There Are Clear Parallels Between Trudeau’s Abuse Of State Power & Trump’s Dictatorial Demand For “Total Immunity”

OpinionSpencerFernando

Both Trudeau & Trump have also built personality cults around themselves while purging free thinkers within their ranks.

Since everything in politics these days is based around partisanship and ‘vibes,’ it’s easy to lose sight of the dangerous underlying similarities between certain politicians.

For example, because Donald Trump is seen as being on the ‘right’ of the political spectrum in the United States while Justin Trudeau is seen as being on the ‘left’ of the political spectrum in Canada, and since their respective supporters tend to disdain the other side, we generally assume they are the exact opposite.

But there are some significant similarities, even aside from the first three letters of their last names.

And, we can see how those similarities have become even more magnified as of late.

Here in Canada, a Federal Court ruled that the Liberal government overstepped their authority by invoking the Emergencies Act, and that doing so even violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

What’s noticeable – and is similar to Donald Trump – is how Trudeau has gotten worse with time. While – like Trump – having long expressed an odd affinity with dictators in foreign countries (Trudeau prefers Xi Jinping while Trump prefers Vladimir Putin), he has also steadily purged the inner ranks of the Liberal Party and the government of those who would dare question him.

Jody Wilson-Raybould was removed for daring to hold Trudeau’s well-connected SNC-Lavalin buddies accountable, and for daring to criticize him afterwards. Trudeau wanted obedience, not free thinking. Another Liberal MP, Anthony Housefather, who has demonstrated his own moral compass and ethical standards, was not reappointed to the federal cabinet, in what many saw as punishment for his willingness to speak his mind rather than just regurgitate Trudeau talking points.

When it comes to Trump, the list of former Trump aides and cabinet secretaries – all of whom he picked – who are now denounced as ‘the enemy’ and who are warning about the danger of re-electing him are legion.

For example, former White House Chief of Staff and former U.S. General John Kelly has slammed Trump and warned about putting him back in power:

“A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them,'” Kelly said of Trump. “A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family — for all Gold Star families — on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France.”

He continued, “A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason — in expectation that someone will take action,” an apparent reference to Trump’s recent statements about Army Gen. Mark Milley, who just retired as the chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff. “A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”

Read that last part:

“A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”

That describes both Trump and Trudeau.

We all remember Trudeau praising Communist China’s “basic dictatorship.” We have all seen how Trudeau has allowed Communist China and the brutal Islamic Regime in Iran to infiltrate our nation and subvert our democracy and way of life. We have seen Trudeau’s contempt for our democratic institutions in his repeated defiance of votes in the House of Commons, his refusal to protect our democratic institutions from external attack, and in his authoritarian use of the Emergencies Act.

In fact, before Trudeau rebranded himself as someone who opposes Putin’s dictatorial warmongering, Trudeau and the Liberals pushed for a renewal of relations with Russia after former Prime Minister Stephen Harper had proven to be one of the most pro-Ukraine and tough-on-Russia leaders in the world – something the Liberals are eager for people to forget.

Trump’s demand for dictator-style immunity

Just as Trudeau has become more dictatorial over time, so has Donald Trump.

In fact, Trump is now making arguments for ‘total immunity’ from prosecution, arguments that would give him a truly disturbing level of power, a level of power that is inherently at odds with the limits on state power that Conservatives in both the U.S. and Canada profess to support.

As reported by The Hill in the United States, Trump’s lawyers are even arguing that a President should have the authority to kill his opponents:

“Former President Trump’s legal team suggested Tuesday that even a president directing SEAL Team Six to kill a political opponent would be an action barred from prosecution given a former executive’s broad immunity to criminal prosecution.

The hypothetical was presented to Trump attorney John Sauer who answered with a “qualified yes” that a former president would be immune from prosecution on that matter or even on selling pardons.

In the hearing that reviewed a motion from Trump’s team to toss his election interference charges, Sauer argued that presidents can only be criminally prosecuted if they have already been tried and convicted by the Senate.

“He would have to be impeached and convicted,” Sauer replied.”

New Hampshire Governor Ron Sununu – a Republican – has denounced Trump’s demand for total immunity:

“Sununu was played a clip of Trump’s comments over the weekend at a rally in New Hampshire, where he argued a president should be allowed immunity so “that [the] president can act and do what he feels and what his group of advisors feel is the absolute right thing.”

“The amazing thing about that clip is he was dead serious. He wasn’t even making one of his ridiculous jokes. He was dead serious about that,” Sununu reacted. “And that should give everybody — I don’t care what political party you’re from, whether you’re an extreme conservative or a socialist liberal — everybody should be concerned with that type of mentality going into the White House.””

Trump has said – in his own words on Truth Social – that Presidents should have total immunity even for acts that ‘cross the line.’:

“A president of the United States must have full immunity, without which it would be impossible for him/her to properly function,” Trump said in a lengthy post on Truth Social in all caps. “Any mistake, even if well intended, would be met with almost certain indictment by the opposing party at term end. Even events that ‘cross the line’ must fall under total immunity, or it will be years of trauma trying to determine good from bad.”

“Sometimes you just have to live with ‘great but slightly imperfect,'” Trump added. “All presidents must have complete & total presidential immunity, or the authority & decisiveness of a president of the United States will be stripped & gone forever. Hopefully this will be an easy decision. God bless the Supreme Court!”

Now, just imagine if Justin Trudeau had said this.

All of us who oppose Trudeau would denounce him as dictatorial, and rightfully so. Thus, we can’t give Trump a pass on it. The U.S. has managed to function quite well for a long-time without any other President or Presidential candidate demanding total immunity for everything.

And, given that both the U.S. and Canada are built on a foundation of Western Civilization – meaning limits on state power and limits on executive authority are essential values – Trump’s demands for total immunity are antithetical to our way of life.

Reject the personality cults

Not only are both Trudeau and Trump both obsessed with expanding their own power, they have both built up personality cults around them.

You can see this in how both Trump and Trudeau supporters will accept actions from their leader that they wouldn’t accept from anyone else. You can see it in how people within their party are terrified to question them. You can see it in how their friendly media sound more like propagandists in dictatorships than actual journalists. And you can see it in how – as mentioned previously – they both purge those who can see through their lies.

These personality cults are dangerous, because they can lead to the subversion of the kind of accountability that is essential to maintaining democratic institutions.

So much for the Poilievre-Trump comparison

As we consider the clear and disturbing parallels between Trudeau and Trump, we can also see how absurd it is for the Liberals to try and compare Trump to Pierre Poilievre.

Poilievre is among the most bookish, intellectual, and policy-focused politicians Canada has ever seen. Meanwhile, neither Trudeau nor Trump look like they do much reading.

Both Trudeau and Trump are obsessed with expanding state power, while Poilievre wants to limit state power.

Both Trump and Trudeau divide their populaces as ruthlessly as possible, while Poilievre has tried to take a more unifying approach. When you think about it, you’ll notice that both Trudeau and Trump attack the supporters of their opponents, while Poilievre focuses his criticism on politicians themselves, thus attacking far fewer of his fellow Citizens.

And most importantly, Poilievre understands that Canada, and the Canadian government, is bigger than any one person and that leading a nation is a temporary job, whereas Trump and Trudeau seem unable to seperate their own interests from the interests of the nation – a clear sign of their deep narcissism.

That’s why it is essential for us to be able to look past partisan labels and identify the fact that Pierre Poilievre and Donald Trump are very different politicians and individuals, and also to see that Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump are much more similar than many people think.

At a time when democracy is under threat from both within and without, Canada, the United States, and our Allies need pro-freedom leaders like Pierre Poilievre, not power-obsessed, pro-dictator, personality cult-driven narcissists like Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump.

Spencer Fernando