A lot of this is about two things: forcing people to accept unreality and then leaving them with no choice but to double down on Donald Trump.
First, look at how Canada is being described. You may remember Canada as a peaceful, chilly place nearly exactly like America. You may even have evidence that Canadians and Americans have fought side by side for over a century. You might think that the U.S.-Canada economic and security relationship is the envy of the world and that any nation would want to share a border with a country like Canada.
But Trump has told you that you are wrong. Canada is killing tens of thousands of Americans with fentanyl. Or maybe it’s impoverishing you. And maybe this horrible place is so awful that it also needs to be part of America. And half of America is accepting this revision of reality as it takes place, and not just half of America but very serious and powerful people.
And by looping them into his unreality, he makes them dependent on him. Because they can’t go back to reality. They can’t back off of the odious things they’ve done and said and expect to remain serious and in power. And they’ll become unwelcome any place but in DJT’s fantasyland and the few authoritarian hellscapes that share in já unreality.