It must tickle the guys who write South Park that their running gag about war between Canada and the U.S. has morphed from hilarious bit to actual front page news. Both the storyline from the long-running show and Trump’s musings are goofy, but only one is funny. Speaking as a Canadian, we are not amused; we have never been amused.
In a lengthy interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Trump first said he could not rule out taking Greenland by force because, he said, “we need that for national security.” Never mind that Greenland belongs to one of America’s NATO allies Denmark and that military action would be unconscionable. Trump seems to think it could be done, no fuss, no muss.
He was then asked about the possibility of using military force to make Canada America’s “beautiful, treasured 51st state.” His response was that, “It’s highly unlikely. I don’t see it with Canada. I just don’t see it, I have to be honest with you.”
It’s true that one can go insane trying to make sense of the words that typically come out of the president’s mouth, but let’s try. When he tells interviewer Kristen Welker that he just doesn’t see the U.S. attacking Canada, he appears to be truly disappointed. He is signalling that it would be really cool but too many naysayers would complain and that would be a drag – never mind that attacking a sovereign nation for the purpose of annexing it would be wrong, immoral and illegal.
What he means is that he’d like to attack, and maybe he will someday, but “to be honest with you” now is not the time.
Though he won’t ever do anything so absurd, he has to make it sound like he could and that there’s something legit about his badass pretentions – just like his buddy Vlad.
Just shut up. Shut up now.
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Ruletkka | Dreamstime.com
Retired political staffer/civil servant. Dual U.S./Canadian citizen writing about politics and the arts on both sides of the border.