If Donald Trump offered a deal to sell Detroit or Chicago to Canada, most Americans would rightly recoil. 

Sure, conservatives would muse about what a boon it would be to dump some of our problem children on somebody else--the greater fool theory--but when push comes to shove, most of us do believe in "America First." It's why we cringe when we see San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, or any of our other increasingly decrepit Blue cities destroy themselves, and why none of us cares too much when politicians make decisions that make Port Au Prince an even worse place to live. 

Trump: Only Concession We Want From Canada Is "Friendship," "A Very Special Place"https://t.co/I927r4wipL pic.twitter.com/BiKxsooq7l

— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) May 6, 2025

Donald Trump ran on a platform of "America First" and "Make America Great Again," appealing to the natural patriotism that most people feel for the place they grew up in or identify with. Our loyalties tend to lie with people closest to us--our families, then friends, then community, city, state, and country. The "world" or "humanity" is a long way from the love of your child in loyalty. We would think it odd for a parent to sacrifice his own child for the lives or well-being of children halfway around the world. 

This applies to Canadians as much as Americans, of course, so it is no surprise that the reflex of most Canadians to Trump's bid to make Canada the 51st state was negative. The feeling was hardly universal--a lot of Canadians in the West feel more kinship with Montana or North Dakota than the effete snobs in Toronto or Montreal--but the principle is pretty clear. 

Once, decades ago, a Minnesota Congressman suggested giving Canada a spur of Minnesota land that isn't contiguous with the rest. You literally cannot get there without entering Canada. This makes it incredibly expensive for the state to provide services to the relatively few residents who live there, and there is no rational explanation--aside from a quirk of history and mapmaking--that it should be part of this state or the United States. 

Notice that bizarre jut upward in the border? That little piece of land inside the red dots is Minnesota, for no obvious reason.

Yet the idea didn't catch on, even though it would save money, because by God, that is Minnesota. 

Trump may or may not be right that Canadians would be better off if they became Americans, or, for that matter, that America would be better off with Canada as a state (I don't think so!), but no person should be surprised that most Canadians hate the idea, even if they could be convinced that they would be better off. 

It's just not a natural reaction. Canada may not have as strong a national identity as France or the United States, but it does have one, and people don't give such things up without a fight. 

If I lived in Alberta, Manitoba, or Saskatchewan, I might be open to secession from Canada and consider joining the US as a state, but I would also react rather badly to a US president trying to bully us into it. Heck, look at the tensions between the various countries in the UK. Many of them live on the same Island, but the Scots and the Welsh are always talking secession. 

As much as I hate to give Carney props for anything, you have to admit that he is doing what any Canadian leader should and would.