Why Trudeau Should Stay Tight-Lipped On Trump (3832 hits)
I noticed that NDP Leader Tom Mulcair recently called on Justin Trudeau to denounce Donald Trump. Mulcair has called Trump a "fascist" and criticizes Trudeau for merely shrugging when asked about Trump.
This reminds me of a harrowing experience of my mother's political activism in the U.S. She became friends with Bertrand Russell through her work against nuclear weapons testing. Russell contacted my mother in the course of the 1964 election campaign. A group of international intellectuals had decided to appeal to American voters to reject Barry Goldwater. Lord Russell asked my mother for her opinion of the letter. She read it and was shocked - the signatories included many prominent global thinkers, some of whom were communists. She called another friend, Norman Cousins, and asked him to get Lyndon Johnson's running mate, Hubert Humphrey, to call Russell and persuade him not to publish the letter. The message was simple: this letter could help elect Barry Goldwater.
Think for a moment about many of Trump's supporters -- their likes and dislikes, their fears and prejudices.
With that in mind, here are the Top 10 reasons why any criticism by Justin Trudeau of Donald Trump could actually assist the Trump campaign:
10: Justin Trudeau is a feminist. 9: Justin Trudeau is rumoured to be French-speaking. 8: Justin Trudeau has admitted to smoking marijuana and doesn't even seem to be ashamed of reefer madness. 7: Justin Trudeau has been seen welcoming - and even hugging - Syrian refugees. 6: Justin Trudeau's father hugged Fidel Castro. 5: Justin Trudeau supports a woman's legal right to an abortion and surprisingly doesn't think she, or her doctor, should be punished for exercising this right. 4: Justin Trudeau supports universal health care, like the kind Bernie Sanders wants. 3: Justin Trudeau thinks burning fossil fuels endangers the planet due to climatic disruption. 2: Justin Trudeau and Barack Obama seem to have some sort of "bromance." 1: Justin Trudeau is a foreigner. In fact, he's unabashedly Canadian.
