When Donald Trump said that Wayne Gretzky should become prime minister of Canada, one political analyst said it was pure Trump.
For the president of the United States, this analyst wrote, the only talent a person must have to lead a country is to be a celebrity.
Musk is a star? He can control the country’s finances!
Gretzky is a star? He can lead Canada!
What else could you expect from a man who became president of the world’s greatest power just because he hosted a reality show?
A FIRST ROLE
Effectively, “Gretzky for PM of Canada”, it’s pure Trump.
Politics considered a big Big Brother for former retired stars.
When will Mick Jagger be at 10 Downing Street?
Or Gérard Depardieu at the Élysée?
That said, we can laugh… Isn’t that what we did in Canada?
We elected Justin Trudeau just because he was someone else’s son.
If his name had been Justin Tremblay, he would have had no chance.
The guy had as much expertise in leading a country as I did in coaching the Canadian bobsleigh team at the upcoming Winter Games in Milan.
You will tell me that Zelensky became president of Ukraine just because he played… the president of Ukraine on TV!
Which doesn’t stop him from being a hell of a warlord.
Effectively…
But Zelensky is Zelensky, and Trudeau is Trudeau.
Did you see Zelensky dress as a Zulu chief when he visited southern Africa?
Or proud to be photographed wearing Star Wars socks at the G20?
From the start, we knew that Justin Trudeau was nothing more than a failed actor looking for a role.
Who took advantage of the PLC’s rout to find themselves, finally, in the spotlight.
Ben Mulroney at least had the merit of knowing his strengths and weaknesses, and of knowing that he was more in his place at the helm Canadian Idol than at the helm of the country.
Not Justin.
He became PM based on his last name, period.
THE JOKER
In the Italian TV series 1992, we are told how former singer and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi became president of Italy.
He was literally chosen by a marketing firm that had been commissioned by powerful businessmen to find a man, anyone, capable of defending their interests at the highest level in the country.
He was “cast”. As we “cast” the actor who will play the Joker.
We needed a face, a mascot, a flag bearer. We submitted a series of names in a survey. And Berlusconi’s came out.
So we sold it like we sell cereals.
That’s what happened with Justin.
The PLC was in the hole after the catastrophic appearances of Stéphane Dion and Michael Ignatieff.
We needed a well-known figure. A beautiful face.
And we saw Justin give a beautiful speech at his father’s funeral.
Bingo.
It could have been Wayne Gretzky.
