For much of their overlapping political careers, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Trump have been portrayed as the North American yin and yang — two vastly different leaders with utterly distinct opinions, priorities and dispositions.
Much of this narrative stems from their sharp divergence on the issues we consider the defining themes of Western politics today, including immigration, climate change and LGBT rights. Trump is the figurehead of a coalition of conservative interests championing an agenda of static morality and a limited state; Trudeau, the cipher of a progressive movement craving activist government and the pursuit of chic social causes.
Yet despite their differences, both men have been caught equally flat-footed by the coronavirus. In recent weeks, the American and Canadian media have described similarly grim retrospectives of administrations too eager to play down the seriousness of covid-19 in the early days, and too dismissive of “knee-jerk reactions” (in Trudeau’s words), when they would have made the most difference. “From apathy to panic,” as the Edmonton Journal wrote of Canada’s response to the pandemic…
To read the entire article from The Washington Post, click https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/16/trudeau-looks-lot-like-trump-when-it-comes-coronavirus/
