‘This deranged buffoon’: Trump’s Canada joke isn’t sitting well with the internet
Over the weekend, Trump made jokes about wanting to make Canada the U.S.’s 51st state. While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau may have laughed it off, the internet is not having it. We know just how power-hungry he is so, joke or not, people are not happy.
Trudeau and a small group of Canadian delegates made a surprise trip to Mar-a-Lago last Friday to meet with the incoming President. The trip comes just days after Trump threatened bordering countries, Mexico and Canada, with 25% tariffs on all imports into the United States until the countries stop the flow of illegal migrants and drugs into the country. Fox News later reported that Trump joked about making Canada the U.S.’s 51st state should the imposition of such high tariffs were to cripple the country’s economy, and Trudeau intumated they would.
That sounds more like a threat than a joke to me. Canadian politicians, however, are assuring those concerned that it was simply a joke. Kirsten Hillman, the Canadian Ambassador to the United States who was present at the meeting, spoke of the issue with CTV News Channel’s Power Play on the joke. “(Trump) made jokes, other people at the table made jokes,” she said, adding, “People were making jokes, which, actually, I have to say, I find to be reassuring that people are that comfortable with each other, that they’re teasing.”
Because the best jokes are the ones that come with visuals, Trump posted a picture on his social media site, Truth Social. The image, which appears to be AI-generated, shows Trump standing on a mountaintop overlooking the scenery with the Canadian flag flying. The captions read, “oh Canada!”
No one is happy, especially Canadians
Whilst the politicians gloss over this “joke,” the internet is having none of it. The picture was reposted on X by the user Republicans against Trump, with the caption, “There’s nothing funny or clever about the President-elect repeatedly “joking” that Canada should become part of the United States. It’s going to be four long years with this deranged buffoon in the White House.”
Politicians may be laughing, but Canadian citizens are feeling nervous. Especially those living near the border.
As with all things Trump, a level of ignorance is to be expected. People have pointed out that the mountain he’s staring at is the Matterhorn, located on the border of Switzerland and Italy.
Perhaps people are making a mountain out of a molehill (excuse the pun). Gerald Butts, a former Trudeau senior adviser who had a major role in the Canada-U.S. file during Trump’s first years in office, took to LinkedIn to tell people to calm down. “Trump used this ‘51st State’ line with Trudeau a lot during his first term.” He’s doing it to rattle Canadian cages,” Butts wrote. “When someone is trying to get you to freak out, don’t.” The issue is with Trump, we can no longer tell when he’s joking and when he’s being serious. Does he even know anymore? So many wild claims he has made in the past have become reality. He has a weird gift in that respect. Trump’s return to the White House has many in a hyper state of vigilance, so even if this is just a harmless joke, our instinct is to take him at his word.
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