Friday, January 06, 2017

The Canadian Kid

"The Canadian Kid" headed for the ring
Before I discovered the movie "God Save Justin Trudeau" I watched a ton of videos related to the 2012 boxing match between Justin Trudeau, now the Prime Minister of Canada and Patrick Brazeau, now the day manager of a strip club (true story) and not once did I hear anybody refer to Trudeau as "The Canadian Kid" in spite of the fact that he walked into the ring wearing a robe with those words emblazoned on the back.

Patrick Brazeau's robe said "Brazz Knuckles Brazeau" and he was called that many times, especially by right-wing commentator Ezra Levant. It's a curious thing. Trudeau was referred to by the match announcer as "The Papineau Pugilist" on several occasions, never anything else.

In any case, this is what The Canadian Kid had to say after the match, as recorded in the movie "God Save Justin Trudeau."

Q: So how does it feel? 
   TRUDEAU 
It feels really good. I had a game plan that I was going to stick to - I knew he was going to come in heavy and hard, right off the bat, but I also knew that I was going to be able to take anything he threw at me. And when he did he emptied himself out and I just kept going. 
What was it in my training that allowed me to do that? It wasn’t my training, it’s how I am. I take hits and I keep going. That’s a lesson that Pat learned tonight, maybe a few other people learnt tonight but we’ll see how it goes. 
Q: What have you proved for Justin Trudeau for the liberal party? 
I proved that a liberal can take a punch. I proved that we’re not people who can be counted out even though we seem nicer, and a little more touchy-feely and we believe in good things and we believe in giving opportunities to people and we don’t trash talk as much and we don’t go negative.  But we can hit really hard and we can take anything they give at us, because the heart pushes further than anything else.

In his autobiography, Trudeau had this to say about his approach to the fight:

A week before the fight, Matt Whitteker, my trainer in Ottawa, asked about my fight plan. I told him how I thought it would go: Brazeau would throw everything he had at me early. I'd spend the first round keeping him away with my jab and reach, and let him tire himself out. By the second round I'd have more gas than him and take the initiative, and perhaps in the third round I'd go for the knockout. Matt smiled at my confidence and teased: "Oh you'll wait for the third round to knock him him out, will you?"
Having just re-watched the movie for the seventh or eighth time, I could swear that in the training scene shown just before the actual match, Trudeau, coached by his Montreal trainer Ali Nestor Charles (you can see his Linked In profile here, written in French bien sur) is actually practicing being hit hard in the head and being stunned in the ring. Which paid off when he was being pummeled by Brazeau in the first round.

But then, what do I know about boxing?

But I do know something about unrequited love, which brings me to Ezra Levant's for Justin Trudeau.

Here is the photo that triggered Ezra Levant's epic meltdown (a family asked Trudeau to be in their bridal photos), in which he called the entire Trudeau family sluts. You can't get the video of the meltdown, they removed it (and apologized to Justin Trudeau) but here's a transcript of an interview Levant gave about the incident. Levant is a foul little pustule of a man.


If that photo triggered him, I can just imagine what this one did. I can't find the video for this kiss, but I did find a very brief clip from another moment in that show (the March 4, 2012 episode of "Tout Le Monde En Parle" just a few weeks before the boxing match ) with Trudeau's wife jocularly suggesting he kiss a different man.



I still can't figure out where the Canadian alt-right stands on homosexuality though. I questioned Judgy Bitch on her blog about it but so far only her flying monkeys have responded. She once referred to Trudeau as a "faggot" but she also claims to love self-described faggot Milo Yiannopoulous - and certainly Levant had no qualms about publishing a video of famous misogynist Gavin McInnes making out with Yiannopoulous.

There's some very weird logical dissonance going on with the far right - I mean even more than usual.