Trump trolling Canada as 51st state could boost Democrats with ‘blue-state behemoth’
President-elect Donald Trump is keeping up his push to make Canada the United States’ 51st state.
“Canada and the United States. That would really be something,” Trump said Tuesday at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. “They should be a state.”
A day earlier, the president-elect argued in a social media post that “many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State.”
Trump emphasized that “if Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!”
WHAT TRUMP IS SAYING ABOUT CANADA BECOMING THE 51ST STATE
In recent weeks, the former and now president-elect has trolled the United States’ neighbor to the north, musing about it becoming the 51st state, and posting a doctored photo of him standing beside a Canadian flag high atop a mountain.
Additionally, his recent mocking of longtime Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, repeatedly referring to him as “governor,” along with his threat to impose massive tariffs on Canada, was likely a contributing factor in Trudeau’s resignation announcement this week.
Trump’s fixation on Canada comes as he also turns up the volume on his calls for Denmark to sell the sparsely populated but massive North Atlantic island of Greenland to the U.S.
However, what if the unlikely expansionist scenario of Canada joining the U.S. actually came to fruition?
Hypothetically, it could be a massive political boon for Democrats at the expense of Republicans.
Canada’s modern political history points to the left.
“The Liberals have been in charge of the Canadian federal government for the majority of the time since World War Two,” longtime Republican strategist Dave Carney noted to Fox News.
It is likely the voters supporting those governments would vote for Democrats rather than Republicans if Canada became the 51st state.
With a population of slightly more than 40 million, Canada would become the most populous state in the U.S., edging out blue-state California for the honors.
Canada’s addition to the U.S. as the nation’s largest state could give a big boost to the Democrats in the battle for Congressional majorities and the electoral vote count in presidential elections.
Rich Lowry, editor-in-chief of the prominent conservative magazine National Review, warned in an opinion piece for the New York Post that “Canada would be a blue-state behemoth, matching California in population…and, presumably, in reliably Democratic politics.”
“We might think we’d annex Canada and make it more like us, but — with two Democratic senators and a huge tranche of electoral votes for Democratic presidential candidates — Canada would surely make us more like it,” Lowry predicted.
Veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance agreed, noting that “Canada as a state would bring millions of voters more likely to align with the Democrats’ agenda and ideology. And with 40 million voters, the new 51st state would be the largest state in the union with a congressional delegation much more likely to oppose Trump and his party’s political agenda.”
Lesperance, president of the New Hampshire-based New England College, said if Trump “is serious, and does bring a proposal forward, I would expect tremendous support for his initiative…especially from Democrats.”
Democratic strategist and political analyst Van Jones, on CNN, said that Canada would “be a huge blue state” and that “if Canada wants to come here and rescue us, I am more than happy.”
However, Carney, noting that the likelihood of Canada joining the U.S. is extremely slim, said that it is a great negotiating strategy by Trump when it comes to negotiations with America’s northern neighbor.
“He has an ability to use tools that no one would have ever thought of,” Carney said. “He has the ability and the willingness to use every tool in his toolbox.”
Carney, the top political adviser to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, added that Trump “uses the soft power of the presidency to get people to pay attention and get what he wants.”