Social media can be a drag but there’s no denying that it’s made a lot of remarkable things possible: it’s launched political revolutions, given a voice to the voiceless, and as we saw this week, enabled yet another incident of misplaced outrage, this one involving a Prime Minister and several boxes of doughnuts.

Call it “Trudeaunut”: a scandal that pits Canadians loyal to Tim Hortons doughnuts against Canadians loyal to no ’nuts: i.e., those who believe baked goods shouldn’t be politicized.

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited a bakery in Winnipeg called Oh Doughnuts, where he purchased a large order of the sugary snack. The PM tweeted out a photo of his pastry run, alongside the caption, “Picked up some of Winnipeg’s best to keep us going through another full day of Cabinet meetings. Thanks for the fuel @OhDoughnuts #shoplocal.”

The “shop local” tag isn’t a coincidence. It’s likely a nod to the fact that the federal government plans to launch a multimillion-dollar ad campaign over the summer in an effort to convince Canadians to buy local food.

Just don’t ask them to buy local junk food. If reaction to the PM’s tweet is any indication, some Canadians take issue with Trudeau for frequenting a doughnut establishment that a) appears gourmet, and b) isn’t Tim Hortons. Oh Doughnuts may be an authentic, Canadian-owned doughnut shop, but it isn’t, to the dismay of some, a restaurant synonymous with Canada. After all, nothing says Canadian national identity better than a fast-food chain owned by a Brazilian-American investment firm.

I’m not the first person to point out the hypocrisy of Trudeau’s doughnut-detractors. Many Canadians took to Twitter to voice their annoyance with those who’d prefer the PM frequent a foreign-owned restaurant with controversial labour practices, than a Canadian-owned one with a clean record.

As is the case with many social media pile-ons, the backlash to the backlash is louder than the backlash itself. In this case, it seems there are lot more Canadians offended that people are offended by Trudeau’s doughnut choice, than there were people offended by the choice in the first place.

But whatever side of the doughnut debate you land on, the incident itself points to our country’s obsession with the idea of a national identity, and perhaps an anxiety about the reality that we may not have one outside of our relationship to a foreign restaurant chain (and that chain’s dubious connection to the sport of hockey).

Perhaps it needs repeating: Tim Hortons does not define us. Yes, it’s cheap, and for some of us who played hockey in small towns, it’s nostalgic. But it’s not a national treasure, nor is it treasonous to pick up a box of doughnuts somewhere else. The notion that the Prime Minister must be loyal to Tim Hortons or to any brand is sad and absurd. The people faulting him for this could be doing so many other more enjoyable things with their time (for example, eating doughnuts).

That said, it’s equally unfair to suggest that Trudeau’s doughnut photo-op isn’t worth paying attention to or analyzing in any fashion.

Sure, when an ordinary citizen posts their breakfast to Twitter, a doughnut is just a doughnut. But when you’re a major politician, a doughnut is never just a doughnut. It’s a doughnut with an agenda: in this case, Trudeau’s agenda being to promote the consumption of local food. His trip to Oh Doughnuts is not random.

A Liberal PM frequently accused of a phony commitment to environmentalism and social justice has a legitimate interest being photographed buying local, organic snacks.

Trudeau isn’t the first leader, by any means, to match his food to his political persona. It’s not a happy accident that U.S. President Donald Trump fills the White House with McDonald’s hamburgers, or that U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn loves mom-and-pop kebab shops.

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On Tuesday, Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath was photographed at a picket line with boxes of Tim Hortons doughnuts — gifts presumably, for striking teachers. The caption writes itself: Leader of the working party delivers doughnut of the working people. In all likelihood, this was a strategic move on Horwath’s part. Or maybe she just really loves Timmies.

Either way, whether it’s fancy and fluffy or hard as a rock, if it’s in the hands of a politician, the pastry is political.

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