Let’s get it out: I like Trump. I like almost everything about him, and I think he will be one of the most successful American presidents. Any Canadian politician that tries to campaign as the anti-Trump is foolish. The man took on the liberal establishment, the Republican establishment, and the media and won. He tapped into a movement, harnessed it, and now wields a degree of influence and power that is unparalleled in politics. Campaigning as anti-Trump is aligning yourself with a group of losers and out-of-touch elites that have been soundly rejected. It’s a one-way ticket to irrelevancy.

Leitch and O’Leary embracing the Trump movement was smart, and it shows in the amount of support they are getting.

I like Leitch. I like that she was a successful medical doctor, and I like that she has rejected the Carbon tax, embraced a strict immigration policy, and has pledged to de-fund the CBC. All these policies show strength and a willingness to stand up to the liberal elite.

What Leitch doesn’t realize is that Trump cannot be so easily replicated. Trump is a quintessential American: he was shaped in one of the most competitive industries, in one of the most competitive cities, in one of the most competitive countries in human history. He speaks, acts, and looks like a mythological American figure. He crushed everyone in his path because he’s a madman billionaire tweeter who sleeps 4 hours a night and who has enough charisma to fill a football stadium. A Canadian politician cannot just take his policies and expect to succeed.

Watch Leitch defend her immigration policies on CTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7sGwfD-_Hk .

First, note that Trump never had a “values” test. He would know that “values” is political double-speak. Instead, he provided concrete policies that the average American could understand: build a wall, construct a Muslim repository, block immigration from Muslim countries (regardless of how you feel about these policies, you have to agree that they were concrete and understandable). Second, even if Trump had enacted such a vague test, he would have reacted differently to this “gotcha” question. Trump didn’t care about the internal logic of his policies because he knew that the liberal elite didn’t care either. He attacked them on the level they operated. Leitch, on the other hand, gives a politician’s answer. Her equivocating is weakness, and exactly the type of response that Trump would have crushed.

O’Leary is another fake Trump. He’s waiting until there are less candidates before he joins the leadership race. Trump joined the campaign from the start, and he mowed down every single Republican opponent he faced. He relished the opportunity because he loves a challenge and conflict. In doing so, he honed and improved his skills and became a better candidate because of it. When he reached the general election, he was able to withstand all the attacks directed towards him and succeed. O’Leary waiting in the wings shows weakness, trepidation, and fear.

Maxime Bernier is not trying to be Trump. He’s been clear about that, and that’s the smartest thing he could do. He’s not Trump, nor does he have to be. In his introduction at the Manning Centre, he was clear: he’s a policy-first conservative ( watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7m6TzW5ZCA). His policies are ideologically consistent and practical: he’s for smaller government, less taxes and free trade (you can read all of his policies here:http://www.maximebernier.com/policy).

This consistency makes him more of a Ron Paul type figure (but without all the baggage). He hearkens back to an area of intellectual conservatism, where conservatives were for smaller government and more liberty.

I’ve held out supporting him until I heard his immigration policy, but he dropped it today in a article in the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/maxime-bernier/canada-immigration-policy_b_14053002.html

If someone asked me to devise my ideal immigration policy, this would be it. Maxime Bernier recognizes that the primary concern of immigration is economic. He realizes that controlled immigration is necessary for economic stability, and he acknowledges that mass immigration is ideologically driven and can destabilize economies and communities. He’s for a refugee policy that is based on private-sponsorship rather than UN lead. His policy is a clear, unambiguous, and reasonable. It has none of the identitarian politics of the left or of the far right. It is a conservative immigration platform.

Maxime Bernier is an experienced, smart, and consistent candidate. He can run circles around Trudeau and expose the Liberal’s failed economic policies with ease. He’s a figure that you can feel good about supporting.

If you haven’t done so, please buy a membership or donate through his site: http://www.maximebernier.com/