Why Does Donald Trump Hate Justin Trudeau?

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I’m not going to pretend to be shocked by this, but…seriously?

President Trump said he rejected a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada during the United Nations General Assembly this week and threatened on Wednesday to punish Canada by taxing the cars it exports into America, signaling a new low in relations between the two nations.

….Mr. Trump said he turned down a meeting with Mr. Trudeau because Canada had treated the United States “very badly” and because of its high dairy tariffs, which are preventing the United States from selling milk into Canada. A spokesman for Mr. Trudeau said the prime minister never requested such a meeting. On Tuesday, Mr. Trump appeared to snub Mr. Trudeau when he did not stand to shake the Canadian prime minister’s hand during a lunch at the United Nations summit meeting.

Unless someone is slipping my mind, Justin Trudeau is literally Donald Trump’s most hated foreign adversary. Justin Trudeau! The prime minister of Canada!

But why? Because Trudeau is movie-star handsome? Because the Trump Tower in Toronto removed his name? Because…oh hell, I can’t even think of anything else. I mean, it can’t really be over milk tariffs. Who the hell cares about that? Is it because Trump is still stewing over Trudeau’s comment that Canada “will not be pushed around” after he retaliated against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs? I guess it could be, though other world leaders have said worse things.

I wonder if there’s something else going on? One thing’s for sure, it’s not because we’re running a big trade deficit with Canada.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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