I think it’s expected in as much as most people in most countries have a streak of exceptionalism, except a) you’re the global hegemon, and b) your leader routinely threatens to invade other, friendly countries. It kind of stops being cute at that point.
I am glad my friends on here stopped saying "I'd love if Canada became a state but not like this" because come on gang don't talk like that. that's not a good way to talk.
It’s also just an incredibly chauvinistic sentiment. An entire country joining the US not as an equal partner but as one among fifty, only valued for making trips to Banff easier and a few more Democratic votes in the House and Senate. No part of Canada would be preserved in that union.
Probably a deranged reply but it does needle at me. It is hard to smile politely at people who know nothing about your country and quietly assume that its destiny is to become another appendage of theirs.
it's OK for you to feel raw about it when the wound keeps getting inflicted. bad times.