Trump fans in border states support 'America First' — even at the expense of their northern neighbours
'Canadians, we love you guys. But we're not going to be taken advantage of by nobody,' says one Minnesotan
Minnesota retiree Joe Solmon is spending his morning browsing The Trump Store, looking for a new MAGA hat to add to his vast collection of Donald Trump-inspired clothing.
"I do have 14 Trump hats. I have 34 Trump T-shirts. I have seven Trump sweatshirts," he says with a grin.
Business has been booming at this store in Lake Park, Minn., ever since Trump was elected U.S. president in November — and it was even busier heading into this week's inauguration events and watch parties.
About a three-hour drive from the Canadian border, Lake Park is one of many communities in border states like Minnesota and North Dakota that depend on tourism and trade with its northern neighbour.
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While analysts are voicing alarm about Trump's early moves to turn the U.S. into a "selfish superpower" with his tariff and immigration threats, supporters like Solmon are 100 per cent OK with that.
"Canadians, we love you guys. But we're not going to be taken advantage of by nobody. America First all the way."
Solmon said the last few years have been hard, as he struggled to live on Social Security with increasing food and gas prices. He blames the Biden administration for the high cost of living and is convinced Trump will change his life by making it more affordable.
"He [Donald Trump] is gonna turn this world. He's saving the world," Solmon said. "He's a gift from God, whether people like it or not."
Focus on trade and immigration
In his Jan. 20 inauguration speech, Trump expressed a similar sentiment in reference to the assassination attempt on him in July, saying, "I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason: I was saved by God to make America great again."
One of the first things Trump did after being sworn in was to declare a state of emergency on the southern border with Mexico and deploy troops to start mass deportations, in order to protect Americans from what he describes as "millions and millions" of illegal aliens and criminals.
That's playing well with Trump Store volunteer Denise Wilberg, who thinks it's unfair that hard-working Americans are supporting illegal migrants who are "causing so much trouble for us."
"I mean, the economy, we're paying for a lot of things that we shouldn't be for having the illegals here and the safety — I've got kids and grandkids, so that's a scary matter," she said.
She then added, as if to reassure a CBC reporter, "You guys [Canadians] have always been a safe neighbour."
But Trump has also taken aim at the northern border, threatening 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods as early as Feb. 1, unless he sees stronger measures to stop the flow of unauthorized migrants and illicit drugs into the U.S. He's made a similar threat to Mexico.
In response, Canada has committed $1.3 billion for immigration and border security measures, with increased staff, technology, drones and K-9 units, even Black Hawk helicopters, hoping it will be enough to appease the new president.
On the flip side, Ottawa and the provinces are also threatening retaliatory tariffs and other measures, and the business community is urging Canadians to shop local.
'New and dangerous era'
Trump's vision for a "Golden Age of America" went from philosophy to directive Monday night when he signed an executive order saying, "the foreign policy of the United States shall champion core American interests and always put America and American citizens first."
In a newsletter, Wesley Wark, a senior fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Ottawa, described it as "a new and dangerous era in U.S. foreign policy, steeped in isolationism."
Wark points to examples like Trump's decisions this week to withdraw from both the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement.
That philosophy is a contrast, Wark said, to the 1947 Truman doctrine, which launched the U.S. into the role of an international peacetime leader as the Cold War was beginning. It recognized that supporting democracy and providing economic and military aid to regimes under threat was in America's national interest.
Not doing so creates a vacuum that should be a concern to everyone, Wark said, because the only countries with the capacity to take on that responsibility are "the big authoritarian ones."
"What we're confronting is a kind of new vision of the United States as a selfish superpower," Wark told CBC News.
He said Trump supporters "have bought the message that ... the previous conduct of American foreign policy has been too much about virtues, too little about American self-interest, that it's costing the United States in some way or another, that allies don't really matter."
'We're all like-minded people'
It doesn't take long to see how that attitude has trickled down to the grassroots of Trump's America.
In coffee shops, restaurants and the mall, at an inauguration watch party and at The Trump Store, when locals find out CBC is Canadian, they repeat Trump's joke about Canada becoming the 51st state of America. Some suggest it would benefit Canadians to have a strong economy and military and less government interference in things like gun control and free speech.
They can't see how Trump's words and actions may actually be hardening the border. And they don't seem concerned about the impacts of a potential trade war with Canada — even though it may increase the price of products like food, lumber and fuel.
"Well, gasoline isn't going to be a problem, because we're going to 'drill, baby, drill,'" said retired truck driver Wally Mueller, laughing as he referenced Trump's oft-repeated phrase.
Mueller, who is also a volunteer at The Trump Store and a member of the Lakes Area Patriots, believes Trump's threats are just a negotiation tactic. He doesn't expect any of this will impact relationships between Canadians and Americans in this part of the world, where people cross the border regularly to shop, fish, golf and take part in other tourist activities.
"I do not have that concern. We're all like-minded people," Mueller said. "Donald … wants fairness for all."
The way Joe Solmon sees it, the U.S. finally has a strong leader willing to do what it takes to Make America Great Again, even if it means holding his allies' "feet to the fire."
"Don't mess with Trump," Solmon said. "You mess with Trump, who's getting the short end of the stick? Not Trump!"