all of this has to be understood in context of collective unwillingness to say emperor is mad - ThreadSky

aelkus.bsky.social • 2 days ago

all of this has to be understood in context of collective unwillingness to say emperor is mad

american journalists have a brain when framing recent us-canada relations challenge (impossible)

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The idea here is it would degrade the office to say the truth and these people's jobs depend on the idea that the office is, in some Hegelian sense, the representative of some greater popular reason and not just something that belongs to one man.

zatapatique.bsky.social•2 days ago

the powerlessness is also a key driver, feeds two typical reactions 1) distraction and reversion to wonkform ("could a couple of US Senator from Bloc Québécois help with the public option?") and 2) deflection "lmao typical neurotic Bsky libdoom posting to worry about any of this as if it were real"

zatapatique.bsky.social•2 days ago

the latter reaction really being about exercising agency where you have it (hectoring your fellow left of Liz Cheney people) vs where you definitely don't have it ('dog shits everywhere' to take ae's original wording)

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

i think its not "degrade the office" but more just the learned helplessness

marwoodlennox.bsky.social•2 days ago

Disagree, if the office is degraded then their jobs are likewise. The Presidency is meant to be the world's most august office and reporting such reflect that, so what does it mean for their jobs if the officeholder is a clown?

willywariv.bsky.social•2 days ago

Agreed. And the press views themselves as a safeguard on the presidents power and vital to the health of democracy, if they admit they failed in that role why should anyone trust them in the future?

alwaysagoodday.com•2 days ago

I am glad Republicans still think we would have a congress if this happened.

arrogantmonkey.bsky.social•2 days ago

I swear I wish one reporter would try to trip him up by saying “what about Puerto Rico” - I’ll bet he’ll forget they’re citizens already

riwoche.bsky.social•2 days ago

They lost me at "Were Canada to become a state" and doubtless most Americans are still unaware Canada is the second-largest country in the world. The notion that a mere two Senators would somehow represent such an enormous landmass is 🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌.

stochasticooze.bsky.social•2 days ago

Canada is the 2nd-largest in area, but its population is only 41.5 million, which is not much more than California.

But this is all beside the point; a conquered territory wouldn't have voting rights. I suspect that to the extent there's any logic here, it's to steal Canada's natural resources.

birblib.bsky.social•2 days ago

Trump staffers talk openly about incorporating Canada as a non-voting territory, which apparently isn't overt enough for the most prestigious American media outlets to notice.

effinvicta.bsky.social•2 days ago

Ah, but Trump says 51st state, and the President hates thinking, so really if you think for five seconds about what he clearly and obviously means, you're DEI and woke.

thehobbyhopper.bsky.social•2 days ago

The man is fucking insane!

shaunc.bsky.social•2 days ago

I don't think he's mad. I think he's trying to do to the USA what Putin did to Russia.

https://bsky.app/profile/shaunc.bsky.social/post/3lkhicznszs23

slammin.bsky.social•2 days ago

Every time I see this I'm going to post the same thing:

Canadians aren't going to vote Democrat, we're going to burn down the white house.

crochetcat.bsky.social•2 days ago

Again. Some of us have read a book.

owen-symes.bsky.social•2 days ago

"What baffles Republicans about Trumps plan to change US currency to war heads candy is that "sourness" doesn't easily translate into traditional monetary denominations. Blue has a reputation for being very sour, but relative to what? And what about colorblind people? It has market watchers worried"

stacked-automation.bsky.social•2 days ago

"adding this entire country would give them 2 votes" really highlights the nonsense of the senate.

sendakmonster.bsky.social•1 day ago

(to be fair Canada's Senate is even more nonsensical than the US's)

cursed.monster•2 days ago

Or nude, depending on which story we mean

faineg.bsky.social•2 days ago

Yes

asnc20.bsky.social•2 days ago

I've thought about this also and think that Canada as the 51st state by Trump assumes a world in which elections will no longer matter. Or Canada will be occupied rather than a part of our democracy- such as it is.

chrisheine.bsky.social•2 days ago

This whole idea is really stupid. What's even more stupid is the notion that Canada—which would have all the leverage in any kind of negotiation—would not want two senators for each of the 10 provinces (or something extremely close to it).

It's asinine. And insulting to Canadians.

rsgreen30.bsky.social•2 days ago

The fear of appearing partisan is a deep problem in my industry. What is a crime should be covered as such.

danielbolnick.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is only assuming they get to vote. Or, that we get to vote.

thebestjayne.bsky.social•2 days ago

It's cute that people think they would be given voting rights.

thomasthegrim.bsky.social•2 days ago

I think there needs to be a corollary to Occam’s Razor like an Occam’s Toothbrush or something which says “not only is the most obvious course of action what likely occurred, but this holds true even when it’s the most nonsensical one, too”.

minimallycrazy.bsky.social•2 days ago

Let's call it Occam's Buttplug; you fear to pull it out after long enough because you *know* the argument is full of shit... just not how far it's going to splatter when the Event finally comes.

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

its not really due to fear of trump as much as it is of desire to avoid social implications of saying so

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

even a few of most egregious aspects of admin being really acknowledged as common wisdom means government suddenly is bereft of even minimal legitimacy

edgarageous.bsky.social•2 days ago

Presidentialism survive a mad president challenge (impossible)

robot-bastard.bsky.social•2 days ago

like we start questioning the Full Faith And Credit Of The United States...

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

that is why i keep analogizing it to a financial bubble. many accounts of 2008 crash obsessively fixate on ways in which people learned not to see certain inconvenient problems that undermined basis of bubble economy

kerouac666.bsky.social•2 days ago

One of the things I noticed in 2008 crisis that I'm seeing in politics is that in 2008 financial stories shifted from how good things are to how bad things aren't, and I've noticed similar in politics, though they kinda went from how bad Biden was to how bad Trump isn't. Seems subtle but significant

blocksincoming.bsky.social•2 days ago

Thing is though, Trump generates clicks for media publishers. It's hard to tell if "Trump isn't so bad" is just self interest from publishers.

kerouac666.bsky.social•2 days ago

Oh, it's definitely that, too. I really only noticed the overlap in the style of coverage because most modern presidents have never so forcefully inserted themselves into financial markets.

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

i should expand a bit too on what i am suggesting people are so afraid of

https://bsky.app/profile/kerouac666.bsky.social/post/3lkhatgr2qc2c

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

it's vastly easier to acknowledge an unpleasant reality if you have a clear way to resolve it.

"the dog shit all over the neighbor's lawn" --> I'll apologize to neighbor and try to train dog not to

"the dog shits on everything and its impossible to alter the behavior" ---> uhhhhh

typhonbaalhammon.bsky.social•2 days ago

Lock the dog in a cage or put it down, it's not so difficult

squizzradical.bsky.social•2 days ago

Train the dog better.

aelkus.bsky.social•2 days ago

so you have, two months into a four year term, unambiguous proof that the administration is not just cruel and predatory but also too dysfunctional to step away from the ledge. however, impeachment, 25th amendment, and other constitutional remedies are totally off the table

celticdragon1.bsky.social•2 days ago

The dog shits on everything, and it's also the alien assimilated husky from The Thing and garrgghhtthhth (squishy sounds)

kmagnacca.bsky.social•2 days ago

Ironically this pretty much is my parents’ dog, and yes they’re totally in this kind of denial about it.

yungdreyfusard.bsky.social•1 day ago

also its your fault because your neighbor repeatedly told you to train the dog and you responded by threatening to shoot him and now its shitting all over your house too

blocksincoming.bsky.social•2 days ago

Soros's The Alchemy of Finance talk about bubbles. Naysayers are wiped out one by one until only true believers are left. Eventuallly none are left. Seems to apply to analysts as well.

various-threnodies.bsky.social•2 days ago

It's a very depressing commentary on the state of the Discourse when you think about how if any other President talked about Canada like this it would likely (correctly) cause the media to question if they'd gone insane

publicaardvark.bsky.social•2 days ago

The worse things get the more deeply journalists and media decision-makers are implicated in this all for their failure to recognize their own cognitive biases or provide accurate information *with appropriate context* to the public. And so the incentive not to acknowledge reality grows and grows.

publicaardvark.bsky.social•2 days ago

The many crimes and abuses of this administration become self-censoring facts, to borrow a phrase from theophite.

livebeef.bsky.social•2 days ago

Would many people take them seriously if they did say so? There's been nearly a decade of many journalists crying wolf. Now the wolf is here - and hearing anyone call them a wolf just feels....exhausting to even think about.

loki1001.bsky.social•2 days ago

I think this is an underrated problem driving a lot of news media coverage. @michaelhobbes.bsky.social points this out a lot. If you straightforwardly report the news, you sound hopelessly partisan because one political party has gone insane.

robppm319.bsky.social•2 days ago

uh, 13 provinces and territories, that'd be 26 senators thank you very much.
no respect, i tell you

keeganc15.bsky.social•2 days ago

They’d never actually make it a state it would just be US territory with extractive industries and probably an extremely heavy military presence. The 51st state is like an inside joke, they have no intention of giving the average Torontoian or Vancouverite equal political rights and power !

cargoweasel.com•2 days ago

attempting to annex Canada would be the end of both countries. https://theconversation.com/why-annexing-canada-would-destroy-the-united-states-249561

keeganc15.bsky.social•2 days ago

Hell I think it would start an intra NATO nuclear war no less !

alwaysadorecats.bsky.social•2 days ago

This is exactly the reason why I think the military would simply refuse such an order.

And then if he kept threatening the military to do it anyway, the military would agree he’s not President anymore.

keeganc15.bsky.social•2 days ago

Oh they’d coup his ass so quick it would be the Carnation Revolution 2.0.

shenloop.bsky.social•2 days ago

TRUMP TAKE BRAIN

freedompimp2012.bsky.social•2 days ago

Say it or believe it. There always has to be a plan not just that all his myelin sheered off 3 years ago

darkhell666.bsky.social•2 days ago

I am Canadian and aware that if annexation would ever happen, Canada wouldn't be recognized as a full state right away, we can count on the GOP to delay any recognition the same way Porto Rico is.

reluctantlychad.bsky.social•2 days ago

It's just weird how little things like "Canada unlike Puerto Rico and DC has a much larger population and a long history of national autonomy" never enter their calculus. I really wonder if they just make themselves believe it will work so they don't have to contradict the mad king.

snootacamund.bsky.social•2 days ago

Beyond how disgusting this moronic annexation idea is to get to Puerto Rico level - where you are born a citizen and have non-voting House representation - would require an act of Congress. Better comparison is the Philippines and it didn’t take long for the US to realize holding them was untenable

cargoweasel.com•2 days ago

"The formation of the Confederacy will reduce the presence of slave-holding states in Congress. They're making a big mistake!" - these guys in 1860, probably

captainahab.bsky.social•2 days ago

Well tbf the exit of the reactionary Southern Senators *did* give us basically the most progressive Congress of all time from 1861-1866 (including multiple amendments that would have previously been unthinkable)

tiglet.bsky.social•2 days ago

A huge majority of Canadians don’t want anything to do with your dumpster fire of a country.
The USA is like an abusive ex girlfriend. Canada is over you we are moving on.

eubanksengineeringresearch.com•2 days ago

The emperor has been out of his mind for several generations now, in the sense that all US policy has been driving us towards multiple existential risks at full speed.

The emperor is now a naked, shit-smeared, gibbering lunatic jerking off in public and demanding his followers lick it from his feet

heyitsgalen.bsky.social•2 days ago

“annexing Canada” is where you should stop. It makes no sense to think that Canadian people would ever vote in an American election since CANADA is a FREE AND SOVEREIGN COUNTRY. You support Trump simply by speculating and not outright rejecting the idea.

ladiaz.bsky.social•2 days ago

this assumes regular order...
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...

billdozer53.bsky.social•2 days ago

I can't explain the motivation, but this talk seems more likely to cause a civil war within the US. It is insane, and our Republican party cannot admit it.

stub22.bsky.social•2 days ago

There is no reason for a civil war. When 200+ million of us say loudly every day that the insane president must be removed, then he will be removed. We're not interested in "Vance is worse/just-as-bad" discourse - that is for kids. We are adults and this matter is serious.
https://bsky.app/profile/stub22.bsky.social/post/3lkhum2fg5226

soccerdaddy.bsky.social•2 days ago

If you frame your analysis of territorial expansion in terms of whether the annexed population would be Democrat or Republican, you've misunderstood everything, in every possible way, at all stages of this, to the point where you should never be allowed to comment on anything ever again.

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