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Comment by bediger4000 | Hacker News Reader

Why only 1 extra state? And will we up the number of US Representatives to accommodate?

Regardless on the details, it is a ludicrous talking point that shows no respect to a large ally. Quite the contrary. It makes no sense and serves absolutely no purpose. At best, it betrays a severe lack of understanding on several topics. Yet here we are having to give it time it does not deserve.

It is attempting to launder and manufacturer consent and tolerance for the idea. Edit: You can think of it as testing the appetite for moving the Overton Window [1] on the subject.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overton_window

Now in Canada we have people driving around with US flags and TRUMP stickers on their cars.. there are several communities that have formed backing this idea, in seeing slogans such as “Free Alberta” and “Alberta 51” as well as an ongoing narrative that Canada is no longer a nation and we have no more borders.

If Trunps plans was to disrupt Canadians internal politics, he has certainly succeeded.

Additioanllly the Liberal party had leveraged this whole thing to distract people from its own failures during critical election time by framing US as our enemy and attempting to win votes against conswervatives.

The whole situation is unhinged.

wag the dog distraction while they plunder the US Fed Gov and tank the economy.

Putin gets a neutered US military-political machine, while US oligarchs, who've seen insane, unprecedented growth in the last 5 years, can then just buy up everything on the cheap. everyone else can suck it.

It makes perfect sense when you use the logic of expansion and imperialism - this is the same type of talk that Putin has used for more than a decade with Ukraine, and the same type of speech that a certain German leader used about Austria many decades ago.

Non-voting representatives, possibly. "51st state" is just a marketing term, the reality would be a territory ala Puerto Rico or Guam, thought likely with more limited rights.

The reality would be a never-ending insurgency.

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