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Then along came a few bumps in the road. The first big one was the Castro eulogy, which was just bizarre. It garnered condemnation from around the globe, including from prominent U.S. politician Marco Rubio. Then there was the $10 million awarded to Omar Khadr, again causing heads to shake.

Photo by Pierre Obendrauf / Montreal Gazette

The news that a liberal purity test was being placed on a summer jobs grant program also raised eyebrows abroad. Plus there was Trudeau’s eagerness to be duped by the hijab hoax, don’t forget that one.

That said, this series of missteps was still somewhat acceptable to the liberal media, still within the boundaries of their agenda, even if it was stretching the limits. The damage could be written off as partisan.

Then came the motherlode, the point of no return. The “peoplekind” comment. It was too much even for the wackiest of leftists. Stop the ride, they said, we’re getting off now. There was no walking this one back, even when Trudeau tried to shrug it off as a joke. This one Trudeau had to ride out alone, without his usual phalanx of defenders, as the world weighed in and the likes of Piers Morgan issued a scathing takedown.

Photo by Jason Franson / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Team Trudeau clearly wasn’t expecting the blowback and the PM’s top adviser, Gerald Butts, called some of Trudeau’s critics Nazis on social media, leading Jewish human rights activists to denounce Butts’ ill-mannered meltdown.

It’s one thing for a goofy Trudeauism to rankle the conservative base. They’ve been foaming at the mouth over everything the crown prince does since back when he won the leadership in 2013. It doesn’t take much to get them denouncing him.

It’s another thing to see the rest join the pile on.

Trudeau is now at the midway point of his first term. The budget has not balanced itself. Key campaign planks have faltered. The PMO’s deliverology has failed to deliver. And, perhaps most damaging of all, Trudeau’s image is fraying even among his base.

Are we about to see a pivot? Will there be a change of tone, a move towards more mature governance? That’s up to Trudeau. In the meantime, he’s sure got a lot of the world’s attention.

afurey@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/anthonyfurey