Just-released 1971 recording captures talks between Nixon, 'pompous' Trudeau

[Sunlei]

I wish Prime Minister Trudeau's father was still around, he would roast President Trump. This exchange between President Nixon and Prime Minister Trudeau was hilarious, although by most accounts the two leaders had an amiable relationship, by Popin 2018


In the recording, Nixon is heard asking his aides for guidance on how to "lead" that "son-of-a-bitch" Trudeau before the meeting begins.

..."If you're going to be protectionist, let's be in it together," Trudeau tells Nixon. "I am not a nationalist. I am not a protectionist ... If you were going to take a very protectionist trend, our whole economy is so importantly tied to yours, we'd have to make some very fundamental decisions."

...As the tape continues to run, Nixon is heard cursing Trudeau and calling him a "pompous egghead" after the meeting ended. He then asks Kissinger what Trudeau was talking about.

To his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, Nixon fumes, "That Trudeau, he's a clever son of a bitch" and orders him to plant a negative story about the prime minister with a syndicated columnist.

Trudeau later learned of Nixon's comments, which have been previously released, and quipped that he'd "been called worse things by better people."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/just-released-1971-recording-captures-talks-between-nixon-pompous-trudeau-1.755465