I want you to be nice…until it’s time…not to be nice (from Roadhouse)
Canada has made it clear their “cooler” (the character from the movie I quoted) has let the country know the time has come NOT to be nice. At least to Donald Trump and the United States which is prompting lots of “What the hell is up these days in Canada?” speculation both here in the U.S. and I’m sure lots of other countries. We are talking about a great ally and trading partner. And until now an unfailingly polite one. Polite to pretty much everyone in fact and so much so it’s a ‘brand’ of sort. It’s inspired memes that are a mix of admiration and jokes and outright jokes. Canadians took pride in their reputation for going out of their way to be polite. To “be nice” and that’s now gone. I’m wondering if it all doesn’t go back to a grudge from Trump, and Trudeau thinking maybe he’s got a chance to stay in power.
Let’s start with still Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. Like any other leader in any democracy he’s had ups and downs. in 2024 it was clear his popularity had slid to a worrisome degree. I don’t know why as I don’t immerse myself in Canadian stuff. I just know he was having struggles, and for a while. So when Trump won the election and made noises about Canada Trudeau became truly vulnerable. Trump however just HAD to push things. Perhaps our Canadian readers or someone much more familiar with that country in general can correct me but it seems Canada initially viewed Trump’s statements and antics with a typical desire to get along. As I said it’s not like Trudeau was riding a wave of way popular support. He saw the polling, and decided to give his Party the best chance of retaining power and offered his resignation.
Curious thing about that resignation though. It wasn’t “immediate” but rather that he’d step down once his Party had chosen a new leader. His successor. And both before and since the resignation Trump was busting on Canada and Trudeau personally. If not daily then multiple times a week. Trump I’m sure has been eagerly waiting for the day when Trudeau was out of power and again just some rank and file member of their Parliament to crow to the world about having “destroyed Trudeau.” I’m seriously wondering if Trudeau counted on Trump being… well Trump and goading Trump into pouring it on. There were the public statements we’ve seen telling Trump both to back off on the 51st state bullsh*t and that if Trumpty wanted a trade war Canada was ready to fight. And in a strong position to hurt US every bit as much as Trump could hurt Canada. Part of me also wonders if in private chats Trudeau didn’t ‘tweak’ Trump on a personal level.
In Trump’s first term the two leaders made nice for the most part. Still, Trudeau got the upper hand with Trump right off the bat. Ole Justin knew all about the ‘Trump Yank’ where Trump would while shaking hands in front of the cameras yank the other leader forward. Being younger, stronger and wiser Trudeau was prepared and he put his hand on Donald’s chest and if anyone became a bit off balance it was Trump! You just know Trump was steaming over Trudeau getting the better of him in their very first meeting – in front of all those news people and cameras!
It got worse though. I quickly looked but couldn’t find pictures or memes of the LOOK Melania bestowed on Trudeau during that first visit to the Trump WH. And her gazes did in fact generate plenty of humor at Trumpty’s expense – the general theme being ‘Look at him. I want HIM! Not this bloated fat-ass I’m stuck with by contract!’ Again, you know Trump heard/read some of this so his animosity has run deep. It doesn’t help that the decades long obsession of his life, Wannabe Princess Ivanka was caught a few times looking dreamily at Trudeau! Trump can claim Stormy Daniels lied about him being less than five minute man with a shorter than average length penis (with a mushroom head – I know. Eeeww) but there are too many pictures of Melania (and Ivanka too) out there gazing at Trudeau. The way Trump WISHES they’d gaze at him! It’s just the kind of thing that would cause Trump to vow retribution for the humiliation.
Anyway, let’s face it, going back to 2017 Trump has had a grudge against Trudeau but not the means to do much about it. Until last year when Trudeau had become unpopular up in Canada. Once he won the election Trump decided it was time for payback. Put Canada in the hurt locker so bad Trudeau would be forced into a disgraced early retirement from public life. As I’ve noted Trump’s plan had worked. Trudeau really had no choice but to step aside, but there’s that little caveat I mentioned about AFTER his Party chose his replacement.
Trudeau’s resignation came on Jan. 6 (ironic eh?) yet he’s STILL Canada’s Prime Minister. What I find even more curious is there’s precious little news when one does a search on how the process of picking his successor is going. What instead seems to be happening is if not nothing then next to nothing on that front. Instead, if anything people are sticking up for Trudeau, including I gather some of the conservatives. They DON’T like Trump and never really have any more than most of Politizoom’s readers. More importantly STILL Prime Minister Trudeau is, as this article from The Toronto Star making clear Canada is going to fight Trump’s bullying tooth and nail:
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday after meetings with European and NATO leaders, Trudeau acknowledged that Trump’s multiple threats would represent a cumulative blow to Canada and the cross-border relationship.
But the prime minister vowed to reciprocate, asserted Canada’s sovereignty against Trump’s ongoing 51st state musings, and pushed back on Trump’s rhetoric painting Canada as a military spending free rider.
“It’s not our choice. We don’t want to be doing that, but we will, regardless of the level of tariffs that eventually the administration might move forward on, we will be equally unequivocal in our response.”
This is far from the only time Trudeau has made such comments. More importantly he’s not the only leader in Canada talking that way. As for regular average Canadians? Before last week I would never imagine the day would come when the crowd at a sporting event up there would BOO the United States National Anthem. But by golly they did. And that has turned out not to be a one-time thing. Canadians are pissed, but more importantly no longer care about being polite. They are quite willing to demonstrate and in large numbers how pissed they are at the United States. Like citizens in every free country in the world they are pissed at Americans in general. One term of Trump in the WH was bad enough. Now they are angry, asking HOW Americans allowed him a second term?
How that happened is a different and far longer subject. Books, even series of books on it will be written both in the near term and long from now by historians. Still, it brings me back to what prompted me to write this afternoon. That this all goes back to a personal grudge Trump developed when a) Trudeau showed him up by being prepared for the ‘yank’ and the failure of what had become a regular Trump stunt got mention in the news, and b) Those photos of Melania (and Ivanka) gazing approvingly (with what looks like more thoughts than approval) at Trudeau. And in Melania’s case with the orange fat blob of Trumpty-Dumpty standing right there!
Even before our election last November I think Trudeau knew he was on borrowed time. However, if Trump won who knows? If he played things just right he might provoke Trump, and like most countries his own would rally behind him when a foreign leader, at least one they didn’t care for (or outright despised like you and I do) went after him. And their country.
So where do things stand. Trump sure as hell isn’t “winning” in his plans for Canada and for him a stalemate and protracted fight is the same as LOSING. And Trudeau doesn’t seem to have a Party or country clamoring for his successor to be chosen anymore. You have to admit, it’s possible Trudeau read the tea leaves and saw a way to stay in power for a while longer – enough to when he does choose to step aside he does so with some dignity and a decent reputation/legacy. And the final insult from Trudeau for Trumpty would be denying Trump the ability to both brag about ‘destroying’ Trudeau or using having done so as a weapon against other allied leaders.
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To clarify, the federal Liberal party remains in power until October, at which time there will be an election. Trudeau has resigned, and the Liberals are in the process of electing a new leader. That person will be Prime Minister until the next Federal election is called by whomever that will be. Trudeau isn’t trying to remain in power. He’s done, and although I personally didn’t have a problem with him, he had become a point of division in our country.
Canadians, according to the OECD, are the most educated people in the world. This also means there is an overall propensity for the population to look for smart and talented leaders. Potential leaders like Mark Carney, former Governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and Chrystia Freeland, former Vice Prime Minister, who may be remembered in America as a journalist in New York for the Finacial Times and Washington Post, with occasional appearances on the McLaughlin Group on PBS. The current Prime Minister’s father, the longest-serving PM in Canadian history used to talk circles around Ronald Reagan, at one point referring to him as an “intellectual pipsqueak”. These are leaders who know how to rally Canadians and talk sense.
Also noteworthy is the fact that Canada used science, which, while not perfect, was the best weapon available against Covid. The ten premiers, of various political affiliations, met with Trudeau and worked out a protocol similar to the “Fauci protocol”. 51,000 Canadians died in the pandemic from Covid. 1,2 million Americans died (Johns Hopkins Covid Resource Centre). The population of Canada is about one-tenth that of the US. This implies that if the US leadership at the time had done what the Canadians did (and there were some serious mistakes there too), about 510,000 Americans would have died. The difference is about 700,000 Americans dead, in large part due to lack of leadership and organization. Just saying…
In Canada a prime minister can announce an intention to step down and keep his/her position until a new leader is chosen. This is what Trudeau has done. He will be around as PM at least until March 9, when a new leader will be elected by party members. If it’s Chrystia Freeland or another elected member of the House, she/he could take the reigns the next day and wait a short while before calling an election. Parliament is currently prorogued and won’t sit again until March 24. Opposition parties have said they will bring the government down almost immediately on a non-confidence vote.
If it’s Mark Carney, who appears to be the leading candidate but isn’t currently an elected member, Trudeau or an interim PM would likely go to the Governor General on March 10 with a writ for a general election. The Governor General would then issue a proclamation specifying the election date, which must be within 36-50 days of the proclamation. So, Canada will likely be going to the polls sometime between April 15 and May 1.
Will trump even make it past the Ides of March?
There’s a big fat 3rd reason for Trump’s grudge against Trudeau: during the NATO summit in London, 2019, at a Buckingham Palace reception, Trudeau was among other world leaders apparently poking fun at Trump. The group included France’s Emmanuel Macron, Mark Rutte of the Netherlands, the UK’s Boris Johnson and even Princess Anne. Video footage of the incident was broadcast worldwide and certainly would have been seen by Trump. We all know how much Donald enjoys being mocked …
Trump hates,liberal.Hollywood stars for the same reason Bill “Loofah” O’Reilly did. They are better looking, succeeded on their own talent, and usually more articulate. Trusses is George Clooney level.ofvhandsome, is well a spoken , and won’t let Trump bully him.
And while we have Fat Donnie and his evil minions (I would rather vote for Gru and his minions are cute) Canada has the Ford brothers…