“He Doesn’t Have A Huge Mandate”, Says Republican Senator Angry At President Trump For Humiliating Justin Trudeau

By now you’ve likely heard about President Trump joking that Canada ought to simply join the United States.

Apparently he joked to Justin Trudeau’s face that maybe the U.S. should just annex Canada — allowing Trudeau to stay on as Governor of the 51st State of Canada, of course.

🔥 PETER DOOCY: “Tonight, we’re getting new details about that Trump-Trudeau dinner from two people who were at the table. We are told that when @JustinTrudeau told President-elect Trump that new tarrifs would kill the Canadian economy, Trump joked to him that if Canada can’t… pic.twitter.com/eAYNJL6SCq

— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) December 2, 2024

That allegedly rubbed a Republican Senator the wrong way.

I would like to name that Senator for you — but I can’t.

The reason I can’t is because NBC News was kind enough to allow said Republican Senator to issue statements against President Trump anonymously as part of a comprehensive hit piece intended to cry foul… because Trump isn’t holed up somewhere pretending there aren’t matters to attend to — you know, like Joe Biden has done for four years straight.

Here’s some of what the Senator had to say, according to NBC News.

At least one Republican lawmaker questioned whether Trump’s approach does, indeed, work. After Trump warned that he would slap tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China unless they cracked down on the movement of migrants and drugs across the U.S. border, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida estate, to see him.

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Trudeau’s support in Canada has been slipping. He faces a tough re-election bid, and the spectacle of him racing to Mar-a-Lago for an audience with Trump risked making him look like a supplicant.

“I don’t think it’s smart for him [Trump] to humiliate Trudeau like he has,” a Republican senator said, speaking on condition of anonymity to talk freely. “Canada is a good friend and is not a problem.”

The senator said: “Trump was elected to break some plates, but he doesn’t have a huge mandate. This is a 50-50 country. We’ve got midterm [elections] coming and we’ve got one year to deliver, and it’s going to be hard to get prices down with these tariffs.”

The exchange between President Trump and Trudeau caught the attention of Canada’s ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman.

But the reason Hillman weighed in was because she was actually sitting within earshot of the conversation when it happened at Mar-a-Lago.

Hillman went on Bloomberg TV two days after she sat down with Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago with President Trump to discuss the tariff threat, and the conversation surrounding it at the dinner in question.

Canada's ambassador to the US, Kirsten Hillman, discusses Donald Trump's tariff threat and the meeting between the president-elect and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago https://t.co/7Voi4Aio5x pic.twitter.com/sZHacunhDp

— Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) December 4, 2024

While the anonymous Republican Senator seemed peeved enough to snipe at President Trump from the shadows of NBC’s granted concealment, the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. really didn’t seem to walk away from the Mar-a-Lago dinner with her feelings hurt.

As many have noted, the most consistent pushback to President Trump’s CLEAR MANDATE will likely continue to come from within the ranks of Congressional Republicans.

And this is a perfect example of that reality.

In fact, the Associated Press revealed even more positive things and good feedback from Hillman’s account of the 3-hour dinner discussion with President Trump than the Bloomberg appearance!

Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, told The Associated Press in an interview that Trudeau’s dinner with Trump on Friday was a very important step in trying to get Trump to back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner.

Hillman was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and sat at an adjacent table to Trudeau and Trump.

Trump threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders. He said in a social media post last Monday he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.

Hillman said the bulk of Friday night’s dinner centered around Trump’s border concerns. The ambassador said a priority of Trudeau’s was to point out the degree of difference.

Hillman said Canadian and incoming Trump administration officials will work on Trump’s concerns in the coming weeks. Trump called the talks “productive” on Sunday in a social media post but signaled no retreat from his tariff pledge.

Hillman said Trump and Trudeau “get along well” and the dinner was also a chance to socialize. She said Trump used his iPad to play music and she said Trump told Trudeau he’s a big fan of Canadian singer Celine Dion.

“I don’t think it could have been better to be frank. Okay, I’ll take that back, I’ll change that. If he obviously said there would be no tariffs that would have been better but there was no realistic expectation of that,” Hillman said.

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But lest I leave you with the feeling President Trump and Justin Trudeau are the best of friends, allow me to enter the following montage into evidence to the contrary.

President Trump has made no secret that he simply despises Trudeau’s “two-face” political games.

Trump says he loves Canada but has zero respect for Trudeau and his government pic.twitter.com/WZguQh5Fsl

— The Pleb 🌍 Reporter (@truckdriverpleb) November 8, 2024

Sometimes, the direct approach is the best approach.  Bring things into the light of day.  Speak frankly, and cut the frivolous “niceties”.

President Trump is a master at cutting through the fluff.

And when a two-faced Canadian Socialist and an “anonymous” American RINO are what you have to deal with, President Trump seems to have boiled it down to an artform.