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A bit surprised to see this on hn at this time.
It should not be surprising. Trump won the popular vote and all seven swing states. Even hardcore supporters tire of some of his antics. Supporters have accomplishments they can be happy with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presiden...
His only discernible policy is to lie. About everything, all the time.
Trumps fortunes in 2016 were looking pretty bad until the final debate with Clinton where he cornered her into making principled (and completely correct) pro-choice statements (and lied implying she'd support 8th month abortions and because of the way he twisted things she got on the defensive.)
That was the end for her. An entire class of "conservative" voters who were uncomfortable with Trump and willing to park their vote with the Democrats temporarily just plugged their nose and voted Trump.
And they were paid off for it, too. Anti-abortion supreme court justices put in place and new anti-abortion laws put in place all over. Despite Trump himself having been formerly "pro-choice."
If you believe that abortion is literally murder, you probably can't vote any other way.
And since then other "culture wars" issues have been thrown into the mix around trans issues and "woke" etc.
>have never heard of anything even remotely similar
And therein lies the problem. What the parent said is something the USA has practiced in dozens of countries. For just a single example, operation cyclone had the USA arming separatist militias to fight against the Soviet afghan government. You may be familiar with one of these militia members:
>the most well-known Arab financier and militant of the group during this period was Osama bin Laden, who would later found al-Qaeda and mastermind the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Stuff like this happens all the time though. You give resources to the enemy of an enemy (temp. friend) and they may end up as your enemy with the demise of your common enemy. Ideal allies you have a lot in common with (shared values) which was true regarding Europe and USA last century.
Trump has said otherwise many times and in many ways, and is elected and widely supported. That conveys a lot, regardless of your anecdotal experience.
Besides, he doesn't treat women with respect either, and he seems to like to visit prostitutes.
That, and a whole lot more. We are scratching surfaces here.
The consensus seems to be that they are a good neighbor, but different from the US in some aspects. Some, but not all, envy things like healthcare.
The actions of the government you support and the supposed “consensus” you cite are opposed.
They have also openly wished harm on our industrial base and on our workers, talking about aggressively dismantling our steel and auto sectors.
They have also been having meetings with and providing amplification in media and social media to formerly extremely fringe "separatist" groups in Alberta.
All of this began immediately after the assumption of power by Trump in winter 2025.
Not to mention active informal (maybe?) social media activity by self-identified conservatives on forums all over the place spreading disinformation and aggression about Canada.