Early Tuesday morning, perhaps from a gold-plated toilet at Mar-a-Lago, American president-elect Donald Trump posted what might be the most epic troll on a Canadian prime minister to date, referring to Justin Trudeau as Governor of the “Great State of Canada.” And it was well-deserved. Trudeau is simply not equipped for a war of wits and he has poisoned the well with Trump beyond repair.
Trump’s troll was likely in response to Justin Trudeau’s comment at a Halifax conference that he would again “punch back in a way that was actually felt by Americans” through the tariffing of all-American items, you know, like playing cards, bourbon, and Harley-Davidsons. While this may have actually happened, I’m not sure it’s a great idea to have yourself recorded threatening a caricatured tariff on a country you desperately need to make amends with in order to save your country’s economy.
And this all-American tariff threat was in response to Donald Trump’s claim at a Fox Nation awards gala, where he repeated his that he’d levy 25 per cent tariffs on all imported goods from Canada unless Trudeau does more to tackle illegal border crossings and drug flows into the United States. Which is a pretty reasonable request, whether or not one approves of the threat or believes it will happen. Canada is now said to be a significant producer and exporter of fentanyl and methamphetamine. And while each country is responsible to manage their own border, Canada surely could do a better job vetting those who come to our country as they may be threats to U.S. citizens as well, and plan a terror attack on a community of Jews in Brooklyn.
Round and round we go.
When Trudeau flew down to Mar-a-Lago last month in a panic after Trump first issue his tariff threat, he may have been expecting a light dinner, possibly a party.
But he was sorely mistaken if he thought this would be like his trip to London where he stayed in a $6000 hotel suite, at taxpayers’ expense, taking time to regale onlookers in the hotel with his rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody while in town for the solemn event of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
Trudeau wasn’t ready for what even Public Safety minister Dominic LeBlanc knew was a lighthearted joke — when Trump said Canada should become America’s 51st state in order to avoid tariffs. Nor was he ready for Trump to continue the joke by posting a meme of himself staring off at what appears to be the peak of Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps, next to a Canadian flag, reminiscent of painter Caspar David Friedrich’s “Wanderer above the Sea of Fog.” The painting is often interpreted as a call to reflect on one’s life path. Not bad advice for Justin Trudeau who is nosediving in popularity polls and should probably take a walk in the snow like his father once did.
Here’s the bigger issue — our prime minister poisoned the well with Trump back in 2017 when he tweeted out, “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada” which came a day after and was widely considered to be in response to Trump’s executive order that banned refugees and visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. This self-fashioning of Trudeau as a hero for immigrants sounded suspiciously like a remix of The New Colossus, a poem about America’s openness to immigrants on a plaque on the Statue of Liberty. I guess he’s still got some of that substitute drama teacher in him. This inadvertently lead to a surplus of illegal crossings and asylum claims at our border, which could not but help fuel our housing crisis.
Now, most of the Canadian intellectual class hasn’t had time to wake up and respond to Trump’s latest post about Trudeau yet, but I can guess that that their reactions will range from reasonable to hyperbolic with absolutely nothing in-between. But this is pure comedy and it is well-deserved.
For those of us who recognize a good troll, the response has been, and will be, lighthearted. One does not have to be a fan of Trump to recognize a good troll. These things are mutually exclusive.
By reducing Trudeau’s status to Governor of the Great State of Canada, he did all Canadians a favour. He pointed out in no uncertain terms two things — that Trudeau’s leadership and status is diminutive — and that our entire nation is operating at the capacity of a single state, not a country larger than our neighbours to the south, rich in resources and talent, until that talent inevitably chooses to fly south due to high taxes, expensive inefficient government programs, and now, unaffordable housing.
For those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) we’re likely to see all manners of predictions that the sky is falling, that Canada will cease to be not long after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
But sometimes, a troll is just a troll.
Let me put it this way — I’m confident that if Canada takes reasonable steps to control drug trafficking and its border that Canadian tariff negotiations with the U.S. will go pretty much as usual, trying but expectedly so, and Canada will not become the 51st state. And if I’m wrong, I’ll eat my shirt.
National Post