Jason Kenney’s back to save the right from Trumpism

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OTTAWA — Jason Kenney says he felt compelled to return to his mostly dormant X account this month, after he got tired of seeing U.S. President Donald Trump denigrate both Canada and the bedrock conservative principles he’s spent most of his adult life defending.

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“I think what triggered me to get back online was Trump’s attacks on Canada and the simultaneous betrayal of Ukraine, and all that this implied for our country and our world,” Kenney said in an interview with National Post on Wednesday. 

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Kenney, who’s kept a relatively low profile since leaving politics, raised a lot of eyebrows with an acerbic return to the Elon Musk-owned social media platform in early March. He’s had a busy month so far pushing back against both Trump’s shifting tariff rationales and bot-boosted Russian talking points.

“American farmers will be so pleased to know they can fertilize their crops with copies of Ayn Rand books while waiting a decade or longer for Argentina to become a major potash producer,” wrote Kenney in one viral tweet, trashing Trump’s short-lived 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods.

While Kenney is one of several retired politicians, including his ex-boss Stephen Harper, to speak out against Trump’s tariff and annexation threats in recent weeks, he’s been notably harsh on the American president’s “traitorous” sympathizers north of the border.

Kenney told National Post that he hopes to push back against the cross-border spillover of Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) politics.

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“Any view that you see expressed on the MAGA right has an echo constituency in Canada,” said Kenney.

He noted that there’s been an especially sharp uptick in Canadian social media accounts parroting the Russia-friendly arguments made by MAGAsphere influencers like Tucker Carlson.

“All you have to do is look at the replies when (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre posts something supportive of Ukraine, and there are suddenly dozens of replies trashing him for being a ‘globalist sellout’,” he added.

“Hopefully we can keep it largely contained to the more fetid pools of the Internet, but it’s going to take leadership.”

Kenney said it was imperative for Canada’s leaders, conservative and otherwise, to hold the line on backing Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia, especially with Trump publicly giving wartime President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a cold shoulder.

“Defeating Putin in Ukraine will radically reduce the chances of a Chinese invasion in Taiwan… and send a message to avaricious tyrants across the world that democratic countries won’t just look the other way,” said Kenney.

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Kenney said that Canada should also get ready to play a bigger role in defending Ukraine as the Trump-led U.S. wavers.

“Coming through for Ukraine will be a challenge, but Canada’s military has done hard things before,” said Kenney.

Kenney says he’ll likely keep up his social media presence for the foreseeable future.

“I think I’ll probably be on (X) semi-regularly in the future. I just want to avoid the trap of that a lot of people fall into being on it obsessively.”

He added that those waiting on a full-on political comeback will just have to keep on waiting.

“Listen, I’m enjoying life in the private sector. I’ve paid my dues. I don’t expect to be going back into government. But I guess you never say never.”

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

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