Why Trudeau Is Like Trump

It’s been a shirtless summer for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In late July, in the Gatineau region of Quebec, he emerged from a cave, bare-chested, to surprise a vacationing family and posed for a series of selfies. A few days later, again shirtless, he photo-bombed a beach wedding in Tofino on the West Coast. Both events made the international press and were shared, at a conservative estimate, several million times each. Since his election, barely a week has gone by without the prime minister going viral. Canadian government is becoming an experiment in virocracy—rule through social media.

There is a U.S. parallel, though he’s not in government yet: Donald Trump also uses social media to garner vast influence. In the American presidential campaign, the Republican candidate has relied on the mass exposure of his various feeds and accounts instead of traditional advertising. But while his influence over social media is immense, its actual effect on American politics has yet to be proven. Still, the power of the new media is unquestionable. Rick Perry has joined the next season of Dancing With the Stars because he’s realized that dumb celebrity provides more political clout than having run a state for 15 years.