Canada

Going on Canadian TV and saying that "everything is up for negotiation" when it comes to what Canada is willing to discuss? And Barton just sits there saying "I have no opinion"?!

Maybe I'm turning into a conspiracy theorist but I feel like Trump and team have been making personal threats against our (Canadian) politicians. The way they come out of those "meetings that are better kept private" (paraphrasing Dominic LeBlanc) make me uncomfortable. Something feels off. Totally not unlikely that I'm just being paranoid, but idk. I wouldn't put it past Trump to operate like a mob boss.

Typically things that are exploded can not go back together.

What they want is to destroy everything they don't need to create a totalitarian technocracy.

Trump and Musk have shown they’re great at Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly. I have yet to see evidence that either is any good at reassembly.

Such horse hockey.

Hey, if you assholes want to blow stuff up, start with yourself.

Frankly, I'm fine that he's thinking this way. Things are too far gone and everybody has lost trust in the US at this point. Whether that was his intention from the beginning or if it's the idea he got after realizing that the backlash to his antics were magnitudes greater than what he expected no longer matters.

It will be years, if not decades, of hard work and consistancy before any major country trusts the US again for anything more than high-fructose corn syrup.

Trump can try to "put them back together" however he wants, but he'll be doing that without the rest of the world.

This is weirdly person example to illiterate the problem, also I'm not Canadian and I'm not sure why this group keeps showing up on feed. I'll also add a bonus thing Canadians should expect from companies as your boycott (that I agree with) continues.

So the weirdly personal story. I recently got a new boss who has the military view of "break them down then build them back up". I explained to him once "that works in the military because they have the resources and specialists to catch the people who don't respond well to that approach. People like me. I have severe SEVERE ADHD. I can't take medication for it because it destroys my already low appetite and I die. So I built up pillars on my own. Pillars for emotion regulation, pillars to control impulsive behavior, pillars that allow me to function in this world. It was a lot of work. It took a lot of time. If you come in swinging a wrecking ball blindly, if you break you down... You have no way to rebuild any of that. You don't have the specialized skills needed to rebuild those pillars. So not only would I be temporarily destroyed and unable to do my job, I'd also have to rebuild myself which isn't what you wanted"

My point about trump is he clearly is taking the "destroy them rebuild" approach and much like my new boss he is absolutely not capable of rebuilding what he destroys.

Anyway, bonus fact for the boycotts. Keep your eyes out for people adding "Canada" to the name of the company. Example: Great American Buckle Company is a Chinese belt buckle manufacturer. You should expect those kind of things soon.

Edit: and as an American I support these boycotts. The more his stupidity effects rich and powerful, the more companies feel his stupidity, faster he'll be gone. So thank you. I don't know the Canadian version of "God bless the USA" but just pretend I ended with that out of respect for you all. I would have if I knew it. Go Canada?

Seems this is an effort to put people off their guard. Those of us who pay attention will probably know for sure when the election is in swing.

*edit - Just in case, I'll clarify: I meant we will know for sure what their PR strategy is. I'm not doubting he wants to annex Canada.

I am actually furious at Rosemary Barton for not pushing back at the frankly astonishing rhetoric we are getting from Gordon Sondland.

Generally, it's hard for journalists to hit the right balance between overt skepticism and letting the subject talk. That's doubly true for the CBC, which is fighting with a perception of bias.

This doesn't seem like one of those cases, however.