Hello, viewers and listeners of The Line Podcast. Your hosts cover a ton of issues this week, including one that leaves Jen in literal tears of outrage and indignation. Or something like that.

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The first topic is the latest, humiliating phase of Justin Trudeau's slow decline. He's announcing temporary tax breaks and handing out rebate cheques in a desperate attempt to shore up his fading political fortunes. It's terrible policy, as even some normally Liberal-friendly people will acknowledge, but it's also just so patently desperate and craven that we doubt it'll even be good politics. Recall what we said directly to our Liberal friends in recent episodes of the podcast: this doesn't get better. It only gets worse and more painful and more humiliating. A PM who came into power as a leading figure of the triumphant global progressive movement is now reduced to Doug-Ford-esque impersonations of a daytime game show host. And worse is always possible.

Up next, your hosts tackle two other major federal stories. A new big poll from a reliable company is out, and shows no evidence of any "Trump Bump" for the Liberals. Which we've been trying to tell y'all would be the case. Also: we share our shock and horror at an absolutely appalling nickname we heard for the latest man to tumble out of Trudeau's cabinet, and also opine on how the PMO's handling of this political fiasco is cause for alarm. If they can barely figure out how to handle a pretty bog-standard political scandal, are we confident that they can handle what's happening to our world? Friends, we are not confident. Not confident at all.

Last up, Matt explains why he has left the comforting confines of the Centre of the Universe to visit one of his other favourite Canadian cities. He's in Halifax, for the Halifax International Security Forum, an annual gathering of allied military leaders and other defence and geopolitical experts. (And he thanks the organizers for inviting him back once more.) It's a great place for Matt to be as he and Jen discuss how Canada is responding thus far to Trump's win, specifically, why they have a bad feeling that Mélanie Joly doesn't realize she's be punted down to the kiddie table. They also chat about the ICC issuing arrest warrants for senior officials. They aren't that confident in Canada's response on that score, either.

Sigh.

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