He’s had 20 years in politics to to come up with at least one good idea and he just hasn’t. He’s a career critic. That has served him well as the opposition but you can’t lead when your only play is to blame somebody else.

It’s Tokyo Drift time, Canada.

Every new press photo makes him look more and more like a 60s Batman villain. Louie the Lilac vibes.

I’m hoping we soon hear several new trade announcements coming from NATO partners that will help us collectively reduce our reliance on authoritative governments of all stripes.

He’s hoping he’ll hurt us (Canada) enough that suddenly his offer to “save” us by becoming a US territory is appealing. Any sort of fentanyl or national security reasoning is just an excuse.

The person who proposed shutting off electricity was Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario who could in fact follow through. It would definitely be the nuclear option but it would disrupt the power grid of several norther states we border.

I don’t think it will come to that. I think the orange idiot just wants some politicians to grovel and pay his tithe at the last minute so he can feel powerful. He’s “warned” of tariffs too many times to make me think he’s serious.

Fair assumption. In this fictional scenario I think there would for sure be a Q-Anon style contingent who would believe the world leaders colluded with some kind of audio deep fake.

I believe most republicans crave power at all costs and they want their team to keep winning. They will tolerate a cheater and a criminal that gets results but they will not abide a pathetic loser that makes them all look small by association.

Secretly record the back channel phone calls where he begs world leaders to let him do what he wants to save face, then release it with no deal.

He’ll be furious but when there are like 6-10 phone calls on record not even his diehard followers will respect him. Blood in the water at that point.

I’m down with that. I love Canada but I’d Euro it up to avoid seeing Charles on my currency.

Please let this be the trigger for free trade with Europe and all that lovely meat and cheese.

Stern uncomfortable eye contact, then.

I dream of this outcome. We’re more politically compatible with Western Europe than we are to the US.

Obligatory “Well, except Alberta” which you can literally derail any good idea with.

It was definitely not meant to be mean-spirited. A rising tide should lift us all. Selfishly, I imagine the good a few hundred million people could do for the rest of the world if suddenly freed from these sort of unnecessary financial and social hardships.

Unless you’re filthy rich enough not to care about premiums and have millions invested in health insurance. Then you can pay your media outlets to manufacture rugged individualism and paint any common-good policy with the broad brush of communism.

Last year I went in for an organ removal: $0.

The hospital bill for my child’s birth: $0.

Regular quarterly family doctor visits for routine monitoring: $0.

The comments from Americans who move abroad to other countries and experience the healthcare of other developed nations is eye-opening. I truly hope people find the means to demand a better base level of care and join the rest of the modern world.

Now imagine if instead of paying a private corporation for the privilege of a deductible against a maximum coverage amount you instead paid a bit more income tax in exchange for free healthcare no matter how many times you needed it.

Based on other countries’ models the tax difference would have been less than $6k in all but the highest income brackets.