What is? Trump would almost certainly hope Carney lose, and this makes it look like he is at least treating the PM as an equal, increasing Carney's credibility on the file.

When you think of who he is, Trump, he is always, always consistent, and it is always, always about him. Market crashing, people reacting to the tariffs, he needed a way out without losing face. He's framing it as if Carney is reasonable, he doesn't care who's in place, he cares about how he looks

Yes, MAGA definitely wants Carney to lose. Carney got a surge in polls when it looked like a crisis and we needed him more. This is a reverse psych tactic that helps PP. See Trump's comment last week, too. Trump is being advised to make it seem situ isnt defcon 1.

Shorter answer: assume killing Canada is still on the US agenda despite what Trump says, and vote accordingly: Vimy, not Vichy.

Well, yeah, I agree completely with that. But Trump wouldn't knuckle under for anyone else's political benefit. Trump would knock Poilievre to make him seem like the nasty, less preferred (to Trump) choice. Conservative Party is in a damned if you do damned if you don't situation.

Oh, this is for T's benefit, I agree. I think historical trends in polling in wartime is what's driving MAGA strategy here. Most are abject ahistorical halfwits, but there are a couple of savvy advisors in the mix who watched the Cons dive in the polls, so are switching course.