President-elect Donald Trump joked Tuesday about taking over Canada, following reports of a joke he made during a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the weekend.
Trudeau visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after Trump threatened to slap a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico unless they cooperated in protecting the U.S. border from illegal migration and fentanyl.
According to anonymous reports, Trump was said to have joked that if Trudeau did not like the idea, Canada could avoid the tariff by becoming the 51st state, with Trudeau as governor.
Trump supporters — and a broad range of Americans — enjoyed the joke, sharing it widely on social media. It was, in part, payback for Trudeau making jokes at Trump’s expense in front of other world leaders in 2019.
Trump added to the joke by posting a meme of himself on his Truth Social app atop a mountain, alongside a Canadian flag, facing another peak (which appears to be the Matterhorn in the Alps), with the caption: “Oh Canada!”.
Trudeau, now in his third term, is suffering a bout of deep unpopularity, with approval ratings near an abysmal 30%.
However, the history of U.S. attempts to conquer Canada is not a happy one. President James Madison was the last to try, in the War of 1812, and was rebuffed by British forces, who were themselves driven back when counterattacking in the U.S.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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