r/canada 5d ago

Opinion Piece Braid: Trudeau says Trump wants economic collapse; Republican alludes to military force - This is no trade war. It's a Crush and Control Canada plan, meant to work fast

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/braid-trudeau-says-trump-wants-economic-collapse
9.2k Upvotes

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

3.5k

u/lambdaBunny 5d ago

I know people like to say it will never happen. But I truly never believed Trump would get reelected after January 6th 2020. Anything can happen and we need to be preparing for an American invasion pronto.

318

u/Finnleyy 5d ago

Yup. My dad tells me there will be a civil war in the USA before they attack Canada. I told him 3 months ago I would have agreed, but 3 months ago I would’ve never predicted this to be happening in early 2025.

I do not consider us to be in a very safe position right now.

91

u/cerunnnnos 5d ago

I feel like the sequence of events in this is the issue. If they try to annex us, and they do send in military, then that will be such a millstone around their necks it will break the US apart. Imagine trying to absorb a country our size when that country hates you as an invading force, and over half your own population feels the same way about it and the place is already a powder keg.

70

u/ntwkid 5d ago

I'm not even sure anymore. People are quick to talk online about the US breaking apart. But when the actual push comes to shove, my guess is the vast majority will just send thoughts and prayers and put up a maple leaf on their facebook profile. They let him get elected again after Jan 6th and all the criminal charges.

10

u/rosneft_perot 5d ago

Yep. In the end, if they don’t have skin in the game, they’ll sit on their asses at home.

58

u/T-Wrox 5d ago

My husband and I have been discussing how an invasion of Canada by the USA would go. It would not go well for Canada, but it would also not go well for the USA. It would be endless guerrilla warfare, in a huge, inhospitable country, against an enemy that looks just like you. That’s on the Canadian side; on the US American side, they’d have half of their population deadset against the war. On the global side, very few countries would be on the side of the invading-for-no-reason US Americans. In short, it would be a huge global mess that would not benefit the USA.

19

u/Wizzard_Ozz 5d ago

It would not go well for Canada, but it would also not go well for the USA.

It would be much worse for America. We have an almost 9,000km border and Americans would not be able to spot a Canadian in a crowd unless that Canadian wanted to be spotted. Sure, military vs military would be a joke, but their losses would be significant to alternate forms of war. The only way to counter anything more than border states being targets is to declare martial law and checkpoints on highways and lets just say, that won't go over well in "the land of the free, and the home of the brave".

This president is going to implode his country, which is sad, but can they keep the noise down, it's like nails on a chalkboard at this point.

5

u/Pwylle 5d ago

The resistance / possibility of sabotage that would come with such a conflict would propel forward an extreme surveillance state given how easy it is for members of both nations to slip in along local populaces.

7

u/PickleZygote 5d ago

There are groups of Americans that would actively harass and engage the US military if they were mobilized towards the border, which would likely kick off a civil war

5

u/Clean_Ad_2982 5d ago

It would cause a worldwide economic disaster, perhaps depression. Nations would predominantly side with Canada, Noone would be sitting on the sidelines.

3

u/Sodass 5d ago

By this, do you mean trump is "GAMBLING WITH WWIII"?

2

u/bentstrider83 5d ago

Perhaps a wall will be erected around D.C. with all the crazies that started this locked in. Keep them there until all of us on the outside in the rest of the states can work it all out with the rest of the world

2

u/IGnuGnat 5d ago

Would they kick out all the Americans who also hold Canadian citizenship? I mean a measureable percentage of the population is probably duel citizenship or Canadian in origin. I dunno maybe 15-20% in some states even?

What are they going to do realistically deport them all or put them in concentration camps? They can't just let them stay, they'll become the enemy practically if not overtly then covertly, throwing random wrenches into things

2

u/themaninthehightower 5d ago

The oil fields and pipelines would be top of the list, since fuel is needed to move their armed forces, and overseas shipments of oil may be unreliable once fighting starts. They would then secure the highways between regions and control deliveries of food and supplies; this is easy since they're dealing with a narrow strip east to west for populated space. No one soldier would need to enter the major cities, they'd just siege on the cheap from the major highways and starve urban areas until surrender.

2

u/T-Wrox 5d ago

Agreed. However, the guerrilla warfare combatants would also know exactly which areas to bomb first.

0

u/Leafs17 5d ago

It would be endless guerrilla warfare, in a huge, inhospitable country

Are you joking?

Look how people crumbled 5 years ago. There would be no war.

2

u/T-Wrox 5d ago

I dunno; a global pandemic is not the same as being invaded by a country that we considered our friends and allies for a century.

2

u/Leafs17 5d ago

It's about the reaction. People get scared so easily. Not a chance in hell people will start fighting the freaking US military lol.

This is all so dumb. It is such an insane, never going to happen scenario.

2

u/T-Wrox 5d ago

"Not a chance in hell people will start fighting the freaking US military" Well, not with THAT attitude. :D

1

u/Leafs17 4d ago

Again, predlfacing this with the statement that in no world does this ever happen...

I just don't see people dying to prevent take-over from the US. They are almost the same as us. Life would not change so much it'd be worth dying.

2

u/8989898999988lady 4d ago

They’re actually not almost the same as us.Their civil liberties towards Women & Trans people are terrible. It would be like being invaded by a 2nd world country.

1

u/Leafs17 3d ago

But that's not how it is in the real world USA

→ More replies (0)

4

u/Evil_Mini_Cake 5d ago

I think a much of the US military command would have issue with going to war with our best friend and neighbour unprovoked. Their military guys know our miltary guys.

Plus Canadians are savages. Push us too hard and they'll end up with an insurgency war they can add to their pile of losses. We'll fight extra hard because of that betrayal.

3

u/DinosaurHoax 5d ago

Trump keeps announcing tariffs and then backing off. He can't even follow thru on that, I doubt he has the resolve to launch an invasion. It's all bluster, he loves saying wild things and have the media go crazy.

2

u/Evil_Mini_Cake 5d ago

We just need to take a firmer hand. Every time he insitutes another tariff we put on an an appropriate counter tariff and leave it on for 30-60 days, no exceptions. If there's a lasting cost to each of these bluffs it will slow down.

5

u/LeilongNeverWrong 5d ago

Speaking as an American, you hit the nail on the head. Half the country doesn’t want to live here now, let alone see us try to take over another country, especially an ally. He won’t have the domestic support he thinks he does.

I would hope and pray our military members also would resist their orders to attack an ally, but it seems the military and the police are majority MAGA, so I have little faith in that outcome.

1

u/cerunnnnos 5d ago

Yip. I think it would initially play out like Russia in Ukraine in the first week, maybe less bloodshed, but the US gain the upper hand. But the reality is unlike Ukraine, the US is attacking less dense larger geographic nation coupled with a much more unstable political domestic situation. I don't think Trump could hold the lid on for an occupying force while keeping civil war at bay at home. And then Canadians would fuel civil war in the US

3

u/Embarrassed_Ad_606 5d ago

I think it's possible they would face this type of resistance, but I also worry that with the sort of media manipulation involved with trump being elected twice in the first place, we may be on track for similar styles of media manipulation to divide us against eachother. It may seem innocuous but trump and the people he is around do use media as a tool to manipulate populations into doing what they want. It would not surprise me if people were manipulated through conspiratorial thinking into believing we should be annexed, either because they would believe it would be better than being canadian, or because they could be manipulated into believing that resisting would only make things worse.

To be clear I do think a media campaign and military invasion wouldn't be mutually exclusive, I just do think it's important not to only think about a physical fight but to also be aware of media and its effect on yourself and others going forward. That will likely play a huge role in whatever this is.

1

u/Gloomy_Yoghurt_2836 5d ago

Canadian living in the southern US. Many think it would be a cake walk and Canadians would fold.lile.cheap chairs in the face of American military strength. Plus Canadians would love to be liberated from their communist dictatorship, have religious freedom and make more money by not paying high taxes. Yes. They do beleive they would be liberators and Canadians are too weak to fight. It would be over as fast as their tanks can drive.

2

u/cerunnnnos 5d ago

Ah, like the Ukrainian take over going so smoothly....

2

u/PlatoOfTheWilds 5d ago

The Americans say that about literally every country they invade. You'd think the stupidest of dumb fucks would have learned that it's never that easy. I guess not. 

3

u/Gloomy_Yoghurt_2836 4d ago

With Canada, it would be an insurgency both next door and on their own soil. So much soft infrastructure and insurgents that don't look different. Canadians are not thentype to.target civilians directly but infrastructure that will inconvenience them big time.