PoliticsDonald Trump Claims Former Hockey Player Wayne Gretzky 'Wants to Make Me Happy' When It Comes to Canada 'Remaining a Separate Country' in Bizarre Rant
Donald Trump considers himself 'close friends' with Wayne Gretzky.
President Donald Trump took to social media to announce hockey legend Wayne Gretzky could have a significant influence on whether Canada will join the United States as its 51st state or remain an independent nation.
The U.S. leader's comments about Gretzky, a beloved figure in both Canada and the States, have sparked mixed reactions across the country.
Wayne Gretzky has hinted about getting into politics.
President Trump revealed on Wednesday, February 26, that he considers Gretzky a "close friend" and values his opinion on the matter of Canada's sovereignty.
"Wayne Gretzky is a fantastic guy! They call him 'The Great One,' and he is. He could run for any political office in Canada, and win. Wayne is my friend, and he wants to make me happy, and is therefore somewhat 'low key' about Canada remaining a separate Country, rather than becoming a cherished and beautiful 51st State, paying much Lower Taxes, a Free and Powerful Military, NO TARIFFS, and having a Booming Economy," Trump shared on his Truth Social account. "Wayne and Janet, his wonderful wife, love Canada, and they should only support Canada, and whatever else makes the Canadian People, and Governor Justin Trudeau, happy."
"He’s the Greatest Canadian of them all, and I am therefore making him a 'free agent,' because I don’t want anyone in Canada to say anything bad about him," the president continued. "He supports Canada the way it is, as he should, even though it’s not nearly as good as it could be as part of the Greatest and Most Powerful Country in the World, the Good Ole’ U.S.A.!"
Donald Trump wants Canada to become the 51st state.
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Trump has been dead set on making Canada the 51st state of the U.S. since retaking the White House.
In January, ahead of his visit to North Carolina to assess the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, the commander-in-chief told the press: "I would love to see Canada be the 51st state. The Canadian citizens, if that happened, would get a big tax cut, tremendous tax cut, because they’re very highly taxed. You wouldn’t have to worry about military, you wouldn’t have to worry about many of the things, you would have better health coverage, you would have much better health coverage."
"So I think the people of Canada would like it, you know, if it’s explained," he added. "But just to start off, they’d have a massive tax cut, and they’d have a lot more business because then we’d let business go to Canada routinely, and there’d be no tariffs."
Wayne Gretzky is considered one of the greatest hockey players of all time.
Far-right Canadian candidate Pierre Poilievre has slammed Trump over continued remarks about Canadian statehood.
“Sometimes it does take a threat to remind us what we have, what we could lose and what we could become,” he said at a recent rally. “The unjustified threats of tariffs and 51st statehood of Donald Trump have united our people to defend the country we love.”
Several of Canada's leaders have spoken out against Donald Trump's goal of taking over Canada.
Trump's comments have also bothered Canadian politician Mark Carney so much that the PM candidate announced this week that the country needed to bolster military spending to protect against threats from China, Russia and the U.S.
