After a video surfaced of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apparently mocking President Trump with other world leaders over his lengthy sessions with the media, Trump hit back calling Trudeau “two-faced.”
Trump then said he will not be holding a further press conference and will instead return to the United States early.
“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized after it emerged that he had worn racist makeup on at least three occasions decades ago. But he declined to rule out the possibility that more images could emerge,” CNBC reports.
Said Trudeau: “I am wary of being definitive about this, because the recent pictures that came out, I had not remembered.”
Global News has obtained video showing Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau in blackface, the third instance of racist dress to come to light in 12 hours.
“It’s not clear when or where the video was taken, but the video shows Trudeau covered in what appears to be dark makeup and raising his hands in the air while laughing, sticking his tongue out and making faces.”
Washington Post: “The scope of the scandal is such that many Canadians are wondering if he will hold on to his majority government the upcoming election. Whatever happens, Trudeau’s rock star status seems like a thing of the past… Nik Nanos, a Canadian pollster, said it was unusual to see Trudeau’s usually savvy team struggle to reshape the narrative.”
Said Nanos: “They have been on the defensive almost daily. We have only really heard one side of the story, plus little snippets from the prime minister.”
“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada promised a fresh approach to politics, one that was based on openness, decency and liberalism,” the New York Times reports.
“Now he is embroiled in a scandal involving accusations of back-room deal-making and bullying tactics, all to support a Canadian company accused of bribing the Libyan government when it was run by the dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi.”
“Canadian newspapers are filled with outrage and opposition parties are calling for a resignation. Elections are still seven months away, but some members of Mr. Trudeau’s own governing party fear the scandal has armed opposition parties with rich campaign fodder against its leader, who promised ‘sunny ways’ in politics.”
President Trump said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “learned” from the mistake of criticizing him and it’s going to cost Canada “a lot of money,” the Globe and Mail reports.
“He said the Canadian leader must not have realized that Trump had televisions on Air Force One, allowing him to monitor Trudeau’s news conference at the end of the G7 summit.“
Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro escalated the White House’s rebuke of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling him weak and dishonest, CNN reports.
Said Navarro: “There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door.”
He added: “And that’s what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did, and that comes right from Air Force One.”
“President Trump’s top economic adviser said on Sunday that Mr. Trump had pulled out of a joint statement with allies at the Group of 7 meeting over the weekend because a ‘betrayal’ by the Canadian prime minister had threatened to make Mr. Trump appear weak before his summit meeting on Tuesday with North Korea’s leader,” the New York Times reports.
“The adviser, Larry Kudlow, said that Mr. Trump had no choice but to take the action after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a news conference that Canada would not be pushed around by the United States on trade.”
Said Kudlow: “He stabbed us in the back.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “sharply criticized President Trump’s tariffs and promised Canada would answer with its own on July 1 unless the United States reversed course,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Trudeau: “I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs on our steel and aluminum industry. Particularly, they did not take lightly that it’s for a national security reason that for Canadians … who stood shoulder to shoulder with American soldiers in far off lands in conflicts from the first World War onwards, it’s kind of insulting.”
He added: “Canadians, we’re polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.”
President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “had a testy phone call on May 25 over new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration targeting steel and aluminum imports coming from Canada, including one moment during the conversation in which Trump made an erroneous historical reference,” CNN reports.
“Trudeau pressed Trump on how he could justify the tariffs as a ‘national security’ issue. In response, Trump quipped to Trudeau, ‘Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?’ referring to the War of 1812.”
“The problem with Trump’s comments to Trudeau is that British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Historians note the British attack on Washington was in retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, in territory that eventually became Canada, which was then a British colony.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “said months of intense negotiations between his country, the United States and Mexico imploded Tuesday when Vice President Pence demanded that any deal expire automatically in five years,” the Washington Post reports.
“Trudeau said he was prepared to travel to Washington this week to try to finalize a rework of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but Pence, in the phone call, said a meeting would occur only if the ‘sunset’ provision was agreed to in advance.”
“White House staff called the Prime Minister’s Office last month to urge Justin Trudeau to persuade President Trump not to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement,” the National Post reports.
“The unconventional diplomatic maneuver — approaching the head of a foreign government to influence your own boss — proved decisive, as Trump thereafter abandoned his threat to pull out of NAFTA unilaterally, citing the arguments made by Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto as pivotal.”
“But the incident highlights the difficulties faced by governments all over the world when it comes to dealing with a president as volatile as Trump.”
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau admitted that his late brother was once charged with marijuana possession – and that their father’s resources and connections helped make the charge “go away,” the Guardian reports.
Said Trudeau: “He reached out to his friends in the legal community, got the best possible lawyer and was very confident that he was going to be able to make those charges go away. We were able to do that because we had resources, my dad had a couple of connections, and we were confident that my little brother wasn’t going to be saddled with a criminal record for life.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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