The Donfather

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau knew what he had to do. So did META founder Mark Zuckerberg. Even Argentina’s firebrand president, Javier Milei, and the wife of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed up. Onto their private planes and into their dripped-out Escalades, each person made their way to the palatial kingdom of Mar-a-Lago. And they kissed the ring. 

The times, they are truly a-changing. 

For Trudeau, who has hammered away at Trump the man and Trump the politician, this was a humiliation ritual. Often America’s fiercest critic, the Canuck leader bowed before our returning president with a meekness that admitted the occasion. As much as Canada likes to beat its chest in defiance of its southern bedmate, they’d be lost in their winter wonderland without our good graces. 

Trudeau made the long trip south amid the president-elect’s threats to levy a 25 percent tariff on Canada should the nation’s leadership fail to crack down on the movement of illegal immigrants and fentanyl into the U.S. When Trudeau informed Trump that the rumored 25 percent tariff would devastate the Canadian economy, the 47th president jokingly replied, “If Canada can’t survive without ripping off the U.S. to the tune of $100 billion a year, then maybe Canada should become the 51st state and Trudeau could become its governor.”

Watching Trudeau grovel for crumbs at the foot of the replenished American table, I couldn’t help but draw parallels to the infamous scene in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather when Amerigo Bonasera pleads with Don Corleone to make right what the courts will not. 

“You found paradise in America,” says Marlon Brando, his jaws puffed full of cotton balls and rage. “You had a good trade, you made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law. So you didn’t need a friend like me. Now you come and say ‘Don Corleone, give me justice.’ But you don’t ask with respect. You don’t offer friendship. You don’t even think to call me ‘Godfather.’”

Such is the uneven relationship between Trudeau and Trump, two men who have openly mocked each other over the last decade. Trudeau struck a positive chord following the recent talks, promising the two countries could move “forward in constructive ways.” Trump refrained from such niceties, preferring to stay on message: “I made it very clear that the United States will no longer sit idly by as our Citizens become victims to the scourge of this Drug Epidemic, caused mainly by the Drug Cartels, and Fentanyl pouring in from China.”

Whether the icy relationship between Trump and Trudeau melts away remains to be seen, but the pair smiling and breaking bread around a candle-lit table in southern Florida served as a stunning reminder who wields true power in the Western Hemisphere. 

Zuckerberg, too, clearly sees the writing on the wall. As Trump tours the country with SpaceX founder Elon Musk, watching as rockets launch and land in the great Texas sun, the 40-year-old Facebook creator from White Plains, New York has struggled to reinvent himself as the America-loving patriot he clearly wishes to be. His latest July 4th stunt, a video of him wakeboarding with an American flag in one hand and a beer in the other as “Born in the USA” thumps in the background, is about as open an admission as you’ll see from someone sorely on the outside looking in.

Trump has repeatedly attacked Zuckerberg, accusing the tech titan of using his great wealth to tilt the 2020 election toward President Joe Biden. In a Trump-authored coffee table book released this year, Trump said Zuckerberg would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he conspired against him again in the 2024 election. Zuckerberg appears to have received that message, loud and clear. 

“Mark was grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and the opportunity to meet with members of his team about the incoming administration,” read a statement from Meta released following the Mar-a-Lago meeting. “It’s an important time for the future of American Innovation.”

For all the criticisms of Zuckerberg, and there are many, the Social Network villain has played ball with Republicans in recent years. In an August letter sent to the Republican-controlled House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg admitted he caved to the Biden administration who pressured his platforms to censor “misinformation” about the Covid-19 pandemic. Zuckerberg also expressed regret for Meta’s role in suppressing the Hunter Biden laptop story in the lead up to the 2020 election. 

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg told the House Judiciary Committee in August. 

Trump has, at times, suffered a rocky relationship with Israel’s Netanyahu. In the months following the 2020 election, the 47th president lashed out at Netanyahu for being, in his words, “the first person that congratulated” Biden. The presence of the prime minister’s wife at Mar-a-Lago on Friday signaled a desire by the Israelis to re-court his much-needed approval. 

On that front, there should be little convincing necessary. Trump said Monday “there will be hell to pay” if Hamas operatives fail to release captives held in Gaza before he takes office. And though Trump has promised to “bring peace to the Middle East” on the campaign trail, his words may not affect events which continue to spiral out of control. On Monday, a ceasefire signed between Israel and Hezbollah was already on the brink of collapse as the two sides accused each other of violating terms. 

Which makes Sara Netanyahu’s presence at Mar-a-Lago all the more telling. If the wars continue, the Israeli government will actively seek Trump’s affection. 

Speaking of those who suddenly seek the 47th president’s affection, the talkers at Morning Joe also made a surprise appearance at Mar-a-Lago following Trump’s historic victory. To the great disappointment of their audience, hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski visited White House South only a few mornings after the Election for what was reported to be a friendly chat. They have suffered the consequences from their rabidly partisan audience ever since.

For Argentina’s President Javier Milei, the first foreign leader to visit Trump following his November victory, the meeting must have felt destined. The two wild men of Western populism shared laughter and dance in the cozy confines of Mar-a-Lago. The pair had toppled the institutions of liberal democracy and were now enjoying the spoils. 

Trump lavished praise on Argentina’s diminutive leader whose chainsaw-wielding politics has driven shock and awe through the bloated and wasteful Argentine government. 

“The job you’ve done is incredible. Make Argentina Great Again, you know, MAGA. He’s a MAGA person.”

In every glimpse of Mar-a-Lago, Trump is clearly basking in the warm glow of his people’s mandate as his favorite YMCA song bounces effortlessly around White House South. Surrounded by world leaders and celebrities who hang on his every word, America feels oddly and uniquely back.