A poll last year at The Hub found that more than 40 percent of Canadian Conservatives said that they wanted to see Donald Trump win the U.S. presidency.
Some of this is no doubt reflected by our polarized political context. It wasn’t an endorsement of Trump so much as it was a rejection of the Democratic Party and its leftward lurch. But for others, it reflects a more positive view of Trump himself. They might point to the following facts: he was one of the first Western politicians to confront China; or that he raised the salience of immigration issues; or that he took on the media at a time when many conservative politicians were afraid to push back; or even that he often frames his governing vision as one rooted in national ambition and greatness.
It’s thus understandable that some on the Right—including in Canada—might have found the allure of Trump’s prominence and power to be nearly irresistible, particularly when faced with the real-world partisan tradeoffs of electoral politics.
But resist it we must.
If it wasn’t clear before, it is abundantly clear now: Trump is no friend of Canada, nor is he a friend of Canadian conservatives.
Conservatism is famously hard to pin down as a political philosophy. But at least as it has been practiced in North America, it can be broadly defined by some key ideas and values. An non-exhaustive list would include things like:
- Standing up for democratic institutions
- Respecting the military
- Respecting contracts and the rule of law
- Respecting allies
- Believing in markets, trade, and limited government
- Believing in borders and national sovereignty
- Opposing authoritarian regimes like China and Russia
- Treating others with dignity
Although there’s plenty of room within these principles for debate about politics and policy, a basic fidelity to them is how we’ve typically defined someone’s conservatism. Yet increasingly in U.S. conservative circles—and even among some in Canada—it’s now defined by fidelity to Trump himself.
Even a truncated survey of his record demonstrates that Trump’s political career is marked by ego and opportunism rather than conservative ideas and values. Consider the following.
Trump has no unshakeable beliefs. He believes in what benefits him in the moment.
He has no respect for democratic institutions, as evidenced by his attempt to coerce Mike Pence into overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Joe Biden.
He has repeatedly shown disrespect towards the military, including referring to fallen American servicemen and women as “suckers and losers.”
He shows no respect for contracts, as demonstrated by his long career refusing to pay business partners and his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico—rendering NAFTA 2.0 (which was revised at Trump’s insistence) worthless.
He has shown disrespect for the rule of law, most recently in his pardons of January 6th rioters—including those who attacked law enforcement officers.
He doesn’t believe in respecting allies, as evidenced by his threats to violate Canadian sovereignty, his threats to take Greenland from Denmark (a U.S. NATO ally), and his clear disdain for any country that isn’t as big and powerful as the United States.
He doesn’t believe in fiscal responsibility, preferring instead to juice short-term growth by cutting taxes, ramping up spending, and running huge deficits that will be paid for by future generations.
He doesn’t believe in free trade, as evidenced by his zero-sum worldview in which every trade must have a winner and a loser. He falsely claims Canada is being “subsidized” by the United States when the “subsidy” he refers to is actually a trade deficit from the U.S. buying Canadian heavy crude at far below market value.
A supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump wearing a “Make Canada Great Again” hat watches protesters outside the official opening of the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Vancouver, B.C., on Tuesday February 28, 2017. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press.
He doesn’t believe in borders—or at least borders that don’t benefit America—given that he said Canada’s border with the U.S. was an “artificially drawn line.”
He doesn’t believe in confronting authoritarian regimes like Russia and China, as evidenced by his long-held affinity for Russia, praise for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, delaying of aid to Ukraine for months, flip-flop on TikTok (because it benefitted him), and repeated praise for Xi Jinping, reversing the tough-on-China stance that was once praiseworthy.
He doesn’t believe in treating others with dignity, as evidenced by his long history of mistreating people, and civil convictions in that regard.
This also regrettably applies to the more polished and careful people in Trump’s orbit. For example, U.S. Vice President JD Vance may be a well-spoken and intelligent guy. There’s little doubt of that. But there’s also little doubt that Vance is only in his current position because Mike Pence had the courage to do his constitutional duty, while Vance has signaled he would not.
Not long ago, Vance said violent January 6th rioters “obviously” shouldn’t be pardoned. But then, he defended Trump’s decision to pardon them this week.
These are all verifiable facts that should present conservatives with a real dilemma. This isn’t just another left-wing criticism of Trump masquerading as a conservative one. If one adheres to conservative ideas and values, it should be self-evident that he’s not a conservative.
The key point here is that to believe in Donald Trump is to surrender to unbelief. It means sacrificing your principles for short-term power.
And for Canadian conservatives who support Trump, the sacrifice is even greater. We don’t face the same tradeoffs that American conservatives might have when they went to the polls in November.
The case here ought to be black and white. Even if one supports certain Trump administration policies, it cannot supersede the direct and unique threat that he poses to our own country. Trump’s talk of ruining our economy (causing profound human suffering) and forcing us into giving up our nationhood is paramount. Nothing else should matter more.
To support Trump as a Canadian means effectively siding against your own country. It means choosing to hate your political opponents more than you love Canada. It means in my judgement giving up a claim to patriotism.
So, how should Canadian conservatives view Trump? As the ultimate test of whether they’re committed to conservative ideas and values or prepared to choose the politics of personality over principles.
