Yale professor who fled US because of Trump is now scolding Canadians who still want to visit or move to America

A Yale professor who fled the United States because of Donald Trump's presidency has scolded Canadians who expressed that they want to visit or move to America.

Jason Stanley said that Canadians who tell him they'd like to move to the US are verging on 'traitorous' because the country has become 'fascist' under Trump. 

Stanley, who now teaches at the University of Toronto's Munk School after fleeing Yale in 2025, urged Canada to adopt what he called a 'robust nationalism,' rooted in rejecting what he described as America's new values of cruelty and intolerance. 

The Syracuse-born professor complained that many Canadians still talk about American universities, travel and economic opportunities 'as if economic considerations could make up for rising white supremacy and fascism.'

He gushed about how free and democratic Canada is - while warning his new countrymen: 'America is not your friend.' 

Stanley wrote in the Toronto Star: 'The US has been veering toward fascism for some time. That is why my family and I decided to leave for Canada last March.

'Yet in my short time here, I have observed an alarming level of naïveté about what is happening south of the border. 

'We are extraordinarily privileged to live in this country. Yet I have spoken to Canadians who say they would rather live in the US - even now. To me, this verges on traitorous.'

Jason Stanley, a former Yale professor and author of How Fascism Works, now teaches at the University of Toronto after relocating his family to Canada

The Pentagon dubbed the mission 'Operation Absolute Resolve' while President Donald Trump said the U.S. would temporarily 'run' Venezuela without outlining a transition plan

Stanley's op-ed came after a turbulent start to 2026, when US special forces captured Maduro in Caracas and flew him to New York on narcoterrorism charges. 

The Pentagon dubbed the mission 'Operation Absolute Resolve,' and Trump declared that the US would temporarily 'run' Venezuela without offering a transition plan. 

'As in Ukraine, Canadian nationalism should be based on defending core democratic ideals,' he wrote. 'Investing in the military and building new infrastructure are essential, but Canada must also cultivate and reinforce a society-wide mistrust of its southern neighbor.'

Stanley also said that American immigration enforcement now functions as an internal security force loyal to the president alone.

'ICE is now an internal security force, seemingly beholden to Trump alone,' he wrote, claiming the agency 'continues to terrorize US civilians.'

He cited the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis, as well as policies he said have effectively sealed the US border to refugees and asylum seekers.

Stanley also said the Justice Department has been weaponized against Trump's opponents, claimed non‑citizens have 'no right to free speech,' and cited Stephen Miller's remarks as evidence the administration favors rule by force. 

'All Canadians must now recognize that their once-reliable ally poses a genuine existential threat to the free world,' Stanley wrote, warning that annexation remains 'on the table.'

Stanley said he was 'shocked' by Canadians who spoke unapologetically about vacationing there or who spent their 'Canadian-earned fortunes' supporting American universities.

'Canada is a free democracy, one that embraces diversity and tolerance,' he concluded. 'For that very reason, America is not your friend… It is time we started living in the real world.'

Stanley is the author of How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, a 2018 book examining the tactics and warning signs of authoritarian movements

Signs notify drivers at the US-Canada Ambassador Bridge border crossing in Detroit, Michigan on Thursday, April 17, 2025

Stanley has echoed similar warnings in interviews over the past year. 

When he accepted the Toronto teaching position, he told The Guardian in March 2025 that he left Yale after Columbia University 'capitulated' to federal pressure, calling the university's approach a 'losing strategy' and saying he wanted to raise his children in a country 'that is not tilting toward a fascist dictatorship.'

By late 2025, Stanley went further, telling Mother Jones: 'Yes, a coup is happening in the United States,' adding that remaining at Yale would have meant pressure not to draw the Trump administration's 'wrath' onto the university.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Stanley for comment.