Joel Kotkin: Hating Trump is natural. Destroying Canada’s future to get back at him is borderline insane

Donald Trump has clearly gotten into the heads of Canadians, leading the country towards a near insane alliance with a stagnating Europe and the Chinese authoritarian super state. This is a bad idea. Trump may strut like a would-be dictator, but he will be gone in two years and his imprint, if anything, will bring on a government that, if anything, will be much closer to Canadian values and norms.

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Trump, and disdain for the U.S., has provided the impetus for Prime Minister Mark Carney, the quintessential globalist advised by individuals connected to the Democratic Party back in the states, to adopt a faux nationalism that has proved a big winner among Canadians.

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Carney claims Canada has been “attacked” and is “at war” with its neighbor, and the rhetoric has even been adopted by some conservatives hailing Ottawa’s “contagious courage’ in what Carney has bragged is a battle for “democracy.”

But is becoming an associate member of the European Union really going to be good for Canada or democracy in the upcoming decade? Why join a club that most of its own members think is in serious decline?

Think about it first. Trump is on the way out, becoming what we call “a lame duck.” Already more outrageous moves, like his pathetic press ban, get knocked down by the courts and sometimes by a Supreme Court dominated by conservatives. He is at the nadir of his popularity — and seems certain to face a House, and possibly a Senate, that is utterly hostile.

Canadians need to know that Trump was never popular — even in 2024 most Americans did not widely welcome his candidacy. They voted for him against a senile Joe Biden and the blundering Kamala Harris. His approval rating rarely even reached 50 per cent, and now he is lucky to break 40 per cent.

Nor has he been able, as asserted by The Nation and the New York Times, to kill off the old constitutional Republic. He may have had fantasies of being a dictator, but his control of the Grand Old Party Congress (GOP) is increasingly fraught as party members look to retain their seats.

His attacks on Canada were never popular, even in his own party. More blame Trump than Carney for the trade disputes and almost two in three oppose the renaming of Lake Ontario. The Canadian tariffs have little support in the U.S., including in GOP leaning states along the border such as crucial Michigan, which is hostile to the disruptive tariffs, and Maine, where Senator Susan Collins has denounced Trump’s tariff policies against Canada.

But the long amity of our countries cannot be restored until Canadians expel Trump from their heads, as Americans are beginning to do. The fixation on Dr. Demento, even as his power fades, is leading Canadians to adopt a doomed strategy that could condemn it to the fate now so obvious in stagnant Europe. A European alliance dooms Canada by forcing the usual EU embrace of high taxes, green energy, a growing public sector, as well as more social welfare and regulations, including censorship.

Think of this as a business proposition. On the one hand, you can line up with a continent that, with few exceptions, is stagnating economically. In once vibrant Germany, one in seven plan to migrate in the next five years, while the country loses 15,000 industrial jobs a month. And adopting Europe’s green energy program will not do much for Canada’s biggest export, oil and gas.

Is this what Canada needs? For many years, our two countries were fairly close in competitiveness, but now on a per capita basis, no Canadian province would be richer than any of the leading U.S. States; only Alberta, which continues to grow its population, would be middle of the pack. Ontario and Quebec would rank near the bottom.

A European-centered future in Canada could also replicate the social discord that has been music to the ears of both the far-right and far-left in a way not seen since the 1930s. Canada is also becoming ever more exposed to Islamist agitation, as is now spreading rapidly into Canada.

Such unproductive policy approaches, which Canada may seek to emulate, are mana for China, with whom Carney craves “a strategic partnership.” It will step in and leave you with an economy into screwdriver plants, tourist haunts, reducing Canada to a semi-colonial resource provider. For China, Canada is the perfect perch to monitor the military of largest obstacle to the creation of a Chinese Century. What a great deal!

You, of course, have a choice. Now is the time to prepare for Trump’s weakness and eventual disappearance. Canada needs America, not only for defence but as a rich market, a country growing much faster than any major European country. America needs Canada as well for defensive purposes, and as an industrial and resource partner, one that competes broadly with similar regulations and without Chinese-style state dominance, and it should push for access to Canada’s market.

Here is the choice: ally with a fading Europe and kowtow to China, or link to the most innovative major economy in the world. It should not be a difficult decision. Now enjoying both a tech boom and a modest but promising manufacturing revival, the U.S. is ever more dominant economically, particularly compared to declining Europe. These trends pre-dated Trump’s second term and will likely continue in the near future.

During the 2026 midterms, Trump will be hemmed in by the Democrats. When he leaves office, most of his most ludicrous renamings — Gulf of America, Lake America, and New America (once known as New Mexico) — will be reversed. Trump will be remembered something like Nero, who wanted to turn Rome into Neropolis, but like his classical soulmate, he will never see a Trumpopolis.

Even U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance would not likely repeat the foolishness of his mentor, Dr. Demento. A Marco Rubio or any Democrat to the right of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, seems a more likely scenario in the White House’s future.

Rather than sink into a hyper-patriotic psychosis — so unnatural to Canadians — it is time to take a deep breath. Remember, America is no monarchy, but the world’s oldest constitutional republic usually self-corrects.

Hating Trump is natural. Destroying your own future to get back at him is borderline insane.

National Post

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