Trudeau hangs on as Trump countdown runs down.

In the latest episode of The Line Podcast, recorded on Dec. 27, 2024, your hosts give listeners a quick update on all that's been happening this week. And a bunch of stuff has been happening!

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The main topic is the fact that Justin Trudeau has seemingly succeeded, at least temporarily, in escaping his critics within his own party. He survived Freeland Week. He made it to the holidays. But ... why? What is he hanging on for? What purpose is served by dragging this out another day, week or month? Matt says the entire Liberal party reminds him right now of one of those terrible tragedies when someone is hanging onto a bouncy castle or balloon that has become unmoored. The smart thing to do is to let go right away, fall a little bit and maybe bust a leg. If you hang on a few extra seconds, you get too high and probably end up dead. The PM and his caucus have already hung on too long. But they can always fall further! They also chat about how the Conservatives are trying to use some procedural stuff to force an election as soon as possible. It might not work. But the pressure on the PM keeps ratcheting up.

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Next up: the latest out of the U.S., where president-elect Donald Trump is only 24 days from taking office. He's talking about buying Greenland and taking control of the Panama Canal again. Matt has another proposal, and he's semi-serious: the moon! Go colonize the moon! That can be his Louisiana Purchase! The first extra-planetary president! Your hosts also talk about the best way of handling Trump's pressure on Canada. Jen has absolutely zero patience for the people who are only now realizing that maybe Canadian sovereignty was worth investing in and defending all along.

A special note: our next podcast is going to be recorded a few days early so that we can both take a vacation. It won't be possible to stay current with the news. So we're going to have some fun with it. For our paid subscribers only, go to ReadtheLine.ca. Find the post for this episode. And leave us a comment, again at ReadtheLine.ca, that includes a question for either or both of your hosts. We're going to use the next episode to answer your questions. It'll be a fun way to start off 2025. To repeat this very important point: this is a perk only for our paid subscribers. The only way we can confirm that you are paid up is if you leave your questions under this podcast post at our main website, ReadtheLine.ca. Questions on other platforms will be ignored with extreme prejudice.

So now, more than ever, like and subscribe, and visit us at https://www.readtheline.ca/ And, of course, Happy New Year! Talk to you next in 2025.