Justin Trudeau (Accidentally) Makes the World Happy (See #TrudeauEulogies)

By The Stream Published on November 27, 2016

Note: This has been updated three times since publication. See the end for the new eulogies.

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau didn’t mean to give the world so much pleasure when he issued his official statement on the death of Fidel Castro. He was only sharing the sincere feelings of a wealthy leftist who got to live in Canada and not in Cuba, when one of the guys on his t-shirt died.

But ignite a fire of creativity and satire he did, with this line in particular: “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.’” (Read the whole thing for the full comic effect.)

To be fair to the prime minister, he never went as far as his brother Alexandre did, writing in The Toronto Star about ten years ago. Castro, declared starstruck Alexandre, was “something of a superman … an expert on genetics, on automobile combustion engines, on stock markets. On everything.” The Cuban people “do occasionally complain, often as an adolescent might complain about a too strict and demanding father.”

Trudeau has since tried to explain himself, but not effectively. “He certainly was a polarizing figure and there certainly were significant concerns around human rights,” he told reporters yesterday. He didn’t retract or change his statement.

And the World Responded

The world responded to the young Mr. Trudeau’s praise with the creation of #TrudeauEulogies. These short, Twitter-length eulogies, do for various real and fictional villains what Trudeau did for Castro, but with a twist. They’re technically right, yet completely wrong.

Like this one, about the Japanese prime minister (and war criminal) who ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor:

Here are some others. But first let me warn readers that the cleverest TrudeauEulogies are dark. Some were just too grim to use. They’re making fun of Trudeau’s eulogizing a wicked man with imitations eulogizing other wicked men, and written to drive the comparison home hard. Like this one about the fictional cannibal, and the next one too:

Others were also dark, like the next few:

On the drug kingpin who escaped from a supposedly maximum security Mexican prison:

On the Soviet dictator:

It’s a reference to the now often forgotten famine he created in Ukraine in the 30s, which killed millions, called the Holodomor.

On the late Libyan dictator:

On the late Iraqi dictator:

On the North Korean dictator:

On an ancient dictator:

On the Belgian king who ran the Congo for his personal enrichment and let possibly ten million die under his company’s regime:

On St. John the Baptist’s killer:

Many people used fictional characters (see the later additions below for more examples). Like Queen Medea:

For those not up on their Greek mythology, she was a sorceress who in one version of the story killed her children for vengeance against her husband.

And the Borg from Star Trek:

On the main character of Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho:

Lots of people chose Star Wars characters:

Others chose the Harry Potter stories.

And cartoon characters were also mentioned:

Here’s one from a friend I can’t find on Twitter. From Mitch Muncy:

Macbeth will be remembered for his openness to the voices of women.

And here’s mine:

Later: Here are some new ones:

I might be adding more. These are addictive.

Still Later, More Eulogies

Still Later, After a Friend Alerted Me to #TrudeauEulogy

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