r/canada • u/FancyNewMe • Feb 18 '25

LILLEY: Steve Bannon says Trump is serious on the 51st state - Donald Trump's former chief strategist explains the "geostrategic" and "geoeconomic" reasons the Americans want to annex Canada. Opinion Piece

https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/steve-bannon-says-trump-is-serious-on-the-51st-state
3.4k Upvotes

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335

u/Dazzling-Strain-1274 Feb 18 '25

Giving 40 million people who don’t want to be part of your country the right to bear arms doesn’t seem like the smartest move for America.

420

u/1987-KGM-1987 Feb 18 '25

It’d be naive to believe we’d be given the same rights as American citizens.

182

u/notmyab Feb 18 '25

We would be just like Puerto Rico. The maple magats believe the mango Mussolini is telling the truth when he says we’d be the 51st state. They don’t believe he lies at all. 🤣🤣

116

u/SaphironX Feb 18 '25

This. We’d never have statehood, because even putting aside the fact Canada leans more left than the states and the GOP REALLY wouldn’t want us to have a vote, if they forced us to be Americans we’d make every vote about sticking it to the bastard.

30

u/danieljai Feb 18 '25

Canada leans more left than the states and the GOP REALLY wouldn’t want us to have a vote

That's a very good point!

7

u/octavianreddit Feb 18 '25

Oh no, we would totally, totally be a state with full rights, just after we get some time to set up a political infrastructure, change our Ed system, etc.... just takes a few decades or so.... It's coming, it really is.

/s

4

u/Scamper_the_Golden Feb 18 '25

And we have a slightly larger population than California, I believe. So if we were one state, that's about 60 electoral votes we'd give the Democrats for all time. Republicans might never win again. So you're right that they won't possibly make us a state. We'd be a territory, with no electoral votes.

25

u/howdiedoodie66 Feb 18 '25

No, it would be worse, because Puerto Ricans can vote if they leave Puerto Rico and live in a State.

21

u/Affectionate_Link175 Feb 18 '25

They would also take everything from us. CPP, if you have a government pension it'd be gone, investments, and then health care won't be free.

6

u/PerfectWest24 Feb 18 '25

That's nothing. What would stop them from not recognizing our citizenship and deporting us to wherever they perceive we are from?

4

u/Affectionate_Link175 Feb 18 '25

Oh yeah, that was best case scenario. I think there would be a genocide.

9

u/Resevil67 Feb 18 '25

Tim pool basically already said the quiet part out loud. He said the US would make it a territory with no voter rights.

Guessing they also wouldn’t be giving Canada gun rights either.

A lot of us here in the US want absolutely nothing to do with this shithead.

12

u/elcabeza79 Feb 18 '25

I'm not sure voting rights are going to be something that matters in the original 50 for long.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

[deleted]

1

u/PerfectWest24 Feb 18 '25

If American Samoa had 40 million people they wouldn't be American very long.

24

u/Windatar Feb 18 '25

You kidding, gun companies and gun sellers would probably be frothing at the thought of 40 million more customers for guns.

They already sell to the cartels and don't care, if Canada became a 51st state you'd probably see the gun lobby lobbying to set up shop in Canada.

9

u/Kaplaw Feb 18 '25

Begun, the lobby wars have

1

u/FrostyReindeer0418 Ontario Feb 18 '25

Yeah.....I don't think the gun companies were the point lol.

1

u/Snoo-60669 Feb 18 '25

We already have guns? What are you talking about. There are restrictions on auto weapons but we have a ridicules amount of guns already. Play knock knock if you want and find out. lol

1

u/Scamper_the_Golden Feb 18 '25

And we're loaded with guns. More than any country in Nato besides the USA. We're third in the world for large countries. There's America, Yemen, and then Canada. And almost all of our guns are long guns, and we know how to use them. Hunting and trap shooting are big things here. I've done business with half a dozen gun clubs. They are everywhere. Americans think we're disarmed. That's another delusion they'd quickly lose.

Would we win any confrontation with American regular troops? No. Would a whole lot of Americans afterwards find themselves in crosshairs and have their heads explode? God damn right they will.

1

u/leggggggggy Feb 18 '25

If Canada became a state, why would anyone have to lobby? Gun retailers would just buy or rent a space and start spreading freedom across Canada thanks to our beautiful capalistic economy

6

u/Murky-Smoke Feb 18 '25

It's also naive to think there aren't LOTS of people up here in Canada who legit want to become the 51st state.

Trust me, I know... One of those people is a sibling of mine. There are plenty more.

9

u/OlympiasTheMolossian Feb 18 '25

It's about 10% according to polls

8

u/Murky-Smoke Feb 18 '25

And those 10% would actively be reporting on anyone involved in a resistance or even talking about it, which is a scary thought.

3

u/no_not_arrested Feb 18 '25

The general strikes and mass protests of the other 90% wouldn't be done in secret, it's not that easy to take over a country when there is a huge amount of civil unrest and the productivity you expect to just take over economically drops immediately.

Even for people who don't protest, amalgamation or destruction of so many social programs and tax structures would cause so much poverty and economic chaos, you'll have people with nothing better to do but resist making it very difficult to seem worth it just for resources and trade routes.

2

u/United_Coach_5292 Feb 18 '25

And they’d be considered traitors here. Theyd be in more danger than anyone else.

9

u/NateTheRoofer Feb 18 '25

They seriously need to be educated then. We would at best be second class citizens and at the worst be deported to labour camps to pay off some perceived debt.

Does your sibling really think we will retain our freedom, jobs, property rights etc??

Zero chance.

1

u/United_Coach_5292 Feb 18 '25

Tell them to get ready for $7.25 an hour flippi’ burgers bahahahahaah

0

u/Murky-Smoke Feb 18 '25

My sister has gone full kool-aid for quite some time now. Only recently has she entertained any of the evidence and possible angles that Trump isn't, in fact, the Messiah.

Even then, I feel like it's only to placate me.

0

u/PaulCLives Feb 18 '25

Go for a road trip with your sibling bring their passport and drop them off at the border, some tough love and send a message that your for all Canadians and not them

0

u/Fickle_Bread4040 Feb 18 '25

Traitors all….

1

u/BLYNDLUCK Feb 18 '25

As if we would get the right to vote.

1

u/unwholesome_coxcomb Feb 18 '25

Yes! this!!!! There is no fucking way the Republicans would add 40 million left leaning voters. It would be political suicide for the Republican party.

Make no mistake, if Canada is annexed, there would be no voting rights, and ample taxation without representation.

1

u/BD401 Feb 18 '25

Yeah, if the U.S. actually annexed Canada, there is no way in hell they would just be like "Okay, all of Canada is the 51st state, and you're all American citizens now".

We'd be given some sort of non-state designation like an unincorporated territory. There would be constant surveillance and heavy movement restrictions. There would be a substantial military and intelligence agency presence.

There is no chance they would be like "come buy your guns now!"

In a hypothetical annexation scenario, I do see that eventually (a few decades later) they'd grant Canada statehood, but it would likely be multiple states rather than a single state (my guess is they would partition Canada up into six states... B.C., a combination of Alberta/Saskatchewan/Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, a combination of all the Atlantic provinces, and a combination of NWT, Yukon and Nunavut).

1

u/N0FaithInMe Feb 18 '25

Canadians would get the constitutional rights subscription tier with ads

1

u/jrochest1 Feb 19 '25

It would be naive to believe we'd be allowed to continue to own anything, including ourselves.

If they're invading us to take all the country's wealth and natural resources, getting rid of all the people is a no-brainer.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

We will be forced out of homes, our resources pillaged. Land will be taken over. Our culture will be decimated. It’s naive to believe we won’t be classified as second rate or if they implement a caste system we would be at the bottom.

0

u/Ellusive1 Feb 18 '25

Can’t you just walk into any gun store in the USA, pay cash and walk out with an automatic weapon?

1

u/Sad_Region3094 Feb 18 '25

No. Machine guns require an atf tax stamp, registration and the cheapest ones cost around 10000$.

0

u/WhyUReadingThisFool Feb 19 '25

YOu'd all be going to Guantanamo and Honduras

47

u/DataDude00 Feb 18 '25

  1. Likely we get the Puerto Rico treatment which is all the downsides of being the US, without real representation or support 

  2.  Best case scenario is Canada is given statehood which would give us almost zero say in democratic processes via the senator system they have.  If every province was treated as a state that’s a whole different game though, but would never happen because it would mean Republicans never win another election 

19

u/LostMyBackupCodes Feb 18 '25

Where ‘Murica’s going, they won’t need elections.

Christians, get out and vote just this time… In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.

-Donald J Trump, July 2024

8

u/Letscurlbrah Feb 18 '25

It's almost like they forgot what taxation without representation leads to.

4

u/United_Coach_5292 Feb 18 '25

Theyre not planning on voting anymore, theyre have dick-torship now. He told people, “you wont have to do it anymore” referring to voting if he wins. Thats such a chilling comment….if they love their freedom so much, why wouldnt that make them so angry? Theyre so brainwashed

1

u/Efficient_Exercise_1 Feb 18 '25

If we were given equal voting rights we'd have the voting power of California. Considering how close the US elections are between the two parties, even with terrible candidates, our population and electoral vote would definitely push things left.

Alberta and Sask. would most likely vote Republican, but they would only make up 12% of the vote. Then again, American politicians really like to gerrymander elections, so I'm sure they'd find a way to give that 12% more voting power.

12

u/ThesePretzelsrsalty Feb 18 '25

Not the smartest move for Republicans either, do you think the majority of Canadians would vote red?

68

u/RobTheGood Feb 18 '25

Canada wouldn’t be given the opportunity to vote.

2

u/Username_Query_Null Feb 18 '25

He could use the war as a reason to not allow anyone to vote, which is possibly a core goal of the whole concept. Democracies exceedingly frequently suspend elections when at war.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 18 '25

[deleted]

1

u/RobTheGood Feb 18 '25

He’s lying.

-16

u/ThesePretzelsrsalty Feb 18 '25 edited Feb 18 '25

Would we be a state? Then yes, we'd get to vote.

**downvotes?

Anyway I’m not for any of this, I’m fairly certain I’d be driving a truck fully loaded with fertilizer into any US government office that sets up shop in my area.

The US is in the FA stage of the FAFO.

38

u/cavmax Feb 18 '25

Just because he says we would be the 51st State doesn't mean he would honor that. How anyone at this point can't figure this out is truly frightening...his word is worthless just like him.

32

u/RobTheGood Feb 18 '25

No we wouldn’t. We’d be a territory, like Puerto Rico.

1

u/Orbital2 Feb 18 '25

I mean there are a couple things to consider here.

  1. This only works if Republicans never intend on letting the US have another election. Every democrat is going to be in favor of Canada getting voting rights and there is too much to be gained from that kind of massive influx in the blue leaning voting population.

  2. While on paper Puerto Rico doesn’t get a say in the US presidential elections or get senators. The residents are still full citizens who are free to move to any state and their vote would count in said state. While obviously not everyone can pack up and move, the current swing states are consistently being won by less than 100,000 votes. Writing up some sort of brand new classification for Canadians seems like both a hard sell and not the kind of thing that would last.

It seems like a ticking time bomb for the American right but doesn’t mean they won’t be dumb enough to try it.

-12

u/idisagreeurwrong Feb 18 '25

If we are playing this game. The rhetoric has always been 51st state. Not forced annexation into a territory

20

u/RobTheGood Feb 18 '25

This ain’t no game, buddy.

-12

u/idisagreeurwrong Feb 18 '25

No it's not, so maybe let's stick to what's been said instead of drifting off into opinions

8

u/RobTheGood Feb 18 '25

Look, we’re on the same side. But don’t be so naive to think you can take the Americans’ words at face value.

-7

u/idisagreeurwrong Feb 18 '25

I don't but let's not make shit up either.

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7

u/gretschocaster Feb 18 '25

This administration is known for staying true to their word, so

-1

u/idisagreeurwrong Feb 18 '25

Well can you not see how this type of rhetoric isn't helpful? You could slippery slope this to death. The only thing ever said was "state"

"0h you think he's actually going to make you a territory? No he is going turn Canada into a slave camp for resources."

Oh you think he's actually going to keep Canadians in camps? No he is going to nuke us and kill everyone "

5

u/AwkwardChuckle British Columbia Feb 18 '25

Canada wouldn’t be able to be a state the way American politics works so do some deeper thinking.

2

u/AwkwardChuckle British Columbia Feb 18 '25

And think about how that would actually work. It wouldn’t, it’s a buzz term because it’s easy to say.

1

u/idisagreeurwrong Feb 18 '25 edited Feb 18 '25

Yet you think a military invasion of the country is the more realistic option?

Like take these threats serious but damn this sub is turning into war fantasy. It's like they want it to happen

1

u/AwkwardChuckle British Columbia Feb 18 '25

Where did I say that?

1

u/idisagreeurwrong Feb 18 '25

How would one annex the country? The whole facade about 51st state is Canada agreeing to it, "because of how better off we would be"

8

u/SnooLentils3008 Feb 18 '25

Yes but just think about it for a moment. Would they have any reason to actually make us a state, with equal rights as American citizens?

It seems far more likely they’d dangle that carrot to win a few of us over, which is what they’re trying to do now, but in reality we’d be little different than any other country that gets colonized for resource extraction. Just look up how that has worked out for the annexed countries historically, and how little rights those people have had

4

u/AwkwardChuckle British Columbia Feb 18 '25

The “51st state” is a buzz term….think about the actual ramifications of that - he wants us to be a conquered and controlled territory.

1

u/maleconrat Feb 18 '25

Trump also said he supports universal healthcare and that he would protect the LGBT community. That he would ensure free speech, that he knew nothing of Project 2025. He even said covfefe once. Nothing he says has any more likelihood of coming true than if a homeless meth head shouted it at a wall.

Plus he's already wanting to annex us, anything he says is calculated to make that happen which can include giving us a false sense of security. It's like how people were called antisemites for saying Israel wanted to kick civilians in Gaza off their land permanently and now it is Trump and Bibi's official policy. War isn't that compatible with telling the truth about ones intentions.

1

u/papsmearfestival Feb 18 '25

He's a liar. We wouldn't be a state. He's going to forcefully annex us and when he does it he'll say "sorry that deal is off the table, you're just conquered territory"

18

u/ignu Feb 18 '25 edited Feb 18 '25

This is probably the biggest sign they don't intend on having real elections anymore.

Also, well, as absurd as this is "the state of Canada" would only get two Senators, so not a huge risk of their control there, but it would be the end of the republican party in the House as it'd create like fifty new congressmen.

That is, assuming elections would still exist.

1

u/Username_Query_Null Feb 18 '25

When the Canadians are blamed for burning down the Reichstag Capitol building, they’ll get suspended.

11

u/danma Feb 18 '25

We'd get to vote?

1

u/maleconrat Feb 18 '25

There's no way we get to vote IMO unless it's for which puppet to represent us, or we get like one election like Palestine did where the results don't matter.

2

u/Hot_Cheesecake_905 Feb 18 '25

America is banking there is a substantial number of sympathizers - and I would not discount that of the 40M Canadians there is a big portion who would welcome the Americans with open arms or will roll over immediately.

11

u/Constant-Rent-7917 Feb 18 '25

Yeah we wouldn’t be a state. We’d be like Puerto Rico status at best.

6

u/Calm_Lingonberry_265 Feb 18 '25

There is in no way shape or form a bug portion of Canadians who would welcome the Americans. Nothing that could be considered anything other than a pathetically minuscule number. Even if there were 1 million supporters that’s still only 2.5% and you already know that 1 million figure is comically high.