104: Why Canada is a Threat to Trump’s America
TESCREAL, Empire, and Resistance
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Donald Trump’s ongoing threat—that the U.S. should annex Canada—has ignited a fierce, if incredulous, wave of resistance. On its surface, this seems like another instance of Trumpian bluster, but underneath, it touches on deep ideological and historical currents that define the political cultures of both nations. If we turn to the Horowitz Thesis—which argues that Canada’s unique political culture stems from its inheritance of Tory conservatism rather than the pure Lockean liberalism of the U.S.—we gain a framework to understand why annexation would be more than just a geopolitical shift; it would be the collision of two fundamentally different ideological systems.
Canada’s Tory Touch: The Path to Socialism
Gad Horowitz argued that Canada’s conservative tradition—rooted in Loyalist opposition to the American Revolution—created an environment where socialism and collectivist politics could take root. Unlike the U.S., where individualism and anti-statism dominate, Canada has maintained a political culture that sees the state as a legitimate force for the common good. This is evident in public healthcare, strong labor protections, and a comparatively robust social safety net.
The irony of Canadian conservatism is that, rather than acting as a reactionary force, it has often facilitated the growth of socialist policies by legitimizing state intervention. Toryism, with its emphasis on social order, hierarchy, and collective responsibility, has historically overlapped with the aims of socialist movements advocating for economic justice and public welfare. This duality presents a fundamental contrast to the American model, where conservatism is more rigidly opposed to collectivist ideals.
Understanding Trump via the TESCREAL Lens: Expansionist Ideology and Political Destiny
TESCREAL is an acronym neologism that stands for Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, (modern) Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, and Longtermism. These ideological movements share a commitment to technological determinism, radical future planning, and a belief in the necessity of reshaping human civilization.
Transhumanism – Advocates for human enhancement through technology, including artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, and cybernetic augmentation.
Extropianism – A belief in boundless progress and human evolution through technological and economic expansion.
Singularitarianism – The conviction that artificial superintelligence will eventually surpass human control, requiring governance and preparation.
(Modern) Cosmism – The idea that humanity’s future lies in space colonization and post-human evolution.
Rationalism – A movement emphasizing logical reasoning, Bayesian decision-making, and skepticism toward traditional institutions.
Effective Altruism – The application of rationalist principles to philanthropy, often leading to highly technocratic and utilitarian approaches to problem-solving.
Longtermism – A focus on shaping the far future, often at the expense of present-day social and ethical considerations.
The rise of TESCREAL ideologies has been deeply intertwined with the evolution of American liberalism, creating a political culture that prioritizes unfettered technological progress, market-driven governance, and an almost religious commitment to expansionist ideals. While these movements claim to be future-oriented and rationalist, they have increasingly paved the way for a more authoritarian, even fascist, mode of governance.
American liberalism, in its relentless pursuit of deregulated markets and techno-optimism, has found in TESCREAL a justification for domination—not just over economic systems, but over entire societies. This has created a paradox where, under the guise of progress, the U.S. has leaned into a technocratic form of fascism that seeks to eliminate resistance to its ideological expansion.
Canada as Both Threatened and a Threat
Canada’s unique Tory-inflected socialism presents a direct ideological challenge to this rising tide of technofascism. While Canada’s political culture is often seen as softer, more moderate, and less revolutionary, its very existence represents a counterpoint to the American TESCREAL order. A nation that embraces collective responsibility, values the role of the state in protecting the common good, and resists the notion that all progress must be dictated by technocratic elites is a problem for the emerging TESCREAL-fascist state.
Trump’s call for annexation—and its initial rejection by Canadians—is a symptom of this deeper conflict between political cultures. The American tendency to see governance through the lens of individual freedom, market supremacy, and expansionist ambition clashes with the Canadian model of collective responsibility and state legitimacy. TESCREAL ideologies, emerging as the dominant force in Silicon Valley and global tech governance, amplify this tension by advocating for a post-national, market-driven future that neither Canadian conservatism nor social democracy easily accommodates.
Yet, the question remains: how long can Canada resist? The erosion of traditional institutions, the creeping influence of American political discourse, and the undeniable pull of economic integration make full-scale resistance to annexation—whether literal or ideological—an uphill battle. The Horowitz Thesis suggests that Canada’s Tory-inflected conservatism has historically provided a buffer against full-scale Americanization. But in an era where digital economies, AI governance, and transnational tech elites wield increasing power, the durability of this resistance is uncertain.
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The Battle for Political Imagination
If annexation is the most extreme manifestation of American ideological expansion, then Canada’s task is not just to reject it but to articulate a compelling alternative. The fight against TESCREAL domination—and the relentless expansionist logic it embodies—is not just about borders but about the very nature of governance in the 21st century.
The real question is not whether Trump’s threats are serious but whether Canada’s political culture is strong enough to resist the forces—both historical and technological—that seek to subsume it. If the answer is no, then annexation may not come in the form of tanks or treaties but through a slow erosion of difference, until one day, there is no real border left to defend.
“If there’s a coup going on, coup back! What do you want us to do, write our local Congressperson? That’s you! And you being…”
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I worry the hyper-partisanship that has grown within Canada's culture will make any resistance to US expansion that much harder.
When I hear reference to Tory conservatism, I have a good idea of what is being referenced.
So many Canadians simply think of “Tory” as a synonym for “conservative”, and that all shades of “conservative” are the same. Within the Canadian Federal parliament there have been governments formed by Liberal-Conservative, Progressive Conservative and a variety of different parties and political philosophies calling themselves “Conservative”.
Rather than embracing the ways in which Tory conservatism is entirely different from the Lockean liberalism of the USA (where both the Democrats and Republicans are to the right of traditional Canadian Tory conservatives), most Canadians will treat those roots of what made Canada different as some “other”.
The USA was created from a subset of British North American colonies that didn’t want to pay their fair share of taxes to pay for things the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of, and didn’t want to honour British law limiting genocidal policies. That isn’t how the USA markets itself today, nor is it even how Canada’s “left” understand the USA today.
Without understanding the history and the ongoing differences, how can there possibly be a resistance to the separatists assimilating the remains of what they separated from?
https://r.flora.ca/p/canadian
As a young Liberal this rings so true for me. The merging of the Conservative and Reform parties was a reduction in the conservative ethic in Canada and it pushed young people like me to align with other parties as the PCs became straight C and lost the P. There’s a Red Tory in me and a lot of young Canadians but we let ourselves forget that our politics have that nuance