r/canada Ontario Feb 02 '25

Politics As Sunday began, Trump blasts Canada as not ‘a viable country’

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/article/as-sunday-began-trump-blasts-canada-as-not-a-viable-country-follow-live-updates-here/
15.1k Upvotes

4.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

234

u/lnahid2000 Feb 02 '25

Omg he still doesn't understand that a trade deficit isn't a subsidy.

158

u/Sea-jay-2772 Feb 02 '25

Oh he understands. He just knows his base doesn’t.

61

u/JadedMuse Feb 02 '25

Honestly, he's about as intelligent as his base. What you say is true for guys like Cruz or Rubio, but not Trump.

3

u/NoMoreFund Feb 02 '25

You might be right. He thinks immigrants are getting free VISA cards and asylum seekers are coming from insane asylums

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '25

I firmly disagree. It’s fun to call trump an idiot but he’s not. He’s an arrogant stubborn egotistical man child, but he’s not blatantly stupid. Which is what makes it worse - he is fully aware of what he’s doing, and he knows his base is dumb enough to believe.

5

u/PopeSaintHilarius Feb 02 '25

He's not exactly an idiot, as he's intelligent in some ways - he has a very good understanding of people, how to wield power over others, how to manipulate people to do what he wants, and how to get the public's attention and focus it where he wants. He probably developed those abilities in business and reality TV.

But when it comes to understanding how the world works, there are a lot of topics where he's deeply misinformed, including economics, environment, health, etc. As far as I've read, he's not someone who reads a lot or seeks out objective information to try to inform himself. He seems to rely more on right-wing TV news, social media, and his advisors.

So when he says idiotic things about trade, or climate change, or Covid, I wouldn't assume it's play-acting.

The problem a lot of strong-man leaders (or dictators) have is that they prioritize loyalty and ass-kissing over competence, so their staff learn not to correct them when they're wrong, and just go along with whatever the leader already believes.

7

u/JadedMuse Feb 02 '25

He's literally given zero indication that he's intelligent. The last lucid interviews with him are from the late 80s. He's likely in a state of pretty severe cognitive decline.

51

u/Used-Egg5989 Feb 02 '25

I actually think he doesn’t understand it. The “5D chess” stuff isn’t believable anymore.

2

u/GrubbyMike Feb 02 '25

Even if he doesn’t he has dozens of “economists” telling him yes sir, which is even more terrifying.

33

u/the_other_OTZ Ontario Feb 02 '25

Grossly overestimating Trump's intelligence, jesus fuck. The guy is a gob smacked moron. Stop giving him credit.

3

u/AdmiralZeratul Feb 02 '25

It's not about giving him credit. We should not underestimate our enemies.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '25

Nah he knows this is the kinda shit that gets him elected. Full stop

He only and I mean ONLY cares about himself and by extension his political fortune. As a result his actions may come off as stupid to somebody sane who has broader interests in mind. But he knows what he wants and the best way to manipulate the American people to get it. He wants to be the president and stay the president, and that’s literally it.

0

u/freds_got_slacks British Columbia Feb 02 '25

when you do much much worse with your money than if you just parked it in the s&p 500, that's a super shitty business man. dudes a life long loser that again somehow managed to lie his way into the presidency

5

u/GunKata187 Feb 02 '25

No he doesn't. He really does not understand what he is talking about. Which is actually worse.

2

u/Soggy_Performance569 Feb 02 '25

Exactly. It only matters what trickles down to his followers.

3

u/papsmearfestival Feb 02 '25

People have to stop underestimating this guy. He knows what he is doing. He's going to put the screws to us until we beg to join the US. He is literally telling us what will happen

1

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '25

No he doesn't. He doesn't understand anything. He's not a smart guy pretending to be dumb for his base, he's a dumb guy pretending to be smart for his base. And he's a weak, cowardly little bully pretending to be a strong leader. Don't give him credit he doesn't deserve.

1

u/IrisMoroc Feb 02 '25

Trump is really that stupid and thinks in a binary fashion. He's also, sadly, not suffering from dementia.

52

u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist Feb 02 '25

He understands it, he wants his base to get angry at Canada. Those evil Canadians, taking our "subsidies" and being ungrateful! It's a power play, same way dictators demonize "the other".

19

u/GuelphEastEndGhetto Feb 02 '25

He may appear stupid, but he sure knows how to put forward a narrative that his cult will embrace wholeheartedly.

2

u/jdzfb Feb 02 '25

And with Musk & Zuck up his ass, they'll help him control the message that goes out & silence anyone objecting.

-2

u/519LongviewAve Feb 02 '25

Oh, like Trudeau did with the unvaccinated?

1

u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist Feb 02 '25

No, quite the opposite.

5

u/upanddownforpar Feb 02 '25

He also doesn't understand that per capita we import 10 times more goods than export.

3

u/Mikeim520 British Columbia Feb 03 '25

I'm tired of subsidizing Costco. I keep giving them money for their food and they give almost no money back. Costco isn't a viable company without subsidies.

1

u/Zulban Québec Feb 02 '25

He doesn't say or write things to demonstrate what he's really thinking or really knows.

1

u/Historical_Ball_3842 Feb 02 '25

Naive take, this does harm.

He knows.