Canadians have had sufficient of Donald Trump’s America, they usually’re displaying it by promoting their U.S. property, vacationing elsewhere, and severely punishing their very own nation’s homegrown conservatives. For some weird cause, Trump determined to choose a struggle with our closest ally—and the implications are actual.
I’ve written typically about Trump’s wonderful capacity to harm his personal supporters with scalpel-like precision, and this kerfuffle with the Canucks is not any completely different. Take a look at the county-level map of the 2024 presidential election outcomes:
Unofficial map of the 2024 presidential election outcomes by county, parish, or borough. (Picture by Born Isopod, distributed underneath CC 4.0 license.)
Simply word how a lot of the counties alongside the northern border are pink. Very pink, the truth is. However because of Trump’s buffoonery, locations like Port Huron, Michigan, at the moment are scuffling with a lack of patronage from their Canadian neighbors throughout the border.
“Like many of the towns that dot along the 5,525 mile (8,891km) border, the economies of Port Huron and Sarnia are linked and in some ways dependent on one another,” studies the BBC. “Port Huron is a manufacturing town of less than 30,000 people with a quaint downtown and lots of retail, offering visitors an enticing opportunity for a day-trip.”
That “enticing opportunity” is vanishing. Obligation-free retailers on the Canadian facet report gross sales are down by 50 to 80% since Trump returned to the White Home.
“’We’re 100% reliant on the travel across the border,’ Barbara Barett, the executive director of Frontier Duty Free Association, says of those stores. ‘Our stores are often pillars of these communities – communities depend on them,’” she advised the BBC.
And but the locals refuse to attach the dots.
“I hope folks in Washington will begin to perceive what they’re doing to the folks,” the mayor of Port Huron told the BBC. “We’re not answerable for this, the [federal] authorities put us on this place and now we have now to take care of it respectfully.”
Truly, Port Huron is accountable. St. Clair County voted for Trump 67-32%, for failed GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers 63-33%, and for Republican Rep. Lisa McClain 67-28%. Down the poll, it’s a Republican stronghold. This isn’t an unintended end result—it’s the end result Port Huron voted for.
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Humorous how when a Democrat is within the White Home, it’s limitless investigations into the “Biden Crime Family” and chants of “Let’s Go Brandon.” However when it’s Trump? All of a sudden “the government” is a few faceless villain. No names, no accountability. Simply obscure vibes.
His identify is Donald J. Trump—and the very communities he’s now hurting fortunately put him again in energy. And it’s the identical story in small cities all throughout that huge border, whether or not in Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Maine, or elsewhere.
Now, Republican lawmakers—determined to appease their hurting American constituents—are dashing to make things better with a Band-Help that doesn’t even acknowledge the wound.
“U.S. lawmakers are proposing a bill that would allow some Canadian snowbirds to stay in the United States longer, in hopes of rebuilding cross-border tourism and supporting local economies,” reported Canadian outlet CTV. “The Canadian Snowbird Visa Act proposes to extend the length of time eligible Canadian citizens aged 50 and over could visit the U.S. without a visa to 240 days, up from the current 182 days that are permitted each year.”
Among the many laws’s cosponsors are Republican Reps. Elise Stefanik (whose New York district borders Canada), Ken Calvert (whose California district contains Palm Springs—a serious Canadian vacationer vacation spot), and Laurel Lee (whose Tampa district is a serious draw for Canadian snowbirds).
Stefanik claims that “providing Canadians who own homes and property in the United States with extra time to visit and boost our economy will help revive Canadian tourism.”
As if the difficulty is that Canadians simply want they might spend extra time right here. No. The issue is that they don’t wish to come right here in any respect. To not Disney World. To not Palm Desert for some golf. Not even for a brief jaunt throughout the border to purchase low cost booze.
Permitting them to remain right here for 2 additional months is a meaningless gesture that insults Canadians whereas ignoring the true downside: Trump.
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