On our sovereignty, Canada must assume Trump will pursue the riskiest, dumbest path possible |
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Tuesday.Alex Brandon/The Associated Press
While you were sleeping – and when he should have been – the President of the United States posted an image of a doctored map of the U.S. that included Greenland, Venezuela and Canada. It was the type of thing that your great uncle, having just discovered AI, posts while sitting in his underwear at 1 a.m., after his wife kicked him out of the bedroom for snoring.
Years ago, we might have shrugged off such online provocations, even from the U.S. President, as no more consequential than Uncle Stan’s sloppy Facebook memes; he’s just blowing off steam, poking the bear. Maybe he lost the sticky note with his online banking password on it and needs a temporary distraction. But in 2026, it is foolish – reckless, even – to take Donald Trump at anything but his word. We must assume he is as reckless, dangerous and fatuously unhinged as he himself claims to be.
For years, both the U.S. and the larger Western alliance has borne the consequences not of underestimating Mr. Trump, but of overestimating him. We have assumed, erroneously, that logic, strategy, morality would prevail; that Mr. Trump wouldn’t actually pardon those........