Candace Owens called for the US to invade Canada to stop Justin Trudeau cracking down on trucker protests

• Candace Owens in a tweet Sunday said the US should deploy troops to Canada's trucker protests. 
• Troops were needed "to deal with the tyrannical reign of Justin Trudeau Castro," she said.
• Populists like Owens have sought to grow their audiences by stirring support for the truckers. 

Right-wing provocateur Candace Owens drew criticism Sunday for saying that the US should invade Canada in response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's crackdown on the trucker protests there. 

"STOP talking about Russia. Send American troops to Canada to deal with the tyrannical reign of Justin Trudeau Castro," she wrote.

Owens is a supporter of Donald Trump known for stirring controversy online. "He has fundamentally declared himself dictator and is waging war on innocent Canadian protesters and those who have supported them financially," she wrote of Trudeau.

—Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) February 19, 2022

Some critics responded with mockery. 

"One of the things I love about this dumb person is how literally no one of importance ever listens to her as she screams into the void," wrote Ben Domenech, a conservative commentator and the founder of The Federalist online magazine. 

—Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) February 20, 2022

However Joe Walsh, a radio host and anti-Trump Republican, said that her views shouldn't be so quickly dismissed. 

"Candace Owens isn't fringe," he tweeted. "If there's one takeaway from everything I say, it would be this: Candace Owens is not fringe, she's very much mainstream GOP base these days. And that's scary."

Her comments echo those of other right-wing populists in the US, including Fox News personalities and former President Donald Trump.

Both who have spoken out in support of the truckers in Canada who've been protesting against a mandate requiring haulage workers making frequent cross-border trips to get vaccinated against COVID. 

The protests have been hailed as a stand against government overreach by Republicans, who've stirred support for the truckers and used the protests as a fund-raising cause. 

They've attacked a crackdown on the protests by Trudeau, who has sought to freeze their funding and invoked emergency powers to restore order.

At the same time, influencers like Owens have spoken out in support of Vladimir Putin's Russia as it menaces Ukraine with invasion.

They have sought to lay the blame for Russian aggression with NATO, and opposed US involvement in the crisis.