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Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump parroted a baseless conspiracy theory about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau possibly being the son of former Cuban president Fidel Castro on Monday.
In the interview with Adin Ross, a controversial 24-year-old internet influencer and livestreamer, Trump also discussed his relationship with other world leaders and public figures, including a number of Democrats, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who he called a “genius” and “a very good person,” and rapper Kanye West, who he said has a “good heart,” but is “very complicated” and “can get himself into trouble.”
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Of Chinese President Xi Xinping, Trump said: “I will have a very good relationship with him. There’s no, there’s no going to war with him. He doesn’t want to go to war. We’re not going to war…. He loves his country and he’s very strong and powerful.”
Of North Korean Leader Kim Jong Il, Trump said: “Now this man I got along with really well.”
He said he played Elton John’s hit song “Rocket Man” for the dictator when they met in Singapore in 2018, after he had nicknamed Kim “Little Rocket Man” over his nuclear claims.
When asked about Canada’s prime minister, Trump brought up a debunked conspiracy theory about Trudeau’s parentage.
“He’s turned very liberal actually. They say he’s the son of Fidel Castro and, uh, could be. I mean anything’s possible in this world, you know,” he said. The Prime Minister’s Office has not commented on the recent claim but has previously denied it.
In the interview, which was livestreamed on the platform Kick and posted to YouTube, where it has more than 1.6 million views, Trump said that he gets along well with Trudeau, but he also called him “very progressive” and stated that, “the people of Canada are not liking it.”
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“If they had a good conservative person which — maybe they do, maybe they don’t, I don’t know — but, uh, somebody that’s a strong conservative would win Canada. Canada is very unhappy about the way they’ve been treated as people, but I got along with him well,” Trump said.
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The Castro-Trudeau conspiracy spread widely after the death of the Cuban dictator in 2016.
Upon Castro’s death, Trudeau issued a statement calling him a “legendary revolutionary and orator” and praising his reforms to Cuba’s education and health-care services.
“While a controversial figure, both Mr. Castro’s supporters and detractors recognized his tremendous dedication and love for the Cuban people who had a deep and lasting affection for ‘el Comandante.’ I know my father was very proud to call him a friend and I had the opportunity to meet Fidel when my father passed away. It was also a real honour to meet his three sons and his brother President Raúl Castro during my recent visit to Cuba,” Trudeau said at the time.
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The statement was criticized for humanizing the dictator, which helped stoke conspiracies, especially on the now-banned subreddit /r/The_Donald. This was exacerbated by the fact that Castro had served as an honorary pallbearer for Pierre Elliott Trudeau at his funeral and by Justin Trudeau’s personal trips to Cuba, including his 2016 trip as prime minister.
However, as Tristin Hopper reports, it’s impossible for Trudeau to be the son of the Cuban dictator. Watch the video above, or read the transcript below to find out why.
Justin Trudeau really, really, really looks like Fidel Castro. Justin Trudeau’s mother, Margaret, knew Castro personally and the Trudeau family has a pretty weird habit of constantly praising the Castros. So the very understandable rumour is that all these things might be related.
But, first, let’s remember that Justin Trudeau’s father Pierre — also a Canadian prime minister — similarly looked a lot like Castro. Secondly, Trudeau was born on Christmas Day, 1971, which means he was conceived just a few weeks after his parents got married. The Trudeaus don’t meet Fidel until 1976, when Justin was five.
Last and most importantly, Margaret Trudeau is not known for keeping secrets. Her numerous autobiographical books are filled with super-personal sex stuff. So if she’d conceived a kid with Castro, that’s probably something she would have told us about. To learn more about the evidence for why Justin Trudeau is not related to the Castros, read this feature.
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