i have very little respect for paul wells, but i agree with him on this. we have to be firm, no doubt. but just about the worst thing we could do is send somebody down there that is going to talk over trump.

george w. bush took a particular liking to tony blair. blair could have exploited this better, even if the feeling wasn't mutual. but, the reason that dubya like him is that he didn't speak down to him, and he didn't threaten him. chretien and martin had a lot harder time trying to juggle their contempt - which, to be fair, was a lot deeper.

trump doesn't want to deal with strong egos. he doesn't want to be talked down to. he doesn't want to be grovelled at, either. and, he likes to be around attractive people, too.

trudeau's weaknesses are in his grasp of policy, not in his people skills. he'll be fine. and, i'd actually struggle to suggest a better alternative.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/02/09/a-face-to-face-meeting-is-trudeaus-best-bet-for-dealing-with-trump-paul-wells.html