Canada jolted.



ADDED: Why are people referring to that makeup as "brownface"? It's as dark as any blackface I've seen. I know, he says it was an Aladdin costume, but doesn't that make it worse? He was overdarkening for the character he purported to play.

Fox News headline: "CNN's Don Lemon knocks Trump while praising Justin Trudeau's apology over brownface photo."
"I shouldn't have done that. I should have known better, but I didn't and I'm really sorry," Trudeau told reporters. "I take responsibility for my decision to do that. I shouldn't have done that. I should've known better. It was something that I didn't think was racist at the time but now I recognize that it was something racist to do and I'm deeply sorry."...

"Wow, a leader apologizing. It seems odd, doesn't it?" Lemon reacted. "Because we have one who doesn't.... I do have to say this before we go: think about it however you want to think about it. When someone apologizes- wow!... We don't often see that here, especially in a world leader who is saying 'I should've known better and I'm sorry.' You can feel about it however you want, but that, to me, that does mean a lot."
As if Don Lemon would honor an apology from Trump! Trump doesn't apologize because it wouldn't work. It would backfire. Trudeau seems to be apologizing because it's the only approach he can come up with. The question is whether apologies are going to be accepted, and who believes they'll be accepted equally, regardless of which side you're on vis a vis the the apologizer? It's like calls for civility. In present-day American political discourse, they're always about getting the other side to tone it down. That's why my tag for the discussion of civility is "civility bullshit." I feel the same way about calls for apologies (within present-day American political discourse). They're always bullshit.

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