Government by Obfuscation

Two seasoned prime ministers have perfected the art of not being held accountable

You may have missed it, but Canada this week was rocked by a political scandal in which the current governing Liberals appear to have ignored some stern warnings from national security services as to the suitability of one of its candidates for parliament. More precisely, it was China’s direct interference with Canada’s elections by betting on the governing Liberal Party as the vehicle most favourable to secure its interests. Canadian journalist Terry Glavin has been reporting on this ongoing affair in detail for many moons and he is worth checking out.

For Justin Trudeau the issue here was not primarily his country’s security, but how to ensure that this piece of uncomfortable news would go away fast. His approach is simple: any probing or criticism is deflected as anyone raising the issue is probably misguided as to how Canada works like his comment that political parties do not take orders from its security services, no matter how grave the situation. Or, and that is of course the easiest and most effective rebuttal: if you have some issues with China, you are in all likelihood racist. Yes, he's not lying, but he masterfully neutralizes the issues such that few may be willing to probe deeper and scrutinize Canada’s political leadership. Power preservation at all costs.

For almost eight years now Canada has been exposed to meaningless speeches and deeply uncomfortable press conferences where Trudeau does not even attempt to answer questions. In a blatant disregard to journalists and voters alike, he rattles off well prepared statements and carefully crafted slogans without so much bothering to connect these utterances to the question at hand. It does not matter. Deflect, obfuscate, whatever, as long as you don’t engage or lie, you are home safe. Canada’s media often just sit there and nod: thank you Justin for clarifying that. It is not only disrespectful and arrogant, but in now ignoring or polishing away real security threats it is outright dangerous. If you think Trump was culpable in allowing Russia to interfere with US elections, take some time to dive into the Trudeau-China file, it is truly not a pretty sight.

It dawned on me that Trudeau has a good liberal friend on the other side of the ocean who is equally adept at fooling his national media and fellow countrymen. Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has been at it for not less than thirteen years and as time has moved on he’s managed to survive and in particular laugh away a series of truly ghastly scandals. From the childcare benefit scandal, the appalling refugee crisis, the attempts to sideline a critical MP, missing and deleted text messages, the harsh attempts to steamroll the farmers, to a devastating report on gas operations last week which destroyed a northern region and many of its inhabitants, Rutte’s slate is unending. The man who coined the phrase of “not having an active memory” has much like Trudeau perfected the art of not lying while avoiding any political responsibility which would normally be the case in a functioning democracy. The childcare disaster only resulted in a temporary resignation for the existing coalition to return only a few months later. Rutte has an iron grip on Dutch politics.

You may wonder how they both get away with it. One way to do that is that you ensure that your smartest and most ambitious colleagues somehow are dismissed or promoted away. So in both Canada and The Netherlands there are no obvious successors for the top job, the talented people have long gone. And the electorates in both nations have actually come to believe it. A bewildered “who else” or “despite it all, he’s doing a great job” are the often heard sentiments used to explain away the neo-liberal sociopathy that unites Justin Trudeau and Mark Rutte. Why change? It could be far worse.

And therein lies the key. The fear that things could be worse where in Canada the opposition Conservative Party could win an election and takeover government, a scenario that helpful media have embellished such that it is actually working in preserving liberal power. Or in the Dutch case where a loss of Rutte’s liberal party could yield a fractured parliament where not less than four emerging right-leaning parties can put a stop to any centrist coalition building and make the country ungovernable. Both leaders have also enthusiastically used fiscal policies to prolong their stay, the open purse often works magic (while also causing inflation of course). The media has acquiesced here in playing along and lobbing softball questions to these guys or accepting the deflection and obfuscation once really hard questions were asked. Let’s not rock the boat too hard.

In the meantime the voters have become restless. Most polls in Canada now point to a Conservative win if elections were held today and Mark Rutte is facing provincial elections later this month (where in turn the provinces elect the crucial senate) where it is expected his party will fare pretty badly. The longer voters in these uncertain and challenging times are faced with these smiling wonder boys, the angrier and more radical they will get. Their concerns are not only not addressed, they are wilfully ignored.

However, let’s not forget we do expect our leaders to play hardball and push certain matters, even if they are skirting that what is morally acceptable. A minister fired, a text message missing, a question ignored, fine, it happens. But when actual victims start to emerge as was the case in The Netherlands where suicides and broken families started making headlines or when national security is compromised as it is now in Canada, it is becoming quite hard to smile and laugh it all away.

In those moments democracy is increasingly under threat. The downward spiral of the unbridled exercise of power is palpable and it is beginning to create unprecedented divisions in what once where placid and thriving western democracies. The long stretches in power for the neoliberal pals from Ottawa and The Hague could be winding down sooner rather than later one would think. We can only hope that they have not set a precedent on how to govern and that the divisions they created will not benefit the well-known adversaries who would love nothing more than stumbling and fading democracies.