When he leaves office in 2029 — if he does (cue liberal heads exploding) — President Donald Trump must write a book.
In fact, let’s give it a preliminary title: “The Art of Trolling While in Pursuit of the Deal.”
Tuesday, on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump once again singled out Canada by offering free coverage under his Golden Dome missile defense system in exchange for either a hefty fee or for America’s northern neighbor agreeing to enter the Union as the 51st state.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State,” the president wrote.
And how did Canadian officials react?
“They are considering the offer!” Trump added.
Last week, Trump announced that he plans to complete the work begun by President Ronald Reagan, in collaboration with Israel, during the 1980s. Trump expects to have the Golden Dome completed by the end of his term at a cost of $175 billion.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office during last week’s announcement, the president made special mention of America’s northern neighbors.
Will Canada ever become a U.S. state?
“Canada has called us, and they want to be a part of it, so we’ll be talking to them. They want to have protection, also. So, as usual, we help Canada. We do the best we can,” Trump said.
“I told you Canada wants to be a part of it, which would be a fairly small expansion, but we’ll work with them on pricing,” the president later added.
Thus, one cannot help noticing the key phrase in Trump’s Tuesday social media post: “separate, but unequal, Nation.”
In other words, if Canada wishes to remain separate, as it undoubtedly does, then its financial contributions cannot remain unequal. That is, they cannot remain unequal if Canadians hope to benefit from the military protection American taxpayers provide.
In a larger sense, of course, this requires us to assess Trump’s general approach to America’s erstwhile allies. And this assessment results in three broader reflections.
First, before 1815, when the British Empire remained openly hostile to the young American republic, it made some sense for Americans to try conquering Canada and adding it to the United States. But that effort failed, and no one since — including Trump — has ever seriously considered reviving it. So a forced union between Canada and the U.S. will not happen. (American military expeditions against Canada in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, however, did produce by far the dumbest establishment media commentary ever offered on the subject, courtesy of Joy Reid, formerly of MSNBC.)
Second, does anyone seriously believe that Trump wants Canada as the 51st state? Canadian voters elected the liberal-globalist former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, lived through his tyrannical reign, and then decided that they wanted another liberal leader in Prime Minister Mark Carney. Thus, imagine the kinds of senators and representatives Canadian voters would send to Washington, D.C.. No thanks.
(Note: Early on, Carney has shown signs of capitulating to Trump’s aggressive tariff policy. On Tuesday, for instance, the Canadian prime minister insisted that he wants a new trade deal with the U.S., per The Wall Street Journal.)
Finally, when Trump looks at Canadians (and Europeans) he sees what many of his disgusted MAGA supporters see: arrogant freeloaders. Most Western nations have built social-welfare systems for their own people while taking American military protection for granted. Meanwhile, they have elected liberal leaders who, true to their authoritarian instincts, have treated American citizens with condescension and their own domestic conservative dissenters with tyrannical contempt.
Past American presidents, eager for their arrogant global peers’ approval, would have given Canada free coverage under the Golden Dome. Trump, on the other hand, will give it to them for $61 billion while humbling them in the process.
It’s the Art of the Deal in vindication of the forgotten man.
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