The profound disconnect between American and Canadian identity

Don’t worry Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump is just “trolling” you with his takeover talk. 

So said former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger last night to a crowd of anxious Canadians. 

Kinzinger knows Trump pretty well by now. He was elected to Congress six times and became a bit of a folk hero as one of the few in his party to turn against Trump. He was one of two Republicans to serve on the committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. And he was one of 10 Republicans to vote to impeach Trump for inciting the riot. The personal toll on him and his family has been immense; he’s had horrible people write to tell him they hope his three-year-old child would run out into traffic and die. He lost almost his entire circle of friends over his falling-out with the party.

So, if anyone would understand the consequences of Trump’s words, it’s Kinzinger, and he had some measured comfort to offer on that front. While he brushes off Trump’s annexation remarks as bluster, the tariff threats are much more serious, he says. Trump and his cronies care about two things only — money and power. They care nothing for the wellbeing of others, regardless of past alliances and friendships. Canada should stand up to the bully, but prepare to take an economic hit, he advised.

I came away from the evening feeling a tiny bit better. I certainly don’t want to see my country have to suck it up financially while waiting for a regime change in the U.S. But so long as Canada stays intact, we will endure. Others have weathered far worse. 

What Kinzinger's talk really drove home to me, is the fundamental difference between our two countries. Kinzinger strikes me as a decent man with a strong moral compass. But he’s American to the core and there is a vast difference between his views and the way most Canadians see the world. 

Kinzinger’s unwavering belief in the U.S. military as a force for good, and his conviction that the American system of government is the best on earth, stuck in my Canadian craw. How can that be true when tech bro oligarchs are entrenched in the White House and the president is trampling the rule of law?

Kinzinger is a military man. He was a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. His erect bearing, muscular physique, albeit a little softer now, and trim hair, still scream “soldier.” He’s proud of his country’s role in most of its wars, the only exception perhaps being Vietnam.

Like so many Americans, he’s comfortable with U.S. imperialism in a way that many  Canadians are not. That anti-American sentiment has surged now that Trump’s expansionist ambitions are looking our way.

As for their system of government? From where we sit, it looks like an unholy mess. Trump is tearing down public institutions, slashing foreign aid, silencing scientists, and meddling in the courts, undermining the checks and balances that are supposed to legitimize the whole show. And while Kinzinger acknowledged the problems, he led off his talk with an upbeat message, and he tried to close it the same way, expressing confidence that democracy will prevail. 

With his country’s government crumbling before his eyes, Kinzinger’s message that everything will turn out alright seemed out of touch to the Canadian audience currently staring down the barrel of America’s unhinged reality. It almost seemed as though he wrote the talk before the onslaught of outrageous breaches of power, privacy and law. He’s also not ruling out a presidential run, and can’t afford to sound too pessimistic. 

To his credit, he did admit U.S. politics is close to the brink and that Trump is already disregarding the law. There are a growing number of examples — pardons for the Jan. 6 insurrectionists and suspending charges against the mayor of New York. 

He also bluntly predicted that congressional Republicans will not block anything Trump wants. And when pressed on whether the military would act against the American people if the Commander in Chief gave the order, he was inclined to say yes — that the chain of command combined with career interests of its officers would lead to compliance. That leaves the U.S. Supreme Court as the final bulwark against tyranny. Of course, that high court is dominated by Republican appointees so who knows how that will go.

Despite the growing mountain of evidence to the contrary, Kinzinger insisted the centre will hold. To the Canadians in the room, it sounded a bit like wishful thinking.