Donald Trump is back at it again with another bizarre plan for his upcoming administration. The president-elect reportedly floated the idea of expanding the United States by turning Canada into the 51st state. Trump made the bizarre suggestion while hanging out with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The conversation reportedly went down last week after Trudeau showed up at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence for an unscheduled visit. Since winning the election, the Republican has further intensified his campaign promise of cracking down on immigrants. Earlier last week, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico. His argument, the tariffs will force the governments of those countries to drastically reduce the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs. Per Fox News, upon hearing this, Trudeau flew down to the US to discuss how the heavy levy could damage Canada’s economy.
The world leaders munched on oysters and crab cocktails, with Trump lamenting the estimated $100 billion U.S. trade deficit with Canada. Opposing Trudeau’s plea, the convicted felon allegedly said:
“So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion?”
Witnesses say Trump then suggested to Trudeau that Canada become the 51st state, causing the prime minister and other Canadian officials to laugh nervously. He continued, urging the world leader that being the governor of a US state isn’t such a bad title. Per sources, when someone at the table chimed in and advised Trump that Canada would be a very liberal state, he suggested that Canada could possibly become two states — a conservative and a liberal one.
The incoming president urged Trudeau to handle his list of demands by January 20.
Canadian PM Tags Donald Trump’s Threat ‘Not A Serious Comment’
Despite the heavy implications of Donald Trump’s words, Justin Trudeau maintains that the president-elect was only telling a joke. Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told reporters, per AP:
“The president was telling jokes. The president was teasing us. It was, of course, on that issue, in no way a serious comment.”
LeBlanc insisted that Trudeau always knew the meeting with Trump would be “light-hearted. He added that “the president is able to joke like that for us,” points to good relations between both countries. However, Trump hasn’t stopped stoking the flames of his threat. On Tuesday, he shared an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag next to him. “Oh, Canada!” he captioned the post. Unfortunately, fans online aren’t finding humor in the situation.
“So Trump wants to do a soft military invasion of MX to fight drug cartels, and he now wants to make CAN one of 51 states? Sounds like all other dictators, wanting more and more land,” one fan lamented.
“The fact this is even considered a joke is concerning,” a second comment read. “Trump threatens in everything he does, literally everything… ‘If I can’t have this, then maybe I’ll do this, yuck, yuck,’ but it’s No joke. It never is with him.”
A third fan added, “Even for Trump, this is sounding unhinged.”
Donald Trump has yet to lay down concrete plans on how he wants to achieve a Canadian 51st state. However, fans feel their fears are legitimate given his history.