Hello, Danger Corps! It’s Wednesday, September 9, 2026, and America’s foreign policy relationships are starting to look less like diplomacy and more like one person showing up for couples counseling, while the other keeps setting the couch on fire.
We’ve been watching this pattern for a while: Trump’s foreign policy choices keep carrying real consequences for longtime allies, damaging relationships, disrupting trade and creating instability. Meanwhile, leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un are met with a noticeably different level of patience and personal access. Donald Trump is choosing where to apply the “pressure,” and lately Canada seems to be getting a hell of a lot more of it than Vladimir Putin.
On Tuesday, Canada retaliated with tariffs on roughly $20 billion in American goods after the latest U.S. trade measures. Trump’s administration has gone beyond tariffs too, restricting Canadian products from major federal contracts and threatening additional Canadian industries. Trump has also repeatedly talked about Canada becoming the 51st state, renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America,” and this weekend posted a map depicting Canada as part of a U.S. flag covered North America. Prime Minister Mark Carney has responded by arguing that Canada needs to reduce its dependence on the United States rather than accept terms his government says would weaken Canadian sovereignty and industry.
And on the very same Tuesday that the pressure campaign against Canada intensified, Trump spent roughly an hour on the phone with Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin called the conversation “constructive,” even as Russia and Ukraine resumed deadly attacks, and Moscow continued insisting it intends to achieve its military objectives in a war now well into its fifth year. Trump’s envoys have also recently traveled to both Moscow and Kyiv trying to restart negotiations.
Then there’s Kim Jong Un. The White House reiterated just last week that Trump remains willing to talk to Kim “without any preconditions,” and officials have been preparing for the possibility of another agreement with North Korea. Diplomacy with an adversary is not inherently unusual, but placed next to the increasingly punitive treatment of Canada, the contrast is difficult to miss.
And while all of this is happening, the U.S.-Iran war has now passed six months and just escalated again. The U.S. military says it destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers Tuesday after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard attempted ballistic missile attacks on a U.S. warship. Iran then said it launched missiles toward U.S. targets in Jordan. Oil prices climbed with Brent briefly approaching $100 a barrel, bringing the consequences of the conflict straight back toward American wallets.
That doesn’t prove a secret motive behind every decision, and talking with adversaries can be an essential part of diplomacy. But the pattern of who gets threatened, who gets accommodated, and who keeps getting invited back into the room is the result of deliberate policy choices.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has responded by arguing that Canada needs to reduce its dependence on the United States rather than accept terms his government says would weaken Canadian sovereignty and industry. And he hasn’t exactly been subtle about his frustration with Washington’s approach. Canada is now looking toward Europe and other trading partners while preparing for the economic costs of becoming less dependent on the United States. Last week, Carney told the Trump administration to “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough” and start being serious about negotiations. In other words: Canada is willing to negotiate, but Carney is making clear that he doesn’t consider trolling, threats and social media chest-thumping a substitute for diplomacy.
While the world’s most uncomfortable diplomatic group chat continues, we thought you could use a laugh!! 😂
Below, we’ve got Canada and Trump’s unusually complicated international relationship memes, links to episodes, behind the scenes nonsense and enough dangerous fun to get us through another day of asking, “Wait… THAT’S who we’re fighting with now?”
Let’s get dangerous!💙
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📞 Max from British Columbia: Canada Looks at Trump’s America and Says, “No.”
📞 Anonymous from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada: Canada Took the Booze off the Shelves 🍁😆
Canada ROASTS Trump After He TROLLS Them AGAIN 🤣
🎬🎬🎬
We’ll have a new members only video this week! In the meantime, give the ASMR a try if you haven’t already! You’ll feel right at home. It’s a Dangerous Guarantee 🫧
90 Minutes of Americans LOSING IT Over Trump 🤣
Back to back calls to The People’s Hotline will make you laugh, cry and feel inspired.
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🍁✊Love to the Canadian Danger Corps Branch!
We’ve all got our Elbow’s Up for ya, thanks for having our back too💙✊
Hold on to your light everyone! 🌞 Let that Fun Trouble Guide you! 🤣
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