Posted on 03/14/2025 12:40:51 PM PDT by Red Badger
Anyone who took Trump’s statements about Canada as merely overheated bluster will have to rethink their assessment of him after his latest Oval Office statements.
In one of his classic ‘allow me to unconfuse you’ moments, Trump spells out exactly what he meant when he made his most provocative statements about Canada being absorbed into the United States.
“I’m not going to bend at all.”
‘Canada only works as a state’, he says.
He’s even talking up how great it would be as a state. But the flip side of that coin is simple: Canada, as it is currently being run, cannot continue to exist without being propped up by sales to US markets.
Sure, that’s part of the argument. So is the argument that Canadians have the social programs they like to brag about only because they are standing under the protective umbrella of the US military who has been protecting them through the Cold War.
Without the access they have to US markets, their economy would be in the toilet. That’s the REAL reason Canadians are getting so uppity since Trump came to office. But it’s worse than that.
There have been recent stories detailing the Canadian military as being in dire shape, not only inadequate for cooperative multi-nation exercises with, say, NATO allies (a long-standing problem), but also in the ability to provide the most basic notion of national defence.
I recently had a conversation with Lt.-Gen. Michel Maisonneuve (ret.), and what he told me about Canada’s military was nothing short of alarming. He didn’t mince words—our armed forces are in dire straits. If we don’t act now, Canada will not only be unable to defend itself, but it will cease to be taken seriously by our allies, many of whom are already losing patience with our military decline.
Maisonneuve has seen firsthand what a functioning military looks like. He has served at the highest levels, working alongside our allies in NATO, and he knows exactly what Canada is failing to do. “We are no longer at the table when major defence decisions are made,” he told me. “The Americans don’t ask us what we think anymore because they know we can’t contribute.” That is a stunning indictment of where we now stand—a country that was once respected for its ability to punch above its weight militarily has been reduced to an afterthought.
The problem, as Maisonneuve laid out, is both simple and staggering: Canada doesn’t take its defence seriously anymore. The government has allowed our forces to wither. The Air Force is still flying CF-18s from the 1980s because the long-delayed F-35 procurement is years behind schedule. The Navy, once a competent maritime force, is barely functional, with no operational submarines and a fleet that is nowhere near what is needed to patrol our vast coastlines. Meanwhile, the Army is struggling to recruit and retain soldiers, leaving its numbers dangerously low. “We have an Army in name only,” Maisonneuve said. “If we were called upon tomorrow to deploy a fully operational combat force, we couldn’t do it.” — SaskToday
Other stories here:
Canada’s Army Is Slowly Falling Apart — “19FortyFive”, January 2005
State of Canadian Armed Forces’ combat readiness growing worse, government report warns — Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, March 2024
If a country lacks any means of defending its own borders against a serious threat… is it really a country in any meaningful sense of the word?
It’s one thing for Canada to stand and assert how strong and independent it is as a nation. But demonstrating there is any truth to back up those claims? That’s another question entirely.
Trade works.
Canada does not need to be part of the US to benefit from trade.
So, basically California but the troublesome minority speaks French instead of Spanish.
March 1776... the Founders sent Benjamin Franklin et al. to Canada to recruit them to join up.
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0228
The Canucks had their chance and declined. And the rest is history. Not totally sure this issue is a winner for Trump. A Greenland deal seems more likely.
Ok, I’m with him on just about everything. At first I thought this was him blustering and this being a joke but now it’s not. What’s the end goal here? He is literally driving them towards a fanatical leader when a conservative was slated to win! Now the leftist is about to be elected. How’s that going to work in our favor.
This one makes absolutely no sense at all..
I think Canada will swing hard to the right once it becomes a US state.
Ping Canada Ping
Is Trump intent on seeing Carney win the pending election?
Trudeau was doing a fine job of destroying the Liberal party. Trump seems to have forgotten the proverb to never get in your enemy’s way when he is busy destroying himse.f
$200 billion amounts to $50,000 per Canadian. I wonder who made that figure up.
I read a couple of years ago that Canada doesn’t have a single ship it can put in blue waters; and not many to patrol their coast close in.
The article is correct: Canada spends all its money for “free” social programs and exports its defense costs to the U.S.
Canada wants to think of itself as a country that can stand on its own two feet but that is not reality.
Canada is a child hiding behind the apron strings of the U.S. I’m sorry this has to be reported.
“The only way to defeat a Liberal is to give them everything they want.”..................
Now they are saying that BC is causing problems on the ALCAN highway.
Huge tolls or something.
Tell you what you Canucks from there. We are subsidizing you through the Columbia water treaty. Estentially paying for a lot of your electricity.
Bout time for that to change.
Then, lets see how you like it when you start getting creamed at the border when your heading south to AZ.
You mother effers want to play games? We are all for it. Youll never spend another winter in the warmer regions of the southern USA.
Canada needs to get their act together as an US Protectorate.
Otherwise, they can pay tariffs.
We're protecting them. It's not free.
I think the U.S. will swing hard to the left if Canada becomes a U.S. state.
If admitted as a single state, that means two more Democratic senators and a congressional delegation of about 43, probably taken roughly equally from red and blue states and districts, that will likely break at best 30-13 Democratic, along with 45 reliable electoral votes to compliments a reduced California (ca 45) Ny (Ca 21) Illinois (ca 18) to put the Dems half-way there before even adding in the smaller fry.
OTOH, out of the blue it just occurred to me that dire straits would make a good name for a rock band...
Canada was better off when it was a part of the British Empire.
Wonder if any of them know this when they sing their national anthem?
This joke has gone on too long. No one wants leftist Canada as another state.
I’m not opposed to strong-arming them to get them to wake up about defense and trade, but I surely don’t want 40 million new democrats voting in new Representatives and Senators.
I think it’s a lot more about a Trump “tough love” wake up call than anything else.
Canada, can have lousy run “natl health” system and huge welfare because.. We protect them. They have stopped paying for a military. As our coast guard and airforce proect them.
drinkin them some LaBatt’s Blue tho
yo
isn’t it still?
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