It was the 21 seconds of silence that was heard around the world.
Part of Justin Trudeau's reply to a question about Donald Trump.
And it couldn't have been clearer or more Canadian.
And when I say clearer I mean it.
I got a whole bunch of text messages from friends in the UK and other parts of Europe this morning, all of them saying basically the same thing: What a prime minister, I wish he was ours.
Even the notorious Con fluffer Don Martin started off smearing Trudeau, and ended up praising him.
We might never know how Trudeau came up with a perfect way to express his personal outrage without giving the president cause for a cross-border counterpunch.
But perfect it was.
Trudeau can’t keep saying nothing when asked about a president who is just getting started on dividing his nation to conquer the electoral college.
But, for at least one day, Justin Trudeau managed to condemn without commentary, to convey disgust without decibels and to muffle any Trump backlash without saying a word.
Unfortunately however, there was one political leader in Canada (in addition to the separatist dwarf Blanchet) who didn't seem to understand that further arousing the madman in the White House may feel good, but is something real leaders should not do.
Not when the madman could lash out and hurt Canadians caught in the middle of a brutal epidemic.
And that leader of Canada's
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has condemned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's failure to call out the "reprehensible" actions of U.S. President Donald Trump as protests escalate over anti-black racism.
"His silence reveals hypocrisy," Singh said during a news conference in Ottawa this morning.
Whose intemperate remarks only reveal the depth of his ignorance.
And as I said on Twitter, also reveal his total inability to tell the difference between posturing and governing.
Yikes, why is Jagmeet Singh always acting like Andrew Scheer's clone? He doesn't understand that Justin Trudeau is trying to lead this country through a brutal pandemic. He doesn't understand that governing is complicated. https://t.co/6LC9TmC0eQ— 🇨🇦 Simon 🏴 🌈🏂 (@montrealsimon) June 4, 2020
When Singh first became NDP leader I was happy, and thought he could do great things for the progressive movement.
But sadly, he has proven to be a massive disappointment. He can't even tell the difference between what is a federal or a provincial jurisdiction. He sounds more like Andrew Scheer every day.
He's no working class hero, just a bourgeois on a bicycle...
With six designer bikes, two Rolex watches, a BMW Coupe, and a million dollar home.
And unless the NDP can get rid of him soon, they will find themselves along with him in a really bad place...
P.S. I have just returned from a training course where I learned some new tricks to use against Covid-19. But although it was quite a gruelling course, I did get to relax by a beautiful lake. And I'm now ready to kick the ass of the toxic Trudeau haters and other dirty old men harder than I ever have before...
Thank you so much for saying this, Simon, and I hope your training went well. So many of us in the States feel the same way and can't believe he's being raked over the coals back home. We know damn well what he meant. His body language, his visible discomfort, it spoke volumes much more so than anything he could have said in words. Stephen Colbert, Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon, the BBC, they all got it! His critics are looking for something to snipe at to make themselves relevant. They need to study a course in nonverbal communication and be quiet themselves. Silence is not always complicity. A picture tells a thousand words and so does a thousand-yard stare.
ReplyDeleteSingh and Blanchet will never be the man in the arena, so they play armchair quarterback from the cheap seats along with the pundits and press gallery. Now even Al Sharpton is engaging in friendly fire! How does this help advance social justice by attacking the wrong enemy? Have any of them ever heard the phrase "don't poke the bear"? Or are they being deliberately ignorant of what Papa said about the elephant in bed?
I read Vinay Minon's article today with great interest and shared it with others after the NYT decided to give that fascist mook Tom Cotton a platform. The media really is trying to get us all killed. How quickly the pundits and press gallery forget that they excoriated Trudeau over that surreptitiously recorded NATO video. Or when Trump threatened another trade war over the Home Alone clip that Trudeau didn't even have anything to do with. Or the initial trade war that ensued because Ivanka was caught on camera swooning over him. Or when he did stand up to Saudi Arabia and got blasted for "jeopardizing trade," and they threatened to pull a 9/11 on the CN Tower. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't!
This is Trudeau derangement syndrome at its worst and it's putting people in danger. Really, I think they're angrier that he didn't just call out Trump without saying that Canada has its own problems to fix. As Wreck Smurfy and White Bread Wilson's rants clearly demonstrated, Trudeau has kicked a hornet's nest and they can't wait to attack him with the tired yearbook meme in bad faith. I was so glad he addressed this angle head-on and they weren't expecting that, because now it means they have to do some actual work: "I am not perfect, but not being perfect is not a free pass to not do the right thing." BOOM. That's a mic-drop registering a 10 on the Richter scale, worth so much more than anything he could have said directly to Trump.
I mean what is the endgame here besides flinging more shit for attention? Do they want Trudeau to resign, and give government over to the Trumpian Cons? That'll really help race relations, won't it? Do they want Freeland at the helm so they can call her a neocon again? Do they want to just burn down the "Canadian colonial state" and start over? They do remember that Trump already threatened to send troops to the border because of racist conspiracy theories about cross-border travel from the Chinese communities in Toronto and Vancouver, right? He's siccing tanks on his own people, what would stop him from going full Canadian Bacon because a comment from Trudeau went viral on Twitter? Do they want him to protect Canadians from Trump's backlash, or do they want a Hugh Grant sound bite that's good for ratings but triggers an invasion, so they can blame him for that too? Pick a damn lane or get out of the way!
When the truth needs to be alternated the NYT has always been there. Judith is that you?
DeleteHi Jackie....Nice to hear from you again. I hope you are staying safe, and enjoying this early taste of summer. I can't believe that anybody failed to understand what Justin Trudeau said or didn't say. You have to be a Con or an idiot not to understand it, or two losers like Singh or Blanchet. Trudeau knows the madman Trump very well, and understands that baiting him at this time would serve no purpose, and could only hurt Canadians. Trudeau's popularity is already sky high, and he doesn't need to pander for votes. The world may be a mess out there, but we're doing better than most, and great days lie ahead....
DeleteAmerica is the elephant, we are the mouse. In the words of Bruce Lee we must be like water.
ReplyDeleteHis response was brilliant. like water.
Hi Steve....I thought it was brilliant, and so did people all over the world. Even my older brother who never talks about politics texted me to register his approval. On the other Hand way the Con media tried to bait Trudeau into saying something that could hurt Canadians was absolutely disgusting....
DeleteThe Cons, media and party, are desperate. They want anything to distract themselves from having to search their own souls and ask why their philosophy has led to authoritarianism in the US and elsewhere. That's a lot of work, to confront their own behaviour. And, it would take a great deal of courage. With very few exceptions, courage is not what Cons are gifted with.
ReplyDeleteHi Brian....You're right, that's the operative word, D for desperate. The Cons need to search their souls and try to figure out why so many of them consider Trump to be their real leader. That's a real problem for a Canadian party, and unless it's corrected it could prove terminal...
DeleteTrudeaus response was good and the question was designed to get him in trouble. Whats the point him getting in a fight with Trump? Then look like hypocrites when our own house is not in order. Certainly we dont want to emulate the US. Foreign policy too.
ReplyDeleteTrudeau's main responsibility is making sure that the madman in the White House doesn't hurt Canadians. And that's exactly what he did...
DeleteWhen Singh first became NDP leader I was happy, and thought he could do great things for the progressive movement.
ReplyDeleteI was not that sure but he looked like a good choice. I have come to the conclusion that he is politically tone-deaf. He does not hop around with one foot in his mouth like Scheer or McKay but he just has no sense of timing politically.
I think the NDP needs a new leader, not because I think Jagmeet is bad but because he is too politically clumsy. Probobly a great misister but not a good front-man.
BTW that bicycle is a Brompton, a bit like a Mercedes but not a "designer" bike". Maybe some day if I win the lottery AND the next bank heist comes off okay, I'll be able to afford one.
Hi jrkrideau....I was just glad to see a visible minority become the leader of a political party. And Jagmeet looked like a person I would enjoy meeting. But although I still like him, I agree with you he has absolutely no political judgement. I'm afraid that he is under the influence of the Mulcair gang, who were so sure they were going to win the 2015 election they never recovered and are still stewing in bitterness...
DeleteTrump is so delusional, he might attack American's because his feeling are hurt by Trudeau. Caution here, protects the citizens of both countries.
ReplyDeleteHi rumleyfips...Nice to here from you again. I hope you are well and staying safe. And yes I agree, Trump is clearly unstable, and he has shown before he has the power to hurt Canadians. So it's best to be cautious and hope that he'll be defeated in November....
DeleteThe Dippers believe they have found that wedge issue that will separate the left leaning progressives from the Liberal Party so that they will come over to them. That way they can be the Official Opposition to a Conservative government again. They are wrong.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is Mr. Singh could have condemned Mr. Trump without the partisan shot at Mr. Trudeau and he might have actually shook some of those progressives loose. He could have acknowledged the need of the PM to protect Canada's interests and then condemned Mr.Trump, saying what alot of us are thinking.
That would have been the act of a statesman. That might have been the approach of Jack Layton, although I am not completely convinced of that. But it would most certainly have been the approach of Ed Broadbent, the only NDP leader worth anything since I have been paying attention to politics.
HI Ottlib...I agree with you, Jagmeet Singh had better options, but he chose instead to attack Justin Trudeau in a manner that showed once again that he is still following the instructions of the bitter Mulcair types. They were so sure they were going to win the 2015 election they are still acting like the Cons, who were so sure they were going to win the last election they are marinating in that bitterness. If the NDP wants to make its mark it should try to rise above cheap partisanship and try to appeal to the idealism of Canadians. But out of the four elections I have now voted in I supported the NDP three times, and I'm done with them for now. When they act like Cons they'll never get my vote....
DeleteAlthough I was glad to see an NDP leader from a visible minority, I was a Niki Ashton supporter. Alexandre Boulerice (my MP) would make a great leader but is too closely associated with Québec solidaire (pro-sovereignty) to be acceptable in anglophone Canada.
ReplyDeleteI thought Simon's comments about Blanchet were nasty for no reason, though I'm not a Bloc supporter. And if I made an MP's salary or even had more money, a Brompton would be one of the first things I'd buy, as it could be stored indoors and is allowed on trains and other public transport, and is not made in a low-wage country- hell, It's made in London!
I love my old Raleigh Sprite, but it is far more cumbersome.
Hi Lagatta....I've never had much respect for the separatists in Ottawa party. Ducette had some good progressive instincts, but Blanchet is just an opportunist, and his championing of the province's discriminatory religious nonsense, as well as his support for Legault's government rules him out for me....
DeleteDo you mean Gilles Duceppe, a longtime labour organiser (actually, especially in sectors such as healthcare and hotels/restaurants where there are a lot of immigrant workers?
DeleteI don't like Blanchet, but calling someone a separatist drawf because he is small in stature is a bit like calling you a bourgeois-liberal (insert any homophobic label - I don't say such things even ironically). People in the Bloc have done some great things; think Francine Lalonde and the right to die, and some Bloc MPs who were very active on poverty issues, and more than a few with non-pure-laine backgrounds. It is true that in the 20-something election they were resorting to scare crap against observant Muslim women. Much as I dislike all organised religions.
The critics of JT's silence are too dumb and partisan to understand that he was protecting us from the bully in the white house. Keeping the orange stain's focus on his perceived enemies in the US is better than having him lash out at us. However, I cant help but wonder if Trump is/was dumbfounded by JT's pause. Picture the warped mind of the madman, "well, he didn't put me down, but he didn't defend me either," as he scratches his bleached candy floss mane. In this case, the best answer was absolutely none at all.
ReplyDeleteJD
Actually, I'm not a critic of Justin's silence (and think Jagmeet expressed himself poorly, odd for a lawyer). But I am very disturbed by Simon's tendency to see a drop in NDP support as a good thing. A left party is essential to counter the Libs' tendency to play progressive and actually support the ruling class over the working and popular classes. There would be no healthcare and many other social programmes without it. We'd be in the same shit as our neighbour to the south.
Deletelagatta à montréal -- Perhaps in theory but these are not normal times. A fascist wave is breaking over the U.S. and if history is any indication the neighbours of fascist countries do not fare well. We need to tend our own house and kick our version of the fascists in the electoral teeth, and when they go down, keep kicking.
DeleteThe immediate need to thrash the Conservative Party overwhelms any need to push the country in a progressive direction.
Hi Sixth Estate...I agree with you completely. I think Trudeau is taking the country in a progressive direction, but at this time when fascists threaten this country making sure they don't prevail has to be the main priority. Because if they do, nothing we dream about will ever happen, and we shall live in the darkness at a critical time in this country's history...
DeleteHi JD....I can't believe how anyone could not understand the message Trudeau was sending out. Or understand why he didn't let Trump know how he was really feeling. As I said in my post, Trudeau has the responsibility to protect Canadians from the deranged Trump, and Singh seems to think that the jobs and lives of all those Canadians don't count. It's very disappointing, and tells me that Singh is just a dilettante, or Mulcair with a turban...
ReplyDeleteHi lagatta....As I've mentioned many times before I have supported the NDP in the past more times than I supported the Liberals. As you should know I don't usually criticize any of the progressive parties, and I'm only criticizing the NDP now because I don't feel they are playing a constructive role in Team Canada's fight against the Covid pandemic. I'm offended that Singh can't rise above cheap politics at a time when so many health workers are risking their lives to try to save the life of others.
ReplyDeleteYou should also know that a couple of Singh's henchman accused me of being a pretend progressive even though I've spent so many years fighting Cons and fascists. So that's how low the NDP has fallen...