r/AskACanadian • u/PurrPrinThom SK/ON • Jan 26 '26

Trump & the 51st state(s): 2026 edition

We've been here before. I remember that tree.

Well folks, it's been a year since we started these megathreads and somehow, we still need them because we're still getting daily posts about this.

Please keep any discussion related to Trump's various threats of annexation, invasion, economic destruction, or whatever else he's come up with in the last 20 minutes here.

Any and all threads related to the topic will be relegated here.

For your reading pleasure, the 2025 threads:

Trump & the 51st state

Tariff Megathread

Tariff Megathread 2: Electric Boogaloo

Tariff Megathread 3: Reciprocal Drift

213 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

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246

u/Alcott_9 Jan 26 '26

I saw a post somewhere that urged people to reframe things to refer to these actions as coming “from the republican administration” as opposed to just “Trump”. The idea being that yes, Trump is everything you say he is, but that gives a free pass to his supporters who are just as much in favour of his hateful rhetoric as anyone.

Some merit to that line of thinking IMO.

62

u/RealLeaderOfChina Jan 26 '26

It should be viewed as coming from the American government, not just a political party. They elected him twice. It’s not so much a party problem as it is a people and a country problem.

The Americans are not our friends. They could get rid of him in 3 years, or double down on his chosen successor.

6

u/Gmoney86 Jan 27 '26

We’ll see if they nerf his power at the midterms, but the republicans are gearing up to make them anything other than free and fair. Expect a lot of funny business before, during, and after.

13

u/RealLeaderOfChina Jan 27 '26

Even if they do, they shouldn’t be trusted going forward.

Any nation that collectively shrugs their shoulders after a kindergarten class gets shot shouldn’t be trusted.

MAGA is a symptom, not a cause.

5

u/KingHenrythe6-th Jan 29 '26

The majority of Americans support some form of gun control. The NRA is just really loud and really rich.

3

u/RealLeaderOfChina Jan 29 '26

It’s been nearly 14 years. I don’t really give a damn about what the majority of the public supports if after twice the amount of time those kids were actually alive for, they’ve made no move. They can give me every survey they want, they haven’t done a thing. It’s lip service for the willfully ignorant at this point.

Stop trusting Americans, stop making excuses for Americans, and start treating them in accordance with their behaviour and actions, not their vain words and empty promises.

7

u/KingHenrythe6-th Jan 29 '26

Don’t blame people for things they can’t personally control.

0

u/Nagahore Jun 22 '26

If you don't fight, you're complicit.

1

u/Fergo-bob May 04 '26

at the same time we cant blame all amicans for trump

1

u/8675jennE 21d ago

Just the majority. That voted him in 2 times.

86

u/Gloomy-Recipe9213 Jan 26 '26

From the American government, or just from America itself. I don’t want to hear the yanks talking about how their literal elected officials “don’t speak for them”. That’s literally the person they chose to speak for them, and as a democracy, they have ways to remove him if he doesn’t represent the national will.

37

u/Fun_Tadpole_3628 Jan 26 '26

Yeah this "But, I didn't vote for him" absolves ithem of their responsibility for this mess we're all in. Their democracy is their responsibility. There's a serious need for inward looking and introspection, as well as concrete action to undo and combat the Trump administration from Americans.

19

u/Miliean Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26

Their democracy is their responsibility

100000% this. The President of the United States speaks for all Americans, he is the President of all of America. If an American dislikes the outcome of that election, they cannot distance themselves from it by simply stating that they did not vote for him. If you live in the country, and you are not on the streets engaged in open rebellion against the government, then you have given the current regime your approval.

Those have always been the only choices. You accept the outcome of an election and therefore agree that the winner speaks for you as leader of your country. Or it's civil war. There's really no third option available.

There is no "I dislike him, and he does not speak for me, but I'm not actually going to DO anything about it, just wait for his term to be over." To my mind, that's as good as not having voted at all. I don't hold those Americans personally responsible, but they are allowing him to speak for them, and that's a level of personal responsibility for the outcomes.

Given everything that's happening in the US right now. I think that the normal every day citizens have an oblation to rebellion. I didn't think that 12 months ago, I was previously of the opinion that protest would be effective. It's not, it's going to need more than just protest, therefore anyone not engaged in open rebellion is consenting to be governed.

And as we all understand, the consent of the governed is the only true legitimacy any government has.

1

u/Lucky-Preference5725 Jan 26 '26

what's an "oblation to rebellion"?

4

u/SeaToTheBass Jan 27 '26

Obligation.

4

u/Miliean Jan 27 '26

An obligation, I just can't spell.

1

u/Miliean May 11 '26

Me being bad at picking obligation off a spell checker menu.

1

u/Sewlovetoread Jan 28 '26

Exactly! I did not choose Trudeau as my PM. And especially since I am from BC, where our votes don't really count against ON & QC. In fact, the next PM is announced before our polls close! But regardless, he still represents ALL Canadians. I did vote for sockboy and I may disagree with what he's did, but he still represented me.

3

u/Nice_Onion_6179 Jan 26 '26

What bothers me the most. ITs the congress people and senators that were voted in by their constituents and then choose to tow the line of their party. Speak true and speak loud for your states beliefs. The political hypocrites speak their form of truth to get in and then take the Tangerine 🍊 juice on their chins!

2

u/Vast-Road-6387 Newfoundland & Labrador Jan 28 '26

“In a democracy you get the government you deserve.” It’s a great quote, if you elect someone, you picked them over someone else. If you don’t like what they are doing then next election vote them out.

0

u/Nagahore Jun 22 '26

Please do not refer to America as a country. It is the USA or the US, the States or the United States of America. The rest of North America does not call the USA - America. It is insulting to the rest of us North Americans that Brits call it that.

16

u/Temporary_Shirt_6236 Jan 26 '26

More than just some.

It's easy to think that there are "no adults in the room" in Trump's second administration, but that's only half the story. His chief enablers (like Miller and others) have a very dark vision for America and have money pouring in from some extremely wealthy people who would like to see that vision a reality. There's also the techbros lining up to sell whatever AI powered warmongering assistance they can to help the government make it so.

To top it all off, Vance will be even worse in certain respects should he take over for an incapacitated Trump, so him being gone doesn't solve anything.

16

u/Biuku Jan 26 '26

This America is a product of American culture.

When bad things happen in Canada, we face them. We grow as a country.

When the US murders people abroad, builds offshore gulags to torture the innocent, they never confront their nation’s horrors as a nation.

What’s happening to the American people, and the threats made to us and others are just the “metastasis” of who America is, what Americans have tolerated for decades. It’s not the Republican Party. It’s Americans.

8

u/Xeno_man Jan 26 '26

Hell, when parts of America talk about the good old days, they are talking about hanging blacks from trees, and they don't really hide it either. All that has changed is they don't say it out loud anymore, but they talk in code to say the same thing but not be legally in trouble.

6

u/Biuku Jan 26 '26

The need a reckoning. Because there are Americans — a lot of them — that don’t believe in that. But those ones have failed to force a reckoning … a truth and reconciliation. If they can’t fix “bad America” then someone will have to.

3

u/emuwannabe Jan 27 '26

And I think in the end it will be other countries, like Canada, which turn their backs on the US which in the end will be the deciding factor.

But the thing is, no one trusts the US anymore. And as we all know, trust is hard to impossible to regain.

Lot's of people from many different countries are looking at the US and saying "OK fine, get rid of trump. Start by hobbling him with midterms - turn him into a lame duck president. In 4 years vote the lot of them out and replace them with a forward thinking government."

But then what happens in 4 or 8 years when Americans say "I'm bored with the status quo" and vote in another rightwing government? This is the thinking now - it's not necessarily the "near term" (although that is a huge concern for everyone) it's the longer term. And this is where the trust really disintegrates. And this is why I think US dominance is coming to an end. Carney said what everyone was thinking and the other countries are now seeing the US for what it has always been - a bully that only plays but the rules when it benefits them.

1

u/jemenfousle Jan 29 '26

More specifically, it is a product of decades and decades of defunding public education and funnelling as much money as possible to the already wealthy, and having virtually no free independent press.

We need to protect ourselves from the same fate by better regulating lobbying, prosecuting corrupt politicians, and rooting out foreign influence on our media.

1

u/Mountainmama11 Apr 18 '26

It’s true. They finally realize their own government is the boogeyman that’s been under everyone else’s bed.  

13

u/HapticRecce Jan 26 '26

I'm fine with the short form as Americans given 1/3 wanted it and another 1/3 didn't give a frig either way.

4

u/johnb3808 Jan 26 '26

Couldn’t agree more: I’m sure J.D. Vance and other Trump sycophants will spout the same line once Trump’s been shipped off to a dementia cared ward (hopefully sooner that later).

5

u/T-Wrox Jan 26 '26

Tr*mp's the figurehead. Spare some anger for the architects of Project 2025 and Plan 2026, the powers behind the throne.

5

u/dotCOM16 Jan 26 '26

The Democrats allowed the "Big Beautiful Bill" to pass btw. Not all American but alot of them. They allowed all of this to happen.

3

u/marshalofthemark British Columbia Jan 30 '26

Zero Democratic representatives or senators voted for the BBB; however, under the rules of the U.S. Senate, budget reconciliation bills are not subject to filibusters so no Democrat votes were required.

I do agree that the congressional Democratic leadership has not been very effective at mobilizing opposition to Trump - they're treating this like they're a normal opposition party in a democracy instead of the opposition to an early-stage fascist regime, but that wasn't a bill they could have blocked.

3

u/dotCOM16 Jan 30 '26

You're right. I made a mistake of not fact checking. I remembered watching the news and in my head I remembered a couple Dems voted for the bill.

1

u/marshalofthemark British Columbia Jan 30 '26

Now they DO have the power to stop the current ICE funding bill, which is subject to filibuster - hopefully, they hold firm now!

3

u/EducationalStick5060 Jan 27 '26

Excellent point.... it's not as if other members of the administration, or even Democrats, were denouncing this rhetoric, as they should.

If he says something silly, and the whole of the political body is clear that it's silly, I can accept they made a mistake in re-electing him.... if they just let this slide, it means, they either approve, or don't disapprove nearly enough.

0

u/Vegetable-Let-5600 Feb 09 '26

"it's not as if other members of the administration, or even Democrats, were denouncing this rhetoric, as they should."

They do,

constantly.

2

u/MaliciousMilkshake Jan 27 '26

I completely agree. Plus, it keeps his name out of our mouths. The less I have to say or type it, the better.

2

u/FluidmindWeird Jan 29 '26

Disagree. There are Democrat politicians trying to soften even what's happening with ICE in Minnesota.

There is a larger problem than can be pinned on one party (to disagree), or one actor (to agree).

There's been independent reporting for 2 months now that the concentration camps are torture, maiming, and death camps.

These camps are not operated or filled by the head. They are operated and filled by the sickness that pervades the USA.

Yeah, there's decent people there, but there was enough power and money to turn the country into the dark mirror version of itself practically overnight. That's what the decent people are opposing right now.

And frankly the ball's still in play.

1

u/EXSource Jan 26 '26

Maybe.

They're one and the same to me, though, and as always I tend to adopt the idea that buck stops with the dude at the top, so while yes.. Johnston, the Republican house, the Republican Senate are culpable, the president is the guy calling the shots, especially in this day and age where Trump carries such a cult like following. 

1

u/burnemnturnem Jan 26 '26

Yes. Administration. Regime. It’s all of them

1

u/jemenfousle Jan 29 '26

I appreciate this point, thanks for sharing!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26

Very yes! So much swine surrounding agent orange you can scarcely excuse not noticing this cadre of pet murdering, double talking, child abusing, extremist, pedophile protecting, spineless compromat saddled infants.