I have to laugh at how different our politics is now that Trump has been elected and confirmed by Congress as the next president of the United States. There is for sure a “Trump effect” taking place and momentum has shifted to the populist right.
Trump is already kicking up dust around the world and no one knows whether he’s being serious.
He called Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau a “governor” and suggested that Canada become the 51st state. This was after threatening to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian imports and complaining about the $200 billion the U.S. gives to Canada each year, with nothing to show for it. Suddenly, Trudeau is resigning and calling for new elections.
Trump is also renewing his call for the U.S. to own Greenland, currently an autonomous territory of Denmark, who has controlled the island since 1933. Don Jr. (and Charlie Kirk) visited Greenland yesterday and were greeted by a crowd wearing MAGA hats and cheering his arrival. President-in-waiting Trump spoke to a group of Greenlanders in a restaurant by phone.
Why Trump’s interest? As he put it in a 72-minute press conference yesterday, national security for the U.S. and the western world. He said that Chinese and Russian ships are seen in the North Atlantic and that “we’re not going to allow that.” Also (most likely) he wants to control access to the estimated 110 billion barrels of oil and deposits of rare earth minerals that would help the US compete against China (which leads the world in mining rare earth minerals).
Neither Canada nor Denmark are warming to the idea.
Trump has also said that he wants the Panama Canal back. We built it and then gave it back to that country (thanks Jimmy Carter!), and now China controls both ends of the canal. Panama was supposed to control it and the US was supposed to have a preferred status.
In the cases of both Greenland and the Panama Canal, Trump said during his presser that he wouldn’t rule out military force to take control.
Then Trump announced that he wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Nobody knows whether he can do that or not, but it sure is an interesting idea.
What is Trump doing? Is he serious?
As the current puppet in the White House would say, “Not a joke, man.”
What Trump is asserting, even for those things that might seem a bit far-fetched, is American dominance in the western hemisphere (again).
If we “got” Greenland, merged with Canada, and renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and regained control over the Panama Canal, the entire North American continent would be one big American footprint twice the size of China and half the size of Russia.
Talk about influence.
Trump wants to expand America’s presence and place a check on the baddies in Central America and our enemies in Asia, just over the horizon at the top of the globe.
Will he do it? Who knows. I’m just enjoying the show and can’t wait to see what actually happens.