All doubts about the impartiality of government journalism were laid to rest when Trudeau let down his guard and faced tough questions from Rosemary Barton in a 20 minute unscripted interview, even braving the elements. The CBC silenced the haters, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that they could do “access journalism” with the best of them and — ahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA — no, sorry, I can’t do it because the whole thing was a hilariously awkward attempt to look unscripted and spontaneous and everyone involved knows it.
It really is remarkable. No one is going to get sent to a gulag or have their assets seized if they fail to please their overlords at the CBC and the Liberal Party of Canada. And yet Barton and Trudeau have the hunted look of people who have replaced a just and loving God with an earthly deity that can destroy them at any moment. If these are the wages of fame, I am happy to toil in obscurity.
Gazing upon Trudeau and Barton’s fearful and diffident performance, reduced to jabbering idiots as the knowledge that they were making total fools of themselves, I created the following Top 10 list.
Rosemary Barton Knows Exactly What She Did
This tweet was, of course, posted before the interview aired. It doesn’t need a lot of explanation. Barton knew she was going to get drubbed on social media for floating a bunch of softballs to the Prime Minister and she wanted to stave it off, or she wanted to slip in one last bit of expertly timed hate-click-bait because she sees her viewers as little piggies who squeal when they’re told something they know is not true. Ignorance or malice from Barton? Probably a little of Column A and a little of Column B.
Red Alert
“You’re crossing against the light, you know.” “I’m a Montrealer, I’d lose votes if I didn’t.”
Not five seconds into the interview and we have already landed directly in the toilet. Was Barton calling the Prime Minister out for breaking the law one of those not-easy questions she was tweeting about? Does Trudeau still expect us to believe that he’s not your typical politician, some kind of headstrong rebel who doesn’t play by the rules because? Is jaywalking really considered some sort of vote-buying strategy or authenticity test in Montreal, which us backward Anglos aren’t sophisticated enough to understand? It’s not getting any better from here, people.
Keep Your Friends Close….
Barton asks Trudeau at one point, “But you’re not going to hang out with him?” Him, of course, being Trump. Trudeau says no. Thanks for checking, Rosie.
Knowing Your Place
When asked about human rights violations in Saudi Arabia, Trudeau had this to say:
“It’s never a situation of, you know, imagining that we can, you know, stand there and tell another country what to do and how to do it.”
So, in case you thought the Prime Minister or his government were there to actually stand up to some of the more unruly leaders in the world today, or even imagine doing so, I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed. We’re just going to politely ask Mohammad Bin Salman or Trump or Xi Jinping or Putin or Kim Jong-Un to stop being so rude and they’re going to, you know, listen to us.
This is about the moment that Barton should have walked out if she considers holding politicians to account to be part of her job description. She didn’t, because it’s the CBC. Instead of rolling her eyes, she asked Trudeau, “Do you roll your eyes at that point?” I see what you did there, Barton.
Obscene Gestures
“Being a leader on the world stage involves having an ability to engage with all types of people, without letting, you know, personal feelings overtake one’s involuntary movements….” – Trudeau, proving his brain doesn’t correlate its own contents
OK, out of all the questions I could ask about this statement, let me just ask this one: What the hell is going on in this photo?
Actually, let me ask another question: if this isn’t an example of “personal feelings” overtaking one’s “involuntary movement”, then is this a voluntary movement? Was it the same with that journalist in Kokanee?
Hot Air
So right after saying he’s not going to shake his fist at Mohammad Bin Salman for slicing up a journalist or people in his country saying they’re going to do a 9/11 to Canada, because he’s all about building relationships, Trudeau made absolutely clear that he is going to impose a carbon tax on the provinces whether they like it or not, because if a bunch a conservatives want to make pollution free again then THAT IS A LINE THAT WILL NOT BE CROSSED BECAUSE THIS IS CANADA, DAMMIT.
Meanwhile, Rosemary Barton nodded along and laughed when Trudeau wouldn’t call the carbon tax a carbon tax because this is totally normal, OK.
Oh, and by the way, Trudeau and Barton took time to throw some shade at that piker Emmanuel Macron, because he didn’t bother to return the carbon tax money he was taking in to “families” as a “rebate” like the Trudeau Liberals say they’re going to do. Canada is the only one doing this right, you understand, and lots of countries are “looking with a lot of interest” (Trudeau’s words, not mine) and likely saying “Jeez, these Canadians will believe anything, won’t they?”
GM = General Mindlessness
Barton asked Trudeau about the GM plant in Oshawa closing, because that’s a thing, and Trudeau pivoted to talking about his government’s investments in “skills, and university, and STEM training, and women in the workforce”, because that has absolutely nothing to do with the GM plant closing, and if Barton brought 1/1000th of the fire she brought to her infamous interview with Chris Alexander, then I wouldn’t be able to call her a partisan hack and be absolutely right about it.
Bombs Over Bombay
Hey, did you know Trudeau actually had more suits on his infamous India trip than his goofy bridegroom outfits, but for some reason the coverage of the outfits dominated? I’m sure the implication there wasn’t lost on Barton.
Meanwhile, there’s something else that didn’t get half as much coverage as what Trudeau was wearing, and that’s the attempted murderer that somehow got invited along. “Seems to me that at least you have a lesson, here, about how to do these things,” Barton says, practically holding up a giant cue card for the Prime Minister. “Oh, absolutely, on every trip there are lessons to learn,” the Prime Minister says. Phew! Thank goodness that everyone learned their lesson and there’ll be no more attempted murderers on state visits, ever again.
Positive Contact
Another thing that we can thank our lucky stars for is that Trudeau is going to engage in positive politics during the next election. Of course, if anyone calls the CPC a bunch of racists who pal around with the Rebel and want to make pollution free again, it’s not going to be Trudeau. Wait a second, who was it who insinuated that the Conservatives want to make pollution free back in point #5? Must have been someone other than Trudeau.
“Do you have times when you don’t?” asked Barton, referring to times when Trudeau doesn’t practice what he preaches. “I, I, I, will admit that I, I, uh, have occasion, to uh, to be critical, in, in, in ways….I always look for ways to be very fierce about, uh, distinctions in policy,” stammers Trudeau by way of an answer. Noticed: Trudeau is an absolutely rotten liar. Also noticed: The expression on Barton’s face shows she clearly knows what’s going on here, but is obviously being super ethical and professional by not kicking Trudeau square in the nuts every time he fibs. She does reference the ambulance chaser comments from back in October, and pushes him on it several times because there is a limit to how much BS even Barton can take but Trudeau isn’t making any apologies for calling out the politics of fear and division. Look what you made him do, Conservatives!
Scrappy Doo, Where Are You?
So by the end of the interview Barton has come around to Trudeau’s point of view: He’s just passionate about defending our institutions. That’s why he grabs MP’s by the elbow and does….something to journalists that necessitates an apology. He’s not an entitled prince who demands that others be subservient to him. Barton, who I must keep reminding you is totally without bias, calls him “scrappy.” Can you be scrappy and full of sunny ways, asks Barton? Of course, says Trudeau, who is back to talking about always wanting to find ways to bring people together. But if someone doesn’t want to work together, then they’re going to get beaten to a bloody pulp like Patrick Brazeau was in a boxing ring.
So in conclusion, I think despite Barton’s obvious sucking up and quite real fear of repercussions of losing access if she went too far, the interview did reveal the real Trudeau — a petty, vain, dishonest bully who is obsessed with his own self image, demands obedience, and too often journalists acquiesce. Happy 2018, everybody!
Raving Canuck 