It's been no secret that #CdnMediaFailed in their coverage of this prime minister. The pigheaded year-end interviews he's suffered through are no exception. Fortunately, he gets a reprieve from that idiocy and so do we. Namely, PMJT's casual chat with his DJ buddy Terry DiMonte, as we head into 2022 and the PM hits the big five-oh...
. . .
The full interview is here on YouTube, as a contribution from the (better parts of the) Toronto Star. Terry retired from his morning rock 'n roll radio broadcast last year and now hosts a podcast. He made sure to keep up the tradition of his annual Christmas interview with Justin Trudeau that's now been going on for some twenty years.
And as he reminds the viewers, he's a radio DJ and not a "journalist," not asking his friend "pressing questions" about this or that issue... and yet this interview was arguably more engaging than the other year-enders, which didn't have any journalists in them either. (Just MuchMusic models, Evan "The Art Thief" Solomon and Mercedes "Pentagon Barbie" Stephenson.) It's here that you get to see PMJT the person, rather than frustrated politician contending with idiots who he is much too kind to.
I learned a lot from this chat, hopefully the last to be conducted in the COVID era. As the ball drops for New Year's eve, I'm counting down my top 10 takeaways from this far superior interview. (This is just a teaser — watch the whole thing, it's only a half hour and well worth the time!)
10. OK, he actually does drink — beer, that is (but not coffee). Not on a regular basis, though, and quite obviously he manages to hold his own. I'm more than fine with a PM who can handle a beer or two with friends or champagne on New Year's, as long as the trade-off for a teetotaler PM is being a religious freak who steals from his own party and panders to the dairy cartel with bizarre claims that chocolate milk saved his child's life. Bring on the bubbly if that's the case.
9. Xavier is almost six feet tall at just fourteen years of age. Kid is going places — if not the PMO, the Raptors for sure.
8. He's late, he's late, for an unimportant date — and it bothers him, his now trademark tardiness at press conferences. A lesson from his beloved mother has stayed with him all these years: "punctuality is the courtesy of kings," Margaret once said to her young son; in other words, if people are willing to wait for you (or are in a position where they have to), all the more reason you should try to be on time. He apologizes to the press gallery for his oft-lamented habit of not doing so. (Again, he really is too gracious to these people, far more than his father was and far more than they deserve. Me, I'd relish making them sweat.)
7. He can dance if he wants to: Wow, our new wave nostalgia PM sure has a way of making everything old, new again (I mean, he is Trudeaumania the sequel, after all). Asked by his rock DJ pal if there was any "new" music from this year that caught his ear, he mentions... a stripped-down acoustic remix of "The Safety Dance"? Because it's 1982, LOL. Now that's what I call rethinking space and time. 'Cause if your friends don't #StandWithTrudeau then they ain't no friends of mine...
6. He still gets starstruck — despite his entire life being lived in the public eye (and having parents who dated celebrities). Asked about conversations with world leaders (particularly "mercurial" U.S. presidents), PMJT tells his buddy that when he was first elected, he received a congratulatory phone call from none other than Barack Obama — and was practically speechless on the other end. Awww.
That being said, it should come as no surprise that any phone call with Donald Trump, let alone his first following the "bigliest inauguration ever" (the 2016 election) would leave anyone speechless on the other end. I'm guessing there wasn't one between JT and The Dump in 2020, though if there were, it might have gone like this:
Trump: "Justin! Get those lying losers at Dominion Voting Systems to find me ten thousand extra votes!"Trudeau: "Sir... this is a Tim Hortons."
'Course, if he sticks around until after November of 2024, he... might have to "entertain" that phone call again...
5. I don't know where Dean Blundell and his ilk are getting their disinfo from. I can guess it's the same place proctologists check for polyps. His relationship with his family sounds just fine. And if your friends are still thumping the marriage-truther conspiracy theory, then they ain't no friends of mine. (Sorry. Earworm.)
4. He can't accept that he's now surpassed the "twentieth anniversary of turning thirty" (neither can anyone else), and for good reason. The job ages most world leaders. Save for the no-longer-extant scruffy salt-and-pepper Santa beard and a few changes of haircut over the years, he has barely changed at all in the thirteen years since becoming an MP. Somewhere, Stephen Harper has a portrait of Trudeau at his IDU bunker in Munich that remains static just like the real thing, even as the embodiment of evil decays in exponential layers every single day.
3. Trudeau may be beautiful inside and out, but politics in Canada has gotten incredibly ugly since he took office (actually, even before Trump did). DiMonte brings up several times how worried he was, and still is, for the safety of his longtime pal and those he loves the most. Trudeau himself brushes off the possibility that he is under threat (or was during the campaign), but called out the wacky "protesters" making life a living hell for campaign volunteers and even the junk journos tagging along (again, I have zero sympathy for the latter).
What struck me is that he's felt the need to tell his kids that one of the sacrifices that comes with being a political family is that people who don't like him will take it out on those around him, and yes that includes children. This shouldn't be acceptable and it's tragic that he feels that this is now part and parcel of public life (even though he says it "shouldn't happen" in Canada, it very clearly is). I'd love to be a fly on the wall for those conversations with the wee ones. Then I'd love to shape-shift out of fly mode and give a what-for to those scumbags in the opposition parties who see nothing wrong with lying and riling up their base with agitprop just to "own the Libs." And the feckless media who let them get away with it.
Sorry not sorry to the decrepit fourth estate. You let yourself get outflanked as responsible journalists by a music DJ. You also aid and abet the rise of fascism and the risk of Canada having a JFK moment. You get way too much leeway from him but you'll get no quarter from me.
2. On a much lighter note: He likes sci-fi and puzzle games and often struggles to focus. Me too moi aussi. God damn I love you, fellow adult-A.D.H.D. tortured soul.
1. And finally: I have never eaten a Montreal bagel. I've never been to Montreal and I mostly get my bagels at Dunkin' Donuts. But Christ on a unicycle, what I wouldn't give to eat a Montreal bagel with this man. (He can have his Labatt 50, though. I'mma stick to Canada Dry.)
That's it! Happy New Year and here's to a much more improved 2022! Terry, can we get ourselves a long-distance dedication? For the man without hats who has plenty of fashionable socks...
