PM of Australia Anthony Albanese and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau have met up for a standard shaking of the hands photo op. However, it would appear that Trudeau forgot Albanese’s name. Surely that was like the only dot point you needed to remember going into this.
“It’s a real pleasure to be meeting with, ah… a great… progressive leader!” said Trudeau grasping Albanese’s hand.
It’s giving Joe Biden forgetting Scott Morrison‘s name during important AUKUS alliance talks and calling him “that fellow Down Under“. (That’s a little throwback for my political girlies).
Trudeau then went on to call Albanese “Tony”, which could only mean one of two things:
- Trudeau is extremely buddy-buddy with Albanese and the two are on a nickname basis that is bound to be the genesis of some ungodly fanfiction.
- He couldn’t remember his name.
There’s a third option involving the spectre of Tony Abbott haunting Trudeau’s mind while he was talking, but I’m not sure that theory has much weight to it. Unless…
It’s not quite Biden’s “fellow from Down Under” but hoo boy, it came close….
🇨🇦Trudeau: “It’s a real pleasure to be meeting with, ah, a… ah, a great…. progressive leader!”
(Don’t worry, he remembered the 🇦🇺 PM’s name is “Tony.”)#auspol pic.twitter.com/2HAiAjkVYy
— Melissa Clarke (@Clarke_Melissa) June 30, 2022
“We’re really excited to have a friend in Australia. Australia’s been a long-time friend, we’ll be talking lots with Tony and all our friends in Australia,” said Trudeau.
“With Prime Minister Albanese we have someone who we’re going to be able to dig into on climate change, on inclusive economic growth, on reconciliation, on a range of issues that we know our citizens want us to step up on.”
Something tells me if Justin Trudeau can remember the last name Albanese, he could remember Anthony, right?
Despite this clear fact, I truly cannot remember the last time anyone called Anthony Albanese “Tony”. I mean technically Tony Abbott’s name is Anthony, but he’s a short little gremlin, so it’s no surprise he went by a shorter name with friends, family and onion farmers alike.
But Anthony’s name is Anthony. Plain and simple.
And so, because I like sparking joy and whimsy in my life where possible, I will be believing that Trudeau completely forgot Albanese’s name and made a big ol’ silly in front of international reporters.
There’s really no harm in taking the chaos route here. Why be boring and say “but Tony is short for Anthony”? What’s wrong with you? Grow up.
