Leaders put their people first.

After the recent debacle in the Oval office X has exploded with comments supporting both sides of the very public spat.  The anti-trump crowd has decided the narrative is that Zelensky was the only true leader in the Oval office that day.  They could not be more wrong.  A real leader will do what is right for their people even if they find it distasteful.  Zelensky did not do that.

It does not matter if you agree with what Zelensky said, it was still wrong for him to say it in the oval office in front of the cameras.  Ukraine cannot survive without help from The US.  Do you think he will get that help now?  He should have bit his tongue signed the deal and then used the good will to get more aid but his ego would not let him.  His ego just got more of his people killed.  That is not leadership.

Zelensky did the wrong thing at the wrong time.  What he did should be a cautionary tale for Canadians politicians but I doubt it will be.  Canada like the Ukraine is completely dependent on the US.  Despite all the recent chest thumping and fake patriotism any rational observer would conclude that Trump is right.  Canada really is not a sovereign nation.  How can you be a sovereign nation when you depend on a foreign nation for your economy and national defense?

Canada has always been able to pretend to be independent because despite the best efforts of our brain dead politicians the US has always been benevolent toward us.  It has always shocked me that the US would treat us so kindly when most Canadian politicians have behaved exactly as Zelensky just did.  The only real exception was Stephen Harper.

Liberals and the media hate Stephen Harper but Harper was easily the best Prime Minister in my lifetime.  Sadly being the best Canadian Prime Minister is like being the least ugly person at an ugly convention.  I don’t think Harper was a particularly good Prime Minister he just was not as bad as all the rest. There was one thing about Harper, however, that I always respected.  Stephen Harper knew when to keep his mouth shut.

Harper was Prime Minister when both George Bush and Barrack Obama was President.  Bush and Obama are very different men.  Harper could not have liked both men equally yet he had good relations with both.  In fact I don’t know if Harper liked either man and that is the point.  Harper knew that Canada was dependent on the US and that it was not a good idea to antagonize the American president.  He kept his mouth shut.  If Zelensky was a leader he would have done the same.