We live in a copycat world, so I guess it shouldn't be surprising that if something works in one situation, there will be an effort to replicate it. It’s the reason we were subjected to Police Academy 4, 5 and 6 and why every NBA team has fallen in love with the three-point shot.
It’s also why we’ve got Sellout Singh.
Before we get there, however, we’ve got to back up a decade to that time when Donald Trump burst onto the political scene. An unconventional politician, to say the least, Trump took to attaching unflattering nicknames to his rivals, starting with Lyin’ Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who was also seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
It continued with Crooked Hillary Clinton, Sleepy Joe Biden, Comrade Kamala Harris and a host of others as Trump routinely dipped into his repository of nicknames, everything from crazy and shady to slippery and sloppy, to affix an uncomplimentary moniker to those he holds with disdain, a list that seemingly grows daily.
The name-calling was rude, childish and, to that point, quite un-presidential, but, if anything, it only served to make Trump more popular. He’s won slinging mud and lost doing so, which makes it hard to tell how effective the practice really is, but that hasn’t stopped others from employing the same tactic.
A press release from the federal Conservative Party last week, one that lamented the defeat of yet another non-confidence vote in the House of Commons, was titled: “Sellout Jagmeet Singh Puts His Pension Ahead Of Workers.”
It wasn't the first time I’ve seen the Conservatives attach ‘Sellout’ to the NDP leader’s name, but the frequency of that epithet – three times in the first paragraph alone – made it clear they would like to see it catch on.
The first paragraph of the release is as follows: “Canadians now know that Sellout Jagmeet Singh’s words are worthless. Today, Sellout Singh and the NDP voted against a non-confidence motion in Justin Trudeau’s failing government that used Sellout Jagmeet Singh’s own words.”
I’ve got to give the Conservatives marks for using Singh’s own words to expose his hypocrisy, how he talks a good game about caring for the Canadian people, yet his far greater concern is maintaining his party’s relevance, with or without the supply-and-confidence agreement.
Singh knows if the Liberal government falls it triggers an election, after which the NDP’s leverage disappears and quite likely his political career along with it. He’s loath to see that happen so, despite grandiose statements putting the prime minister on notice, he will ensure Trudeau and Co. continue to be propped up.
There's no doubt that Singh is indeed selling out those he claims to represent, more worried about his own future than making life affordable for Canadians, so the nickname is certainly fitting.
The question I find myself mulling is whether it’s appropriate for Canadians to follow Trump’s lead when it comes to disparaging their political rivals. It seems to me that political rhetoric is already charged enough in this country without having to sink to school yard name-calling.
Even if the name fits.
