If I understood the Prime Minister correctly, Carney was inviting other “middle-power” governments to join him in opposing the United States, after conceding that “Great Powers” run the show. “Middle powers must act together because, if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Carney soberly told them. His idea was that if they all work together, they can stand up to the Great Power (America)— like the plucky ants overthrowing the bullying grasshoppers in that Pixar movie. (I think it was A Bug’s Life.)

In that sense, Carney compared himself to an insect, which was probably the most accurate metaphor in his silly speech. He might consider that, outside of Pixar movies, ants get squashed or sprayed with Roundup. But the irony cut to even deeper levels. Carney seemed to be calling for some kind of populist uprising among middle-tier nations —even though he’s a classic bankster globalist— and his solution to opposing one Great Power is to cozy up to another, even more authoritarian one. In other words, as Spock would say, illogical.

To please my Trekkie readers, here’s what the Canadian PM was actually saying, in Trek terms: “The needs of the many middle powers outweigh the needs of the one great power— unless another great power has better trade deals, in which case the needs of the many middle powers are best served by subordinating themselves to the other great power instead.”