Justin Trudeau: Peeling The Layers Of A Personality Cover-Up

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not lying when he attributed the secret of his success to mostly luck in his recent interview with 60 Minutes. He just didn’t know it yet. From a Freudian perspective, he has had many painful if not traumatic experiences which transformed him into the man that he is today. One of these was his poignant discovery when he was 20 years old that his mother, Margaret Trudeau, was suffering from depression. There was also the death of his brother, Michel, a family tragedy that Justin’s father never quite recovered from to the day he passed away.

For another, he admits to having had some sort of a breakdown when he was in Grade 12, which could actually have been a nervous breakdown. In his own words, as reported by CBC from the 60 Minutes interview, Trudeau spoke about his emotional struggles.

“I hadn’t really realized that it was very much about following in my father’s footsteps, and I had a bit of breakdown, where I just realized this wasn’t my track. This wasn’t being true to me and I was lined up to try and emulate my father’s success in a way that wasn’t suited to the kind of person I am.”

To paraphrase, Justin Trudeau had an early start at finding his real self. At an age when most young people were partying and trying all sorts of stuff, he was already struggling with how to become his own man. Just imagine having a legendary Canadian Prime Minister for a father and getting a daily dose of words of wisdom to live and grow by.

Of course, having a complete family growing up helped a lot, and so did having the means to pursue a higher education. Apparently, he had a happy childhood, which is definitely a plus. Everyone knows that having lots of playtime is important, and evidently, Justin got that, too.

Surely, Justin and his family have been the darlings of the press ever since he ascended to the highest office in Canada last October. Just picture the affinity that he has with President Obama. Pictures do tell the Justin Trudeau success story much more than words ever can, observes James Mennie in the Montreal Gazette.

Yet, behind that incredible, toothpaste-commercial smile, there is a man of steel inside Justin Trudeau. This will explain why in eight years’ time, he was able to go from snow board instructor to club bouncer, to Prime Minister. This will explain why he beat Stephen Harper during the elections. Like Superman, he alone had the X-ray vision to really see through his opponents.

He smiled a lot, spoke mostly positive stuff, and tried to look relaxed even when he was running on sheer adrenaline towards the end of an extremely arduous political campaign. No doubt, he had spin doctors telling him what to do, even what to say. But in the end, he made his own decisions. He decided to win in his own way.

The most revealing thing that Justin said about himself has to do with the 2012 charity boxing match he had with Senator Patrick Brazeau in the Canadian Parliament, which Kev Kibble in his Tweet so eloquently captured: “Boxing is not about how big a punch you can throw. It’s about how big a punch you can take and keep going.”

“The 60 Minutes segment dedicated more time highlighting Trudeau’s triumph in a… boxing match than it did on the prime minister’s views on ISIS and the refugee crisis. But the U.S. audience seemed to be impressed with Trudeau’s boxing skills,” writes the CBC’s Christina Commisso. On March 10, Justin will attend a White House state dinner, the first one between Canada and the United States in two decades.

Definitely, a long time coming, but Trudeau truly deserves everything that is coming to him because he has earned it. He is a living example of Frank Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way.” He will never learn to box as well as Muhammad Ali or Manny Pacquiao. What Justin Trudeau truly knows is a boxing principle, which he has learned to apply in politics better than any politician.

[Photo by Pool/Getty Images]