How have your political views changed or evolved?

What have been the biggest factors influencing your political views?
Was it slowly over time, more drastic, or not at all??
Has it affected any of your relationships?

As someone who voted for Trump, I believe his initiative to make Canada the 51st state was his biggest mistake. Though I agree with his border policy, his DOGE policy and I can see he case for he war with Iran, I find the entire idea of making Canada the 51st state was not only wrong, he went about it the wrong way. Attacking Canada for their tariffs was something that should have been handled discreetly and diplomatically, not the insulting way he brought it out. The idea of making Canada the 51st state by making it sound like a joke was so ineptly done, that it was almost like he wanted to unite Canadians against the idea.

Is there a reasonable, logical explanation for what he did? Canada has been our best friend for over 100 years!

I really don't want to hear answers like, "Trump is a Nazi/Fascist and that's what they do". No, that's not what they do. Francisco Franco was the fascist dictator in Spain, but he never floated the idea of annexing Portugal. Portugal had the fascist Salazar for a long time, but he didn't try to annex any countries. I can't think of a single Latin American fascist that wanted to annex a neighboring country. Actually, it was Communist Fidel Castro who wanted to flip Bolivia. The only analogy I can think of was the Anschluss of Austria by Germany in the 1930s.

Canadians and Americans have families and friends in both countries. Did President Trump misread the popularity of annexing Canada? It just seemed to me like a pointless idea which did a lot of harm to our mutual relations.