Does anyone think for a second that a man [(Trump)] who brags about attacking his own citizens will let Canada off with a gentleman’s trade agreement?

The rhetoric from Washington is escalating. FBI director Kash Patel accused us of flooding the United States with terrorists. Homeland Security director Kristi Noem says our border represents a threat to American safety. Now Attorney General Pam Bondi is accusing Canada of creating a crisis in human trafficking.

These are orchestrated outbursts of falsehood to demonize Canada. This is the part of the fascist playbook. The stakes are frighteningly high so I understand the PM’s desire to tread carefully. But there are areas where we can’t cede ground. If we do, the fascists will take it. That is how they operate.

What keeps me up at night are the words of Louis Fischer, a journalist who documented the Nazi rise to power. He wrote that Hitler’s opponents couldn’t comprehend the real nature of the Nazi threat. As reasonable and democratic people, they made the mistake of believing that they could negotiate with Hitler. Or they thought that they were wiser than Nazi street thugs. They reassured themselves that Hitler was “just being Hitler.”

And so, they willingly ceded ground, believing it was a strategy to bring the Nazis into the democratic fold or outwit them. In ceding ground, they fell into the abyss.

~

This is what concerns me about the Roberts’ invitation. It signals either naivety or desperation. If Roberts was the one who blew off the meeting, it’s because he didn’t need to take the measure of the new government. The invitation alone gave him all he needed to know.

In writing this, I feel the need to state that I am rooting for Prime Minister Carney. Everyone knows that I am not a Liberal. I never will be. But he won the election by offering himself as a wartime prime minister.

We need him to be that war time prime minister now.

  • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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    3 days ago

    This article doesn’t contain a point. What does the author want the government to do?

    • dom@lemmy.ca
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      3 days ago

      Not cede ground. Seemed pretty clear.

      Outright call out falsehoods. Say when they are lying.

        • dom@lemmy.ca
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          3 days ago

          I already explained this.

          Outright call out falsehoods. Say when they are lying.

          Do you want me to explain what that means?

            • TheTetrapod@lemmy.world
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              3 days ago

              Wow, I always kind of thought the “just asking questions” thing was overblown, but your obtuseness is impressive.

              • Krudler@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                You haven’t answered a fucking thing to be honest. You’re clearly hostile.

                Your explanations written in crayon with backwards letters: no cede ground! Call out!

              • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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                I still haven’t received an answer of what people want the government to do. Fact checking is something the government can do but I don’t see that being what people are asking for.

                • Krudler@lemmy.world
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                  1 day ago

                  You’re talking to a hostile ignoramus, I’m reading the thread, and you’ve done nothing wrong here, the other person is just a jerk.

                  • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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                    24 hours ago

                    I appreciate it, though being hostile back won’t change anything. Being mass downvoted, insulted, and called a troll for asking what actions people expect from the Prime Minister has led me to the conclusion that this isn’t a place for discussion.

            • dom@lemmy.ca
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              3 days ago

              At a minimum, yes.

              Are you sure you’re smart enough to be having these conversations?

              • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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                3 days ago

                I just didn’t see what point the author was trying to make. What did they mean by saying Carney needs to be a “war time prime minister”? I see now that he meant Carney needs to fact check more.

                • KanadrAllegria@lemmy.ca
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                  PM Carney ran (and won) on a platform of not giving in to Trump’s manipulative tactics, of keeping Canada strong and independent, of protecting Canada’s best interests. Now the author (Charlie Angus, btw) is asking him to keep those promises, to be the strong prime minister he said he would be, and not back down from what he said he would do.

                  Hope that helps.

                  • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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                    to be the strong prime minister he said he would be, and not back down from what he said he would do.

                    Right. I get that. How would Carney go about being a strong prime minister? That’s what I’m asking. The article doesn’t say and the only thing I’ve gotten in these threads is that he should fact check more.

    • KanadrAllegria@lemmy.ca
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      I see a point;

      This is the story of fascism. And you either stand up to fascists . . . or you will end up in the cages yourself. In the case of Canada, our options are either resistance or accommodation.

      . . . The risks of antagonizing Trump are clear, but so are the risks of trying to accommodate the profoundly anti-democratic and thinly-veiled violence of a gangster regime.

      . . .

      We need [Carney] to be that war time prime minister now.

      . . .

      . . . The PM needs to bring his case to the people and tap into their determination to hold our ground. We need to show men like Kevin Roberts that the Canadian people and government are not going to be worn down.

      The PM used the term “elbows up” in the election - Canadians are not willing to put them down now.

      (Emphasis mine)

      To summarize: do not accommodate. Resist.

      Seems pretty clear to me.

              • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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                I’m that obtuse apparently. As far as I know every Canadian politician has denounced Trumps 51st state rhetoric. Is there something I’m missing?

                • KanadrAllegria@lemmy.ca
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                  There’s a lot more than just the 51st rhetoric, and not all Canadian politicians have been proving they have a backbone.

                  See: Danielle Smith, Scott Moe, Pierre Pollievre, and Andrew Scheer, among others.

                  • threeonefour@piefed.ca
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                    Should Carney be included in that list? Genuine question. I wouldn’t put him in the same league as the others but, from the article and the way people are commenting, it seems like people would disagree.