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It seems to me that what Trump is doing has worked; both Panama and Canada have, for now, capitulated to his demands. In spite of all the smoke and confusion, I'm optimistic. If leftists hate Musk and Trump as much as Reddit indicates, then it's a safe bet that the Left is in for a bad time.
Please, someone check my apparent ignorance of the nuances of trade wars, and of economics more broadly. Suppose that Trump 'is successful in annexing Canada and Panama. What material benefit does this provide to the U.S.? I'm optimistic because young and smart people are eager to build the new world which has been promised. And what more American an expression of hope and opportunity than in the conquering of new land?
There was never going to be a tariff. Trump just needed Mexico and Canada to cooperate on migration and drugs. They’ve done so and will be more willing partners on other issues going forward as well.
Same for Colombia. Same for Panama.
And, sorry, but there won’t be any conquering of new lands either.
Canada didn't capitulate. They reannounced the same $1.3 billion border security package they already announced in December, allowing Trump to declare victory.
Trump got the same deal by going full psycho that he already got by speaking quietly and carrying a big stick, except that some of the backchat from the noise he was making cost his pal Elon a $100 million Ontario government contract.
On a scale of kayfabe where SpaceX is 0 and WWE is 100, the Canada/Mexico tariff rows have been about 80, and the Colombia row north of 90.
I mean, going off Trudeau
Emphasis mine. Yes, the $1.3B border plan is old(ish) news. There are additional commitments.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't terrorism strictly about using violence to cause political change? There's no way fentanyl selling can count as terrorism, can Trudeau just decide that any organisation he wants is terrorist?
List of politicians killed during the 2024 Mexican elections. And that's just the politicians killed. You can murder normal people to cause political change too, and they do with some regularity.
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I donno man. In so far as it's a useful political designation to apply maximum state violence to a group, applying it to organized crime poisoning a nation with deadly drugs doesn't seem a bad use for it. And I'm not sure the usual arguments about why the war on drugs failed really apply here. How many drug users are hungry for fentanyl? I mostly hear about drug users accidentally overdosing when they meant to be getting fucked up on heroine, or coke, or other pills. Somehow the drugs they actually want keep getting contaminated with fentanyl and killing them.
I guess I don't really know though. The zombie scape you see in most major American cities seems inexplicable, and the prevalence of Narcan being administered by first responders might put to lie my assumption.
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