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Notes -
Donald Trump is ultimately a pretty simple person. He is not particularly learned or intelligent, and has precious little intellectual curiosity. He doesnt really understand economics or geopolitics. He does not have any overarching moral philosophy or theory of the world. He is not playing chess with any number of dimensions, and in fact probably thinks that playing chess (real or metaphorical) is for nerds and pussies. He does not have an ounce of nobility in his soul, is constrained by no moral framework, and holds nothing sacred. Concepts such as 'friendship', 'gratitude', 'fairness', and 'loyalty' are alien to him (though he understands 'fealty' well). There is a decent chance he is a psychopath. The virtues he does have are of the sort you might expect from a real estate mogul with a string of failed businesses: he is ruthless, he is cunning, he is bold, he is unafraid to tell people he doesn't like to fuck off, and happy to throw his weight around. He understands leverage, he understands power, he understands submission.
What does he want from Canada? He wants to be respected and feared. He wants to go down in history. He wants a win.
He had no concept of what a good or fair trade deal with Canada would look like, but his real estate instincts scream: 'we are the big dog, and they are the little bitch. I bet I can get way more out of them. We can squeeze them harder, and all they will be able to do is knuckle under.' It is worth stating the obvious: fentanyl is an excuse, and a bad one at that. Trump does not give a fuck about fentanyl junkies and wouldnt piss on them if they were on fire. The only problem is, Canada is not a fund run by bean counters. It is a nation state, it has its pride, and they are perfectly capable of giving the finger to those that treat them like shit, even if it means taking a bit of a kicking.
So what can Canada do? They can try to flatter Trump's ego, and give him the smallest possible win that they think will mollify him. That will be a hard line to ride. Or, they can, politely, tell him to get fucked, and weather the storm.
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