Donald Trump has been a controversial and polarizing figure for years, with his venture into American politics only serving to exacerbate this fact. He has been able to strike a chord with many Americans, drawing crowds to rallies and inciting demonstrations by supporters. Curiously, support for the self-proclaimed ‘America-First’ politician has not been limited to the United States. For whatever reason, some Canadians have seen fit to protest in favour of someone who is decidedly anti-Canadian. The mere existence of this phenomenon does not mitigate its absurdity. The fact of the matter is that Canadians supporting Trump and his politics are not unlike cats supporting dogs. Their interests are not aligned, and one seems to relish in attacking the other.
Since becoming president, Trump has made many statements and taken many actions that have directly harmed the interests of Canadians. There is perhaps no greater example of this than when the Trump administration labelled Canada as a “national security threat” in order to impose tariffs. The losses sustained by Canadians who have suffered because of Trump’s tariffs or the retaliatory tariffs imposed against American exports have hurt the Canadian economy. The attacks on NAFTA, leading to the negotiation of the USMCA, were nothing short of an attack on the economic relationship between Canada and the United States. Trump’s bellicose attitude on trade, including an infantile understanding of what trade surpluses and trade deficits actually entail, was leveraged into a deal even more skewed in America’s favour than the original NAFTA.
Canada and the United States have been allies for decades and have specifically intertwined their national security through the collective defence of NATO. Throughout his four years in the White House, Trump’s brashness in the realm of international diplomacy has caused numerous issues for Canada to have to respond to, including at times the direct targeting of either Canada as a whole or Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Repeated threats to unilaterally exit NATO would amount to a blow against Canada’s national security. Without the protection that NATO’s collective defence guarantees, Canadian sovereignty in the arctic and our capacity to deter foreign aggression would be decimated. The illegal seizure of Canadian citizens by the Chinese government and the utter failure of the United States to adequately support Canadian efforts to see them repatriated has already demonstrated Trump’s middling commitment to supporting America’s allies.
There are countless other reasons beyond national economics and defence as to why Canadians should abhor, rather than support, Donald Trump. Countless moral reasons would justify opposition, including but not limited to his racism, homophobia, affinity for torture, the fact that he was best buds with Jeffrey Epstein, or that he once ate a pizza with a fork and a knife. The religiously devout should revile his rampant infidelity. The traditionally conservative should despise his utter lack of any decorum or respect for relished institutions of American democracy. If there is a form of bigotry, one may be hard-pressed to find an instance where “the Donald” did not embody it. Even though he seems to have done things that could conceivably alienate just about everyone on the planet, some Canadians – and not even dual Canadian-American citizens at that – have seen fit to publicly throw their lot in with him. It is all the more surprising that this has happened in the wake of Trump inciting a mob to storm the US Capitol, an act so brazenly undemocratic that it has earned him condemnation from across the political spectrum, the United States, and the world.
Countless essays, articles, and books have already been written on what factors have led to Donald Trump’s grip on such a large segment of the American public, and countless more will undoubtedly be written in the years to come. But what exactly would cause a Canadian to want to support him, let alone in such a public manner? I, for one, find this question baffling. The possible answers as to why Canadians wouldn’t support Donald Trump and his corrosive brand of politics are practically without limit. Whether motivated by a sense of patriotism, moral obligation, or pure self-interest, opposition to Donald Trump and his policies appears to be perhaps the default position for Canadians. Yet some do, to the contrary, support him. Perhaps supporting him falls within their perception of their own self-interest. Maybe they buy into the delusions he perpetuates. At this point, I’m not especially interested in seeking out the answers as to why some Canadians are protesting in support of Donald Trump. I’m fatigued from four very long years of watching our southern neighbours figuratively, and sometimes literally, go up in flames. I just want to make sure I’m not the only one bewildered at the sight of Trump flags in downtown Toronto. Seriously, what’s up with that?