However unpopular the two leaders are today, history will be kind to both if they leave. Yet, in a display of vanity and recklessness, they are digging in.
We share the longest border on Earth. We have been at peace since 1812. We do billions of dollars in trade and commerce every day. We believe in democracy, the rule of law and capitalism.
Still, are there two more nations alike anywhere? Both reject class and embrace upward mobility. Both provide a social-safety net. Both have vast arable land, fresh water, fossil fuels and rare minerals.
Now, this summer, we see a new, unexpected entry in our catalogue of similarities: the character of the prime minister and the president.
Both Justin Trudeau and Joe Biden are progressives, with solid records. Both won office against the odds: Trudeau leading a third party to a majority government in 2015; Biden defeating the incumbent in 2020, becoming the oldest elected president.
Today, as they contemplate their future, Trudeau and Biden equally show a startling display of vanity, narcissism, self-delusion and recklessness.
Trudeau became leader of the Liberals in 2013, inheriting a proud party so shrunken there was talk of merging with the New Democrats. A superb retail politician, he led it back to power. He saved the party.
He won minorities in 2019 and 2021. His government legalized cannabis, expanded the social welfare state, increased the child tax credit, appointed record numbers of women and minorities.
In Canada, voters reliably tire of leaders after three mandates; no prime minister has won a fourth consecutive one since Wilfrid Laurier. Polls show the Liberals losing badly to the Conservatives next year.
To remain, given the authoritarian threat represented by Trump, who will be newly empowered by the most radical U.S. Supreme Court since the 1850s, is malpractice. Those advising Biden, beginning with his beloved wife, Jill, are committing elder abuse.
Curiously, however unpopular they are today, history will be kind to Trudeau and Biden if they leave. In both countries, we feel better about our leaders once we’re safely rid of them. See Harry Truman and George H.W. Bush. Or Lester Pearson and Brian Mulroney.
In staying on, Biden and Trudeau threaten to undo what they have created. For Trudeau, it invites a monumental loss to a demagogue bringing an easy, unseen nastiness to national politics. Biden risks making his administration an interregnum between two Trump presidencies, the second about revenge, retribution and chaos, the unravelling of American democracy.
Both men may change their minds. For the moment, though, with breathtaking vanity, they cling to power, a convergence of political and personal fortunes unknown in the history of our two peoples.