Unable to rally any facts to defend his abandonment of electoral reform, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has now descended into a world of fantasy.

Ten days ago, Trudeau directed his Minister of Democratic Institutions to share important news with Canadians. He told her to tell you that he’d told her that he wouldn’t go ahead with electoral reform. Trudeau could have told us that himself, but that would have required taking responsibility.

Remember, Trudeau repeated his electoral reform pledge as a solemn, personal vow – even while deploying strategies to undermine it.

And when the shambolic show ended in the big reveal, Trudeau’s first excuse was the counter-factual claim there was “no consensus” for electoral reform.

Yet Conservative, NDP, BQ and Green MPs – every party but his own – had reached a consensus. Four parties jointly recommend Canada adopt a proportional representation system subject to referendum. Some 90% of the expert witnesses to the Commons electoral reform committee recommended proportional representation. And 88% of the testimony at town halls favoured proportional representation. Consensus is a fact.

When that flimsy excuse dissolved into transparent deceit, the inevitable outrage came. Over 100,000 Canadians signed a petition calling on Trudeau to stick to his promise. Trudeau wobbled without explanation for a couple days. Then he glommed onto a new excuse: Donald Trump made me do it.

The strategic thinking is classic centrist triangulation. Political anger from the centre-left was hailing straight down on Trudeau like a storm of arrows – not good. That energy needed to be redirected to a third point. So, who are these progressives more angry at than Justin Trudeau? Trump – he’s to blame!

Trudeau’s new excuse – really, this time he means it – for scuttling electoral reform was to stop the “alt-right” from coming to Canada. That wasn’t his excuse before, but you’re not checking, right?

For background, “alt-right” is the new lingo for the collection of far-right, fascist, neo-nazi and white supremacist organizations that supported Trump and which Trump refused to disavow. Trudeau’s correct about one thing – this is a crew we want far, far away from power.

But Trudeau, get a grip. For a moment, think through how political parties would respond to proportional representation. Forming a government would require multi-party co-operation – not just once and a while, but long-term. Exactly which political party does our Prime Minister accuse of wanting to get in bed with fascists, neo-nazis and white supremacists? The Greens? The NDP? The Conservatives? C’mon.

With proportional representation, Trudeau had a historic opportunity to co-operate with other parties and banish social conservatives to the fringes – for the long term.

The Liberals could form a progressive alliance with the NDP as junior partner. Or team-up with the Conservatives. But surely Trudeau is not suggesting his Liberals would team-up with a Conservative Party infected by the alt-right or led by Kellie Leitch. So where, exactly, does this alt-right threat come from? Trudeau’s imagination.

How does the alt-right win? With jingoism. When hate groups go unchallenged. In economic crisis. When dishonesty breed cynicism. If democracy feels illegitimate. Check the boxes, Trudeau.

Remember, Trump lost the popular vote. He was elected President by state electoral college representatives. In 48 states, the candidate with the most votes – like, say 39% – wins 100% of electoral college seats. In six states, false majorities gave Trump 100% of the state’s electoral college seats. Sound familiar?

Tom Parkin is a former NDP staffer and social democrat media commentator