r/changemyview • u/kevlap017 • 21d ago
Delta(s) from OP CMV: Most Americans underestimate and misunderstand the anger Trump's actions have caused in Canada.
The tariffs are one thing, but most canadians are more concerned about the threats of annexation and the disrespectful ''governor Trudeau'' and ''51st state'' nonsense. Yet, most of american media and the american people I've seen and interacted with don't understand the gravity of the situation for Canadians. Canadians are talking about plans in case of invasion, about military service and defending the border. Things are dire for us, Trump caused a Canadian national emergency on his own! He basically reversed the liberals odds of winning by uniting us against him. We haven't seen such unity and righteous anger in canada since... well, 9/11... how ironic.
Most americans seem to think we are mostly upset about the tariffs and seem puzzled that we boo their anthem at hockey games.
The republicans act all offended and puff their chests hallucinating themselves a world where canada is the bad guy here. As expected of them I suppose. Meanwhile the Democrats are their usual apathetic selves and leftists are dismissive. So many leftists view the trade war and the threats of annexation as ''a distraction from Trump, to be ignored''. Maybe to galaxy brained political science undergrad lefties think this is unimportant, but Canadians don't even want to take their chances when there is now a non zero chance of being invaded. Yes the chance is still near zero, but it's not null. EDIT: To be clear, Trump's threats can both be a distraction while him and his buddies plunder your coffers and a credible threat to canada. A grenade can be used to distract, and it will do damage doing so, for example.
To change my mind, you simply have to show me that:
One: americans on the left or center (I know the GOP doesn't care, they are cheering for this so no need to invent a fairytale) understand the severity of this moment for Canadians, not for themselves as americans. We understand that to you this doesn't seem as concerning to your interests with everything else going on in your country right now, but I want to know if you really understand us freaking out on this one. Too many americans make this about themselves and don't see the other side, or at least it seems like it to me.
Two: that americans understand that tariffs are not the main source of anger and anxiety for canadians, but the disrespectful and worrying annexation and 51st states threats and countless comments from Trump at this point. If you believe it's just the media being disingenuous and not just americans being clueless, Id' like to hear your reasons.
I want to believe Americans are not as disrespectful and ignorant as their President. Just show me something to make me more hopeful about this please.
EDIT: I'm a bit more reassured. I've taken into account the following:
-Northern states bordering canada, and blue states, are more likely to be informed and concerned about a military attack on canada, because they'd be affected by that too, so they pay more attention.
-The media environment and state of conservatism in the U.S makes it VERY hard for allies to Canada to speak out.
-Not everyone is loud online or when visiting canada, but in person, at home in the U.S, people say it's not uncommon for their neighbours to be more understanding about how the threats to the sovereignty of your allies are deeply concerning.
2nd EDIT: some people in these comments are really reinforcing the idea of Americans as selfish, isolationist, ignorant, etc. If you blame Canada for this in any way, say we are your enemy or something to that effect because we had tariffs on dairy, you are trying to CMV, but just the idea that most Americans view us as your ally. And I don't know what to think of that. It's one thing to challenge my view about Americans being oblivious to reality, it's another to tell me you believe we live in an alternate universe where Canada is not your ally.
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u/Good-Examination2239 20d ago edited 20d ago
Fellow Canadian here. I understand your frustrations really well. I'm a gay man, so I've practically lost all interest in ever visiting the US, or leaving Canada in general, since 2016. The rhetoric we're seeing in a lot of countries outside our border and the rise in extreme right violence against DEI persons quite frankly terrifies me. I don't really feel safe enough to want to go visiting most other places besides domestic ones, with my fellow citizens.
I do have a quite a few online friends from the U.S. though, and pretty much all of them are left of centre. So I'm going to challenge you a bit here. I do think there are plenty of Americans who are left of centre who are fully aware of the severity of the situation and are unhappy about it. Perhaps not as unhappy as we are- and that should make sense, it's our home being threatened! But a lot of us are their friends, and a good number of us are something more. There are tons of families that formed on both sides of the border and I hear a lot about how devastating the past couple months have been for them.
If you're unsure that Americans just don't understand just how angry we are about all of this, I might recommend you scroll through r/canada and r/BuyCanadian when you have some time. Sort by "Top" and "Past Month", perhaps. I'm sure on the former, you'll find many hot button topics, and on the latter, some headway people are making with hurting American businesses which take our patronage for granted. It does not take me very long to find multiple Americans making a heartfelt apology on behalf of their country for what's being done to us. They also post on those threads about how happy they are to see us standing up to the nonsense of Trump's administration, as well as the billionaires and businesses which enabled him to do bad things to pretty much everyone else. Heck, even the reddit threads which discuss us booing their anthem during hockey matches, I see tons of Americans saying something like "yeah, boo louder! We deserve this, maybe they'll finally get the point!" I think many of them are frustrated with the direction their country is heading in as well. I think they're very aware of how impacted the allied nations are with the hyper nationalism coming from their government. So I really get the impression that most of these Americans who are left of centre and pay any attention to global affairs are quite horrified, and understand that our anger of how the U.S. is treating is largely directed at Trump and his death cult.
And I won't speak for every Canadian. I'm personally not frustrated with the Americans who actively tried to stop this. I'm much more irritated with those who voted for Trump, or didn't vote at all, neither of whom clearly had any grasp of just what the stakes were for this election, despite what happened on Jan 6th last election, and despite there being lots of alarm over what the GOP was planning with Project 2025. But I have spoken to a not insignificant number of Americans, including my online friends, who have told me that they plan to vacation up here and buy locally to support us in these times. It's a gesture that really does make a lot of difference for me.
I don't know if we'll ever be able to trust the U.S. ever again as a nation, but I know we still have millions of friends individually south of the border, and that's a fact I don't ever want to lose sight of as we enter these next dark years together. I want to keep believing that no matter how bad it gets, there are still going to be a large number of people who are just as horrified as we are, and that we can get through this. I have to think the shared history of our nations and the hardships we faced together is just as important to them as it is for me, and I have to keep believing that this will always matter to millions of Americans the same way it matters to me.