In current political discourse there are few phrases more shopworn and tedious than, “This is why Trump won.” It’s the 2017 equivalent of the schoolyard taunt “I know you are, but what am I?”

With regret, I submit it genuinely applies to the federal government’s $10.5 million payout to accused terrorist Omar Khadr.

It doesn’t matter that a settlement was inevitable or that it saves federal dollars in the long run. It matters less that Khadr was a child soldier or even that he may be completely innocent. Arguments about the constitutional obligations of government are futile in the face of white hot anger many Canadians have at their impression that an unrepentant Islamic terrorist is now living the dream of a Lotto 6-49 winner.

It’s not just the settlement that many regard as odious. It’s the appearance that the Trudeau government expedited the payment so Khadr’s lawyers and accountants could firewall the money against the filing of paperwork to apply an American civil judgment in Canada. Yes, you can argue this may well have saved tax dollars in the long run but that argument is worthless in the face of accusations that Ottawa conspired with a convicted terrorist to do an end run around an American war widow.

Just check out Sunday’s Toronto Sun cover in which a member of the “greatest generation” who flew bombing missions over Europe in the flower of his youth decries the payout:

“This great Canadian,” writes columnist Joe Warmington, “feels you are either with the good guys or the bad. The charter rights, the perks, the medals, the accolades, the assistance, the benefits of victory all go to the people who fought together for their side. Not to the enemy who was trying to kill fellow countrymen and allies. Not to traitors.”

If you have had the misfortune to engage on social media in the days since the payout and apology you know this is a not a debate that can be resolved by pointing to facts. In a brief Facebook post, I urged people to at least read a summary of the case file before drawing conclusions.

Call me crazy, I thought if people knew there was never any forensic evidence or eye witness testimony to support the murder accusation against Khadr perhaps they would dial down the calls for him to be hanged.

This prompted Sarah (last name withheld) to snap: “Stop acting like the rest of the patronizing media who thinks that the average Canadian is too stupid to have an opinion on this.”

And that’s the essence of Trumpism: the notion that elites are trying to deny people the legitimacy of emotionally informed convictions. I urged people to read the case file. Sarah was not only uninterested in doing so, she presumed I was calling her “stupid.”

I’m not writing this to comfort these said elites. This is a warning: you are going to lose. The electors’ gut and opportunistic demagoguery are more potent political forces than any volume of carefully reasoned opinion pieces.

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer knows this. Sun and Rebel Media figures who have started a fundraising campaign for the widow and children of the medic who died in that fateful firefight know it. Never mind the craven self promotion of running the campaign now instead of in 2002 when Sgt. Christopher Speer was killed.

The Khadr settlement is going to be a political millstone for Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals. It’s a scandal that can be invoked with the mere mention of Khadr’s name or incendiary sentences like: “You made a man who killed a medic rich.”

Canadians have — somewhat smugly — maintained that Trumpism can’t happen here. Surely, the facts and Canadian pragmatism will prevail. Make no mistake, this could very well be the start of something that could make Kellie Leitch’s snitch lines and values tests look quaint. Thanks to the levelling quality of the internet, where @norma31 is as much an authority on the rule law as the dean of Osgoode Hall, the currency of authority and expertise are being devalued.

Reason and facts are not going to prevail in this case. A dead American medic, an unrepentant terrorist father, and Khadr’s hijab-wearing, Canada-hating immediate family are going to resonate right through until election day.

Correction- July 14, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to Sgt. Christopher Speer as a U.S. marine. In fact, he was a medic.

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See also Letter to the Editor from Ezra Levant: Correcting column on Omar Khadr

John Moore is host of “Moore in the Morning” on Toronto’s NewsTalk 1010 Radio.

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