I stumbled across Curse of Politics yesterday, a not-terrible podcast that gets Canada’s political insiders to say the word fuck, a lot, sometimes bracketed between cool insights. This might be an odd thing to say, but as a journalist I feel like I am being let in on something secret when the backroom-types who actually control our democracy let the “F” bombs fly. It’s like they forget we are watching.
In a flurry of expletives, Doug Ford’s election guru, Kory Teneycke let it rip on the federal campaign’s blowing a 25-point lead. Kory is big mad because the feds didn’t “pivot” against Donald Trump sooner. I hate this idea because of its dishonesty but this is why I would never make it in the world of highly-lucrative political consulting. I do agree with him when he talks about political malpractice — but for the opposite reason. I’ll explain in a minute. First watch this:
If Tory insiders are this mad outwardly — imagine the scream-o-rama behind closed doors. The idea that a Conservative victory is even in doubt given the state of the country is depressing and will require some deep thinking in the future. And as I’ve said before — a solid deprogramming campaign is required stat for the Stepford Wife Carney robots who refuse to see him for what he is.
I get that its not an easy swerve when many of your voters are MAGA but you need to appeal to a larger cohort which includes Trump haters. Not an easy strategy. But punishing supporters isn’t the answer either. Watch this clip of a MAGA Tory who was refused entry to a Poilievre rally because of his politically dangerous hat. This is also malpractice.
Meanwhile, Poilievre rejects Teneycke’s criticism and frankly — I’m not sure what advice I would give if anyone asked. I do believe that honesty is the best policy, even if it means taking a risk. If Poilievre had stayed the course and been more diplomatic about Trump’s tariff wars instead of mimicking the Liberals — he might have a moment to exploit now — since Trump is easing the pain for some countries, but not for us. With the state of the electorate right now, even if Poilievre got this win, Carney would convince his followers that it’s a bad thing. You know, something like; at least we died with out boots on! Instead of kneeling before Orange Man Bad.
I hate politics and I know the pain many of you are feeling after ten years of abuse and manipulations from the Liberals who seem to have parts of the country hypnotized. Yes, I will vote Conservative while holding my nose. But I won’t like it and I'm starting to really not like Poilievre.
Share this post