Carney Aimed His Elbows At Canadians, Not Americans

During his campaign, Mr. Carney told Canadians that the elbows were going up. What he neglected disclose, and what no one else seemed to investigate, was exactly who the elbows were going up for. Now the country has learned; Carney’s elbows weren’t aimed at the Americans, but Canadians.

The fact of the matter is that regardless of one’s political opinion (including the author’s own), President Trump is walking Prime Minister Carney in these trade negotiations.

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Not that they can really be called negotiations. At best, they can be called a series of missteps, concessions, and apologies, like the olive branch that Carney just handed the President. One may harbour a hard disdain for all things republican and Trump and yet still concede the fact that the President wields a superior negotiating prowess to anything Carney’s delivered.

But highlighting the inferior diplomatic strategy of Mr. Carney is not the point of this article. Instead, the point is to highlight the danger of such inferiority. That Mr. Carney is a weak man should surprise almost no one; that weak men are more dangerous than strong men is a surprise to almost everyone. Here’s why:

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A strong man is so strong that he rarely needs to unsheathe his sword. His power is practical legend, making a mere glance from his gaze reason enough to obey his command. Likewise, the veteran statesman is a practical force of politics. The mere threat of being a target in his oratorical attacks persuades other members to vote agreeably with him on a bill.

But a weak man is so weak that he can do nothing except carry around his sword unsheathed. He's always showing others how sharp it is, and he's always swinging it wildly like a fool, for in his estimation, he doesn’t have another choice. He thinks that showing off his sword is the only way to demonstrate some semblance of strength, when in fact it only serves to prove how little strength he has.

Again, the weak politician is similar. He is so weak that he can do nothing but exercise his power to try and prove that he is not weak. Thus, he signs bill after bill, restricting the rights of others if only to reinforce the ability he has to do so on his own.

Now the terrible danger with all this is that when the weak man feels threatened, he takes his sword and swings it, not with precision, but like a madman. He becomes like a butcher, chopping up everything in his path. It is not an effective strategy, but a devastating one. Innocents are inevitably harmed by the shrapnel of his stupidity, all while his enemy stands back and laughs at his inexperience.

So too it is clear that when Mr. Carney (the weak politician in our analogy) feels threatened, he launches doomed tariffs, makes diplomatic errors by meeting with Europe instead of America, and finally, makes economic promises he cannot possibly hope to keep.

In Carney’s arrogance, he thought himself fit to direct Canada. He took control of the country and found its economic cannons empty. Like a general assuming command of a battlefield he knows nothing about, Carney walked into a situation unprepared to navigate its challenges. He reacted like any other novice would – with irrationality and irresponsibility – and damaged Canada in the process.

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Cover Photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bankofengland/9184392886