Justin Trudeau’s no-good, rotten year

By Jonathon Van Maren

Justin Trudeau, the glamorous youngish prime minister beloved by globalists and progressives around the world, has had a very lousy 2018 so far. He was once the anti-Trump, widely panned as the successor to Barack Obama, and the Liberal International Order’s great hope in a new populist age. Now, he’s managed to become a national and international laughingstock nearly nonstop since the year began, and whether or not he can recover his suave image after falling so fabulously on his face remains to be seen.

First there was Trudeau’s disastrous rollout of the new “abortion attestation” for the Canada Summer Jobs Program, which demanded that all organizations applying for government funding first affirm their support of a laundry list of “progressive” causes, including abortion and gender identity, among others. Despite desperate attempts by abortion activists and Trudeau himself to reclaim the narrative, the condemnation of this policy was nearly universal, and attracted international attention—nearly all of it negative. As one commentator noted, Trudeau is perhaps the first prime minister to unite Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Christians, and Hindus—against him.

There was also Justin Trudeau’s “peoplekind” comment, which provoked mockery around the world, from FOX News to the BBC. Trudeau tried to pass off his correction of a female questioner who used the word “mankind” as a stupid joke, but most people simply thought it was stupid. As several commentators pointed out, the fact that everyone immediately thought this was something that Justin Trudeau would actually say speaks volumes. Trudeau’s humorless attack dog Gerald Butts immediately headed over to Twitter to accuse those mocking Trudeau of being “Nazis.” When the Conservatives called for an apology, Trudeau returned Butts’ favor by refusing.

That wasn’t Trudeau’s only misstep during his trip across the country to woo Canadians with his charisma at town hall meetings, either. When he was asked about his policy to “reintegrate” ISIS fighters returning to Canada back into society, he launched into a rambling response in which he managed to both avoid answering the question posed to him as well as comparing those who left Canada to commit atrocities as members of a terrorist group to refugees seeking a better life in Canada. Canadians were left to wonder how in the world a serious prime minister could compare refugees to ISIS terrorists.

And then, of course, there was Trudeau’s response to Brock Blaszcyk, a retired Canadian corporal who lost a leg in Afghanistan and subsequently suffered from PTSD. Blascyk wanted to know why the Liberal government wasn’t doing more for veterans. “I was prepared to be killed in action,” he told Trudeau, visibly emotional. “What I wasn’t prepared for, Mr. Prime Minister, is Canada turning its back on me.” Trudeau, in responding, first thanked him for his courage and sacrifice: “Why are we still fighting against certain veterans’ groups in court? Because they are asking for more than we are able to give right now.” Angry boos met his response, and the Conservatives subsequently pointed out that the Trudeau’s Liberals were able to spend 13.7 million on sponsored social media posts, 200 grand on the cover of their budget, and astronomical costs in personal photographers for Trudeau and his ministers.

Finally, there was Justin Trudeau’s already infamous “state trip” to India, which the Toronto Star Editorial Board referred to as “the least successful foray into that country since the repelled Mongol invasions of the 13^th century.” First there were the constant Indian costumes, which Indian media figures began to point out were not even worn with such frequency in Bollywood. Then there was the goofy dancing, and the snubs from top Indian politicians. Finally, there was the staggering fact that a convicted Sikh terrorist—who claims to know Trudeau quite well—managed to get an invitation to a dinner with Trudeau in India. This same fellow, by the way, actually shot an Indian cabinet minister who was visiting Vancouver Island for a wedding. The trip was panned by Canadian, Indian, and international media as an unmitigated and embarrassing disaster, with Trudeau even getting a scathing segment on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Understandably, Trudeau decided to avoid the House of Commons on his first day home and take a “personal day.”

Even worse, in order to distract from the diplomatic mess the Liberals had made, Trudeau actually sent out an “unnamed” official to blame the Indian government for allowing the terrorist that had been invited to dinner with him—and was photographed with his wife, no less—into the country in the first place. It’s hard to imagine how the peddling of such irresponsible conspiracy theories, which are an obvious attempt to pass the buck and avoid responsibility for this colossal cock-up, is going to improve relations with India, which have already been damaged by Trudeau’s gallivant across that country.

Rob Breakenbridge summed up the silent thoughts of many over at Global News: “I had previously operated under the assumption that as gaffe-prone as Trudeau seems to be, he is the brand and the symbol of this government, and is surrounded by much smarter people. This India mess leaves us facing troubling questions: what if those much smarter people don’t actually exist? What faith can we have in the basic competency of this government?”

And just think: It’s only February.

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For anyone interested, my book on The Culture War, which analyzes the journey our culture has taken from the way it was to the way it is and examines the Sexual Revolution, hook-up culture, the rise of the porn plague, abortion, commodity culture, euthanasia, and the gay rights movement, is available for sale here.