Terry Glavin: Trudeau’s turn from cool to laughing stock

Freddie loved the company of children & made sure the dreams of every child on Elm Street came true. #TrudeauEulogy

— Justice Don Willett (@JusticeWillett) November 27, 2016

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Ever since his election as Canada’s prime minister last October, Justin Trudeau has revelled in global tributes, raves and swoons. He’s the Disney prince with the trippy dance moves, the groovy Haida tattoo and the gender-balanced cabinet. He’s the last best hope for globalization, the star attraction at the Pride Parades, the hero of the Paris Climate Summit, the guy everyone wants a selfie with.

Trudeau made himself synonymous with Canada. He made Canada cool again. It was fun while it lasted.

By the early hours of Saturday morning, Havana time, Trudeau was an international laughing stock. Canada’s “brand,” so carefully constructed in Vogue photo essays and Economist magazine cover features, seemed to suddenly implode into a bonspiel of the vanities, with humiliating headlines streaming from the Washington Post to the Guardian, and from Huffington Post to USA Today.

It was Trudeau’s maudlin panegyric on the death of Fidel Castro that kicked it off, and there is a strangely operatic quality to the sequence of events that brings us to this juncture...

While a controversial figure,Dracula was a pioneer in blood transfusions & was known for lovingly creating bat sanctuaries.  #trudeaueulogy

— Richard Klagsbrun (@KlagsbrunTO) November 27, 2016