FUREY: Liberals’ biggest problem may be that it’s no longer good to love Justin Trudeau

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Justin Trudeau has become one of those musicians or movie stars who has been enjoying a previous success of several years ago. His fans are beginning to stray. Studios and sponsors lose interest. Even his own team is wondering what’s up.

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It could be a creative break. Or maybe your best years are behind you and the only thing left is to tour the casino circuit.

It cannot be denied that one of the engines of the liberal leader’s first victory in 2015 was the power of his personal brand.

Fame can be fickle. And the Trudeau brand is now collapsing. It’s just not good to love Justin Trudeau anymore.

Do you remember when he appeared on the cover of GQ magazine? “That soft new Canadian leader,” that’s how he got billed in the spring of 2016. Or how about when he appeared in Vogue? They fainted: “Sexy, feminist and able to balance a baby on one hand – Prime Minister Trudeau gets our vote.”

Maybe you remember. Or maybe not. Because that was quite a few years ago and there hasn’t been much since. The glow lasted for a few years, but has since faded from memory.

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Political observers will soon remember the Justin Trudeau years as something of an aberration for the Liberal Party of Canada. Those were the years when a desperate party, eager to return and stay in power, was carried away by a cult of personality, one that is now crumbling before our eyes.

Not long ago, if you asked a liberal what he stood for, one of his main mantras was that he was “fiscally conservative, socially liberal.” It was a moderate centrist party, led by moderate people. While you may disagree with their policies, Jean Chretien and Paul Martin were serious people with serious credentials.

The same could never be said of Justin Trudeau, when he ran for Liberal leadership in 2013. And yet, he won by the kind of margin that Vladimir Putin or a third-world despot usually enjoys, not because of electoral shenanigans but because of the federal government The Liberals were so undervalued and defeated at the time that no prominent candidate stepped forward to lead what was then the third party in the House of Commons.

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Trudeau was his candidate for “breaking glass in an emergency.” And to the surprise of many, including liberal strategists, it worked beyond their wildest dreams, elevating the party to majority rule status in an impressive leap.

Trudeau did the work for them. No one can deny that part. Although instead of having an enduring legacy in the way people talk about politicians as varied as JFK, Margaret Thatcher, or Trudeau’s own father, Pierre, Justin Trudeau can simply be remembered as the leader who used a little glare to achieve a surprise victory. .

It’s hard to imagine that the people who originally voted for him because of his self-proclaimed feminist credentials will be fooled three times this time. The same for him, supposedly, being the best of the defenders of diversity. Or someone who promised to do politics differently and to be held to a higher ethical standard. Trudeau has a record now, and it doesn’t line up well with his past promises.

The Liberals will still get a lot of votes and win a lot of seats. They are not about to collapse. They may even win a victory and run away with another minority government.

But if that happens, expect the backroom liberal knives to sharpen as they prepare to oust Trudeau and make way for a new leader.

Why? Because people just don’t love him like they used to.