‘Special place in hell’ for Trudeau, says Trump economic adviser
A generation after Richard Nixon called Justin Trudeau’s father an “asshole,’’ Donald Trump’s administration broke new ground in American political trash talk Sunday when a presidential adviser said there’s a “special place in hell’’ for Canada’s current prime minister.
The insult came in one of two blistering attacks by Trump’s top aides for what they saw as Trudeau’s betrayal of the president at the end of the weekend’s G7 summit. Trudeau’s comments, they said, undermined Trump on the verge of his summit with the leader of North Korea.
They built on the momentum Trump started a day earlier when he fired Twitter salvos from Air Force One, hours after departing the G7 summit, calling Trudeau “very dishonest and weak,’’ among other things.
The current Liberals responded in much the same manner as former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau did upon learning of the 1971 insult by Nixon. “I’ve been called worse things by better people,’’ said the elder Trudeau.
On Sunday, Trudeau the younger demurred even more, choosing instead to send out messages of his own about democracy, women’s empowerment and the environment.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland followed, with a bit of Latin in her response: she said “ad-hominem’’ attacks weren’t useful.
The accusations largely confirmed the worst-case scenarios the government had for the G7 summit it was hosting in the picturesque Charlevoix region of Quebec where Trump was making his Canadian debut. With German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaning in towards a seated Trump in the summit’s iconic image, the G7 leaders managed to carve out a joint communique with some differences.
Shortly after its release, Trump attacked Trudeau on Twitter over what he described as the prime minister’s “false statements’’ during the closing G7 news conference — and the president announced the U.S. would no longer sign on.
Trump’s closest advisers added to the attack during televised interviews on Sunday.
On CNN’S “State of the Union,’’ Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the White House was angered by Trudeau’s comments during the news conference that Canada would stand up for itself and that recently imposed U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum are “insulting.’’
Kudlow said Trump “is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around’’ ahead of his high-stakes summit this week with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
“He is not going to permit any show of weakness on the trip to negotiate with North Korea.’’