"I'd rather deal with a liberal..."
U.S. President Donald Trump appeared on The Ingraham Angle with Laura Ingraham on Fox News appears to endorse Mark Carney to lead Canada
In an interview with Laura Ingraham, which aired on Fox News last night, Donald Trump was asked about Canada and repeated his desire to have Canada join the United States as its 51st state. President Trump also said Canada was "one of the nastiest countries to deal with."
However, when discussing the upcoming election, Ingraham expressed that “the Liberals are going to win now,” a statement derived from recent polling which has the Liberal Party surging following Mark Carney’s appointment as party leader. Trump then implies an endorsement for Liberal Party leader Mark Carney by saying, “I’d rather deal with a Liberal.”
On the surface, this sounds like an endorsement of sorts (what that endorsement is worth here in Canada is another story). However, President Trump has spent the last ten years deeply involved in politics. He should know better than most how Canadians might react to that statement.
He knows that his favorability in Canada is low, and his endorsement could be seen as a condemnation for that candidate. He also knows that people will take his statement as an implication that he views Mark Carney as a weak negotiator and his opposition, Pierre Poilievre, as a tougher negotiator. This interpretation would actually act as an endorsement for Poilievre.
Regardless of which way you want to take it and what that means to you, one thing is clear: Trump is still very interested in Canada.