Trump Wants Greenland, Panama Canal, Canada, Manifest Destiny, Like Hitler Needed ‘lebensraum’
Pigpen, the loveable tyke in the Peanuts comics, can’t help but attract dirt wherever he goes.
Trump is a real life Pigpen, creating havoc wherever he treads. The difference is that trump is not loveable and he intentionally creates chaos while Pigpen can’t avoid it.
The latest trump-made chaos was never meant to be taken seriously as it is a transparent and obvious smokescreen of misdirection for trump to seize the headlines while unnoticed, he quietly wins Senate support for his band of miscreants that he wants in his cabinet.
Trump hasn’t been sworn in and already he is standing by a number of his absurd lies and fantastic visions.
Canada will not be the 51st state, the U.S. will not send in the Marines to take back the Panama Canal or to seize Greenland, the Gulf of Mexico will remain the Gulf of Mexico, the Jan. 6, 2021, violent insurrection at the Capitol by trump lemmings was just that, trump did not win a historic landslide and trump did not destroy ISIS.
Fools the likes of trump proliferate today and have not changed over the eons, as noted by the Dutch philosopher and theologist Desiderius Erasmus in his 1509 essay, “The Praise of Folly.”
“The less talent they have, the more pride, vanity and arrogance they have. All these fools, however, find other fools who applaud them,” Erasmus wrote in a warning to despots a half a millennium ago. “Wherefore since they are so eager to be accounted wise, when in truth they are extremely silly, what, if to give them their due, I dub them with the title of wise fools.”
There is no shortage of lemmings who will listen to and follow the wise fool who is trump over the edge and into the abyss.
The heretofore obscure Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., will help trump’s plans to reintroduce the philosophy of manifest destiny, imperialism or in Adolph Hitler’s words, “lebensraum,” the German word for “living space.” Nazi used the word to explain Germany’s expansion to the east during World War II.
Johnson plans to introduce the “Panama Canal Repurchase Act,” a bill that would authorize trump to buy the Panama Canal for $1 and put it under U.S. control.
“President Trump is right to consider repurchasing the Panama Canal. China’s interest in and presence around the canal is a cause for concern,” Johnson said in a statement. “America must project strength abroad — owning and operating the Panama Canal might be an important step towards a stronger America and a more secure globe.”
In Johnson’s mind, an American agreement isn’t woth the paper it’s printed on.
The bill would authorize the president, in coordination with the Secretary of State, to “initiate and conduct negotiations with appropriate counterparts of the Government of the Republic of Panama to reacquire the Panama Canal for the symbolic amount of $1,” according to draft text,
The $1 amount is an apparent reference to a symbolic sale of the canal under President Jimmy Carter that was included in the Carter-Torrijos Treaties signed in 1977 that transferred control of the canal to Panama.
The Panama Canal is most frequently used by the U.S., China, Japan and South Korea. In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earning nearly $5 billion during the last fiscal year.
Trump said the U.S. needs the to take back the canal because Chinese soldiers are using the critical waterway to control the vital shipping route, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Trump also claims the canal has grossly overcharged American ships and warned that if the fees are not reduced after he takes office next month, he will demand that the United States be granted control of the canal “in full, quickly and without question.”
Trump has refused to commit to not using the U.S. military to take control of the Panama Canal.
“I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you have to do something,” trump said in a press conference from Mar-a-Lago. “Look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country, it’s being operated by China, China. And we gave the Panama Canal to Panama, we didn’t give it to China.”
Panama President Jose Raul Mulino is having nothing to do with trump’s dream.
“The canal is Panamanian and belongs to Panamanians and there is no possibility of opening any kind of conversation around that reality,” said Mulino.
Mulino said China has no stake in the Panama Canal, and U.S. warships pay the same toll rates as other nations.
“There is absolutely no Chinese interference or involvement in anything that has to do with the Panama Canal,” Mulino said. “There are no Chinese at the canal, no Chinese nor any other world power at the canal.”
Johnson, 49, is in his second term in the House. He is evidently bright as he was a Truman Scholar and he has not been trump’s bootlicker until now. As a member of the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus, Johnson is considered to be a moderate Republican. He voted to revoke trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, keep Liz Cheney as the Republican Conference Chair, and joined all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the January 6, 2021 commission to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Greenland
Trump also warned he could impose steep tariffs on Denmark if it does not give up control of Greenland. Trump refused to rule out military action to take Greenland by force.
Greenland has long been seen as key to U.S. national security interests, particularly to repel a possible Russian attack. During trump’s first term, national security officials grew concerned about China’s activities in the Arctic, a relatively new threat.
Trump’s obsession with taking Greenland for national defense purposes makes no sense because the U.S. has a decades-old defense agreement with the territory that has allowed the U.S. to build up a significant military presence including troops and radar systems.
Greenland has been a territory of Denmark for centuries but gained its own parliament and rights to home rule in 1979. It’s also a huge source of invaluable minerals that wealthy industrialists, like Elon Musk, believe could power hundreds of millions of electric vehicles. Musk, who has been referred to as “President Musk,” owns Tesla, one of the largest electric vehicle companies in the world.
“We want to keep good relations with the United States. It’s good for both of us. We think it’s certainly crucial for Denmark, but also on the other hand there are limits to what you can even take. Even if we’re a small country, we still have our limits. This is too much,” said Rasmus Jarlov, a conservative member of Denmark’s parliament.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized that the inviolability of national borders is a universal principle, regardless of a country’s power. Scholz also hinted at European leaders’ “incomprehension” over recent expansionist remarks by trump. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said “there is obviously no question that the European Union would let other nations of the world attack its sovereign borders.”
Trump’s fake machismo is not going over very well in Canada. Trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian imports from the U.S. unless Canada does more to stop the flow of illegal drugs and migrants into the U.S. Trump said Canada could easily avoid the tariffs by becoming the 51st state. His weird call for Canada to join the U.S. prompted a quick response from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who resigned last week.
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers in communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner,” Trudeau said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly posted, “President-elect Trump’s comments show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country. Our economy is strong. Our people are strong. We will never back down in the face of threats.”
Another sycophant, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker, R-Miss., offered the threadbare explanation of trump’s comments.
“I think he was speaking aspirationally,” said Wicker.
Trump also said he will rename the Gulf of Mexico with the “beautiful,” “appropriate” and “pretty” name, “Gulf of America.”
Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo had a better idea. She said the United States should be renamed “Mexican America,” referring to a 17th century map showing Mexico’s reach into North and South America.
Predictably, trump has the support of ever-supportive Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to rename the gulf.
“President Trump’s second term is off to a GREAT start,” Greene wrote. “I’ll be introducing legislation ASAP to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to its rightful name, the Gulf of America!”
A dazzling example of the world of Trumpian toadies is Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., a freshman and colleague of Greene’s, another Peach State nut. Collins, who, of course, hails from Butts County, Ga., tweeted supporters about the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by trump supporters in some parallel but opposite universe.
“On #ThisDayInHistory in 2021, thousands of peaceful grandmothers gathered in Washington, D.C., to take a self-guided, albeit unauthorized, tour of the U.S. Capitol building,” Collins tweeted. “Earlier that day, President Trump held a rally, where supporters walked to the Capitol to peacefully protest the certification of the 2020 election.”
Collins said that “some individuals entered the Capitol, took photos, and explored the building before leaving. Since then, hundreds of peaceful protestors have been hunted down, arrested, held in solitary confinement, and treated unjustly.”
Collins said that “countless hours and taxpayer dollars have been spent pursuing innocent grandmothers and raiding President Trump’s home, while terrorists and millions of illegal immigrants continue to cross our nation’s borders, causing havoc in our communities.”
Collins has made a cottage industry out of his bizarre spins on reality.
Collins, 57, owner of a trucking company, “Collins Trucking,” introduced a bill last January known as the “RAZOR Act” which would ban federal authorities from removing razor wire placed along the border with Mexico by the State of Texas and the Texas National Guard.
After a migrant in New York City was released from jail without bail in February 2024 after allegedly attacking a police officer, Collins suggested the migrant should be dropped out of a helicopter, given “a ticket on Pinochet Air for a free helicopter ride back.” Collins’s post referenced the Chilean government’s killings of dissidents on death flights carried out during the rule of the dictator, Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s.
The migrant Collins would have executed was later cleared of wrongdoing after the Manhattan district attorney’s office announced he had been misidentified.
During his 2022 campaign for congress, Collins falsely claimed that Joe Biden had stolen the 2020 election. In an ad, Collins is carrying a gun, claiming “Donald Trump won this state, period.” He then proceeds to shoot a voting machine which explodes.
The ad resurfaced in September 2024, when Collins offered crocodile tears and fake prayers for the victims of a shooting at Appalachee High School, in Collins’ congressional district.Two teachers and two students died and nine others were injured.
Greene, another rabid gun rights lawmaker, also offered prayers after the shooting.
Collins likes to post and re-post objectionable memes on social media, including one anti-Semitic post on X by the user “Garbage Human.” The post by “Garbage Human” implicitly disparaged Washington Post journalist Maura Judkis for being Jewish. Collins said he wasn’t anti-Semitic but had posted the meme from “garbage human” because Judkis had said the United States was “built on stolen land.”
Asked why he did not take down the post, Collins defiantly replied in March 2024, “Never was a second thought.”
In April 2024, during pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, Collins tweeted, “Not sure what y’all are doing up north, but we don’t give them the time to encamp. Tazers set to stun!”
In his post, Collins included scenes from the police crackdown on protesters at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga. In one scene, a Black man is seen lying on the ground in handcuffs while a Georgia State Patrol officer fires a taser to his leg.
In May 2024, Collins shared footage of counter-protesters at the University of Mississippi heckling pro-Palestinian protesters. It included a white student mocking a pro-Palestinian black student by imitating a monkey. Collins praised the counter-protesters, posting “Ole Miss taking care of business.”
After trump was injured in an assassination attempt in July 2024 in Butler, Pa., Collins posted that President Joe Biden had “sent the orders” for the shooting and that Butler County’s district attorney “should immediately file charges against [Biden] for inciting an assassination.”
After his election, Collins hired Brandon Phillips as his chief of staff. Phillips was previously arrested in November 2022 for kicking a dog and had previously plead guilty to criminal trespassing and battery for a 2008 incident when he attacked a man and slashed his car’s tires and threw a woman’s laptop.
Tact was gone when a Colorado Republican state lawmaker apologized after posting on social media that he was celebrating former President Jimmy Carter’s death by popping open a bottle of champagne.
Carter died on Sunday at the age of 100.
State Rep. Matt Soper , who represents Delta and Mesa counties, openly celebrated Carter’s death late Sunday on X.
“Opened a bottle of Champaigne (sic) tonight! The world is rid of a despot! Thank God he finally called Carter home! The worst president in the history of the U.S.! We are still recovering! He destroyed the U.S. in such a way that even the 4th generation is still suffering!” Soper wrote.
A day later, Soper deleted the post and apologized, in a way.
“My only comment will be that my Tweet/X was in poor taste and while I am not a fan of fmr Pres Carter, expressing the sentiments I did I am very sorry for and apologise to the people of Colorado,” he said.
In March 2023, Soper’s post on X called for civil war over several bills before the Colorado Legislature dealing with gun control. Soper later apologized for using at least “some of those words” in the post, but did not specify which ones he was apologizing for.
Soper, 40, holds degrees from Colorado Mesa University, the University of Edinburgh School of Law, and the University of New Hampshire School of Law. He runs a research and writing business called Oxford Strategies, LLC. A note on Soper’s congressional biography says the Delta, Colo., native picked Olathe Sweet Corn to pay his way through Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction before he earned law degrees in Great Britain and New Hampshire.
Olathe sweet corn is grown in a small pocket of rural Colorado and is served at the Olathe Sweet Corn Festival. Soper is the first Seventh-day Adventist to serve in the state legislature and the first alumnus of the University of Edinburgh School of Law.
Another Republican lemming with an appalling lack of class, was Bruce Fischer, husband of Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb. It happened on live TV as Fischer was being sworn in for her third term in the Senate. As is tradition, Vice President Kamala Harris gave the oath and shook Fischer’s hand. Fischer’s husband was at her side and holding a Bible. Harris reached to shake his hand and he refused, making no eye contact while staring down at the Bible.
Fischer and her awkward husband operate a family ranch, Sunny Slope Ranch, near Valentine, Neb.