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This convoy appears to me to reflect a great deal of legitimate anger and frustration at our pandemic responses

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When Barack Obama was elected it was truly historic. Plus after eight years people were fed up with George Bush failing as a uniter, not a divider. But after eight years of Hope and change, Americans elected Donald Trump, and weve never had a mea culpa that just possibly Obamas condescending attitude had a polarizing effect. Then theres Justin Trudeau.

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Ostensibly hes all about sunny ways, sexy smiles and bringing us together. But watch him in action and somethings not right. Lyndon Johnson, no stranger to hardball politics, was fond of saying Come now, and let us reason together and sometimes he even meant it. Whereas Trudeau recently declared the vaccine-hesitant racist and misogynist without even checking whether they were angry old white men. He just reflexively invoked a mean-spirited stereotype.

It turns out vaccine skepticism is more common among non-whites. Of course they could still be racist, but theres a subject for another day. Or maybe not, because Monday I got one of those vapid PMO statements about commemorating something nobody heard of, World Day for African and Afrodescendant Culture.

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Only a few avant-garde activists know Afrodescendant is the new Black. Not even my woke spell-checker has gotten there yet. But Trudeau is so shallow and shiny he reliably reflects the progressive Zeitgeist, including obsessing over racial differences, which promotes division not inclusion. Especially in a holier-than-thou tone about the basket of deplorables he has the misfortune to govern, the invariable invidious subtext of Mr. Blackfaces smirking homilies about tolerance.

Trudeau is in fact a bully. Remember him elbowing his way through some MPs when he didnt get his way? I think he got away with it partly because it seemed so out of character people had trouble processing it. But Im not sure Trudeau really gets away with his ethical lapses and ruthless responses to criticism, including somehow tossing Jody Wilson-Raybould under the bus.

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I dont just mean his party is stuck at a level of popular support and Parliamentary seats that would have made Keith the Rainmaker Davey green about the gills. I mean lowering the tone of politics can bring Pyrrhic victories that preserve your own standing temporarily at the expense of souring the public mood in ways that make the nation permanently less governable.

It has happened in the United States, and its a tragic, horrible sight. I presumably dont have to remind readers that I was an anti-Trumper before he was even a candidate and have never wavered in my insistence that he was morally and mentally unfit for the office. But I have also maintained that for the other party to spend half its time promoting lunatic causes like defund the police and the other half sneering at MAGA deplorables has made things worse not better.

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Now consider Trudeaus knee-jerk reaction to this truckers freedom convoy. Its the only kind of reaction he has. And it was vindictive and shallowly partisan. I regret that the Conservative Party and conservative politicians are fearmongering to Canadians about the supply chain, but the reality is that vaccination is how were going to get through this. So yes, he reached out. With a wedge in one hand and a sledgehammer in the other. Never mind I see where youre coming from, but please consider this alternative.

This convoy appears to me to reflect a great deal of legitimate anger and frustration at our pandemic responses, including the casual trampling of what we thought were our rights and freedoms. But as Ive said about supporting Trump, the fact that people are asking important questions does not mean they have found sensible answers. So we should be having a conversation.

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To that end, let me seek to bring people together if only by insulting them all equally. Because its not just Trudeau and not just politicians. Even Jordan Peterson, or whoever manages his Twitter feed, recently denounced medical fascists while Ezra Levant said Trudeau wants a Reichstag Fire excuse to criminalize his enemies.

No. Do not give in to the dark side. No Hitler, no cow poop. Lose the tinfoil hats and expletives on Twitter, and mind your manners and morals as well as your IQ in public debate.

I dont mean surrender your principles. LBJs mantra was from Isaiah 1:18 and reads in full Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. So he wasnt exactly weak-kneed or non-judgemental. But he was suaviter in modo, sometimes. He would listen. He would meet you half-way, if only to subject you to a mix of flattery, arm-twisting and, if necessary, rational discussion.

OK, his presidency exploded too. But at least he tried.

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