The great Israeli statesman, Yitzhak Rabin, tragically murdered just as he was on the verge of pushing a deal with Yasser Arafat, toward a two-state solution, was frequently attacked by the right for his dialogue with the Palestinians.

His explosion at his foolish critics — “You negotiate with your enemies!” — has gone into the lexicon as one of the essential political truths. (In private, I once heard him offer a more delightfully sardonic version, “The idiots want me to make peace negotiating only with friends. Sadly, even God does not grant us that more comfortable option…”)

The silly season of late August political coverage has created a small dust storm over Justin Trudeau adviser Gerry Butts alleged bromance with Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon. Recognizing the strategic logic of Butts outreach, Rabin might have smiled and muttered, “Nancy Pelosi might have been more congenial, but not, perhaps, as useful …” Who else should have the prime minister’s senior strategic adviser have attempted to find a bridge to, for Pete’s sake!

Bannon is a contemptible and frightening player in America’s current political tragedy, but on issues of economic and ethnonationalism he is indisputably Trump’s brain. If Canada is to save NAFTA, until today at least, finding a way to make it acceptable to Bannon is the only path to success. Given Canada’s dependence on maintaining a barrier-free continental trade and investment zone, failing to find a way to build trust with Bannon would have been a firing offence for someone in Butts’ chair.

Trudeau team members, often holding their nose no doubt, have done an astonishingly clever job of bridge building with the most right-wing, irredentist, racist regime to occupy the White House since before the Civil War. They have conducted a deep and broad campaign on two parallel tracks since the day after Trump was dumped on a horrified world. They have wooed, and renewed relations with governors, mayors and Congress as if each one was a possible supporter in a keenly contested poll in a tight Canadian riding. At the same time, they have developed a savvy negotiating strategy with “the enemy,” at the staff, official and cabinet level.

However, another great statesman of the 19th century, Otto von Bismarck’s most famous bon mot is also instructive: “Laws are like sausages, it’s better not to see them being made.” The same rule applies to political deals, especially those being made with unsavoury enemies.

Of course, the Trudeau team needs to find private, personal connections to key decision influencers on the Trump team. But neither they nor their spokespeople should talk about them. Asking about Butts’ alleged “bromance” should elicit only an ironic smile and a request for the next question, please.

In his defence, Butts has been consistently adroit at reaching out to his Canadian political opponents, with whom he needs to do a deal, and never to their discomfort, “kissing and telling.”

Within hours of her election, Butts reached out to Rachel Notley’s senior strategist, Brian Topps. They quickly developed a good working relationship. He worked closely with former B.C. premier Christy Clark, and her mostly Harperite team, despite increasing distaste at their policy and political ethics. Again, within days of New Democrat John Horgan’s arrival as the new premier, Butts reached out to Geoff Meggs, the new team’s senior strategist. These connections worked for both sides as their respective political tribes did not have to see them being made.

Looking ahead, as Trump’s meltdown and increasingly hysterical lashing out gets wilder, the importance of Butts ability to whisper soothing messages in Bannon’s ear will become more valuable. One can well imagine a day next spring, following a very public and embarrassing collision in the NAFTA talks, where Trump is tempted to do something truly destructive — like threatening to break the agreement unilaterally — when the Bannon-Butts channel may help save each side from an irreparable breach.

So Butts’s allies’ off-the-record response to his increasingly fervid critics, about the necessary dance with the devil his job requires, should be simply this: “And your better idea about how to deal with this potential train wreck is….?”

Robin V. Sears, a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group, was an NDP strategist for 20 years.

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