Maclean's is a Canadian magazine that publishes articles on politics, pop culture, trends, and current events. Stephen Marche is a Canadian novelist, essayist, and cultural commentator.
On January 9, 2025, Maclean's published an article entitled "Why America Can't Conquer Canada" written by Stephen Marche.
Marche wrote the article in response to Donald Trump's recent statements suggesting Canada become the 51st American state, and Trump's intent to impose 25% import tariffs on Canada.
Here's some of what Marche said:
Trump's fantasies of annexation and conquest are nothing more than that. At this point in its history, America has come off of 70 years of failed imperialist adventures, in which it discovered it couldn't hold onto Afghanistan or Iraq or Vietnam or anywhere else.
Now, the country [America] is ripping itself to shreds. Ordinary people with Ivy League degrees are assassinating CEOs on the streets of New York [Key details about the man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare's CEO | Associated Press], to widespread approval. Terrorist incidents are growing, executed by more sophisticated and more resourceful terrorists than ever before. Trump plans to install loyalist appointees whose stated plans are to gut the national institutions—the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Justice—to give the president-elect more impunity. As I write, Los Angeles is on fire.
And that's what Trump's threats are really about. They are his attempt to distract the country from its own suicide. Trump is a rage-attention machine. That's how he has accumulated power. That's how he is.
Trump's comments on Canada must be put in this context. He has to keep the world afraid of him, because the moment that stops, his power collapses. He is attempting to spread loathsome anarchy everywhere, not just here.
There's also the fact that if Canada were a state, it would inject a massive left-wing presence into the United States. Democrats would be in power from that point on. But this is all absurd on its face, because, to conquer Canada, the United States would have to put itself on a war footing, and it isn't even willing to invest enough in its public services to put out fires in its second-largest city.
America is a threat but no enemy, which puts Canadians in a complicated position. We should fear American weakness rather than strength. And America has never been weaker in our lifetimes. It is barely in a condition to defend itself, or even to understand when it is being attacked. Sometime in the next four years, America's enemies, rather than its allies, will pick their moment and pop the United States like a balloon. All it will take is a pinprick.
Source:
(January 9, 2025). "Why America Can't Conquer Canada". Maclean's Retrieved 2025-01-29
More:
- 'Canada is not for sale' hat goes viral after Trump threats | Reuters
- Trump reiterates tariff threat, calls Canada 'nasty' on trade | CBC
- Trump's threats reveal the trouble with Canada's pipelines running through the U.S. | CBC
- Does the U.S. really subsidize Canada, like Trump says it does? | CTV News