On Canada’s Election Day, the leader of the United States urged the nation’s neighbors to vote for an especially odd third option: choosing Donald J. Trump as their leader.

“Good luck to the Great people of Canada. Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st State of the United States of America,” Trump posted on Truth Social Monday.

“No more artificially drawn line from many years ago,” he continued, apparently referring to borders—an issue that he used in three elections to divide Americans while scapegoating immigration as the root cause of America’s social disorder. “Look how beautiful this land mass would be. Free access with NO BORDER. ALL POSITIVES WITH NO NEGATIVES. IT WAS MEANT TO BE!”

“America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!” he added.

Trump has repeatedly claimed that Mexico’s and Canada’s trade deficits with the United States are “subsidies,” rather than indicators that America’s neighbors are purchasing more of its goods than they were selling in return. In 2023, that differential—or deficit—was nearly $41 billion with Canada and $162 billion with Mexico, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The president has also vastly overinflated the reality of the deficits, wrongly asserting that the U.S. is “subsidizing” its neighbors to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars each. The obvious solution to that problem, per Trump, is to take Canada and its independence, folding it into his increasingly centralized government.

But if Canada did enter the United States (hypothetically), it likely would not bode well for Trump’s ongoing quest for power. An analysis by legal experts who spoke with The Washington Post found that the introduction of Canada into the U.S. government would be a “nightmare” for Trump, adding an additional 53 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives—the vast majority of which would identify as Democrats.

But the likelihood that Canada would allow itself to be annexed as an afterthought to U.S. dominance is practically zilch. Earlier this month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that his country’s cozy relationship with the U.S. had come to an end, and that they would wean themselves off American products and services “at speeds we haven’t seen in generations.”

“Our old relationship of steadily deepening integration with the United States is over,” Carney said, shortly after replacing former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Canada’s leader. “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect, and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over.”

Carney is facing off against conservative lawmaker Pierre Poilievre, who appears to have modeled himself on Trump, for the prime minister’s office.

Republican Representative Mike Lawler wanted to impose order during his town hall Sunday, but no amount of rule-setting could have spared him from the fury of his constituents.

The New York Republican displayed a list of guidelines outside Clarkstown South High School in West Nyack, New York, where he was hosting his first town hall of the year.

The list required attendees to provide proof of residency in New York’s 17th district, prohibited “shouting, screaming, yelling or standing,” and encouraged them to “be respectful of one another, of staff, and of the congressman.”

But in the end, Lawler still faced tough criticism over his deference to President Donald Trump—often in the form of shouting and insults.

“What are you doing to stand in opposition to this administration? And what specifically are you doing that warrants the label ‘moderate?’” asked one constituent, a video on X showed, as the crowd of roughly 700 people erupted into cheers.

“My record speaks for itself—” Lawler began, sending the audience into raucous laughter and jeers. As Lawler continued to limply defend his supposedly moderate record—ProPublica has found that he voted in line with MAGA Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene 81 percent of the time—his constituents refused to quiet their anger.

“Folks, if you want me to answer the questions, let the question be asked, and then listen to the answer,” Lawler said. “If you’re just going to yell back and forth, the time is gonna run pretty quick.”

Lawler told his constituents who had expressed concern about Trump’s escalating trade war and “reciprocal tariff” policy that the president was simply responding to an “affordability crisis.”

“What caused record inflation? Five trillion dollars in new spending in the first two years of the Biden administration is what gave us record inflation,” Lawler said, drowned out by the sounds of booing from the crowd.

Constituents also expressed anger about the president’s inhumane deportations and his attacks on U.S. universities and colleges, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s mounting scandals, and concerns that Republicans were planning to make major cuts to Social Security and Medicaid.

“We’re not cutting Social Security or Medicaid. That is a lie—period!” Lawler insisted, and promised not to support efforts to strip benefits from eligible recipients. But the Republican Party has other plans to

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