I find it so, so funny that he has no idea how much these comments cement the desire to avoid such a thing.

Complete and utter lack of tact resulting in hardened opposition to his desired goal.

He thinks of the US as a business, and is doing his usual bang-up job

The man wants to make deals, right, so make a deal. (warning I'm an American and know just enough about Canadian government to be dangerous)

"Join" the United States of America under these conditions:

• Mexico can join too if they want
• Each Province or State of joining countries becomes a State
• The Constitutions of all countries apply only to the States it previously applied to while a new Constitution is written
• The rules of the Constitutional Convention must be agreed to by both a majority of the joining States and 2/3 of all States

Please make this deal. Our governments are all too old to work great in this age but maybe we can forge a new design fit for the 2000s if we erase most of it and start fresh.

The opposite of progressive is not conservative, it's regressive. Backwards. They are regressive.