COMMUNITY NOTED "Should Trump ask King Charles III to gift Canada to the United States?" r/ModeratePolitics user angers Canadians by claiming Canada is not "truly sovereign" due to UK-based Charles III being a "foreign king"

It all started with the AP News article "Trudeau to bring up Trump's threat to annex Canada in meeting with King Charles" being posted to /r/ModeratePolitics by the OP.

The OP posted the following starter comment:

>Trudeau is turning to King Charles for help against Trump's supposed threat to annex Canada, but the king has stayed silent. Many Canadians are frustrated with King Charles for staying silent on Trump's annexation threats, seeing his inaction as a failure to stand up for Canada's sovereignty. Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney pointed out that the King only acts on the Prime Minister's advice, subtly shifting the blame onto Trudeau. Though Canada's antiroyal movement is small, the King's silence is fueling discussions about its relevance.

>

Meanwhile, Trump has been invited for a state visit to Scotland, showing where Charles' priorities might be. The debate over the monarchy is growing, but scrapping it would mean a messy constitutional overhaul—one Trudeau likely doesn't want to touch.

>

If Canada is truly sovereign, doesn't running to a foreign king for protection ironically make it look weaker—even bolstering Trump's statehood proposal?

>

Should Trump ask King Charles to gift Canada to the United States instead of going through Trudeau?

...and, needless to say, Canadian users were not happy with OP.

One commenter replied: "I feel like your questions don't really understand the Canadian-UK relationship. King Charles is our monarch too, as we're (Canada) a constitutional monarchy. He's technically the head honcho, who vets everything through his representative in our government, the Governor General. Functionally: The Prime Minister runs the show, while the GG gives it the thumbs up. So this isn't us going to a foreign king. This is us going to our king. I have no clue how you see that as a potential bolster for US statehood. We don't want to be a US state, we don't want to be a territory of the US. We were the US' best friend, brother really, now we're seriously wondering if the US is going to stab us in the back. Trump asking King Charles that would be laughable."

To which another U.S.-based user, not the OP, responded: "I will say, as someone who doesn't like Trump, and who grew up directly across the border from Windsor, I'm not sure where all this 'we were the US' best friend, now we're angry!' stuff is coming from. Like, Canadians have been vitriolic towards us as long as I can remember; certainly back in the Clinton era. Growing up in Detroit everyone always joked about how the 'polite Canadian' thing was total propaganda, given how we're treated. Your national identity is basically based on anti-Americanism. You've had massive tariffs on us since long before Trump got into office (250% on some products). Even booing the anthem is nothing new. When and where was all this friendliness, exactly...? Honestly, I kind of feel like Canadians are loving that they finally have an excuse to justify their anti-Americanism, IMO."

To which a separate Canadian simply said: "I think this is the victim complex that really unites Trump voters."

Which offended the U.S.-based respondent: "I didn't vote for Trump. Can't stand the guy. For the record, I'd be super angry if I were them and some ally said they were going to annex us, too. But I do think it's funny to hear Canadians acting like it's only now they hate us. It's like their favorite national pastime. And let's be real, if it were any other country but America, everyone would be falling over themselves to separate the government from the people."

Yet another Canadian responds: "If you can't differentiate between friendly rivalry (perhaps even arrogance, if you'd like) and the current situation, then I don't know what to tell you. The best I can do is; family can have a tumultuous relationship with each other. You can say things to your family that isn't polite, but you know not to take it seriously or that it comes from a good place, because you also know that the person cares for you and is a good person. It's not the healthiest relationship, but it's not the worst either. But what Trump is doing isn't that. It's not coming from a good place, the person doesn't care about us, and they aren't a good person. What was 'childish' is now 'dangerous'."...booing happens when one side does something bad. It was rare before, and until further notice should be standard. America is destroying its international relationships, no one should be happy about it. A part of 'being nice' is knowing when it's deserved.

U.S.-based user reply: "Yeah, again, 'friendly rivalry' does not cut it. Maybe to someone who didn't grow up going back and forth over the border lol. Again, I don't approve of what Trump is doing. Like, anything. But don't pull the 'we were besties!' card, like, c'mon. That was never a thing. Look, this is from over twenty years ago...you guys were attacking pee wee hockey players for being American. Children. (Incidentally, I've also been cussed out by grown Canadian men for being American, but that was soccer, not hockey). And again, the vitriol spewed at American citizens (not the government) is unlike anything I've seen directed at Russians, Chinese, Iranians, etc. Heck, your own media recognizes it. Hate us all you want, but own it, don't pretend that we had some great relationship before this."

Canadian response: "Bullshit, I also grew up near the border and we always had a great relationship, occasional shit talking notwithstanding. Canada is pissed for real right now and they have every right to be. You just sound mad that someone else is justifiably mad at you. Like 'you can't be mad at me, I'm going to get mad at you first'. I didn't vote for Trump either, but I don't go around crying like I'm the real victim in all of this."

U.S.-based user reply: "Hey, if they want to hate us, they can go ahead. I'm not saying I'm the victim because the Canadians don't like us, although it's amusing that xenophobia is suddenly a-okay, as long as it's against Americans. What I don't like is the disingenuousness from Canadians pretending they liked us before all of this."

A U.S. user comes to Canadians' defense: "The perpetrators of the attacks that article were Canadian children also competing in the tournament. Random instances of people being peepees to each other is not definitional of a national relationship. Even within the US you'll have this kind of dumb antagonism between neighboring towns. In my highschool there were various very mean spirited prank wars and fights with the school across town. None of this is remotely relevant to the context of a national relationship. I mean our leader is talking about annexing Canada against their whishes and threatening to basically destroy their economy. Kids (or adults) being stupid is not relevant to this."

U.S.-based user reply: "It was more than kids. Look, it's great that your trip across the border went well, but I grew ip with a lot of contact with Canada. Even went to summer camp there and played some sports there. It's just hilarious to me that Canadians are now pretending that they had positive feelings towards us before now. I can assure you that they did not."

Other Canadian user responses:

"The reason (King Charles III) is on our money is because he is our king, he's not foreign. His role is basically as stated, he takes direction from the government and prime minister but does not get involved without them asking him to. The reason Canada doesn't have much of an anti-royal movement is because they have exactly as much influence as we want, they're around for some ceremonial stuff that some people enjoy, but they do not influence our politics. Getting rid of (the UK royal family) would be a colossal waste of money, and probably destroy the fabric of our country, since we'd have to crack open the constitution and all provinces would have to agree on a new one. I'd rather just have a British king come and visit every few years than deal with that."

"'If Canada is truly sovereign'...is this an if now?"

"'Should Trump ask King Charles to gift Canada to the United States instead of going through Trudeau?'...is this a serious question?"

Meanwhile, a few U.S.-based users further fan the flames:

"'If Canada is truly sovereign, doesn't running to a foreign king for protection ironically make it look weaker—even bolstering Trump's statehood proposal?' ...yes. The simple answer is yes. Trudeau has a very poor relationship with Trump. He misplayed his hand after Biden's win and put himself in a tough spot. As a result, he is going through proxies to get good connections with the current administration in Washington. Going to Charles is absolutely a weak move." (Note: This comment spawned an entire thread of drama.)

"Canada isn't a sovereign country because their head of state is still the King of England. They're not their own nation, and never have been." (Note: This comment also spawned even more drama.)

"This is just more grandstanding, the US is not going to try to take over Canada. Trudeau just doubling down on the weakling soy boy image he's cultivated. Go cry to your king. What an impressive leader."

"'Daaaaad, make him stop! He keeps poking me!' Seriously, what is King Charles going to do? Why would Trump respect him of all people? Trudeau already voiced his opposition to this thing Trump's not even gonna do, I suggest he take the win and get on to more pressing business before his constituents remember why he was unpopular before all this happened."

"didn't trudeau announce his resignation 3 months ago? why is he still in office, and running to His Majesty the King over something that's an obvious joke?" (Note: There are a bunch of angry Canadian replies to this as well.)

https://old.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/1j2oiu8/should_trump_ask_king_charles_iii_to_gift_canada/