredibly easy, perhaps the easiest war in our great history, it would take about two weeks, and there would be zero Americans affected from the standpoint of death”. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/203 "2025-03-27T22:32:10Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You’re applying more logic to this than Trump is. The only reason he keeps saying “Canada should be our great 51st state” is because it popped the marks the first time he said it and he’s an utter glutton for attention. Okay. I’m not actually worried about what’s in Trump’s wizened little brain. I’m worried about how his many cowardly enablers are going to interpret his word salads. His power is that people find ways to interpret and carry out his mad ramblings. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/204 "2025-03-27T22:39:23Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Americans have been deaden to it. The insanity is normal to them. They will still eat tomorrow. Not true. But we’re more fucked than Canada is. We’ve already lost our country, you still have yours. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/205 "2025-03-27T22:41:33Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@RickJay](#): > > > > He legitimately wants to conquer Canada. > > Cite for Trump wanting to “conquer” Canada, please. He is waging economic warfare. If that doesn’t work, what comes next is speculative. U.S. leadership has been waging economic warfare against Iran, for years, hoping it will cause the government there to collapse. AFAIK this has not led to U.S. attacks on Iranian territory, partly because we can instead bomb alleged proxies like the Houthis. Squinting, I could see a weaker NATO statelet like Greenland as a symbolic proxy in more direct danger than Canada. I think the Iran policy is more justifiable than the Canada policy, but a good case can be made that [sanctions have strengthened the Iranian state and military.](https://washingtondc.jhu.edu/news/do-sanctions-actually-work-experts-evaluate-the-efficacy-of-this-widely-used-foreign-policy-tool/) If you think of tariffs against a government you wish to collapse as a sanction – and that’s reasonable – and you think of the Liberal Party of Canada as the Canadian state – which is partly true – then Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports have already backfired. It requires no medical diagnosis of Donald Trump to say this. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/206 "2025-03-28T00:25:55Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > What I don’t see is where anyone is concluding that he must be planning to invade and conquer Canada, because at no point in his insane ramblings has he ever even suggested such a thing, and if he wanted to do it he’d be saying so. Every time he says he wants it to become part of the US he’s “suggesting” it. All but announcing it in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/207 "2025-03-28T00:26:40Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Every time he says he wants it to become part of the US he’s “suggesting” it. Trump doesn’t “suggest”. He says exactly what he’s thinking, all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/208 "2025-03-28T00:28:01Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Trump doesn’t “suggest”. He says exactly what he’s thinking, all the time. I was quoting you, don’t move the goalposts. Talk like Trump’s is standard dictator-speak for “I want to conquer those people”. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/209 "2025-03-28T00:28:58Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Talk like Trump’s is standard dictator-speak for “I want to conquer those people”. Trump is hardly a standard dictator. He’s far too chickenshit to pick a fight with anyone actually capable of punching back, for one. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/210 "2025-03-28T00:44:46Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Trump is hardly a standard dictator. He’s far too chickenshit to pick a fight with anyone actually capable of punching back, for one. Please, that’s the kind of nonsense people say _before_ wars happen. It complete ignores that it takes zero courage to order _other_ people to die in a war, while letting cowardly leaders to feel badass about themselves. People said the same thing before Bush I’s attack on Iraq, and look how that turned out. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/211 "2025-03-28T01:27:26Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > > Talk like Trump’s is standard dictator-speak for “I want to conquer those people”. > > Trump is hardly a standard dictator. He’s far too chickenshit to pick a fight with anyone actually capable of punching back, for one. Lots of dictators do not start wars. Since the Korean War, North Korea’s dictators have showed a big propensity to threaten, and a limited propensity to start wars. It’s true that right now his soldiers are dying in Ukraine, but that’s an exception. Communist China dictators, again after the Korean War, have, with small safe exceptions, avoided war. Franco, after gaining power, ruled Spain for almost fifty years without being particularly warlike. A lot of dictators start out with a coup, and then invade no one.. I’m not sure there is such a thing as a standard dictator. But if there is, Trump would not be way out of the normal line. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/212 "2025-03-28T22:41:46Z")
And the backpedaling has begun; [![](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/bafkreiemn6d5vhifuda2m6p4mvkg2dgshpvty2nldfducro6d2gwcogo3a@jpeg) ](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/bafkreiemn6d5vhifuda2m6p4mvkg2dgshpvty2nldfducro6d2gwcogo3a@jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/213 "2025-03-28T22:55:56Z")
It’s going to take a lot more than one civil tweet to convince Canadians. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/214 "2025-03-28T22:56:47Z")
“Great for both the US and Canada”?? Some imposter has kidnapped the president and hijacked his twitter account. The real Trump only negotiates so that he wins and you lose. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/215 "2025-03-28T23:04:30Z")
No that’s standard Trump-speak. A lot of what he says is positive and flattering. It adds credibility to his insults and models how he wants his supplicants to speak of him. His style of flattery is worthy of study and emulation. “jsc and I had an extremely productive conversation. We agree on many things and will be working together to defeat Trump and the forces of evil. Great convo!” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/216 "2025-03-28T23:19:41Z")
My guess is that someone managed to beat into his skull that the Liberals are going to win bigly if he keeps insulting Canadian sovereignty. He’ll completely forget this by next week, but it shows that, as usual, he’s all bluster and empty threats. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/217 "2025-03-29T00:13:46Z")
Is Trump trying to manipulate the outcome of the Canadian election, and will he succeed? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/218 "2025-03-29T00:14:41Z")
I’d say yes and no. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/219 "2025-03-29T00:39:50Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Is Trump trying to manipulate the outcome of the Canadian election, and will he succeed? The damage has been done. If Trump would’ve kept the sabre rattling to a minimum until May 1st, Trudeau would likely have stayed on and Parliament would have fallen to a Non-confidence motion this week when The House returned from prorogation. PM PP would have walked away with it, decimating the Liberals and The Orange Menace would had a friendly compatriot in Ottawa. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2025, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820/220 "2025-03-29T00:53:36Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > I’d say yes and no. If so, here’s one hypothesis: Trump today got Carney to talk as if Trump wasn’t the enemy. Carney characterized his conversation with Trump as “[positive, cordial, constructive — exactly what we want](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/28/us/politics/trump-canada-carney.html?smid=url-share).” This seems like a possibly successful effort, from the American side, to manipulate Carney into looking weak. I cannot find the full context of that quotation, so I may have mischaracterized it. But if a national U.S. Democratic Party leader was quoted saying that, the Democratic Party base, at least on the internet, would be outraged, regardless of context. Are many Canadians maybe looking at it that way tonight? Or do almost all of them (wisely in my view) accept that measured and/or inconsistent responses to Trump’s bullying are in the Canadian national interest? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/predict-the-outcome-of-trumps-canada-obsession/1015820.md?page=12)