Justin Trudeau Wins Knucklehead Of The Week For Completely Botching The Truckers’ Protest

 

It’s not often that we bestow the honor of the week’s top knucklehead on someone outside of the U.S., and that trend is understandable. There’s so much buffoonery that takes place here, there’s seldom a need to look outside of our own borders. But this week was the exception, with Canada’s Prime Minister – that prettiest of all political pretty boys – Justin Trudeau outdoing all his American knucklehead competition. The way in which Trudeau has thoroughly mishandled the Freedom Convoy protests has been remarkable to watch.

Winner: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau royally screws up with his handling of the Freedom Convoy.

Generally speaking, Americans tend not to pay a whole lot of attention to the goings-on with our friends north of the border, and it’s a phenomenon that hasn’t gone unnoticed by many Canadians. Have a discussion with an amiable Canuck, and it’s not unusual for them to try and draw attention and legitimacy to their homeland by pointing out that one celebrity or another hails from the Great White North. “Mike Myers? He’s Canadian, you know. Pam Anderson? She’s Canadian too, eh.” They have a constant concern that they’re being overlooked. Over the past few weeks, however, the situation has changed, as American indifference towards Canada has been replaced with intense curiosity, admiration, and disgust.

The truckers in Canada, just like the plumbers, nurses, and everyone else in Canada, America and around the world, are fed up with COVID. The virus has disrupted, or in some cases destroyed the lives of so many. But what’s been worse than the virus has been the handling of it by government officials. The absolute authoritarianism we’ve seen here in the U.S, particularly in blue states, has been rivaled and even surpassed in some cases in Canada. The shutting down of businesses along with vaccine and mask mandates have been the most objectionable aspects of the tyranny, but there’s more to the story. Americans and Canadians are tired of government officials simply dismissing our fundamental, God-given rights and acting like they themselves are divine. And that revulsion is coming to a head.

When the Canadian truckers began their protests on their way to the capital city of Ottawa over two weeks ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was utterly dismissive of their complaints. As we often see here in the states, leftist leaders like Trudeau look down on their people: I know best, you’re ignorant, now sit down and shut up. But as we saw this week in the states – with governors from California, New York, New Jersey, and others finally coming to their senses and doing away with mask mandates – many government officials are recognizing the political folly of continuing with their COVID autocracy. But Justin Trudeau, like some in the Biden Administration, are reluctant to release their grip and now they are paying the price.

Trudeau’s disregard and disdain for the protesters has been breathtaking. Canadians who merely want their basic human rights restored were depicted by Trudeau as “trying to blockade our economy, our democracy.” He’s accused the protesters of being violent, which considering the size of the protests is blatantly false, and insulted them by calling the protests “an insult to the truth.” And most outrageously, Trudeau figuratively spat in the protester’s faces by degrading them as merely, “a few people shouting and waving swastikas.” There are a lot more than “a few,” obviously, and the ones who were waving swastikas were quite possibly planted by Canada’s own leftwing media. This is not how one wins the hearts and minds of those with whom you disagree, Mr. Trudeau.

It’s clear that Justin Trudeau has taken a page out of America’s leftwing political playbook, and that is a horrible mistake. The Prime Minister has taken to belittling the protesters, calling them “fringe” and “far-right.” He’s insulted their intelligence with that all-too-familiar elitist attitude that we see with American officials like Gavin Newsom, Bill DeBlasio, and Andrew Cuomo. And, of course, he’s gone to the tiresome fallback tactic of shouting ‘Racists!,’ as if it’s bigoted for one to want to decide for themselves whether to receive a controversial vaccine.

As a result, the protests aren’t fading, they’re picking up steam, and the protesters aren’t backing down. The protests have caused gridlock in Ottawa for weeks now, and they show no signs of subsiding. Traffic crossing the Ambassador Bridge from Ontario into Detroit – the most critical border crossing for both American and Canadian economies – came to a screeching halt this week. Yet Justin Trudeau keeps doubling down as the problem worsens. Trudeau appears to be trying to mimic our own national leader, Joe Biden, as the two vie for who can achieve the lowest approval rating. Joe Biden should be no one’s role model, yet that is precisely the case with Justin Trudeau: and for that reason, Trudeau is a knucklehead.

Honorable Mention #1: James Carville “wants to punch [the unvaccinated] in the g****mned face.”

Political pundits advocating for violence against those with whom they disagree is never a good idea. It shows a lack of confidence with your position, and it signals your frustration on whatever issue it is that has you fired up. But it’s even a worse idea when it comes from someone like James Carville and the issue which he’s so pissed off about is unvaccinated Americans.

James Carville is 77 years old and hearing him talk about punching someone… anyone… is laughable. In his prime, Carville looked like he would have struggled to handle himself against the weakest of fistfight opponents; but now? Ooh, James, you’re so macho. What’s more laughable is the idea that he wants to assault someone for choosing not to get the COVID vaccine. Being vaccinated doesn’t stop one from transmitting COVID: that’s a fact. And if you’re vaccinated, like Carville presumably is, then what’s the problem, James? How about this. Take a deep breath, calm your jets, and take a ride to the nearest Popeye’s for some of that Cajun shrimp. And in the meantime, pipe down, you grumpy old man.

Honorable Mention #2: French President Emmanuel Macron claims Putin told him “he won’t be initiating an escalation.”

Since we’re honoring international leaders this week with Mr. Trudeau, why not add France’s counterpart to the discussion. On Tuesday, Macron recapped a conversation with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin regarding intensifying tensions between Russia and Ukraine. While there’s nothing wrong with Macron relaying Putin’s comments, there’s something seriously wrong with Macron obviously believing Putin. Putin’s been escalating the crisis since the beginning, Mr. Macron, but you’re just taking his word for it? C’est stupide crétin.

Putin must be licking his chops between Joe Biden in the U.S. and Emmanuel Macron in France, and we can be sure he smells blood in the water. Let’s hope tensions calm, but it’s difficult to be optimistic. And in addition to Mr. Macron’s gullibility, it’s also disheartening to consider the prospects of military success if and when we have to join forces with France again. As the late, great General Norman Schwarzkopf once put it, “Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion.”

PF Whalen