I’ve heard it said before that facing adversity can be the strongest way to show one’s character. History has shown that, when people have been faced with peril and risk, we’ve seen people standing up and those who have demurred and gone along to get along. As Canadians, we’ve been unusually blessed to have precious few circumstances where we’ve been forced to face with that kind of adversity. But even in those few moments where we have faced that, they have revealed a lot about our neighbours and ourselves.
That clarity that those revelations bring can be very helpful when it comes to dealing with the risk in front of us and how to fight back against it. But that’s not the only clarity that comes in these moments that is helpful to us. The other clarity that we get is what the true intentions of our adversary or enemy in the moment are. Even though it’s been pretty clear now for a while, Donald Trump brought us the strongest big of clarity we could expect from him, and of course, it came in the most Trumpian way possible:
Yep, Trump said it clear as day in a social media post from “Truth”, which produces nothing but lies and crap. And let’s be clear about this, if you read that post it really makes no sense. He tells us on hand that the US doesn’t need anything we sell them at all, that we are “subsidizing” them (which is a complete lie, quite the opposite actually on energy) and that without their “generosity” we would “cease to exist as a viable country”. To hear it said there, we are of no use to the Americans, are a resource suck by simply existing and have zero value to them.
Yet in the next line is goes onto say that this same country that he says is worthless and a drain to them should become the “cherished 51st state” and it would be great for them. That makes less than zero logical sense because why would anyone want something they claim is worthless and a drain. If this were logical, surely that would just be a case of “charity” if they did that. But if that’s what it truly was, if you take him at his word, that’s what he believes he’s already doing. It makes no sense at all and while I’m sure that Trump thinks its an amazing bargaining position, it clearly shows just how full of crap that he is. And if we needed to drive that point home, look at what his Vice President said just this afternoon on this very topic:
JD Vance’s post is dripping with distain for us, full stop. He has the nerve to say that he’s “sick” of being taken advantage of”, which is usually not the kind of thing that you’re thinking or saying when you’re talking about “accepting” that same nation with open arms. They are basically saying “Canada, you ain’t shit and can’t do shit for us” and “We want to have you and cherish you”. To put it mildly, those don’t line up and sound more like something an abusive partner would say than a closest ally.
And it’s with that contradiction that we get to this point of clarity. The first point of clarity is something we already knew; none of this is based on facts or actual potential solutions to a real problem. This stuff about the border, trade deficits and drugs are a fig leaf in name only. These are simply excuses for taking aggressive actions against us. Which brings us to the second point of clarity; Trump’s end game is to take away our country and our sovereignty. It’s the only logical reason left that makes sense. If this wasn’t Trump’s goal, we wouldn’t be blowing up our economy and his own, with no tangible targets to hit to stop or end it. If this wasn’t his goal, we wouldn’t be ducking phone calls from our government trying to talk this out with him. Short of military action taken against us, this is as close to the “nuclear” option as he can get. And he’s doing it all with no off-ramps or opportunities to de-escalate.
That tells you everything you need to know, that he’s not looking to make a deal or looking to get more access for American farmers. He’s looking at taking us, fully, in one big gulp. He wants our resources, he wants our water, he wants the Arctic, he wants all of it, and he told us as much in his Inaugural Address. He wasn’t talking about “manifest destiny” for shits and giggles folks. This is for real.
So that brings us to what we do as a nation and a people. That brings us to the point where we show our true character when faced with this strong adversity. So far, it’s been heartening to see most Canadians rally around the flag and talk openly about how they can fight back. People are cancelling their subscriptions to American tech services, boycotting American products, foods and restaurants, and looking for more ways to support Canadian businesses and products. We’ve seen provincial governments across the board start to take actions to remove American alcohol from liquor stores, stopping American procurement and supporting Canadian suppliers. It’s great to see that kind of proactive and tangible action taken.
We’ve also seen outwards shows of patriotism at hockey and basketball games in Ottawa, Calgary, and Toronto, with the raucous cheering of the Canadian national anthem and the booing of the American one. 99 times out of 100 I would have a problem with booing someone elses national anthem like that, but this is that 1 time that I’m more than fine with it. A lot of us are feeling that anger right now towards our American neighbours, as they let their government try to annex us against our will. If there is ever a time that it’s alright to do that, surely this is it and I say “boo away”.
And while we’ve seen so many heartening responses from Canadians rising to this moment, we’ve seen a handful of examples of the opposite that stick out far more now than usually. Most of those sources haven’t been shocking, like a certain Canadian alleged media outlet selling “I stand with Trump” paraphernalia. Others have been a but more surprising but not shocking, like the tech bros at Shopify back Trump publicly in this moment of peril. This is surely an example of history repeating itself, as we see the true character of these people in this moment, examples that surely won’t go unforgotten once we’ve won this fight. I do take solace in the fact that those voices are clearly in the very small minority right now, and I’ll choose to focus on support the positive ones today as we continue to stand for the country that we love.
We’re in it now folks and we’re standing together against this threat. As we find ourselves here, I can’t help but think of the words from former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the start of the Second World War:
Nations that went down fighting rose again, but those who surrendered tamely were finished.
Let’s be clear, President Bone Spurs is expecting that we will surrender tamely and eventually hand ourselves over to him like his butler does with his daily Big Macs. But if the last 24 hours has shown me anything, it’s that we Canadians are not going out like that. We’re going to fight back and push back against this naked aggression from our current/maybe former ally and neighbour. We’re going to give it all that we have and show to Trump and his acolytes that despite his ignorant thoughts, our viability or existence has never been nor ever will be because of the United States. That lesson is about to begin and as it is for most bullies, that lesson is going to be learned the hard way for them.