As an American, the first time that I remember feeling truly ashamed of the United States was during the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. It was an ugly time, and anger and paranoia prevailed. Anyone who opposed the inevitable war in Iraq (I knew that war was inevitable, even though supporters of Bush and the war apparently were unsure) was systematically labelled terrorist sympathizers and - that old classic used by the intolerant towards anyone who disagrees with them - unAmerican. President Bush outright declared that "you are either with us or against us."
Much of what people are acting so horrified with now under Trump first saw the light of day under George W. Bush. To me, the Project for the New American Century was pretty much the Project 2025 of its day. Like Trump, Bush seemed to joke about things which made opposition uncomfortable, such as how it would be easier if the United States was a dictatorship, provided that he was the dictator. Before Trump officially made English the official language of the country, Bush did it first. The PATRIOT Act empowered rather stunning levels of increased government surveillance and control over the population, even allowing government officials access to files which would have allowed them to see what people were taking out from their local library. Because we all know that the first place that real terrorists and evildoers flock to when they are trying to devise something horrific and truly evil is the local library, right? The proposed but thankfully never passed PATRIOT Act II would have gone even farther, giving government the ability to strip people of their American citizenship if they criticized the government too much. Of course, it was impossible to know what was too much criticism, or what criticisms were viable, and which could or would be deemed grounds for being stripped of one's American citizenship, and perhaps becoming a nonperson.
Still, as bad as Bush seemed, and as intent as his administration appeared to be when it came to eroding civil liberties, they seem almost like lightweights compared to Trump, who is far more blatant in his disregard towards Constitutional rights. After all, just a few years ago, he suggested that parts of the Constitution might need to be suspended. Somehow, this was not an automatic disqualifier for Americans, which was really alarming. Also not a disqualifier was the January 6th insurrection, which felt to me like an attempted (but failed) coup. Trump has multiple times mused about being "president for life" and going beyond serving a second term. And he is currently repeatedly suggesting that a president's power is basically unlimited and total. To that end, he has stripped away some power from Congress (with Democrats hardly issuing a peep in protest) and so far, completely ignoring the judicial branch. Plus, he has shown his admiration for dictators before, such as being envious of the total respect that North Korea's leader allegedly gets in his country, or the more obvious signs of seeming adoration which he holds for Putin in Russia. In addition, he seems to be hungry for expanding his country's borders, much like some of the most famous dictators have been. So it sure feels like we have entered the territory of the United States at least resembling a dictatorship, even though it is still relatively light for the moment. But since we are heading in that direction, a far more hardline and unbending dictatorship might not be too far away.
One of the places which Trump seems absolutely intent on making part of his United States is Canada. He has systematically and relentlessly attacked the status of Canada as an independent nation in it's own right. Never mind that the United States and Canada have had some of the friendliest relations of any two modern nations in history, with the longest undefended border in the world. Never mind that they rely heavily on each other as trading partners. Trump has made it clear that he sees Canada merely as an extension of the United States, or as the "51st state."
Obviously, this does not sit too well with Canadians. According to a recent poll, about 77% of Canadians - obviously an overwhelming majority - strongly oppose joining the United States, and believe that it would be a very bad idea. Only 15% of Canadians support joining the United States. Almost surprisingly, a strong number of Americans (42% of those polled) oppose Canada joining the United States, while a minority (36%) support it.
So all of this has clearly created friction between the two countries. Sadly, it is completely unnecessary, and entirely the creation of Trump and his expansionist mindset. These tensions between the two countries really did not exist as little as little as five months ago.
I have said before, and will say again, that this is a time when the United States should be looking more than ever to strengthen traditional alliances and friendships. After all, China is rising as a global superpower, and the BRICS economic alliance of nations is outright challenging America's traditional worldwide economic dominance and supremacy. Yet instead of trying to strengthen these friendships, we are antagonizing our allies, particularly in western Europe and Canada.
Maybe this is not the best strategy. Whatever Trump may feel about his transparent expansionist desires, it seems unlikely that the Panama Canal, Gaza, Greenland or Canada will soon join the United States. First of all, militarily taking them over is illegal and will have ramifications. Secondly, the overwhelming majority of Canadians and Greenlanders polled recently stand firmly opposed to joining the United States. In Greenland, they even created alternative MAGA hats, with these standing for "Make America Go Away."
Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it?
Plus, a vast majority of Canadians polled were opposed to it, as mentioned earlier. And while I have not yet seen polls among Panamanians and Palestinians, it sure stands to reason that the opposition to American expansionism would be even stronger in those two countries.
The new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seems saddened by this deterioration of relations between the two countries. This is particularly true because, as he points out, these newfound tensions are completely unnecessary, and were not really an issue less than half a year ago. Here is what he recently said while visiting Gander, the town that took in and welcomed thousands of Americans during the September 11th attacks:
“In this crisis caused by the U.S. president and those who are enabling him, we lament a friendship lost,” Carney said. “In Gander Canadians did extraordinary things for Americans when they needed it. Now, we need to do extraordinary things for ourselves.”
We Americans should remember this. Again, Canadians are our friends. This is the country which we likely can relate to the most, culturally and politically. Relations between the two nations have been solid for a very long time now. They embraced us and helped us in our hour of need, and never have really given us a problem. Only Americans blinded by Trump's propaganda cannot see that Canadians have justifications for being angry right now. And many Canadians seem to go out of their way to say that it is not the United States that they are angry with, but Trump, specifically. After all, he is the one who created these present sources of tension between the two nations.
Personally, I think that Americans who so blindly support Trump as to quickly jump on board with his expansionist dreams and attempts at empire building (for now, mostly imaginary) need to check themselves. It hardly seems like we should need to tell people these days that taking over lands where something like 4/5's of the people are opposed to joining you is unnecessarily hostile. Also, this is not business or real estate, where hostile takeovers of the sort which Trump is used to are the norm. We are talking about world politics here, and there will be ramifications if Trump's United States decides to go rogue and indeed do hostile military takeovers of previously friendly countries.
Prime Minister Carney will now be busy with an important - even a crucial - election in his country for the next few weeks. Certainly, the likely central issue in that election will be relations with Trump's United States, given the unfortunate news headlines which the Trump White House has provided. Indeed, Carney is correct: it is Trump's fault that there are any real tensions between the two nations at all. They are completely unnecessary.
This is a good time for us remember that having friends is a good thing. No reason to throw it all away, simply because one power hungry wanna be dictator is currently in power in the White House.
Below are the links to news articles from which I obtained some of the specific information used in the above blog journal entry, and from which I obtained the quote which was used. Also at the bottom is a special article on Gander as a reminder of how the people in that town were unexpectedly overwhelmed by thousands of Americans stranded there during the September 11th attacks, yet how the people of that town nonetheless bent over backwards to help those Americans feel welcome:
Binational poll: Most Canadians and many Americans oppose Canada joining the U.S. by David Montgomery Senior data journalist, January 31, 2025:
https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/51505-most-canadians-many-americans-oppose-canada-joining-us
Canada’s leader laments lost friendship with US in town that sheltered stranded Americans after 9/11 By Rob Gillies, March 24, 2025:
https://apnews.com/article/canada-election-prime-minister-carney-gander-911-attacks-7b755af05c6e87fce52bfacd59dcd75f
20 Years Later: The Little Town in Newfoundland That Welcomed Nearly 7,000 Strangers on 9/11 by Rachel Chang, Published on September 11, 2021:
As captured in the Broadway musical "Come From Away," the Canadian community of Gander welcomed in nearly 7,000 strangers in the midst of America's darkest days.
https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/newfoundland-labrador-9-11-anniversary
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