Canada’s $1 coin is affectionately known as the “loonie,” a word that could also describe Donald Trump’s latest response to a question about annexing the country.
Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy asked the president if he was “concerned” that if Canada became the 51st state, it would be a “very very blue state? Very big and very blue.”
Yes, it’s a serious question.
Although Trump has made no secret that he wants to turn America’s northern neighbor into its “51st state,” some US Republicans fear annexing Canada would add millions of Democratic-leaning voters to the mix, as well as 50 more House seats and two additional senators.
“They’d have a sizable delegation in the House,” Representative Mark Amodei (Republican, Nevada) told NBC News. “I don’t think anybody thinks that’s a great idea. Oh, by the way, how many Electoral College votes are they going to get?”
Trump ignored those very real issues in his response to Doocy. Instead, he referred to the US-Canada border as an “artificial line,” a callback to a quip he used a week earlier.
“You know, you have that artificial line ― that straight artificial line that looks like it was drawn by a ruler,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I don’t mean a ruler like a king, I mean a ruler like a ruler. It’s just an artificial line.”
He continued his “artificial line” rant further, by once again mentioning how beautiful America and Canada would look together as one entity.
“It was just an artificial line that was drawn in the sand ― or in the ice,” Trump said. “You add [Canada] to this country, what a beautiful land mass! The most beautiful land mass anywhere in the world. And it was just cut off for no reason! It would be great!”
Eventually, Trump got around to answering Doocy’s original question ― sort of.
“Now is [Canada] liberal? Maybe. But, you know a conservative [unintelligible] until I got involved,” he said. “I don’t care who wins up there. Frankly, I would probably do better with a liberal than a conservative if you want to know the truth.”
You can see the exchange below.
Of course, people on social media had thoughts about Trump’s latest Canada comments, and many noted the “artificial line” could also apply to the US-Mexico border.