, 01.03.2020 10:36 AM

Dear tweeting Trudeau-haters

The decision of Donald Trump to target Iran’s Qassim Soleimani is, according to every expert, very significant. The experts say it is bigger than bin-Laden. Bigger than Mugniyeh. Bigger than Baghdadi.

This morning, I was up early. I wondered whether Trump – as he has done in the past – advised Justin Trudeau in advance of the Soleimani action. Given that we have Canadian troops and citizens and diplomats in harm’s way in the region, it is a reasonable question.

When I posted that query on Twitter, however, I got back a barrage of juvenile, puerile crap about the Liberal Prime Minister. For instance:

• The Trudeau-haters, who would be attacking Trudeau for being at his desk in Ottawa, were instead attacking him for not being in Ottawa.

• The Trudeau-haters, who would be attacking Justin Trudeau for sending someone out to make his liquor purchases, were instead attacking him for allegedly making his own liquor purchases.

• The Trudeau-haters, who would be attacking Trudeau for being too much in the media during the holidays, were instead attacking him for being less visible during the holidays.

• The Trudeau-haters, who would be attacking him for bringing his wife and family on a jet to Costa Rica, were instead attacking him for not being seen with his wife in Costa Rica.

And on and on. It was relentless.

Listen, Conservative folks: I am rumored not to be a major fan of this Trudeau guy, either. But – despite being greatly weakened by LavScam and blackface and assorted other controversies – he still won more seats than your guy. He won.

Making idiotic comments about his marriage, or his willingness to stand in line to make his own purchases, or not being in Ottawa and out of the limelight for once – well, it makes you sound idiotic.

It also will help to ensure that he wins the next election, hands-down. And it won’t be a minority, either.

Grow up. Wake up. And, if you’ve got nothing meaningful to say at a very serious time for the Middle East and the world – well, you might consider shutting up, too.

34 Comments

  1. PJH says:

    No fan of the PM as you know, but in this regard, your comments are spot on. Cons of all stripes, take heed.

    • Fred from BC says:

      “Cons of all stripes, take heed.”

      Do we know for certain that these are all Conservatives doing this? I’d like to believe we are better than that…and I’ve seen some pretty good hatred come from the NDP / Green types in the past.

      • Margot Hodgson says:

        Please note, he DID NOT WIN! The system which is so politically skewed failed us! In a fair and balanced system, the party that wins the popular vote should win enough seats to govern! Why does Quebec, with a slightly smaller population than BC and Alberta combined and a significantly lower GDP have twice as many seats (24 to AB &BC combined 12!)

        • The Conservatives could govern if they had the support of the other parties, but I”m glad you support PR.

          You are talking about Senate seats which has nothing to do with who governs.

  2. Robin Rhodes says:

    Exactly. I remember a time when a PC gov’t vs a Liberal gov’t weren’t all that different, and voters moved between the two parties depending on how issues affected them. Now it seems the CPC and it’s supporters spend all their time muck-raking with little or no substance behind their words. Hate politics doesn’t work here. Canada is better than this and Canadians can be better than this.

    • Bill says:

      Robin you are bang on. I wish I could have a reasonable Progressive Conservative party to vote for. Socially progressive and fiscally responsible. But the Conservative party seems to be controlled by extreme right wing yahoos. Until this changes everything east of Manitoba will continue to support other parties.

      • Fred from BC says:

        “I wish I could have a reasonable Progressive Conservative party to vote for.”

        I don’t. The Progressive Conservative Party folded for good reason: because Canada just didn’t need *two* Liberal Parties (why would we?). You had your real Liberals, and your Liberal Lite version….and for what? So you can just trade places with the opposition party every ten years or so and implement the EXACT SAME policies as your so-called opponents?

        Sorry, no…I want an alternative. A REAL alternative. The NDP is to the left of the Liberals, the Conservatives need to be to the right. The people here who unthinkingly cheer for the idea of Proportional Representation (shudder) seem to believe that everyone “should have representation”, right? Fine…allow me mine, then.

        (and please note, for the habitual time-wasters like D.O. (master of the throwaway one-liner), no, I am *not* talking about the ‘far right’ or ‘alt-right’. Get serious…)

        • Bill says:

          Well enjoy opposition then Fred. The conservative party either becomes socially progressive or it is doomed to 2nd place. Of the 60 most densely populated urban ridings in the October election, the Conservatives won zero!

          • Ronald O'Dowd says:

            Bill,

            While I agree that the CPC is not sufficiently socially progressive, I would not base future electoral patterns on the results of a single election. Remember what Harper was capable of doing in 2006, 2008 and 2011, without being even remotely socially progressive. So, it’s up in the air. IMHO, the largest strategic factor that moves the numbers is who happens to be the leader and how is that person perceived by Canadians, and more specifically, voters. People disliked Dion, Ignatieff and ultimately Harper. Many still support Trudeau but he was lucky like hell to go up against Scheer in the last election. Had his opponent been Ambrose or O’Toole, Trudeau would likely have been done as dinner.

          • Fred from BC says:

            “Well enjoy opposition then Fred. The conservative party either becomes socially progressive or it is doomed to 2nd place.”

            Tell that to Stephen Harper, Bill.

  3. the real Sean says:

    We can all rest assured that some very competent generals will make some very wise decisions about what our Prime Minister’s position will be.

  4. Shawn says:

    The only beef I have with this ass hat Trudeau is that the prime minister of England and the US president went over seas to serve dinner to troops over seas for Christmas. This sack of shit did nothing of the sort instead went on a tropical vacation with over a $100.000 tab to the tax payer.

  5. joe says:

    Warren
    Interesting comment, very relevant, and arguably wise.

    Now lets swap Trudeau for Trump. And note that I think Trump is an ass. But Trump won. He still won more electoral votes than your gal. He won.

    I watch with amusement, the vast number of hateful, puerile crap about Trump, his wife, his family.

    I’d say the same arguments Warren mentioned above apply equally to the Trump haters, and to the Democrats. But that’s going to get me slammed. So be it.

    • Warren says:

      Fair. As you guys know, I believed there was Russian-led manipulation to bolster Trump in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Mueller throughly investigated that and found insufficient evidence to charge Trump criminally. So, he is president.

      • lyn says:

        Warren: I know you would love to have Trump found guilty of manipulation but No evidence just like the Impeachment unless you have the evidence and not hearsay. Trump is free and Trudeau should be in jail and they have the evidence re Trudeau…funny how things work out!!
        HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL THE BEST IN 2020!

      • DOJ policy prevented him from charging Trump. If it wasn’t for that he could have charged him at Obstruction of Justice.

        • Fred from BC says:

          “If it wasn’t for that he could have charged him at Obstruction of Justice.”

          And suffered an even more embarrassing loss? Why?

    • Fred from BC says:

      “I’d say the same arguments Warren mentioned above apply equally to the Trump haters, and to the Democrats.”

      That was my very first thought when I read this. He’s not wrong, either, and seeing Canadian conservatives engage in the same tactics as we are seeing in the US is appalling. Family, for one, should definitely be off-limits.

  6. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    I was asked by on high, before the vote, what I would say “after” Trudeau won. I said voters are always right (in a democracy, period).

    So accept it, but continue to work toward the government’s eventual defeat, if you are still so inclined. THAT’S also all about democracy.

  7. Red Stripes says:

    Warren. It’s not just the fact Canada’s supposed “leader” is in Costa Rica. It’s the fact he’s there looking as though he’s hopped-up on something on a twenty-day bender, while the country waits. No wedding ring. His wife is tweeting from a snowy locale. His pupils are the size of Jupiter, much like they were on the campaign trail. Trudeau looks like the guy who approaches you in a Wal-Mart parking lot asking for change for the bus. Yes, you have been critical of Trudeau. But your hatred for Trump cannot be hidden. At least he’s protecting HIS COUNTRY, HIS BORDERS, HIS CITIZENS. And Trump has the U.S. economy booming. Trudeau? Appears to be hiding from something. He’s flaming out. There was only going to be one outcome for that poser.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      RS,

      Yeah, Trump’s just peachy. Not satisfied with pushing all of us toward WWIII with Iran but he’s also well on his way toward provoking the incineration of South Korea. Great job. Now that’s a real leader making America great again…

      Now if Trudeau is in a bad head space, I will not only have empathy but also compassion and concern for him. Why? Cause been there and done that. Hope he recovers quickly and gets his life together.

      • Fred from BC says:

        ” Not satisfied with pushing all of us toward WWIII with Iran”

        Oh, please…you’re smarter than that, Ronald. I know you are.

        Iran, the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, has been running amok in the middle east for almost 40 years now
        (through their proxies in Hezbollah and just about every other major terrorist organization/militia you can think of, naturally; they rarely get their own hands dirty directly).

        Trump just put them in their place by killing one of the worst terrorist leaders ever, a guy responsible for the murders of *thousands* of innocent people, and there is good reason why people are celebrating in Iraq *and* Iran right now (not to mention Syria and the rest of the Middle East) .

        You know what Iran will do in response? The smart thing:

        NOTHING.

        They won’t dare. The Mullahs are shit scared right now; they’ve just recently ordered 1000-1500 of their own people murdered in the street for protesting against them (by this SAME GUY, no less!). Despite all their bluster, bravado and laughably inane threats, the Iranian military will survive for about 48 hours against the US military machine, and *they know it*. If that happens, the Mullahs will very quickly find themselves hanging for lamp posts in the central square of Tehran (they know that too). Then the long-suffering Iranian people will finally become the civilized, modern and (mostly) secular nation that they long to be.

        (and yes, I know a few Iranians personally)

        And if I’m wrong about all this, Ron? I’LL BE HAPPY to be wrong. Ecstatic, in fact! I don’t want a war (only idiots do), but I *do* want those murdering bastards gone before they finish building their first nuclear weapon. That’s my priority. It should be yours, too.

        Oh, and those here who think the proper response now is to bow, apologize and offer a couple more pallets of cash to the Iranians in return for their pinky-swear not to build any nuclear bombs? You’re delusional. You’re as cowardly as Bill Clinton when he tried this with North Korea (gee, how did that work out for you?). Good intentions just don’t cut it here, sorry.

        Now maybe (just maybe) the rest of the world will be alarmed enough by all this to step up and impose some *real* sanctions on Iran, to force actual inspections on them. “Trust, but verify” should be the operative phrase here. I’m not holding my breath.

        World War 3? Don’t make me laugh. We’re trying to *avoid* nuclear conflict here…the one that will most certainly happen if the religious fanatics who currently control Iran ever get to build the “Islamic bomb” they so fervently wish for. China and Russia? Non-factors. They’re not stupid.

        • Ronald O'Dowd says:

          Fred,

          With respect, you make the mistake of thinking that a perceived rational act is inevitably countered by another one. Iran’s overall strategic goal is not limited to self-preservation. They and their innumerable proxies, some of which you detail above, are only interested in a grand Shia empire across the Middle East.

          Assassination, is by its very nature an irrational act, even by a state actor, that throws an unknowing monkey wrench into predictable strategic thinking as regards an adversary’s response.

          Remember the correspondence between the Kaiser and the Tsar in the wake of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination. It didn’t work largely because Nicholas II was complicit in funding the Black Hand and due to irrational momentum accelerating as each nation dominoed and mobilized for war, one right after another.

          Trump, who may or may not have known the name of the intended target, made a foolish equivalency in taking out Soleimani. The latter was a nation-state rep, not a terrorist actor glued to an organization. That puts Iran in the camp of no alternatives in having to avenge that death.

          Americans crow that they can take Iran in one inning. True but that is neither here nor there given the following likely facts: like prior to WWI, Putin’s Russia is almost guaranteed to come to Iran’s aid if she is attacked by the United States. And how will the PROC respond to such a provocation? That part is more tricky to discern.

          Next, I’m long of the view that the IROI is not crazy, far from it. Their bold aggressiveness in the SOH against America and her allies is based on the hidden elephant in the room: namely, that they successfully rolled the Quartet during the JCPOA and long possess, at the very least, crude nuclear devices. That’s the regime’s insurance policy. And rest assured that if the United States invades, they will use it, almost without a doubt.

          Why do you think that Trump’s Administration was so bitterly divided over this so-called pre-emptive strike? The more savvy among them know perfectly well that Iran’s various proxies have sleeper cells in the States and are just waiting for the get-go to retaliate on American soil. That’s the real deal coming down the pike, thanks to Trump. And it will likely come sooner rather than later. But Trump is not known for ever thinking beyond his nose…he may ultimately come to regret his action, a course that Israel was wise enough to reject when they had innumerable opportunities to kill Soleimani themselves.

          • Fred from BC says:

            Well said, Ronald. I still hope you’re right, and I’m wrong….but my gut tells me differently.

            Iran has been getting away with this crap for decades now, and it stops now (finally). Everyone knows what Soleimani was doing in Iraq ( the joke going around there is that the embassy attackers may have spray-painted “Soleimani is my leader!” on the embassy walls, but American responded by spraying Soleimani all over Baghdad)…the same thing he had been doing for years: coordinating terrorist attacks on behalf of Iran.
            The people who now claim he was “attacking ISIS” conveniently ignore that fact that he only wanted to replace ISIS control with his own, and they were just in his way.

            You may not know as many Iranians as I do, but trust me when I tell you that they don’t want any part of this terrorism shit, and the vast majority of them are celebrating this US move.

            And in case I wasn’t clear, the US response to any further provocation by Iran will be missiles and bombs. LOTS and LOTS of missiles and bombs; they won’t set a single foot in Iran because they won’t need to. The Mullahs will flee, and the people will do the rest.

            Or, you know, we could just return to the Obama method of dealing with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism: bow to them, apologize and send a few pallets of untraceable cash (1.7 billion dollars worth, wasn’t it?) for them to stash half in their bank accounts and use the other half to buy more weapons and explosives to murder Americans, Iraqis, Syrians and anyone else who stands in the way of their long-held desire to be the absolute rulers of the Middle East.

            The Israelis likely took no action earlier because of internal politics and Barack Obama, not because they were afraid of this murderer (or Iran, for that matter). You think Trump was rash? I think he was bold. We shall see.

          • Ronald O'Dowd says:

            If the Iranians choose to hit an equivalent military target, that puts the SecDef and CJCS at potentially serious risk. Trump had better regard their personal security as his top military priority.

          • “Iran has been getting away with this crap for decades now”

            They view it as defending themselves from the invasions and occupations the US have been getting away with for decades.

            “and it stops now (finally)”

            It is probably going to get a lot worse, now. Worse still if the US ends up invading and occupying Iran.

            “You may not know as many Iranians as I do, but trust me when I tell you that they don’t want any part of this terrorism shit, and the vast majority of them are celebrating this US move.”

            I’m sure they didn’t support what he was doing, but how would you feel if another country assassinated Hillary Clinton, even though you strongly disagree with what she did.

            The $400 million in cash was to return money Iran paid the US for weapons before the revolution, but never received. There was also $1.3 billion in interest to be paid later. Like any other country, Iran is allow to by weapons and missiles. The US has no problem selling weapons and missiles to Saudi Arabia even though it is waging war on Yemen.

        • lyn says:

          Fred from BC: EXACTLY!

  8. Doug says:

    The Liberal Party is smart. The Evil Empire knows that a Buttsless Trudeau has become a liability and is keeping him out of the limelight. Freeland has taken over from Butts as the de facto PM.

  9. San says:

    Trudeau didn’t win…overseas votes in GTA ridings were rigged. Election was rigged.

  10. Douglas W says:

    Justin looks rough. Maybe the pressure’s getting to him.

    • Chris Sigvaldason says:

      He’s attended about two weeks of Parliament since the election. He has also taken at least two vacations since the election (Tofino, Costa Rica). What’s up with that? I think Trudeau deserves at least some criticism, just not the loopy, anonymous crap you see on Twitter.

  11. Robert White says:

    If you had to await a phone call from POTUS Trump post-assassination of an Iran General, you would be prone to get some alcohol too. Frankly, getting a call on the Batshit Crazy Phone from Trump is stressful enough without having to also worry about World War Three & Nuclear Winter.

    Ottawa’s winters are bad enough IMHO. If I could vacation in Costa Rica I would be drinking alcohol too.

    This Christmas I could not even afford a pint of rum for my egg nog. I’m living vicariously through PM Trudeau. Please let him have some FUN sometimes, eh.

    How else will I be able to live vicariously through Trudeau if you never let up on the insults & invective?

    RW

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