Writes Ross Douthat, in "O Canada, Come Join Us" (NYT).
January 11, 2025
"[T]here would be clear advantages: to participate in the great drama rather than watching from across the border, to shape the imperium rather than negotiating a position in its shadow."
"If I were a young Canadian, especially one outside the Laurentian heartland, I think I would feel this vision’s pull. And yes, even if I were a young left-leaning anti-Trump Canadian — because what better way to serve those causes than to actually pull Washington leftward, to add your votes to the coalition that just failed to defeat Trump? That’s the reason that it would be somewhat strange for American conservatives to actually welcome Canadian accession at this time — because it would immediately destroy the Republican Party’s political advantage."
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48 comments:
Eh?
Just invite the Western Providences of Canada to join. Leave the French speaking Eastern Canada to fiend for themselves. The Western Providences are more conservative and would be happy to be part of the USA.
Simple no?
Donald Trump has never been good at math.
Why is Douthat writing phrases pretending to be sentences? Starting a line with "Which" only works if rarely used. It's distracting.
Not a chance.
Providences? Fiend for themselves?
Good gravy Ross Douthot is an idiot. Canada is a distinct, separate, and independent sovereign country and unless DJT is going go into Julius Caesar mode on us and intends to conquer Canada by force of arms, that's just not going to happen. Furthermore the entire idea of it is just insane. Ditto with Greenland acquisition proposal. Douthot is one of these so-called conservatives that the far-left NYT tries to portray to us as some kind of "thought leader" too.
It's exactly the same thing as immigration - you don't bring them in en masse and you don't let them decide who comes in. If the US would open to new states - admitted under our laws and Constitution - then some countries or parts of countries would try to align with our requirements.
In the long run, the US is going to grow, shrink, or grow in some places and shrink in others. It's not going to stay the same size indefinitely.
Oh good lord, we're not going to let them vote. It's not like they joined us in 1776. I'm sure they'll be happy as colonials.
Ross Douchbag should know Trump didn’t actually mean 51st State, he meant join us officially (since we’re paying money you’d then have to be subject to our control). That probably means something like “you can be an official US Territory.” Which puts you in the category of the USVI so you can have one feckless ex-officio congress critter (Ross, that means they have no vote).
I'm a US-born dual citizen with family on both sides of the border, and I speak French with near-native fluency. Many Canadians are desperate to leave, because the Administrative State there is even *worse* than in the States.
California-grade incompetence would be a massive improvement for most provinces. There is, literally, almost no freedom of speech. If you defend yourself in any fashion during a home invasion, even with a baseball bat, YOU go to jail. Women are not allowed to carry even pepper spray for self-defence. The *government* assigns your doctor, a process often taking 5 years. It takes a year and $1500 to get a basic driving licence. Five percent of all deaths in Canada are now due to government-assisted suicide.
And on and on. Non-merci. No thank you.
I have previously opined that the optimal alignments of countries to sustain peaceful interaction would be by continent. So, yes, the United States of North America would be a good start to demonstrate the model to the other continents. And no, I'm not kidding. For geopolitical, economic, military, and other reasons it makes perfect sense and would be of great mutual benefit in the long run.
I don’t see how it can work. Canada is way more socialist than the US, how do you reconcile the legal differences: free speech, gun ownership, socialized medicine, etc.
Believe me, you do not want to have anything to do with the Quebecers/French Canadians. Ask anyone who lives in South Florida.
If Ross was a true conservative, he'd be against territorial expansion. There's not a chance in hell of Canada "joining" us. They have national health insurance, free load off us in terms of defense, and a have a tiny inexpensive Military. If Canada has problems, its not because they are a separate country.
Its amazing how a joke by trump cant be let go by our political pundits. But Ross was always irrelevant, and discussing a fantasy of Canada joining us is right up his ally. BTW, individual canadians who want to be part of the imperium, just emigrate to the USA and partake that way. They blend right in. Cf: David Frum or JK Gailbraith.
They’re trying to import their way to victory with the illegals already so this isn’t much of a stretch. Chance of happening: zero point zero percent…
As stated before, Canada as a whole is a standard deviation to the Left comparaed to the USA. We'd be getting a dozen Vermonts and Minnasotas. Plus one conservative "State" - Alberta.
Usually after presidential elections, we've been talking about splitting the country up. Now for once, as crazy as it sounds, we're talking about expanding the country. Avoiding the usual post-election funk is a plus for Trump and the US, as is the fact that DJT now has the media talking about annexations, rather letting the media's own agenda dominate public discussions.
The downside, of course, is that the annexation talk makes him sound loony and encourages perceptions of US imperialism. It also seems like we stand to get more out of expansion (natural resources and a renewed sense of national greatness) than Canada or Greenland would, considering that they'd be saddled with a share of the headaches and expenses of a superpower.
I wonder about the usual secession talk. Politicians have been so unworthy and unimpressive lately. I'd be ashamed to think that I belonged to a country that split up because some folks couldn't handle the fact that Al Gore or George W. Bush or John Kerry or John McCain or Barack Obama or Mitt Romney or Hillary Clinton couldn't win the presidency.
Currently the NDP/Liberal rule Canada. The Tories have about 40 percent of the vote per current polls and will win the next election. But the Tory leader is about as conservative as Larry Hogan or Susan Collins. Mitt Romney would be considered a "far right" extremist in Canada.
If that’s the strategy British Columbia should be a no-go Western Province. Even Manitoba and Saskatchewan sometimes go left. The current provincial government of Manitoba is the far left/social democratic NDP. Saskatchewan has been governed by a centre-right government since 2007, but per Wikipedia (I know but I only have so much desire to research this) the province was Canada’s most left-wing through most of the 20th Century. On the national level the Conservatives have all of the seats in Saskatchewan, and 50% of those of Manitoba. Both are only a small part of the Parliament. BC on the other hand only has 14 of 52 seats currently in Conservative hands, and the Provincial government is the NDP (far left/social democratic). Alberta is the conservative mainstay, although in the 2015 elections the Cons were thrown out of power in a throw the corrupt bums out election, but the next one saw them returned to power where they remain. And this is not to get into how conservative by American standards the Canadian Conservative Party is (also Provincial parties are generally not affiliated with the national parties). Under Poilievre I think reasonably conservative.
It'd be better for everyone if instead of Canada Joining the USA, we kick New England, NJ, and New York out as tell them to join Canada. It'd be a win-win for everyone. They could take Washington and Minnasota while they're at it. Plus, Upper Michagan because it just looks weird.
If nothing else, Trump's rhetoric may move Canadian politics to the right, per Bart Hall above, by helping them to simply "reimagine" what's possible.
First the Greenland thing will happen, but not as 51st state. Something like an Indian reservation with a huge military base and some control of mineral rights.Canada would also be a great expansion. It won’t happen with a gun, it there might be pressure.
As far as taking dohat’e opinion on politics, no thanks, he’s not very good at it.
Let’s take it further. Let’s swap New England for the four western provinces plus the Yukon Territory. Alaska would become part of a contiguous United States and close to 100% of the wheat grown in North America would be harvested in the new USA.
And Republicans would have a lock on the Senate.
What if we go to war with Canada, as part of this "Lebensraum" mission we're going to embark on, but Canada wins? And we all have to learn French. And how to play ice hockey. Plus have to bow once again to the English sovereign, the King of Canada, after we so heroically threw off the shackles of that tyrannical oppression in 1776.
We got out of the War of 1812 by the skin of our teeth, we shouldn't underestimate our brethren to the North and their allies (being part of the Commonwealth and all). Granted the British are not the imperial power they once were but then neither are we.
Douthat is clueless as ever — or just couldn’t think af anything to write about. No one (Trump included) wants to annex Canada. It’s fun to joke about. That’s it.
Okay. We'll take Alberta and leave the rest. They might get envious after a time.
"Compromise of 2026", or the "Canada Compromise". Make changes in the existing USA state structure to balance off changes from the additional states. Break off Red portions of CA, OR, & WA to creat 3 new Red states. Maybe combine a few of the D NE states to lessen their D numbers. MAGA
NYT goes meta, while Meta steps away.
Tie it in with ther 250th USA birthday!
I say let Canada join, but first, divide each of the Dakotas into eastern and western halves, so that we have reliably Republican senators from Northwest Dakota, Northeast Dakota, Southeast Dakota and Southwest Dakota. Alabama might have to be divided as well.
Oy. So many humorless commenters. Douthat knows Trump's quip to Trudeau was merely a dig to put Trudeau in his place. But what's wrong with Douthat exploring the idea a bit, to raise some questions that, frankly, Canadians should be asking themselves right now?
Greenland should be easier to make happen as their population is around 700 times smaller than Canada's populaltion. Hell , we could give each Greenlander a million bucks, total cost of 55 billion, and then the mineral and oil returns would be recouped in 5 years or less.
Agee, There is a deal to be made.
It would be cool to be able to drive, in the USA, from southernmost point in TX as far north as one can go. I presume at some point we would run out of roads way before the arctric circle.
Doesn't Canada have mosquitos that can strip the flesh off a moose in seconds?
Nice post, Sally. Gave me first smile of the day. Thanks.
Whatever reason would the US have for making Canadian provinces states? They will do just fine as Territories.
"because what better way to serve those causes than to actually pull Washington leftward, to add your votes to the coalition that just failed to defeat Trump?"
Ummm does Ross read his own paper that reported Trudeau, the postersoyboy for Leftism just when down in flames?
We don't welcome all of Canada, only the interior part. It's only Trump trolling. I fail.to see why there is so.much alarmed discussion of it. Think of it as similar to prepping the battlespace.
Canadian accession is a red herring designed to push border control and fair trade negotiations. Like, duh....
I enjoy herring, especially pickled herring, and I even have a fossil herring from the Green River formation that is very, very old, but this red herring beats them all for its viral public attention and the charming avoidance of any rational thought over it by Trump's opponents. Keep it up, anti-Trumpers, only a few more days of Joe's handlers running things before Inauguration Day. Let the herring fest continue!
This. I find it staggering that there are people on the Right who think Trump is remotely serious about this. I expect brain-dead hysterical Leftists to not recognize blatant trolling, but how could anyone else weigh in with a straight face?
That's good.
"I'll have those SnowBirds voting Democrat for 200 years......"
These morons elected Justin Trudeau twice and still can't figure out how to get rid of him. Clearly these are not people you want making decisions in the most powerful country on Earth. A better solution would be to break it up. The westerners should let the Quebecois be any kind of jackasses they want to be on their own dime rather than abusing the western provinces. Ontario from Detroit up to the Arctic could be a country. The Maritimes ? I dunno.
While we're re-arranging North American geography how about we make Puerto Rico an independent country ? Sounds like a big win for America if we spin it off !
So ultimately we end up with Oceana, Eurasia, and Eastasia?
The poorest state is Mississippi. There is not one Canadian Provence wealthier than Mississippi.
No thanks!
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