Canadians standing on guard against more U.S. threats and insults
OTTAWA—Last week, the Canadian Armed Forces were subjected to an onslaught of baseless insults from United States President Donald Trump and a number of his senior cabinet members.
More ominously, a senior U.S. military commander publicly acknowledged that if he was ordered to invade Canada, he would "follow the orders of the president." To be fair to Admiral Samuel Paparo, the head of U.S. Pacific Command, he prefaced that telling response by describing such an invasion scenario as being "utterly preposterous,” and a "needlessly emotional question.” In an attempt to illustrate the absurdity of the reporter's question, Paparo said, "Will you ask me, please, also, what my attack plans are for the Martians?"
The problem with Paparo's response is that his commander-in-chief has yet to threaten turning planet Mars into the 51st State. In fact, if Trump were to order his military commanders to draft plans for a Mars invasion, I believe the U.S. Congress would immediately invoke the 25th Amendment, and remove the president from office on the grounds of being mentally unfit. Conversely, Trump has repeatedly stated his desire to annex Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. Trump has also staged an illegal military operation in Venezuela, and started an ill-advised war in Iran.
Yet, to date, no senior official has challenged Trump escalating the trade war with Canada amidst revived discussion of fully annexing us. In fact, the sycophants in Trump's cabinet have instead been beating their chests and levelling insults at Canada in general, and the Canadian military in particular.
First, it was former reality TV host and current U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy who ridiculously claimed in an interview that Canada does not possess a military. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stepped things up by asking whether Canada would resort to using the "two submarines in the [West] Edmonton Mall" in any hypothetical war against the U.S. While a ridiculous attempted jab at the sorry state of our military, at least Bessent was aware that at one point in time there were submarines in an Edmonton mall. For the record, there were four submarines operating in that sprawling Albertan shopping centre from 1985-2005, but the last of them were dismantled in 2012.
For his part, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted a photograph on social media of a young female Canadian cadet receiving an achievement award from an instructor at the Vernon, B.C. cadet training camp. Hegseth ran a Canadian flag symbol and the words “this is real.” The implication from Hegseth was that this image reflected the state of the regular Canadian military.
Hegseth, himself a former National Guardsman and a Fox News TV host, has been obsessed with his own image and that of the U.S. military since he was confirmed to his current role. One of his first moves was to have a make-up studio installed in his office, and he convened a conference for all senior commanders to state his distaste for seeing “fat slobs” in the halls of the Pentagon.
Last year, when the Texas National Guard was deployed to Chicago, Ill., the media published photos of several extremely overweight U.S. personnel. As a result, at least seven members of the guard were sent home so as not to tarnish the image of Hegseth's legion of “war fighters.”
For those U.S. military members who were invited to attend Trump's 250th anniversary of independence UFC fight on the White House lawn, one strict criteria was they needed to fit Hegseth's image of fighting fit (i.e. no overweight soldiers need apply).
Thus, it needs to be pointed out that the photo which Hegseth posted in an attempt to demean the Canadian military was completely out of context. The Cadet Instructor Cadre hold a King's Commission and wear a uniform, but they are not considered warriors. These instructors train kids aged 12 to 18 who have volunteered to participate in a challenging national youth program.
To be fair, Hegseth also demeans Canada's regular force and former NATO allies for their actual battlefield exploits. He is actually on the record repeating a quip popular with some U.S. Afghanistan War veterans. Their mocking claim is that NATO's International Security Assistance Force acronym, ISAF, actually stands for “I Saw Americans Fighting.”
To their credit, many U.S. veterans who fought alongside Canadians have denounced Hegseth's recent post. One popular Canadian meme circulating on social media was a poster depicting the 158 images of the Canadian fallen in Afghanistan with the words “This is real.”
If it is any consolation, the Canadian military is not the only NATO ally that the Trump administration chooses to insult. Denmark is currently conducting large-scale military exercises in Greenland to demonstrate their resolve to keep their sovereign territory.
Trump has argued baselessly that the U.S. needs to acquire Greenland to secure it from either Russian or Chinese aggression. To make his point, Trump falsely claimed that the Danish Greenland defence force consists of "just two dog sleds.”
For the record, Denmark suffered 44 killed and 214 wounded supporting the U.S.-led two-decade war in Afghanistan. That figure is the highest per capita death toll of any troop contributing country in the ISAF coalition.
With ingratitude of that magnitude, is it any wonder that no NATO ally has chosen to join in Trump and Hegseth's “excursion” in Iran?
Scott Taylor is the editor and publisher of Esprit de Corps magazine.
The Hill Times