As President Donald Trump prepares to enter into his second term, it is important to reacquaint ourselves with that media affliction known as Trump Derangement Syndrome. One of its classic symptoms is the urge to blame everything on Trump, This symptom was on clear display as the legacy media reported on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to step down from his post.
Not all the networks succumbed to this malady. ABC reported Trudeau’s resignation as a brief:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
1/6/24
6:44 PM
DAVID MUIR: North of the border in Canada tonight, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing his resignation after nine years as prime minister. Trudeau facing growing discontent over the economy and immigration, and divisions in his own government. President-Elect Trump has also threatened major tariffs for Canada. Trudeau will stay in office until at least March.
Whirled News Tonight anchor David Muir mentioned the Trump threat of tariffs but did not directly cite them as a reason for Trudeau’s resignation. NBC and CBS, however, went full TDS.
Watch the NBC Nightly News report in its entirety, as Andrea Mitchell all but blames Trump for ending Trudeau (click "exoand" to view full transcript:
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
1/6/25
6:42 PM
LESTER HOLT: Canada's longtime Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today he is stepping down as he faced growing turmoil at home and a difficult relationship with President-Elect Donald Trump. Here is Andrea Mitchell.
ANDREA MITCHELL: Tonight, deeply unpopular at home because of soaring prices and ridiculed by President-Elect Trump, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau bowing out.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU: I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust nationwide, competitive process.
MITCHELL: The son of a popular prime minister, Trudeau's movie star looks and photogenic young family made him an international star. But in recent years, he was criticized for inflation and immigration. Three weeks ago, his closest adviser, the deputy prime minister, resigned.
TRUDEAU: It has become clear to me that if I am having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.
MITCHELL: A final blow, tension with President-Elect Trump, who threatened Canada with 25% tariffs. Despite Trudeau rushing to Mar-a-Lago to appease him, Trump blames Canada for fentanyl and undocumented immigrants crossing the border, and Canada's trade advantage with the U.S. Mocking him on Truth Social as a governor, posting today: “Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st state.”
What’s the impact of having a leadership crisis in Canada?
RICHARD HAASS: I actually think it probably smooths the relationship. Since, clearly, Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau were not on the same page.
MITCHELL: Trudeau will still be prime minister for a few months of Trump’s presidency while Canada decides how to replace him. Lester.
HOLT: Andrea, thank you.
Andrea Mitchell made sure to bookend her report with Trump. In the beginning, she cited the Trump mockery as opposed to the tariff threats. She closed out by mentioning that some of Trudeau’s term will dovetail with Trump’s. Mitchell did her level best to frame Trump as the bad guy here.
The same goes for CBS’s Elizabeth Palmer, who did not cite Trump at the beginning of her report, but made sure to frame him as being the straw that broke Trudeau’s back. Below is the full transcript of that report (click “expand”):
CBS EVENING NEWS
1/6/25
6:40 PM
NORAH O’DONNELL: There is major news tonight concerning America's neighbor to the north. Justin Trudeau announced today that he’s stepping down as leader of Canada's governing party after serving nearly a decade as prime minister. CBS's Elizabeth Palmer now on what led to Trudeau's downfall.
ELIZABETH PALMER: With his popularity plunging, no one was surprised by the announcement.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU: I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister.
PALMER: In 2015, aged only 43, Justin Trudeau swept to power, the second youngest prime minister in Canadian history. With a telegenic family and a liberal mission.
TRUDEAU: We stand for a woman's right to choose. We stand for the right to be who you are and love whom you love.
PALMER: At first, he was a breath of fresh air. With his easy charm, he headed a Liberal government through good times and bad, including the pandemic. He was invited to The White House by successive presidents, on a mission to keep relations with Canada's largest trading partner sweet. But in the last couple of years, things soured for him. He separated from his wife and faced public anger about inflation and a housing crisis. Then, President-Elect Trump, who in his first term had welcomed Trudeau, threatened tariffs that would cripple the Canadian economy and insultingly called him the governor of America's 51st state. Today Justin Trudeau chose to walk away from that fight, and the job of leading that troubled country. For CBS News, I’m Elizabeth Palmer.
But the fact is that Trudeau’s exit as Prime Minister had been cooking for a while now, even before the U.S. presidential election. Moreover, the event that shattered Trudeau’s coalition had been brewing for a while. Per Reuters:
OTTAWA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Canada is expected to announce on Monday it blew past its deficit target for last year, when Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presents her mid-term budget, and economists said estimates for this year could also be higher as spending increases.
The fiscal update, called the Fall Economic Statement, will be presented later than usual and comes as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatens 25% tariffs on goods exported to the United States if Canada does not do more to stop immigrants and drugs from crossing the border.
It was inflation and the economy, as was the case right here in the good old U.S. of A. Moreover, the government is delaying the filing of their financial report.
In addition to the finances, there is the matter of Trudeau’s popularity, which had cratered to the point of his becoming a drag on the party. Per Reuters:
OTTAWA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Canada's ruling Liberal Party lost a once-safe seat in a Montreal parliamentary constituency, preliminary results showed on Tuesday, a result likely to put more pressure on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to quit.
Notice the dateline. Mid-September. Well before Trump won the election and issued tariff threats against Canada.
The media’s insistence on injecting narrative into a story rather than reporting the facts as they appear, fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome, shows that they have a long way to go before they can be taken seriously.