President Trump keeps threatening to make Canada the 51st state and also buy Greenland, presumably making that country either a territory or a state. The possibility of either occurring is virtually zero, and that’s a good thing for Republicans. Because while Trump and his MAGA supporters may not realize it, giving those countries the vote would likely send the GOP to the political sidelines.

We’ve seen this movie before. Advocates have been working for years to give statehood to Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. Republicans have mostly resisted the effort because both Washington and Puerto Rico vote Democratic.

For example, in the last presidential election, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris received 90 percent of the District’s vote and 73 percent in Puerto Rico. While the District has a non-voting member of the House of Representatives and no senators, it does have three electoral votes that help decide the presidential winner. As a territory with no electoral votes, Puerto Rico’s presidential vote is only symbolic, but it does indicate preferences.

If Washington and Puerto Rico were to become states, they would each have one House member, which would pull from other states because the number of House members, 435, was set

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