Trump revives baseless Castro-Trudeau rumours, stirring Canadian outrage

Trump spoke on Monday with American streamer Adin Ross, discussing various politicians and repeating what public broadcaster CBC described as "baseless claim" about Trudeau's father. When shown a picture of the Canadian Prime Minister, Trump recalled a years-old conspiracy theory, referring to a mysterious "they." "They say he's (Trudeau) the son of Fidel Castro and could be. Anything's possible in this world," said Trump, whose statement was quoted by Canadian media.

CTVNews, writing about the "false claims," reminded readers that this is not Trump's first attack on Trudeau. Previously, Trump had referred to the Canadian Prime Minister as, among other things, "a far-left lunatic" and "two-faced." In November 2020, Trump's former National Security Advisor, John Bolton, told CBC that Trump does not respect Canada.

Political scientist Aaron Ettinger from Carleton University told CTVNews that personal relationships between prime ministers and presidents always matter, and if Trump is re-elected, Trudeau and Trump "would be restarting the relationship from a place of mistrust."

The conspiracy theory that the father of the current Canadian Prime Minister might not be Pierre Trudeau is not new. After Castro's death in December 2016, when Trudeau conveyed official condolences to Cubans and mentioned his father's friendship with Castro, many outlets known for spreading misinformation and fake news published a photo comparing the faces of Trudeau and Castro, alleging similarity. They also suggested that the acquaintance and meetings between the current Prime Minister's parents and Castro occurred before Justin Trudeau's birth.

The current Canadian Prime Minister was born on 25 December 1971, ten months after his parents' wedding. Pierre and Margaret Trudeau's first official meeting with Castro took place in 1976 during the then-Prime Minister's visit to Cuba.