Trump's New Nickname For Justin Trudeau Proves He's Not As Funny As He Thinks He Is

President-elect Donald Trump is at his funniest when he's being his true self and vocalizing whatever wild thought pops into his head. However, when the divisive politician actually tries to make people laugh, Trump tends to fall flat on his face. And that's exactly what happened when he took to Truth Social to make light of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who visited Mar-a-Lago in early December 2024 to discuss another controversial Truth Social post in which he vowed to charge 25% tariffs on Canadian goods if its government didn't help the United States curb illegal immigration and drug influx from their border. 

According to Fox News, the Canadian Prime Minister explained that Trump's tariff plans could create a dire situation for the Canadian economy. However, the former "Apprentice" host supposedly wasn't sympathetic to his plea and asked if their country couldn't stand on its own two feet without robbing the U.S. economy of $100 billion. Trump followed that controversial remark up by quipping that he would be happy to turn Canada into the 51st state of the United States. 

Given all this, it's unsurprising that Trump's meeting with Trudeau involved lots of nervous laughter. Still, the president-elect took to Truth Social a few weeks later to play into the 51st state "joke" by giving Trudeau a rather weird nickname, writing, "It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada." Suffice it to say, the bizarre remark will likely soon become one of the many things Trump hopes you don't remember. 

After Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met up in early December 2024, Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic Leblanc quickly clarified to reporters that everyone at the table had taken the 51st state remark in jest, confirming, "The president was telling jokes, the president was teasing us," per the BBC. In the past, though, the Canadian PM has managed to annoy the controversial president without even really trying. During the 2019 NATO Summit in London, Trump ended up having an unplanned interview with the press that lasted nearly an hour. Trudeau evidently wasn't pleased about the delay and reportedly shared his irritation with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, then-UK Prime Minister, and Princess Anne. 

"He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top," Trudeau appeared to complain of Trump in a YouTube clip. When reporters asked the U.S. president for his reaction, he stated, "He's two-faced [...] I find him to be a nice guy, but the truth is I called him out on the fact that he's not paying 2% [of national GDP towards defense] and I guess he's not very happy about it," (via the BBC). Later, Trudeau argued that the group wasn't having a laugh at Trump's expense but rather chatting about Camp David, where the next G7 Summit was due to be held. "I have a very good relationship with Trump," the Canadian PM insisted. That remark would have boded well for Ivanka Trump since many people were convinced she had a crush on Trudeau.