1. Fear of a Canadian Planet. I want to talk a little about the 200 year history of American conspiracy theories about the Northern menace.
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3. For well over a century after 1776, USA's norther border was tense with conflict, with both Americans wanting to annex northern neighbor & Brits using it launching pad for attack (as Trump recently reminded us).
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4. The Catholicism of Quebec, in particular, offended the deeply Protestant sensibility of New England. It's not surprise that one of big best seller of 1830s was The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, about depravity of Canadian convents.
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5. In 1920s and 1930s, Canadian military drew up plans for invasion of USA. I have to dig up details but idea was to ally with Mexico, Caribbean nations & Japan to attack USA from all sides.
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6. The Cold War intensified fears that Canada could be used as launching pad for invasion. In 1948, Look Magazine warned that Detroit bordered Canada "a foreign country."pic.twitter.com/N4TNkXltGv
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7. There's a rich literature on American right accusing prominent Canadians of being commies. In 1986, National Review asked whether 1960s Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson was a KGB spy. Then there is Pierre Trudeau: https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_nwo154.htm …
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8. Some more details on Canadian plans to invade USAhttps://www.macleans.ca/culture/books/how-canada-planned-to-invade-the-u-s-and-vice-versa/ …
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9. I got some of the details of the Canadian attack plan of 1921 wrong. But it did exist!https://twitter.com/papersailboat/status/1005883890219638784 …
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10. In 1990s, anti-globalist conspiracy theorists worried that elite elements working with Cree forces could sabotage Quebec power plants in order to throw North America into chaos.pic.twitter.com/zdforSv48R
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11. And in 1970s, Jack Kirby (in post-apocalyptic comic Kamandi) portrayed Canada as the "Dominion of the Devils" -- a nuclear hell overrun by mutants.https://twitter.com/benschwartzy/status/1005885551403134976 …
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12. And of course there is a rich satirical tradition of stories of Canada/USA conflict (1987 SNL skit, South Park's Blame Canada, Canadian Bacon).
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13. All of which is to say there is a rich anti-Canuck tradition for Trump to draw on if he wants to go to the mattress with this Northern War thing. More details here:https://newrepublic.com/article/127576/ted-cruz-fear-canadian-planet …
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14. Oh yeah, there's a rich tradition in literature of books about Canada/USA wars. Infinite Jest with its North American superstate & Quebecois rebels also belongs on list.https://twitter.com/StephenHenighan/status/1005889269695565824 …
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