Canadian actor William Shatner criticized President Donald Trump’s repeated suggestion that Canada should be annexed as the 51st U.S. state during an appearance on Fox News Tuesday night, offering his own counterproposal in response to the idea, as reported by The Daily Mail.
Shatner joined Jesse Watters on Jesse Watters Primetime to react to President Trump’s recent meeting with newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. During that Oval Office meeting, Trump reaffirmed his past remarks about incorporating Canada into the United States.
In response, Shatner joked that Canada should turn the tables on the United States. “Let’s offer Canada to the United States to be the 11th province,” Shatner said, prompting laughter from Watters.
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The Star Trek actor added, “It’s the best thing. Here you have a friendly group of people saying ‘Come on over. It’s cleaner, there’s plenty of power, there’s some lovely people who want to work with you. Be our 11th province.’”
Shatner clarified that while people are taking the idea seriously, Canada has remained an independent nation for over 150 years. He described Trump’s annexation comments as “denigrating.”
Trump’s remarks also drew a direct response from Prime Minister Carney, who reportedly told the president during their meeting that “Canada is not for sale.”
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The discussion gained further traction after MSNBC host Katy Tur explored the scenario of a potential military conflict between the two neighboring countries.
Speaking with Canadian journalist Stephen Marche, Tur referenced Marche’s recent piece in The Atlantic, which speculated on the possibility of armed conflict and criticized President Trump’s annexation rhetoric.
“The very fact that it was published, I think, is surprising—that we can have a conversation that is serious about what a war with Canada would look like,” Tur said during the segment.
Marche responded, attributing the speculation to Trump’s language. “He talks about annexing us on a regular basis,” Marche said. “Somewhere around two percent of the American population actually wants to do this… the American people can obviously be convinced of anything right?”
Marche also claimed that more Republicans now view Canada as an adversary.
He linked his concerns to broader criticisms of Trump’s leadership, warning, “Canada really does need to think about protecting ourselves from the United States and making sure that we’re not just a snack.”
In his article, Marche wrote that Trump’s previous trade actions had “softened up” Canada economically in preparation for such an annexation. He also alleged that Trump had privately raised the idea with both Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney.
Marche concluded his commentary by suggesting that a hypothetical “emergency over Canada” could be used as justification for expanding Trump’s authority, comparing the situation to the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As of now, no formal diplomatic response has been issued by the White House regarding the comments or the published speculation.
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