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Comment by Waterluvian | Hacker News Reader

I can’t speak for all Canadians but all the ones I know do not see America as a friend or partner anymore. The entire tone has changed in a way I’ve never before experienced.

I think the thing some Americans mess themselves up with is thinking that the world perceives their domestic politics the same way they do. From our level of abstraction, America voted and Americans decided the country is going to be an anti-science, protectionist menace.

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I can't speak for all Americans, but you're not wrong.

Protect yourself. If and when we have enough good governance to be friends again, we'll need your friendship.

Yeah, that’s probably the other palpable sentiment worth sharing: Canadians badly want to be best friends with Americans. It’s been a very regrettable cultural divorce.

Seconded. But also, don't forget that the same exact shit can happen in Canada as well. Especially with a national threat actor now physically next door (little green men, etc).

Which straw broke the camel's back. Was it insulting the prime minister as a governor, threatening to annex the territory, threatening to "redraw borders", or calling Canadians "nasty people"?

I think if we could point to a specific pivotal moment, it was when tariffs were first announced and Trudeau came on TV and discussed the difficult times ahead, the relationship as we knew it being over, and the announcement of counter tariffs and other plans. Then the Premiers announced things like removing American alcohol from shelves (Jack Daniel’s said this week that Canadian sales fell 62%), and shutting down various historical courtesies. For me at least that’s the moment it went from confusion, anger, and frustration to coordinated effort to take a defensive stance against the new aggressor nation.

The petty child-like name calling from the American president was mostly just an evocation of “I’m embarrassed for you.”

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