(NewsNation) — President Trump’s frequent remarks about making Canada the 51st state are meant to aggravate his political foes and maybe wring trade concessions from our neighbor to the north, commentator Bill O’Reilly says.
O’Reilly said there’s no mechanism for the U.S. to absorb Canada, and Trump isn’t going to send the military storming into Ottawa. Canadians, meanwhile, will never give up their health care to join the U.S, he said.
“He knows that CNN and MSNBC go crazy, and he enjoys watching them do that dance, the dance of frustration,” O’Reilly said during Monday’s “On Balance.”
He notes that Trump previously said Canada “will be” the 51st state, and now he’s saying the country “should be.”
“Those of use who live in the real world — not the ideological, crazy world — we know it’s just hyperbole,” O’Reilly said.
What does Trump gain by singling out Canada as he has been doing? O’Reilly says the president is likely to get favorable trade agreements with Canada and also Mexico. Trump paused his threatened tariffs on the countries after both agreed to work on border security.
“Trump will get the deals he wants to get,” O’Reilly said.