Summary

Donald Trump’s push to annex Canada as the 51st U.S. state is confusing due to its sudden and unexplained emergence.

Initially praising Canada as an ally, Trump now aggressively seeks annexation, imposing tariffs, criticizing trade deficits, and challenging established borders and treaties.

Former officials and congressional Republicans express bewilderment, stating they have “no clue” about Trump’s motivation.

Canadian leaders and the U.S. business community strongly oppose the move, citing sovereignty and economic harm.

Republicans also question Trump’s strategy, noting annexation would add millions of liberal-leaning voters and complicate American politics.

  • ZephyrXero@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    He wants all of North America it seems pretty clear to me. From the Arctic to Panama he’s planning to conquer. Then after that, I don’t know. He might try for the whole world

  • sporkler@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    It was on one of the pieces of paper he agreed to sign when he accepted the money and ‘technical assistance’, so he’s 100% on board.

    • CurlyWurlies4All@slrpnk.net
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      2 days ago

      I don’t know what people find so confusing about this. This is the business mindset. If you’re not growing your failing. Empires get bigger by taking more land. Therefore the American empire must take more land. It’s not rocket science. It’s a child’s view of ‘winning’.

  • PearOfDees@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    The Canadians are our homies, why would orange want to hurt our homie? They’ve been with us thru thick and thin, and now orange wants to fuck things up for us? Don’t think we want this either dear Canadians, those ball guzzlers just regurgitate whatever orange says. Even if it hurts us, by Canadian goods only until orange leaves office, if not sooner because homies should only kiss, not attack.

  • 4am@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    It’s not confusing - they know climate change is real and they want more northern territories for when the shit hits the fan so they have somewhere to go

    Can’t stop big oil though because you can’t run a military on batteries yet and besides, muh Raytheon stock

  • thefluffiest@feddit.nl
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    2 days ago

    This is his (stupid and selfdefeating) way to tackle four problems:

    1. US industry, especially those close to him, needs rare earth minerals. Canada and especially Greenland might provide those.
    2. Climate change will render large parts of the US uninhabitable in a few decades time. The US therefore needs Lebensraum. Now that’s a word he and his right-arm-raising friends love.
    3. Combining 2 and 1, the Arctic is melting. Exposing all sorts of new mineable goodies, and opening up new waterways. That will provide new economic opportunities as well as create new military threats. Owning Canada and Greenland would go a long way towards mitigating that.
    4. Trump sees a future in which a few large power blocks control the world. Currently, the US is one of the smallest of those: only 350 million where China and India are over 1 billion each, Europe is more than 500 million, etc. So the US needs to expand and grow its population size.
      • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        Yes, because they want “the right population.” Fascist ideals are often contradictory and self-defeating. The Nazis could have had atomic weapons if they hadn’t treated Jews as subhuman; that would have been a big help in their plans for world domination.

        Their plan for solving their shrinking population is simple though; force everyone to have more babies. Remove all access to abortion, remove all access to contraception, destroy same sex marriage, destroy the ability for women to get divorced, destroy any form of social support that could help women who leave their partners, and offer incentives to families who have more children. Oh, and if course remove all child labour laws so families can afford to have more kids by sending them all off to jobs at Amazon when they’re 12.

        (There are concrete examples of Republicans pushing every single one of those policies, in case you weren’t aware)

        Basically, if you see women as nothing more than baby factories who don’t deserve anything frivolous like rights, population growth seems like an easy problem to solve.

    • NotLemming@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      He’s much too stupid for any of this, so I assume we’re talking about the architects of project 2025 and/or putin?

      • thefluffiest@feddit.nl
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        2 days ago

        Point 1 will be underscored regularly by his oligarch cronies, like Musk, Bezos and Brin - those that want to build rockets, electronics and batteries. They would love for the US to become totally independent of China, in minerals but also production capacity and price levels.

        Point 3 will be mostly military talking points, and although it’s not in the media much, the race for the Arctic has been on for a while.

        Points 2 and 4 are about raw power on the world stage, and that’s something Trump does understand. He doesn’t believe in cultural, diplomatic or economic power - only military. It also rhymes with nazi ideology about Lebensraum, a homeland for the ‘pure race’ that derives its global power from its purity. It might also involve a breeding ideology.

      • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 days ago

        100%. T rump is just a tool that they put in place to do their bidding and to be a fall guy when the people finally get off their asses.

        • NotLemming@lemm.ee
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          2 days ago

          I think that’s why they have musk around. Not only is he doing a lot of the controversial stuff but he’s loaded

  • frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io
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    2 days ago

    It’s not confusing, he’s a megalomaniac who thinks foreign policy should resemble a game of Risk. Outside a tight circle of influence, everyone else is disposable meat that annoys him and deserves whatever punishment they receive. It’s not new behavior.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      How tight is that circle? Mr Trump seemed to abandon Mr Giuliani at a crucial time, and I thought the two were thick as thieves.

      • frustrated_phagocytosis@fedia.io
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        2 days ago

        Giuliani was a useful idiot with a law degree and a certain amount of 9/11 good will. Better idiots with fewer ethical standards and law degrees are throwing themselves at him, and he doesn’t need to pretend to give a fuck about American lives or first responders now that he’s in power. Like everyone else who rode the 9/11 wave and thought it was amazing for poll numbers and easy fundraising.

  • FaceDeer@fedia.io
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    2 days ago

    Republicans also question Trump’s strategy, noting annexation would add millions of liberal-leaning voters and complicate American politics.

    You mean millions of insurgents literally trying to murder every Republican politician and burn America to the ground. Not sure why their voting habits would be relevant in the face of that.

    I think a lot of Americans are completely unaware of just how fucking furious we are at this flippant talk of destroying our country and subjugating our people. Even a lot of the ones who are unsympathetic to Trump don’t understand just what this kind of talk means to us.

    • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Yeah, voting in an American election would be the very last thing I’d be doing. There’s no way in hell I’m becoming American while I’m still alive (and same goes for everyone I’ve talked to here in Canada)

      Even the most non violent people I’ve heard say they’d fight to remain sovereign. Nobody here wants this

    • leftytighty@slrpnk.net
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      2 days ago

      Yeah they don’t realize they’re getting into an Afghanistan or Vietnam but where their homeland is wide open to cross border attacks.

  • Laser@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    It might be confusing dumb muricans, but its pissing canadians off

    • NotSteve_@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      Yeah, I have never hated the USA more than I do now, and Americans kind of pissed me off before all this already with the whole superiority complex thing. Even if everything reversed course overnight, Canadians won’t ever forget any of this

  • don@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    Republicans: I vigorously maintain that dementia is, in fact, pretty fucking cool.