GIESBRECHT: The Joker in the pack

Brian Giesbrecht is a retired Manitoba judge. He was recently named the 'Western Standard Columnist of the Year'Two things about Donald Trump: He has an active sense of humour, and he is a deal maker. So, it’s not always clear when Donald Trump is telling a joke, when he’s floating an idea for a deal — or when he’s doing both at the same time.Three recent examples of what I’m talking about come to mind: His “threat” to take back the Panama Canal, his “offer” to buy Greenland and his “suggestion” that Canada should become the 51st state — with “Governor” Justin Trudeau in charge.At first, all three of these attention-getting tweets seem outrageous. Surely they are jokes. But — with the exception of the offer to make Trudeau “governor, which Trump definitely meant as a joke — there is substance to all three claims.The Panama Canal was built by Americans at great cost — in both dollars and lives.The canal has resulted in incredible savings in dollars, and fuel saved. More than a million ships have passed through its locks and canals since it was opened in 1914. To say that the canal has been a success is an understatement.Former President Jimmy Carter, who recently died at the age of 100 (the first American president to reach that age) agreed in 1977 to hand ownership of the canal to Panama and allow that country to begin operating it in 2000, with America retaining security guarantees. His decision to do so was controversial then, and perhaps even more controversial today.That's because Communist China is now very much involved in Central America, raising very real security concerns. Trump is determined to stop China from effectively controlling the canal.The issue is extremely complicated, and will almost certainly be solved by negotiation with Panama. However, Trump’s musings about taking back control of the canal can probably be better seen as an opening bargaining salvo than as the joke that some pundits claimed it is.In fact, it seems quite likely that bargaining about the canal’s future will begin in earnest soon after Trump takes office — if it hasn’t already begun. Trump is not joking.The same applies to Greenland. The idea of United States “buying” Greenland is not at all preposterous. It has been proposed before. Greenland’s strategic importance to American security was evident during WWII, and with both Russia and China showing great interest in the far north, the huge island is more important than ever. America operates an important base there, and will probably want to add more. Alaska and Greenland would act as security bookends for both northern sides of North America, and would allow America not only to closely watch a China and Russia that would love to have Greenland within their grasp, but to participate more effectively in the development of the Arctic.Whether or not it ends up “buying” the island, as it bought Alaska, Louisiana, or the American Southwest, remains to be seen. Probably, it will make some other security arrangement with the Danes and Greenlanders that doesn’t amount to American sovereignty over Greenland. But floating the idea of buying Greenland was not the joke some thought it was. There is substance there, and we can probably expect negotiations to go forward- but more quietly — once the Trump team takes over.In fact, Trump’s Greenland “joke” might already be working. It seems that it has succeeded in prompting some of the 56,000 Greenlanders to ask why they need Denmark at all. Perhaps they can get what they want from Trump, and he can get what he wants from them. That’s “The Art of the Deal” in action.And so it is with Trump’s trolling about Canada as the 51st state. Certainly, Trump the joker, was part of it. But Trump, the dealmaker, is whom we should be paying attention to. Trump was certainly telling Canadians, and everyone else as well, that he regards Justin Trudeau as a joke. Trudeau, who had for years ridiculed Trump behind his back, and used Trump as a bogeyman to demonize Conservatives, trotted down to Mar-a-Lago immediately after Trump’s tariff threat, and tried to pull at Trump’s heartstrings (not the way to deal with Trump) about the disastrous effect the tariffs would have on Canada (and more importantly to Trudeau, his own election prospects.) This was red meat to Trump, and he made the most of it. He had a field day on social media with the hapless Trudeau, and almost certainly hastening Trudeau’s humiliating exit as Canada’s “leader”.But Trump also knows that even with a Canada finally rid of Trudeau, ten years of Trudeau Liberal leadership have put Canada in an incredibly weak bargaining position.Trump, the deal-making shark, smells blood. His quips about Canada as the 51st state should be seen in that light. He knows that he has us by the short hairs. Even with a competent leader, we are in a very weak position, and will be for some time. By toying with us, Trump is reminding us that he is in the superior bargaining position. Canada is not going to become the 51st state. Nor are we going to give up our currency, or border control, as suggested by Kevin O’Leary.However, we are going to have to make painful changes if we want to satisfy Trump’s concerns about Canada — many of which are legitimate. Our border control is weak, the state of our armed forces is perilous, and we are over-taxed, over-regulated, and much less competitive economically than our American big brother. We have to awaken from our woke slumber, and get back to reality. And we will have Trump there to remind us if we start nodding off again. (The Trudeau years will probably be known in history books as something like “The Lost Decade” — Canada’s Disastrous Experiment With Woke Socialism.”)Simply put, if we want to stop Canada and its leader from being the butt of Trump’s jokes we first have to elect a credible leader, and then begin the hard work of restoring Canada to its former position of strength.Brian Giesbrecht is a retired Manitoba judge. He was recently named the 'Western Standard Columnist of the Year.'

GIESBRECHT: The Joker in the pack

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