Ep. 377 — Gerald Butts

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2020

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gerald Butts is the former chief adviser and strategist to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. He joins David to talk about the early friendship he forged with Trudeau as college debate partners, what he believes it takes to run a successful national campaign, the state of U.S.-Canadian relations in the age of Trump, and his efforts to combat climate change.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Music
0:06.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axfiles with
0:12.5	your host David Axelrod.
0:15.3	Hey, I know that many of you have been passing the time by listening to episodes of the
0:22.3	Axfiles during this difficult period wherein it occurred to me that maybe people need
0:27.4	some relief from the grinding, relentless nature of the news right now.
0:32.2	And so I decided I'm going to reach back into the Axfiles vault to pick the ones that
0:37.7	I thought might be fun to listen to again, as well as some that I just have never had
0:42.2	a chance to share with you.
0:43.9	I'm going to start today with a conversation I had in January with Gerald Butts, who was
0:49.4	the principal secretary, meaning the top advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
0:54.2	He was his political advisor and alter ego college friend who worked with him during
0:59.5	the campaign.
1:00.5	Also a friend of mine who I worked with on a provincial election a couple of decades
1:04.4	ago in Ontario.
1:06.4	Fascinating guy, really compelling life story.
1:09.4	I hope you'll enjoy it and we'll continue to share with you some old and some new but
1:14.5	hopefully episodes that will help you through this time.
1:17.4	Music
1:23.2	Very Butts, it's great to see you again, old friend and colleague from up north.
1:27.6	Most Americans don't know you but you are a well-known political figure up in Canada
1:33.7	where you really work closely with your friend Justin Trudeau throughout his political
	...

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