The sound of silence

Want to hurt a narcissist bad? Shut up.

You know the scene near the end of Incredibles 2, where Mister Incredible realizes the only way to destroy Omnidroid, the perfect weapon invented by the villain Syndrome is to make it destroy itself?

I think this applies to Donald Trump’s presidency, too. The only thing that can put an end to this misery is DJT himself.

Recent opinion polls are showing support for Prime Minister Mark Carney a little bit softer than in the spring but still pretty respectable. I think most people are resigning themselves to the fact that it is not rational to expect relations with the United States to be anything remotely resembling normal until Trump is gone. I’m not even sure the midterms of November 2026 will be enough to sober him up.

So what’s a Canadian PM to do?

I’m no trade negotiator, but I have some painful experience (and impressive scar tissue) dealing with pathologically narcissistic people and finding my way to success by attacking them where they are weakest.

There is only one way to derail such people, it’s to ignore them. They can’t stand it. It makes them crazy to push buttons not see any reactions. To the point where they’ll hit themselves just to feel something.

Various Canadian premiers are offering different kinds of advice to the PM, ranging from rolling over to getting very sharp elbows all the way back up. For what it’s worth, and from my cheap seats that offers a limited view into what’s happening, I think Carney, so far, is going about it the right way.

There is no doubt that, whatever the details of the pointless tariffs end up being, the Canadian economy will suffer. Significantly. Some industries more than others. People will lose their jobs. Some towns will have a very rough time. I wish there was a way to avoid this, but it would require DJT to become a normal human being and, well, I don’t think that’s a bet worth wasting time considering.

So we prepare. Jordan Leichnitz on this week’s Curse of Politics podcast made the excellent point that we’re looking at a COVID-scale kind of crisis that will require COVID-scale kind of public support.

Right now is a little too early, because the hurt hasn’t started hitting hard enough yet. But when the time comes, we’ll need to be ready to rally.

It’s also important that people at levels lower than heads of government continue to engage in real, serious and grown-up ways. Keep the communication channels open with policy people. All indications are that this is happening.

The critical part of the equation is for the prime minister not to give Trump what he craves, which is attention. The kind of attention Trump can watch on TV or read on social networks. Trump needs the kind of attention other people notice. If you don’t give him that, you make him very mad indeed, in ways that mostly hurt him.

After a while of hitting buttons that don’t appear connected to anything, Trump will look for something else, or someone else, to hit. We can’t control what other countries and world leaders do. But as the closest neighbours, we need to be untouchable. Or at least, appear that way.

It’s a hard thing to do because it requires us to remain quiet and not say the things we so desperately want to scream at him. But screaming at him is precisely what he wants us to do.

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As long as Donald Trump thinks we’re waiting for him to do the sensible thing, he’s the one with leverage. If we ignore him, we’re the ones with leverage. Ignoring a narcissist is the best, most efficient way to fuck with him.

So that’s what I think we should do. Freeze him out. Ghost him. I know it sounds risky. I think the alternative is worse.

Don’t wait. Don’t hope. Deal with the situation as it is and find a way to win.