Prime Minister Carney and the power of first impressions |
CHELSEA, QUE.—It was a jarring juxtaposition.
There was our slender, peripatetic prime minister, Mark Carney, running in Hyde Park with Finland’s prime minister, Alexander Stubb, last week—along with their two equally fit wives—chatting amiably as they jogged.
Carney was on yet another foreign trip—his 16th in just one year in office—drumming up new trade partners for Canada, rekindling old friendships in London (including with King Charles) and bonding with the leaders of five Nordic nations, who seemed delighted to welcome him. Indeed, Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called him “an honorary Nordic.”
Around the same time, United States President Donald Trump, rumpled and fake-tanned, joked with House Speaker Mike Johnson, in Washington, D.C., about a Florida Republican congressman facing a terminal illness. Trump momentarily stunned Johnson when he disclosed that the congressman “would be dead by June”—a diagnosis not previously made public. (After some jovial banter, Johnson later clarified that Trump had enlisted White House medics to treat the man, who is expected to recover.)
People, of course, are used to Trump’s coarseness—he recently called California Governor Gavin Newsom “mentally deficient” because of a dyslexia diagnosis—and, if anyone still pays attention, it is mostly to see how low the U.S. president will go. He rarely disappoints.
Get Weekend Point of View Newsletter
Top Canadian political and policy opinion and analysis. Saturdays and Sundays. Weekends.
By entering your email address you consent to receive email from The Hill Times containing news, analysis, updates and offers. You may unsubscribe at any time. See our privacy policy
Election promise tracker: key pledges parties are making this campaign
Mark Carney: a leader for turbulent times
All eyes on Trump: meet the top 50 foreign policy influencers navigating Canada’s role in a rocky world
Such video glimpses of political leaders, mostly in the form of clips on social media—may appear ephemeral, but they profoundly shape public impressions; more, certainly, than a leader’s policies, more, even, than the impact of those policies on individual lives. Trump is evidence of that, clinging to his base and the........