All this 51st State BS is just that, BS. It's all a clear distraction by Trump and personally, I found it shameful Justin T flew all the way down there to meet Trump like some knee Jerk reaction, when he's not officially president yet, and no policies have kicked off yet. He didn't deserve such a visit. When he's president, sure, but not yet.
His visit and conversation with him kicked off this whole 51st State crap and now Trump is running with it. It was a stupid move when he should have just held a short press conference on the tariff matter, or tweeted something and moved on.
Prepare for the tariffs, let people know what the plan is and have it hang out there in the open, sure. This isn't the first time Trump tried to pull the Tariff card. But now look what's happened.
But maybe some good will come of this. Maybe now Canada will finally do what I've been saying for so long and stop relying on the US so much.
As for protecting the US dollar? Fk it. Why should we? It's one of the things that's propping up the US and their global standing, while every other nation takes a hit.
To Counter BRICS? Why counter it at all? With friends like the US and Trump, who needs enemies? I say Canada and Mexico should join BRICS and let the US take their ball and go home. That country is a fk'n dumpster fire filled with rancid rat semen. Let it burn.
Because China might invade and take us over? We already trade with China for a lot of things. Thailand is in dispute with China, sure, but China isn't actively trying to take over the world. They don't need to. They're doing just fine on their own and beating the US at their own game.... Capitalism.
Russia? They're a strange folk, but like China and Thailand, they have dispute with Ukraine. Where does that dispute originate? Look back through history. Western society wants to simplify this conflict as Putin wanting to bring back the USSR, when in reality it's all about Russia wanting a buffer zone between themselves and NATO, which has continually expanded closer and closer to their borders, which the US has continually thumbed their nose at since the Cold War & trying to push Ukraine into NATO when they should have gone Switzerland.
And really, why wouldn't Russia feel continually threatened? NATO was created to defend against the Soviet Union. The SU collapsed, NATO won. It's purpose to exist became irrelevant, yet NATO remains and keeps growing towards Russian borders.
And people are surprised Russia is doing what it is doing and claiming they feel threatened? Why didn't NATO offer Russia membership? Why didn't they diffuse this situation decades ago and disband NATO?
I'm not full on defending Russia and their actions, but I understand where they're coming from and it takes two to tango. And it's been the US continually interfering in the matters of other nations, regime changes, etc., for their own selfish interests while spreading their transparent propaganda for their own agenda at everyone else's expense.
The US keeps parading around like they're the saviours of the world and they're the greatest country in the world. They're propped up only by their allies. They need their allies, and yet look at how they're treating their allies.
Yeah,this Tariff crap is BS, but it has had the opposite effect Trump expected, just like the US government trying to ban TikTok. They're so out of touch with reality it isn't funny anymore. Ban TikTok on the basis its parent company has ties to China's government? Now people in the US have just jumped on board to the Real Platform that is made in China and has ties to the Chinese Government. That blew up in their face..... And now Trump is going to see allies start shopping elsewhere because of his threats.
End result? The US gradually crumbles as their much needed imports dry up. That massive military won't last long when China bans all their precious metals, and if Canada cuts power and oil and ships elsewhere and starts building their own refineries. Panama decides to cut the canal from US passage.
Would the US take the canal by force? That'll be difficult with a large portion of their oil suddenly gone. Their people are going to have trouble eating if Mexico cuts off food imports. US citizens aren't going to be happy with their cost of living going even higher and having bare shelves and no power in their homes.
Annex Canada? Again, not only are they going to need resources to do so, but that's a large land mass to try and control. That's a very long border currently undefended. That wouldn't be a war halfway around the world but right on their doorstep. If they're complaining about some illegal immigrants crossing the border from Canada, what's it going to be like when Canadians guerrilla war their way across that border into US states and reck havoc? US citizens aren't going to like that either.
And Canada is too close to launch nukes at unless they want to irradiate their own population. US citizens won't like that either.
Not to mention Canada and the world would see a massive military build up long before they could do anything. NATO is still around and there's also the Commonwealth. Even outside of these groups, many nations would turn against the US for such an action. The US would Doom themselves by their own actions.
In the end, Canada will take half of the US and Mexico would take the other half. What we're seeing is the US in its death throes and all of this is text book on how empires have fallen in the past.
Bluster or not, the US is doomed either way and they only have themselves to blame.