The Ironic Annexation Fantasy of Canada’s MAGA Minority

By a margin of 9-to-1, Canadians overwhelmingly reject Donald Trump’s threat (“invitation”) to annex our country. But there is a minority (10% of Canadians, sadly 21% of Conservative voters) who’d actually like to be absorbed into the US. They’re not that difficult to find on social media, especially Twitter.

They praise Trump and believe crazy things, like that Canada (a market economy that happens to have more social programs than the US) is “communist”.

Bots? Maybe. But there are real people responding “yes” to polls.

Whenever I encounter these people I wonder: if you want to be a part of the United States so much, why not just move there yourself? Particularly if you can read the polls to see that annexation is wildly unpopular and unlikely to happen.

Seriously! It’s common for Canadians to move to the US. Engineers, scientists, accountants, and other professionals can use a TN visa. Many Canadians study at US universities. Other visas cover investors, company transfers, and special talents. Plenty of Canadian retirees (snowbirds) spend winters there (up to six months).

If you want to live the MAGA dream, why not move to the US — especially a red state like Texas or Tennessee? Some don’t want to leave friends and family, OK. But likely a bigger reason? They don’t have the skills or qualifications to immigrate legally.

And that’s ironic. Hostility to immigration is at the very core of MAGA, including things like H1-B visas to some extent but especially asylum claimants and unauthorized immigrants who try to enter the country outside of standard pathways.

Canadian 51st statists want to join the MAGA “family” using a method — annexation of their country — that lets them bypass the normal immigration system and receive American citizenship regardless of their skills, qualifications, or even crimes.

American citizenship would have to be granted to the 4 million Canadians with a criminal record and 40,000 Canadians currently in prison. It would be the biggest and most indiscriminate expansion of US citizenship ever.

I don’t take Canadian annexation supporters too seriously. It’s a fringe view. But when you do encounter them, it’s fair to ask why they think they deserve U.S. citizenship by default without going through the standard legal process.