You might want to restock your two-hundred year supply of Nuka Cola and oil up your T-51b Power Armor, because what used to be a work of fiction for two decades since original Fallout's release has suddenly become reality at an alarming pace.
Just one day after US President Donald Trump bashed Canada with a proposal of creating a tariff-free zone, including zero tariffs on Canadian dairy (which would kill the Canadian agricultural sector), Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a news conference in which he reiterated his position that the US-imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum are unacceptable, saying the "Canada will not be pushed around."
"I highlighted directly to [Trump] that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs on our steel and aluminum industry," Trudeau said.
"Particularly, [they] did not take lightly that it's for a national security reason that for Canadians […] who stood shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers in far off lands in conflicts from the First World War onward, it's kind of insulting."
"Canadians, we're polite, we're reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around," Trudeau affirmed.
"Based on Justin's false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!," Trump tweeted.
One minute later, the bellicose US president attacked the Canadian prime minister for apparently making statements behind Trump's back.
"PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, "US Tariffs were kind of insulting" and he "will not be pushed around." Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!"
What followed after can easily be described as being similar to sharks triggered by a nearby fish.
Trump's top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, and one of his top aides on trade, Peter Navarro, unleashed — in lockstep with their boss — strong criticism against Trudeau.
Talking on a CNN TV show, Kudlow called Trudeau's statement a "betrayal" ahead of the "historic" summit between Trump and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.
"POTUS is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around on the eve of this," Kudlow promised, adding that Trump "is not going to permit any show of weakness on a trip to negotiate with North Korea."
"Kim must not see American weakness," Kudlow assured CNN, adding that Trudeau "should have known better" and "really kind of stabbed us in the back."
"You just don't behave that way. It's a betrayal. Essentially double-crossing," the Trump appointee continued.
Further into the interview, Kudlow called Trudeau's form of diplomacy "sophomoric" and "amateurish."
"There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door. And that's what bad-faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That's what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did," Navarro raved on Fox News, before going full-on attack mode.
"And that's what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference, that's what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did, and that comes right from Air Force One," Navarro rhapsodized.
"That was one of the worst political calculations of any Canadian leader in modern Canadian history. All Justin Trudeau had to do was to take the win. President Trump did the courtesy to Justin Trudeau to travel up to Quebec for that summit. He had other things, bigger things on his plate. He did him a favor and he was even willing to sign that socialist communiqué, and what did Trudeau do? As soon as the plane took off from Canadian airspace, Trudeau stuck our president in the back. That will not stand."
To make sure that the Trump talking points were clear to even the smallest intelligence, Navarro called Trudeau's comments "nothing short of an attack on our political system."
In 1971, then-president Richard Nixon used the expression "son of a bitch" to refer to Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (the father of the current Canadian PM), but did it behind closed doors, and this fact did not become public until 2008. The only US president to consistently clash with a Canadian leader was John F. Kennedy, who had a long record of personal animosity toward then-PM John Diefenbaker.