President Donald Trump triggered a fresh wave of outrage on social media Thursday after he once again treated reporters to a rant about how Canada ought to be taken by the United States as a new state.
The idea, an increasing obsession of Trump's as he also fixates on acquiring Greenland from Denmark and retaking control of the Panama Canal Zone, was reiterated shortly after Trump signed a new plan for "reciprocal tariffs" on other countries with barriers to trade.
"Canada has been very bad to us on trade, but now Canada is gonna have to start paying up," Trump told reporters, once again apparently under the mistaken impression that foreign countries, rather than U.S. citizens, pay tariffs enacted by the United States. "They think we're gonna protect them, with our military, which is unfair. Canada is gonna be a very interesting situation because we just don't need their product ... Canada is gonna be a very serious contender to be our 51st state."
Trump went on to say that Canadians are "in danger" and "need our protection," and added, "Canada is just about the lowest payer in NATO in addition to everything else. Canada has really been taking advantage. If they had to pay just something modestly fair, they wouldn't be able to succeed as a country. That's why I feel they have to become a state."
"Why doesn’t anyone tell this guy that Canada doesn’t f--king want to be the 51st state?" sports radio broadcaster Rob Guerrera posted. "Why doesn’t anyone tell him you can’t just go around claiming anything you want as your own?"
"1) Nato spending... Not true at all this an easily dis-proven bleet," wrote Canadian podcaster @GregOnSports. "2) That's not how this works 3) F--k off."
"Canada is a sovereign country," wrote Metro Weekly editor-in-chief Randy Shulman. "And this belligerent nonsense Trump spews about them becoming a state is getting tiresome, if not a little humiliating, for the sane Americans left among us."