Aside from threatened tariffs on Canadian goods and making Canada the “51st state”, Donald Trump made other shocking pronouncements this week, including his intention to take Greenland – militarily if necessary – and renaming the Gulf of Mexico.

Despite the compulsion of some to dismiss his commentary as ridiculous, political scientist Luc Ashworth of Memorial University says it needs to be taken seriously.

“He acts sometimes like the embarrassing uncle at a Thanksgiving (gathering, so) we don’t need to take this seriously,” is how some might react, says Ashworth. “At the same time, this is Donald Trump. He’s about to be President of the United States. He has a lot of power. When someone with a lot of power starts joking about what they’re going to do to you, you don’t find it funny. So I think in some respects those two opposite things are both true in this case.”