99.9 percent of Americans love our Canadian brothers a sister’s. Trump is a d bag sociopath,.. it’s just so dis heartening trump is treating you this way. My mom was born and raised in Manitoba my affinity stands with you!!!
Well my friend, since this article is a month old, I hope you feel a little better about things at the moment.
I mean, as an American, I certainly don't. The country I once knew is doomed in the short term. We are sustaining damage that won't be reversed any time soon, if at all. I probably won't live to see it.
But as you've seen, Trump is like a lot of bullies. He's used to people backing down from him, but he turns out to be a complete pussy when someone punches him in the mouth like Carney did. Man do I love that guy right now.
In fact, this whole 51st state thing has ironically worked out quite well for you guys; it has almost certainly saved you from years of being ruled by your own Trump Mini-Me. You now have a common enemy to unite against—like America is apparently incapable of doing at the moment—and you've triggered a flood of Trumpism-killing antibodies in your body politic that should serve you well until Trump is gone for good.
And I for one think it's a glorious thing to behold. Honestly, I couldn't be happier for you. You deserve it for being better than us.
You see, America has been a victim of its own hubris. The very ideals which allegedly made us exceptional were weaponized against us by the wealthy and powerful, all while the more good-faith idealists sat idly by and watched, believing it to be for the best.
For decades now, mendacious media tycoons have flooded our airwaves, cable networks, and social media feeds with right-wing propaganda designed to take advantage of low-information voters, using cultural wedge issues to sow division and bring out the worst in Americans. And why?
Because nobody buys trickle-down economics, yet that's what the ultra-rich want. So in order to slip one past the rubes, they trot out the old "god, guns, and gays" routine, appealing to people's egos by instilling in them a phony self-image of independent, rugged individualism. This keeps them from noticing too much how they're being screwed, while they're busy helping to screw everyone else they're convinced they hate.
But the thing about MAGA is, it really isn't a viable political movement on its own. While it capitalizes on the subculture of grievance the Republicans foolishly nurtured over the years, at the heart of it all are a bunch of freaks and losers, pseudo-intellectuals from neo-fascist think tanks who have successfully warped the minds of some among the hubristic billionaire class, but with no widespread political appeal of their own.
Nobody is voting to put Steve Bannon, Russel Vought, or Stephen Miller into power on their own. Or even J.D. Vance, at a national level.
So they need someone like Trump, who has benefitted from his ten years on TV being made to look like some big-time successful businessman, preceded by another couple decades of rich-guy tabloid celebrity. He had the mainstream credibility, which is now in tatters as his business-savvy reputation has turned out to be mostly smoke and mirrors.
In his first term, after quite often sounding like a complete ignoramus during his campaign, most people paying attention learned that he was, in fact, a lousy businessman—a born rich trust-fund baby who bankrupted several casinos, while stiffing his creditors so much he eventually couldn't get a loan from anyone but Deutsch Bank.
Which is why it was hardly surprising when he not only proved stunningly ignorant of basic concepts of economics, but also incompetent at the most elementary aspects of negotiation. Which was supposed to be his calling card. Mr. "Art of the Deal" ultimately turned out to be a complete fraud.
That is, if you were paying attention. Which Americans famously don't do, save for every four years when we feel it to be our patriotic duty to pretend we actually understand things like economic and foreign policy, then apply our utter ignorance of anything outside of our vapid cultural obsessions to decisions of grave national importance.
So many people this past year *honestly believed* Trump was going to make the economy great again. Even though it was already doing quite well, and many people failed to realize that what economic pain we had experienced was a worldwide problem.
Furthermore, having been spoiled by never before experiencing high inflation, they didn't understand that prices don't actually come down—and so they didn't realize that Trump was lying to them when he said he would bring them down.
They thought that the good economy that we had in 2017-2019 was Trump's doing, when in fact it was the economy Barack Obama had left him with, which the advisors around him mostly kept him from screwing up too badly. Advisors who, had they been paying attention, they'd have known wouldn't be there this time around.
And even the Wall Street types were fooled, expecting more of what they got from Trump's first term. So well insulated were they from the negative effects of 2016-Trump's incompetent rule that they really had themselves convinced he wasn't going to actually go through with all of this tariff nonsense.
So now here we are. A monument to what happens when Americans start rejecting knowledgeable expertise, only putting their game controllers and social media apps down long enough to pay superficial attention to current events, and believing that people like Joe Rogan or Theo Von have a clue what they're talking about.
But people are learning fast. Trump's poll numbers are falling, and for many the spell has been broken. Once you see Trump for the stupid baboon he is, it's hard to unsee, since Trump is nothing if not emphatically and unsubtly himself.
I'm pretty confident MAGA will, in fact, not survive Trump. I think it's doomed, as it's already lost most of the support it garnered among foolish young males. It will exist as it always used to be—an embarrassing subculture of backward, bigoted, religious freaks and hillbilly cretins, which people will work hard to ensure never comes close to tasting power again.
And the 51st state thing? That one's entirely Trump's deranged obsession. Forget it. Nobody supports it. It's never going to happen.
So sleep well, our friends to the North. And thank your lucky stars that you didn't turn out like your dysfunctional, damaged, downward-spiraling cousins to the South.
The last stage is the only one that seems implausible to me. The USA has a long track record of failure in efforts of this kind, particularly when initial conquest is followed by guerilla warfare. A guerilla war where it is virtually impossible to tell friend from foe will be a particularly nasty one, to the extent that even Trump-supporting Americans will grow weary of it pretty fast.
The only Provinces that make sense politically and economically for the US to add are Alberta and Saskatchewan. They have valuable resources and would not tip the political balance in Congress against the Republicans. Given the current internal problems Canada has they could fall into the lap of the US without the Americans doing anything. Actually the talk about the US attacking Canada is getting somewhat crazy.
The US is not going to attack Canada out of nowhere. And, in this scenario, it could be framed that it never did. The point I'm trying to make is that this whole sequence of events may not be likely but it is certainly plausible, and we're not crazy to consider it.
Re: US interest in adding specific provinces, there is so much more than political and economic calculations. There is also "real-world" geopolitics, and Canada's North fits into that acutely both for its potential resources and its strategic location. Trump's real interest in Greenland follows the same lines. It would be strategically inconceivable for the US to take over only Alberta and Saskatchewan, breaking Canada into two and leaving the North for the taking.
Finally, re: political calculations, remember that the United States can add non-voting Territories (ie, Puerto Rico) before States. This might not be a tenable long-term solution, but the political map will almost certainly change in the 2030s. I think it's obvious that Donald Trump would care more about his legacy as the first president to expand the country's territory since Harry Truman (1947) than he would about the Republican Party's electoral prospects 5-10 years from now.
You are probably right about Trump but he would need the support of the Republicans in the House and Senate who are always concerned about the GOP prospects for the future. It is unlikely that they would agree to add states that would give Democrats permanent control of Congress.
The Northern Territories would be of interest to the US for national security reasons.
I don't think this is the most *likely* scenario (which you yourself indicate) but I do think it is plausible. And Americans will 100 percent talk themselves into this once it reaches a certain level of momentum. "It will be better for them anyway", that sort of thing.
My family and I are already plotting out which countries we would seek asylum in, I've been invited to a civil defence discussion group, and am reading other accounts of how this might go down that are very much in the same vein! Security and intelligence analysts say there are plans in place, it's just a question of how much the Americans will resist and right now, it's not looking so good!
Thanks, Jody. Scary to think about civil defence being a serious consideration now. Also frightening to think that, in the event of these unlikely scenarios coming to fruition, those who speak out will be the first to be targeted.
An interesting sci-fi novel or movie idea but seems very unlikely in reality. I have a hard time believing the US is so far gone that my fellow Americans would just sit there and allow him to attempt all of this. It would require the capitulation or the courts, the military, and the entire business community on both sides of the border for this to work. I know for some Canadians anti Americanism is learned at an early age, but I don’t believe we’re that bad. Not yet anyway.
Unlikely, yes. But there are plenty of very recent examples of where the courts, military and business community in the US have capitulated.
Trump is right now ignoring a court order re: deportations, and just today started a fight with the Supreme Court's Chief Justice about impeaching a judge—a conflict he could very well win. Constitutional power is predicated upon belief and taking action to defend it. A more specific and timely scenario is, what happens if Trump simply ignores the courts? The only real remedy is impeachment and conviction, which would require the Republicans to sign on. I can't imagine that happening in the current climate.
Regarding the military and the rest of the US government, Trump is already purging the top ranks with fierce loyalists who will, when tested, do his bidding.
And the business community? What power will they have to stop these events? And, ultimately, why would they when they have a whole country to gain? This seems to be their current calculations with tariffs and trade wars: just hold on and wait it out.
I don't see a lot of evidence of effective opposition in the United States today.
I remember when Naomi Klein said that she worried about the same thing when she published "The Shock Doctrine". Some might take it as an instruction book. My scenario is pretty flimsy.
Yes, given historical precedents and the apparent direction of this Trump administration. Even if it's unlikely, I think it's important that we all recognize the plausibility rather than pretend it's just a silly scenario.
I can only hope your tale of fiction remains only that. But I’m afraid it rings too true to deny. As in your opening sentences, I could not look away. I’m horrified over what’s happening in US and there really is no one to stop the madness.
There institutional guardrails may be almost completely gone, but there are other constraints: economic, geographic, demographic, and so on. Canada needs to strengthen these and widen the gap of possibility.
99.9 percent of Americans love our Canadian brothers a sister’s. Trump is a d bag sociopath,.. it’s just so dis heartening trump is treating you this way. My mom was born and raised in Manitoba my affinity stands with you!!!
Thanks for your kind words. Have a lovely Easter.
Well my friend, since this article is a month old, I hope you feel a little better about things at the moment.
I mean, as an American, I certainly don't. The country I once knew is doomed in the short term. We are sustaining damage that won't be reversed any time soon, if at all. I probably won't live to see it.
But as you've seen, Trump is like a lot of bullies. He's used to people backing down from him, but he turns out to be a complete pussy when someone punches him in the mouth like Carney did. Man do I love that guy right now.
In fact, this whole 51st state thing has ironically worked out quite well for you guys; it has almost certainly saved you from years of being ruled by your own Trump Mini-Me. You now have a common enemy to unite against—like America is apparently incapable of doing at the moment—and you've triggered a flood of Trumpism-killing antibodies in your body politic that should serve you well until Trump is gone for good.
And I for one think it's a glorious thing to behold. Honestly, I couldn't be happier for you. You deserve it for being better than us.
You see, America has been a victim of its own hubris. The very ideals which allegedly made us exceptional were weaponized against us by the wealthy and powerful, all while the more good-faith idealists sat idly by and watched, believing it to be for the best.
For decades now, mendacious media tycoons have flooded our airwaves, cable networks, and social media feeds with right-wing propaganda designed to take advantage of low-information voters, using cultural wedge issues to sow division and bring out the worst in Americans. And why?
Because nobody buys trickle-down economics, yet that's what the ultra-rich want. So in order to slip one past the rubes, they trot out the old "god, guns, and gays" routine, appealing to people's egos by instilling in them a phony self-image of independent, rugged individualism. This keeps them from noticing too much how they're being screwed, while they're busy helping to screw everyone else they're convinced they hate.
But the thing about MAGA is, it really isn't a viable political movement on its own. While it capitalizes on the subculture of grievance the Republicans foolishly nurtured over the years, at the heart of it all are a bunch of freaks and losers, pseudo-intellectuals from neo-fascist think tanks who have successfully warped the minds of some among the hubristic billionaire class, but with no widespread political appeal of their own.
Nobody is voting to put Steve Bannon, Russel Vought, or Stephen Miller into power on their own. Or even J.D. Vance, at a national level.
So they need someone like Trump, who has benefitted from his ten years on TV being made to look like some big-time successful businessman, preceded by another couple decades of rich-guy tabloid celebrity. He had the mainstream credibility, which is now in tatters as his business-savvy reputation has turned out to be mostly smoke and mirrors.
In his first term, after quite often sounding like a complete ignoramus during his campaign, most people paying attention learned that he was, in fact, a lousy businessman—a born rich trust-fund baby who bankrupted several casinos, while stiffing his creditors so much he eventually couldn't get a loan from anyone but Deutsch Bank.
Which is why it was hardly surprising when he not only proved stunningly ignorant of basic concepts of economics, but also incompetent at the most elementary aspects of negotiation. Which was supposed to be his calling card. Mr. "Art of the Deal" ultimately turned out to be a complete fraud.
That is, if you were paying attention. Which Americans famously don't do, save for every four years when we feel it to be our patriotic duty to pretend we actually understand things like economic and foreign policy, then apply our utter ignorance of anything outside of our vapid cultural obsessions to decisions of grave national importance.
So many people this past year *honestly believed* Trump was going to make the economy great again. Even though it was already doing quite well, and many people failed to realize that what economic pain we had experienced was a worldwide problem.
Furthermore, having been spoiled by never before experiencing high inflation, they didn't understand that prices don't actually come down—and so they didn't realize that Trump was lying to them when he said he would bring them down.
They thought that the good economy that we had in 2017-2019 was Trump's doing, when in fact it was the economy Barack Obama had left him with, which the advisors around him mostly kept him from screwing up too badly. Advisors who, had they been paying attention, they'd have known wouldn't be there this time around.
And even the Wall Street types were fooled, expecting more of what they got from Trump's first term. So well insulated were they from the negative effects of 2016-Trump's incompetent rule that they really had themselves convinced he wasn't going to actually go through with all of this tariff nonsense.
So now here we are. A monument to what happens when Americans start rejecting knowledgeable expertise, only putting their game controllers and social media apps down long enough to pay superficial attention to current events, and believing that people like Joe Rogan or Theo Von have a clue what they're talking about.
But people are learning fast. Trump's poll numbers are falling, and for many the spell has been broken. Once you see Trump for the stupid baboon he is, it's hard to unsee, since Trump is nothing if not emphatically and unsubtly himself.
I'm pretty confident MAGA will, in fact, not survive Trump. I think it's doomed, as it's already lost most of the support it garnered among foolish young males. It will exist as it always used to be—an embarrassing subculture of backward, bigoted, religious freaks and hillbilly cretins, which people will work hard to ensure never comes close to tasting power again.
And the 51st state thing? That one's entirely Trump's deranged obsession. Forget it. Nobody supports it. It's never going to happen.
So sleep well, our friends to the North. And thank your lucky stars that you didn't turn out like your dysfunctional, damaged, downward-spiraling cousins to the South.
The last stage is the only one that seems implausible to me. The USA has a long track record of failure in efforts of this kind, particularly when initial conquest is followed by guerilla warfare. A guerilla war where it is virtually impossible to tell friend from foe will be a particularly nasty one, to the extent that even Trump-supporting Americans will grow weary of it pretty fast.
If the last stage were a guerilla war then it would be a terrifying scenario for different reasons, regardless of the inevitable outcome.
The only Provinces that make sense politically and economically for the US to add are Alberta and Saskatchewan. They have valuable resources and would not tip the political balance in Congress against the Republicans. Given the current internal problems Canada has they could fall into the lap of the US without the Americans doing anything. Actually the talk about the US attacking Canada is getting somewhat crazy.
The US is not going to attack Canada out of nowhere. And, in this scenario, it could be framed that it never did. The point I'm trying to make is that this whole sequence of events may not be likely but it is certainly plausible, and we're not crazy to consider it.
Re: US interest in adding specific provinces, there is so much more than political and economic calculations. There is also "real-world" geopolitics, and Canada's North fits into that acutely both for its potential resources and its strategic location. Trump's real interest in Greenland follows the same lines. It would be strategically inconceivable for the US to take over only Alberta and Saskatchewan, breaking Canada into two and leaving the North for the taking.
Finally, re: political calculations, remember that the United States can add non-voting Territories (ie, Puerto Rico) before States. This might not be a tenable long-term solution, but the political map will almost certainly change in the 2030s. I think it's obvious that Donald Trump would care more about his legacy as the first president to expand the country's territory since Harry Truman (1947) than he would about the Republican Party's electoral prospects 5-10 years from now.
You are probably right about Trump but he would need the support of the Republicans in the House and Senate who are always concerned about the GOP prospects for the future. It is unlikely that they would agree to add states that would give Democrats permanent control of Congress.
The Northern Territories would be of interest to the US for national security reasons.
Saskatchewan a lovely bed and breakfast. In. January.
I don't think this is the most *likely* scenario (which you yourself indicate) but I do think it is plausible. And Americans will 100 percent talk themselves into this once it reaches a certain level of momentum. "It will be better for them anyway", that sort of thing.
Exactly. It would eventually become a bipartisan reality.
My family and I are already plotting out which countries we would seek asylum in, I've been invited to a civil defence discussion group, and am reading other accounts of how this might go down that are very much in the same vein! Security and intelligence analysts say there are plans in place, it's just a question of how much the Americans will resist and right now, it's not looking so good!
Thanks, Jody. Scary to think about civil defence being a serious consideration now. Also frightening to think that, in the event of these unlikely scenarios coming to fruition, those who speak out will be the first to be targeted.
If Elon has AI bots sifting through our tweets over the years, I may be in big trouble. Eeek.
An interesting sci-fi novel or movie idea but seems very unlikely in reality. I have a hard time believing the US is so far gone that my fellow Americans would just sit there and allow him to attempt all of this. It would require the capitulation or the courts, the military, and the entire business community on both sides of the border for this to work. I know for some Canadians anti Americanism is learned at an early age, but I don’t believe we’re that bad. Not yet anyway.
Unlikely, yes. But there are plenty of very recent examples of where the courts, military and business community in the US have capitulated.
Trump is right now ignoring a court order re: deportations, and just today started a fight with the Supreme Court's Chief Justice about impeaching a judge—a conflict he could very well win. Constitutional power is predicated upon belief and taking action to defend it. A more specific and timely scenario is, what happens if Trump simply ignores the courts? The only real remedy is impeachment and conviction, which would require the Republicans to sign on. I can't imagine that happening in the current climate.
Regarding the military and the rest of the US government, Trump is already purging the top ranks with fierce loyalists who will, when tested, do his bidding.
And the business community? What power will they have to stop these events? And, ultimately, why would they when they have a whole country to gain? This seems to be their current calculations with tariffs and trade wars: just hold on and wait it out.
I don't see a lot of evidence of effective opposition in the United States today.
I think in four years Trump may be gone but Maga politics will still rule. Please take him seriously and resist.
Yes, it seems clear now that Trump has been reelected that the movement will outlive the man.
If the greedy, incompetent fascists running our government haven’t been smart enough to devise a longterm plan, you’ve just handed it to them.
I remember when Naomi Klein said that she worried about the same thing when she published "The Shock Doctrine". Some might take it as an instruction book. My scenario is pretty flimsy.
This is quite plausible.
Yes, given historical precedents and the apparent direction of this Trump administration. Even if it's unlikely, I think it's important that we all recognize the plausibility rather than pretend it's just a silly scenario.
I can only hope your tale of fiction remains only that. But I’m afraid it rings too true to deny. As in your opening sentences, I could not look away. I’m horrified over what’s happening in US and there really is no one to stop the madness.
There institutional guardrails may be almost completely gone, but there are other constraints: economic, geographic, demographic, and so on. Canada needs to strengthen these and widen the gap of possibility.