The war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took a nasty turn.
The twice-impeached convicted felon surprised many, even some loyalists, when he blamed Zelenskyy for starting the war with Russia. Not stopping there, the mercurial Trump doubled down on his biting attacks by parroting Kremlin talking points, accusing Zelenskyy, not Putin, of being a dictator by refusing to hold elections. The escalation only intensified when Zelenskyy accused Trump of “living in a disinformation space” created by Russia.
Through his response, the embattled Ukrainian leader has joined the ranks of one, Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum, inveighing against the American strongman’s dangerous attacks to their respective nations and political legitimacy.
This duo of rising global leaders are showing the world that amid the howling tides of authoritarianism, there are still champions equipped to fight against these sinister aims. Perhaps no bigger target exists today for Trump’s ire than the Great White North.
Just recently during the annual gathering of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in suburban Washington, D.C., Trump made no secret of his disdain for Canada. Speaking before an adoring and rabid crowd of MAGA loyalists, the former real estate mogul derided America’s northern neighbour. He doubled down on his fallacious claims that Ottawa is taking advantage of Washington and draining U.S. coffers via unfair trade and woefully imbalanced defence treaties.
Like Mexico and now Ukraine, Canada is being bombarded with derision from the Trump White House. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Canadian leaders have yet to mount an effective counter-offensive against the incessant belittling and disinformation.
Since his swearing-in, Trump has pitted America against the world. A global trade war, underscored by economically debilitating tariffs and expansionist aims, which include unilateral annexation of the territories of Gaza and Greenland, and the nations of Canada and Ukraine.
However, as global leaders respond with stunned lethargy and anemic listlessness, Presidents Sheinbaum and Zelenskyy are enacting a blueprint should others deign to emerge from their cowardly stupor.
Sheinbaum, the first female president in Mexico’s history, has threatened legal action against American tech giant Google, for kowtowing to Trump’s demands of changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Google Maps. The Mexican president also angrily rejected an accusation by the White House that her government has an alliance with drug cartels.
Sheinbaum posted on social media: “We categorically reject the slander made by the White House against the Mexican government about alliances with criminal organizations.” She continued her blistering assault by attacking America’s preternatural affinity with guns by saying:
“If there is such an alliance anywhere, it is in the U.S. gun shops that sell high-powered weapons to these groups…If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious consumption of fentanyl in their country, they can combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they don’t do, and the money laundering generated by this illegal activity that has done so much harm to their population.”
— Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum
Hitting U.S. policy over the scourge of guns and illegal narco-trafficking that has flourished for decades inside the nation, Mexico City is taking a page out of the White House playbook of going low, striking out at the epidemic of mass shootings that have become a macabre hallmark of American culture.
Still, even when reducing one’s self to Trump’s levels of schoolyard antics, the payoff might not be as beneficial. However, in this instance, Sheinbaum has been highly lauded for her approach to handling her U.S. counterpart. In fact, her approval ratings at home are hovering around an astounding 80 per cent. A stratospheric number compared to Trump, who is already finding himself underwater with approval ratings in the low 40s and falling.
Though not as cunning or witty as Mexico’s leader, Zelenskyy, staring down an existential threat of systematic annihilation to his country through Russian barbarism and savagery, has lashed out at quixotic claims of Ukrainian fascism.
Putin’s efforts at delegitimizing Zelenskyy’s presidential tenure has quickly gained steam from the Trump administration to the chagrin and horror of even stalwart supporters and allies of the two-term president, who allege Zelenskyy’s domestic support is at an anemic four per cent, when domestic numbers show the Ukrainian leader enjoying nearly 60 per cent support.
Yet, with authoritarian forces quickly closing in and Europe hapless and dithering, a desperate Zelenskyy is throwing caution to the wind and pushing back on the cavalcade of misinformation shaping a heavily imbalanced peace deal.
Mexico and Ukraine are the proverbial kite flying in the hurricane. The gale force winds of lawlessness and totalitarianism are battering their respective nations mercilessly. Still, by becoming a flint, a speckle of truth, they are galvanizing the nations they lead and being rewarded for their courage and their fierceness against more powerful forces.
Sheinbaum has already made concessions; Zelenskyy, too, recognizes his fate and that of his country. However, both have used their wiles and indefatigable political instincts to lessen the sting; stave off certain defeat; and mitigate the pain. Each, no match for a stronger, deadlier, and more cruel adversary.
Nevertheless, they have fought smartly, skillfully, and with exact cunning. Battles won, but the ultimate war will bring certain defeat. Perhaps the goal, the plan, the objective was to take the loss; delay the inevitable; weaken the strong; until others can muster the courage to neutralize the tides of darkness.
Canada, if you are watching, you’re up.
