I mean, best case possible interpretation is that he meant "sure, if Russia was about to occupy it, we could do that" - avoiding saying "no way" so that nobody

I mean, best case possible interpretation is that he meant "sure, if Russia was about to occupy it, we could do that" - avoiding saying "no way" so that nobody can say that he flip-flopped on it later. In context, with talking about using "economic force" to force a US "unification" of Canada? I'm less likely to give him the maximum benefit of the doubt.