There's more than one aspect to Trump. He's in the right regards enforcing the border security around the States. I loved what he did to the nukes in Iran. I loved his first term how he brought the embassy to Jerusalem. Lots of good.
I love a lot of Americans. Including the part of my family that emigrated to the States to help with the Cold War (that's how my uncle the geophysicist ended up working for the US military) in the great Canadian brain drain. The dregs of the family stayed home and spawned me!!!
BUT I see
@KMendel 's point in Post #13 on page 1 of this thread. She makes a good one. It's not all about illegal migrants. That's a safe subject. We all agree. (She posted just before I posted this, but my reply references her first post on page 1)
Borders are good.
So is the Constitution, the separation of Congress from the Presidency, and the legal beagles in the Justice dept. Due process if for no other reason than to avoid deporting one's own citizens or jailing them without due process even on home soil. Usually that sort of thing happens in banana republics or Nazi Germany or Russia where citizen's rights are almost non existent.
Lest you think that hasn't happened yet, it has. I've seen it on American news channels - it's not headline news. But it's unsettling. The reason for due process is to safeguard citizens rights, not necessarily to protect criminals and illegals.
Someone said upthread that God made borders. He does.
Yet Trump doesn't respect our borders here in Canada- your former friends and allies, your neighbours who have always come to your aid.
Trump threatens Canada, to annex us (he's at it again this week) and at one point was deriding our borders as something artificial. He's quite serious about the 51st State stuff, he's said it over and over, very very seriously. He assures newsfolk in the States, he's QUITE SERIOUS about that. I can't imagine how Greenland feels, they are even smaller than us. Or Panama?
So borders are only ok when it's HIS country, the USA- but borders for Canada, Greenland and Panama are only there as an artificial line???? Do Christians in other countries feel like their God given borders are being trampled on? You bet they do!
Might makes right does it??? He has power and uses it.
I don't mind when it's used fairly, to benefit America, that is what he's there for. I love when he stands up for Israel instead of tariffing them or ordering them around.
In his world there are only winners and losers. For him to be a winner, he has to make others lose. Negotiations are supposed to be a win for BOTH sides. That's how it usually works.
He takes distinct pleasure in humiliating the "loser" that he bullied into submission. He talked a lot about 90 deals in 90 days but capped it off by saying that countries around the world were lining up to kiss his backside. (I cleaned up his terminology there) but in the days after that, he's almost taken to pleading for anyone to sign on with him. I can't imagine why they aren't lining up!
Trade- Those deals he is working on. With all the countries including islands only inhabited by penguins that irritated him in some fashion. How his economics advisors did that balance of trade formula to realize how badly those penguins treated America and how high those penguins had made their tariffs was quite informative. These are the guys advising him on economic policy there!!! Dastardly PENGUINS!!!
He's got a couple of deals, Britain can sell Rolls Royce engines (that go into Boeing aircraft) without tariffs. Boeing was in deep trouble without those. Jokes about imports of Rolls Royce cars aside, Boeing was in trouble like a LOT of USA factories who depend on imported materials and parts.
The deal with China is more of an understanding that talks will continue, but it's brought tariffs down from 300% on things like car seats and strollers, which affect young American families. I think it's a mere 60% which is still a steep tax that young parents will have to budget for.
Right now Canada is working hard and fast to sell our grain, our oil, our steel, our aluminum, our potash and our lumber in other markets. Markets that are affected by the tariffs in their countries. Brazil has replaced the USA for soybean sales in China for example. Japan is interested in our steel and aluminum. We are talking with South Korea about ships. Canada signed onto the REARM Europe agreement.
That is something you might want to look into- NATO in Europe was busy doing side deals while Rutte flattered Trump.
The money that Europe and Canada are spending to meet our NATO targets (used to be 2% but Trump upped it to 5%) won't be going to US armament manufacturers. If Canada and Europe have a choice that is.
That's a lot of money on the table that Trump could have won for US manufacturing but it's going to several other places. It was going on during the G7 too.
Other countries won't say it publicly, but they vote with their feet when and where they can. Of course Trump can force some into playing along, but when you go to a trade war with the entire world, don't be too surprised if that world decides it's time to pivot away from American suppliers. If Trump wanted to increase US exports, he is going about it the wrong way. Hopefully Americans will buy enough from Americans to make up for those losses.
Canada is quickly aligning with Europe now and I see that as yet another example of how Trump is inadvertently pushing the world into the economics and geo politics necessary for the Tribulation. It's quite something how fast he's doing it.
If Poilievre had won Canada, we would still be your allies. Now under Carney, the more Trump bullies him, and pushes him around, the more Carney turns to Europe. Trump likes Carney and said he didn't like Poilievre because Poilievre doesn't get pushed around. Yet Poilievre would have America's back no matter what. Carney doesn't. But Trump interfered with the election and ensured Poilievre lost. And yet that means that Canada is folding into Europe as a partner of the new upcoming European armed forces. We are folding into them economically as well.
Carney WILL stab you in the back at the first opportunity and smile while doing it. He's a "don't get mad, get even" sort of character. Perfect sort for the time we are living in.
Marching towards the Tribulation and Rome 2.0! Trump IS being used by God for that purpose too. I'm sad. I grieve for my country. But I know that time is short if God is allowing this.
Tariffs:
At the start, before the world got tariffed, Trump tore up the agreement with Canada and Mexico that he negotiated in his first term and issued a special tariff on Canada as well as Mexico. He said we were sending drugs and illegals down south. So we immediately fixed it.
In the process of fixing it, we found out that less than 1% of the drugs entering America came across our border but we caught QUITE A LOT OF AMERICAN drug smugglers going north, along with illegal firearms being smuggled in AND illegals trying to enter Canada.
When that happened it was obviously a bit embarrassing to Trump because suddenly that tariff talk disappeared and the world wide tariffs were brought in, with special mention for Canada. The fact that we supply 1/3 of your oil was a problem, so that was dropped. We made concessions that were never acknowledged.
Everything you've heard about the trade stuff comes from the White House or the media, and it's not presenting Canada fairly. Trump has misrepresented things. His entire way of calculating tariffs was based on balance of trade which he misinterpreted as evidence of tariffs or unfair dealings.
In the last 24-48 hours he decided to cut off all trade talks with Canada AGAIN, calling us names and calling out a 3%tax that we've had in the works since 2020, that was due to come online later this month. 3 % - charged on US based businesses like Uber, AirBNB, YouTube, Meta, Google etc - that 3% is from the money they made off CANADIANS. Other companies operating in Canada pay taxes, so this was an unfair advantage these multinational US based businesses had.
Keep in mind that Canadian businesses operating in the USA pay all local and federal taxes! But somehow it's unfair for American businesses working in Canada, making money off Canadians to pay a 3% tax
What was it Trump charges his own people to buy a Chinese made stroller or car seat? 300% at one point. Now I think it's only 60%.
SO Trump threw a fit. Called off the trade negotiations. Ok fair enough- that's Trump doing Trump things.
Carney caved this morning, gave in. So American businesses have a free ride in Canada.
I'll tell you something straight- as a Christian I will and do forgive him and Trump both. But what really gets me is the times when criticism of Trump is framed in such a way that it's almost unchristian to call him out for doing the bad stuff.
As usual, I will give praise where praise is due. He finally came thru for Israel when they needed it, when we all needed those MOPS to clean up the nuclear threat in Iran.
He's pretty good with Israel, but I haven't forgotten how he humiliated Netanyahu calling him out of an important trip in Hungary, to dance attendance on Trump and smile like his life depended on it, when Trump announced that Trump had unilaterally decided to negotiate with Iran. While Trump reminded him and the world of the aid they give Israel that they are contractually ordered to spend on American weaponry.
The weapons are part of a long standing agreement that Israel would buy them using that Aid from America (which 100% goes straight to American arms manufacturers on American soil) and in return Israel would not engage in large scale weapons manufacturing in Israel (and they WOULD share any armament tech they develop- like the Iron Dome now rejigged as America's Golden Dome, based on that Israeli innovation).
Or the fact that just after Trump announced his world wide tariffs, including Israel, Israel immediately dropped the much smaller tariffs they had- ALL the tariffs they had on US goods, but he kept the tariffs on Israel. And Netanyahu had to smile thru his teeth in the Oval Office and make it look good. After all Israel's life depends on staying on Trump's good side. Trump made it obvious to the world that Netanyahu was on a short leash, at Trump's beck and call, that Israel depends on Trump and the USA which they do.
Since then of course the world tariff rates have fluctuated wildly, to the point where no country really wants to bother to make a deal, because he can break the deal the very next day on whatever pretext he sees fit.
He is not a man of his word. He tears up contracts that he himself negotiated, he changes the terms, moves the goal posts. He doesn't respect other country's borders while demanding total respect for his. He launches a trade war with the world, but expects the world to rush to his door to make deals.
But he did bomb the daylights out of 3 seriously evil nuke sites that threatened the whole world. And I'm grateful. I'll take an unreliable ally any day that I don't have to worry about the grandchildren glowing in the dark someday soon.
And for now he backs Israel up against the world. And again, I'm grateful.