The Trumpifest Destiny imagined painting is brilliant! The business of annexing Canada has come up before: around 1775 and 1813. Imagine the fun we would have had as a country with a whole province full of Quebecois. (Some of whom are in my family tree.) About 15 years ago there was talk of the Western Provinces annexing themselves to the USA, every Canadian I talked to said "no way."
"I presume that Trump’s arguably over-the-top bluster on the subject is an opening volley toward a defensible goal."
I think it's safe to say that this is pretty much universally true of Trump's various pronouncements.
I made my living for 15 years as a contracting officer, buying guns and bombs for the Haze-Grey Navy. Since we had many contractors who were sole-source, there were a LOT of negotiations involved. So, one of the cornerstones of negotiation was, we want to get to a "win/win outcome."
How to achieve this? Well, as one of my former bosses put it, "You start with a win/lose [in our rubric the government was to the left of the slash and the contractor was to the right] position and make the contractor push you into a win/win. If you start with a win/win, what you'll end up with is a lose/win."
I once participated in a negotiation where the contractor was being particularly obdurate and insisted we owed him a new offer before he'd revise his own position. This was a big no-no as it meant you were, as we put it, "negotiating against yourself." After a certain amount of increasingly-acerb discussion, my boss went to the blackboard and put up the contractor's position on one side; on the other side, he wrote "$0." Then he turned back to the contractor and said, "OK...here's our new offer: over to you."
For better or worse, that approach has generally stood me in good stead in my private life as well as my career. And Trump--who, let's never forget, made his bones in the construction and real-estate development industry in New York--knows this as well. So I believe that ANY statement he makes should be considered under that aegis.
I have to say the funny posts and memes that have emerged from all this are a good laugh, even if nothing else ever comes of it. Seeing people metaphorically setting their hair ablaze over some obvious trolling is good fun.
About 20 years ago, the map of "Jesusland/United States of Canada" started circulating on the Internet. It showed the West Coast, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, New York and the New England states joining with Canada. I never did think that would be accepted--the population of those states would have overwhelmed that of Canada, and the Canadians would have lost all control over their own country.
Since then, other fissures have popped up that show the weakness of that idea. The eastern counties of Oregon have been voting to look into seceding from their state to join Idaho, because of cultural differences. There have been proposals circulating to divide California into 4 or more states, because the inland regions don't like being dominated by San Francisco and LA. The western counties of Maryland would rather be part of West Virginia. And most of Illinois would like to get rid of Chicago!
The divide in our own country has been building for a long time. This page from Brilliant Maps shows two presidential elections by county--1992 compared to 2024. https://brilliantmaps.com/county-1992-v-2024/ Since 1992 there has been a huge decline in blue counties, and a big increase in deep red counties. There are only 2 states that are completely red--Oklahoma and West Virginia. And there are only three that are completely blue--Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Hawaii. But most of the land area of the US is some shade of red. And in many states, the blue counties tend to be urban areas, and sometimes college towns.
Thanks for the good humor about Canada, Prof. Graboyes, and the bit about “Gravity.” From “Gravity” and “Alien,” I learned that if you see a lady astronaut in space in her underwear, something bad is going to happen. Like the oranges in The Godfather.
I enjoy your rational takes on Trump. Too many people don't seem to be able to be rational, in both directions, about Trump. And journalists always seem to have no sense of humor and no understanding of negotiation.
Back in late 2016, after Trimp had entered the race and set so many heads on fire, we had our annual Departmental faculty "party" to kick off the new academic year. Early September. Just about all of my colleagues (some 15 or so) were really upset, one way and another, and were venting about Trump's "behavior" and talking and stuff. And how he had no chance of winning.
I ended up sort of in a corner with the wife of a particularly Left colleague. We knew each other slightly by then. She had been C Suite in a major oil comapnay and 2 of the Big Three auto companies. She asked me, "You worked for corporations before teaching, right?" I said, "Yes, for about 20 years." She said, "What do you think of how Trump is running hiis campaign?"
I said I had known more than one corporate boss who acted like him. It could be very effective if done right. She said, "Yes, so have I. They're irritating as hell, but the good ones get things done. You and I are probably the only people at this party who have any idea of what Trump is doing."
I'm positive she didn't vote for Trump. Neither did I that time. But she identified immediately why the politicians and media would never, ever "get" Trump.
Yeah, Canada would look good on a map, but we have enough leftists of our own already. Another area to consider I just learned from Sarah Hoyt, the Chagos Archipelago where the US/UK combined base Diego Garcia resides. The UK PM is busy trying to close a deal before DJT takes office.
The Trumpifest Destiny imagined painting is brilliant! The business of annexing Canada has come up before: around 1775 and 1813. Imagine the fun we would have had as a country with a whole province full of Quebecois. (Some of whom are in my family tree.) About 15 years ago there was talk of the Western Provinces annexing themselves to the USA, every Canadian I talked to said "no way."
Glad you like the graphic! (I was pleased with how it came out.)
a. Because he can!
b. Best reason offered for a Greenland deal: Canada’s Earmuffs
c. Thanks for the provincial flags, however fleeting.
d. Let us burnish the legacy of James K. Polk!
"I presume that Trump’s arguably over-the-top bluster on the subject is an opening volley toward a defensible goal."
I think it's safe to say that this is pretty much universally true of Trump's various pronouncements.
I made my living for 15 years as a contracting officer, buying guns and bombs for the Haze-Grey Navy. Since we had many contractors who were sole-source, there were a LOT of negotiations involved. So, one of the cornerstones of negotiation was, we want to get to a "win/win outcome."
How to achieve this? Well, as one of my former bosses put it, "You start with a win/lose [in our rubric the government was to the left of the slash and the contractor was to the right] position and make the contractor push you into a win/win. If you start with a win/win, what you'll end up with is a lose/win."
I once participated in a negotiation where the contractor was being particularly obdurate and insisted we owed him a new offer before he'd revise his own position. This was a big no-no as it meant you were, as we put it, "negotiating against yourself." After a certain amount of increasingly-acerb discussion, my boss went to the blackboard and put up the contractor's position on one side; on the other side, he wrote "$0." Then he turned back to the contractor and said, "OK...here's our new offer: over to you."
For better or worse, that approach has generally stood me in good stead in my private life as well as my career. And Trump--who, let's never forget, made his bones in the construction and real-estate development industry in New York--knows this as well. So I believe that ANY statement he makes should be considered under that aegis.
I have to say the funny posts and memes that have emerged from all this are a good laugh, even if nothing else ever comes of it. Seeing people metaphorically setting their hair ablaze over some obvious trolling is good fun.
About 20 years ago, the map of "Jesusland/United States of Canada" started circulating on the Internet. It showed the West Coast, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, New York and the New England states joining with Canada. I never did think that would be accepted--the population of those states would have overwhelmed that of Canada, and the Canadians would have lost all control over their own country.
Since then, other fissures have popped up that show the weakness of that idea. The eastern counties of Oregon have been voting to look into seceding from their state to join Idaho, because of cultural differences. There have been proposals circulating to divide California into 4 or more states, because the inland regions don't like being dominated by San Francisco and LA. The western counties of Maryland would rather be part of West Virginia. And most of Illinois would like to get rid of Chicago!
The divide in our own country has been building for a long time. This page from Brilliant Maps shows two presidential elections by county--1992 compared to 2024. https://brilliantmaps.com/county-1992-v-2024/ Since 1992 there has been a huge decline in blue counties, and a big increase in deep red counties. There are only 2 states that are completely red--Oklahoma and West Virginia. And there are only three that are completely blue--Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Hawaii. But most of the land area of the US is some shade of red. And in many states, the blue counties tend to be urban areas, and sometimes college towns.
Thanks for the good humor about Canada, Prof. Graboyes, and the bit about “Gravity.” From “Gravity” and “Alien,” I learned that if you see a lady astronaut in space in her underwear, something bad is going to happen. Like the oranges in The Godfather.
"I learned that if you see a lady astronaut in space in her underwear, something bad is going to happen. " Hilarious and true!
I enjoy your rational takes on Trump. Too many people don't seem to be able to be rational, in both directions, about Trump. And journalists always seem to have no sense of humor and no understanding of negotiation.
Back in late 2016, after Trimp had entered the race and set so many heads on fire, we had our annual Departmental faculty "party" to kick off the new academic year. Early September. Just about all of my colleagues (some 15 or so) were really upset, one way and another, and were venting about Trump's "behavior" and talking and stuff. And how he had no chance of winning.
I ended up sort of in a corner with the wife of a particularly Left colleague. We knew each other slightly by then. She had been C Suite in a major oil comapnay and 2 of the Big Three auto companies. She asked me, "You worked for corporations before teaching, right?" I said, "Yes, for about 20 years." She said, "What do you think of how Trump is running hiis campaign?"
I said I had known more than one corporate boss who acted like him. It could be very effective if done right. She said, "Yes, so have I. They're irritating as hell, but the good ones get things done. You and I are probably the only people at this party who have any idea of what Trump is doing."
I'm positive she didn't vote for Trump. Neither did I that time. But she identified immediately why the politicians and media would never, ever "get" Trump.
Yeah, Canada would look good on a map, but we have enough leftists of our own already. Another area to consider I just learned from Sarah Hoyt, the Chagos Archipelago where the US/UK combined base Diego Garcia resides. The UK PM is busy trying to close a deal before DJT takes office.
Ear muffs. A good morning chuckle that is.
I kinda liked it. :)