Thousands of U.S. President Donald Trump’s most ardent followers gathered in Dallas for “Trump-a-palooza” this week — and many parroted the president’s constant bashing of Canada.
Lona Heins from Tennessee said Canada was “communist” and no longer shared the same values as the United States.
“It’s contentious. I think Canada is socialist. It’s much, much more socialist,” she said. “I’m not even going to say that word anymore. It’s communist. We share different values now.”
Like many Trump supporters at the unusual two-day Republican midterm convention, Heins spoke highly of Canadians and said she knows many people north of the border.
Heins, 58, said she was raised in South Dakota with family in North Dakota and Canadians were like family.
“What I see in Canada is not the Canada I remember growing up,” she said.
She said her change in opinion didn’t come from bilateral trade tensions, which she wants to see resolved. She said she needed more information before speaking about the trade dispute.
“I wish that there was a way for them to fix it but I stand with my president,” she said. “I’m here for Donald J. Trump. It makes me sad but I hope there’s a way they can come to an agreement.”
Trump on Tuesday escalated the trade war with Canada, signing executive orders to ban a range of Canadian exports and shuffle tariffs on others. Most imports of Canadian liquor, motorcycles, and a handful of dairy products are to be banned from the United States by the end of September.
Tensions between the countries grew after trade talks broke down in August. In response, Trump slapped an array of Canadian goods with 50 per cent duties. Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs earlier this week.
While headlining the midterm convention, Trump talked Wednesday about his move to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America” and said Canada “very much” wanted a trade deal.
The president was more subdued in his comments about the United States’ northern neighbour, which he’s threatened to annex for nearly two years. He didn’t mention the country during his Thursday address.
Canada stayed off the list of issues most of Thursday, even when Republican Mike Rogers, who is in a must-watch Senate race for a Michigan seat against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, took the stage.
Rogers’ speech didn’t mention Canada, despite the impact of the trade war on deeply integrated industries in his state, particularly autos.
El-Sayed, meanwhile, has made Canada a ballot-box issue. Last week, he said, “this vanity war is not a war with Canada.”
“It’s a war on Michigan because we have to pay the price,” he said. “And we pay it every single day for goods that should not cost as much as they do.”
Recent polling suggests Trump’s tariffs and his move to rename Lake Ontario have been widely unpopular ahead of the critical November midterm elections.
Trump’s anti-Canada rhetoric seems to be seeping down to his followers.
Gallup polling published in March shows Canada’s favourable rating among Republicans has fallen to 62 per cent, down from 85 per cent in 2025.
Matthew Lebo, a political-science professor at Western University in London, Ont., said that in an increasingly polarized United States, voters are likely to look to their political leaders and adopt their opinions, even if they go against their own interests.
“When the leader of a political party, and somebody that 20 to 30 per cent of people are totally devoted to, says that Canada plays dirty and that they are unfair and they’ve been taking advantage of us for ages and all that, then the people who listen to them are going to believe that,” Lebo said.
On the flip side, Lebo said Trump’s overt hostility toward Canada also shores up the opinions of people who don’t like him. Gallup polling shows around 95 per cent of Democrats rate Canada positively.
Democrat senators, including Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, issued a statement Wednesday saying Trump was doubling down on a “senseless trade war.”
The senators, who represent states that rely on Canada as a key trading partner and export market, said the tariff war was raising costs for families and businesses.
“Congressional Republicans need to stand up to the president and do their part to give families and businesses on both sides of the border relief from this insanity,” the statement said.
Lebo said the shifting opinions about Canada among Republicans stem from Trump’s most faithful supporters putting their complete trust in what the president says.
It doesn’t necessarily come from an understanding of current issues between Canada and the United States, he added.
Asked about Canada-U.S. trade tensions, rally attendee MaryAnn Miron said Canadians ought to get rid of Justin Trudeau — who announced his resignation as prime minister in January 2025 and was replaced by Mark Carney in March of that year.
“I feel sorry for you all with Trudeau,” she said.
“You guys are in a crappy situation and he needs to be outted. And I think a lot of that is going to help solve the problem between the countries, but I wish you guys the best.”
When told that Trudeau was no longer prime minister, Miron said, “I haven’t been watching the news.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2026.
By Kelly Geraldine Malone | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
