What Trump's threats say about his state

[marmar]

Donald Trump's threats against foreign nations are not about revenge
There is a deeper reason why the incoming president is taunting America's neighbors

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published December 23, 2024 9:53AM (EST)


(Salon) One of the more annoying conceits of the MAGA cult is its insistence that Donald Trump is some kind of religious figure dedicated to bringing world peace and mutual understanding among all of humankind. They insist that he's been cheated out of his well-deserved Nobel Peace prize. That anyone could believe that about the most hostile, aggressively insulting, vengeance-seeking, demagogue this country has ever elected to high office is enough to make you wonder if there are hallucinogens in the water supply.

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However, let's not fool ourselves that Trump is actually an isolationist. He never has been, at least in any coherent definition of the term. He generally prefers to use economic threats to bring the rest of the world to heel, but he is all about American dominance. And in his second term, it appears that he has decided that American First means a return to American expansionism.

It's hard to say what inspired him to start threatening to seize other nations' lands. Maybe he's just feeling his oats and thinks he pretty much runs the world like a Roman Emperor now. Or perhaps he's just watching his idol, Vladimir Putin, waging war against Ukraine and feels he should be able to do the same thing. Whatever the reason, Trump's been on a tear in the last month threatening America's neighbors (and some others) in increasingly hostile ways.

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Over the weekend, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he intends to take back the Panama Canal, which was given by treaty to the Panamanians back in 1977 with a full hand-off finally completely 25 years ago. He lambasted the country for allegedly charging "exorbitant fees" (of course) and said that if they don't change it he would "demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question.” When the president of Panama responded by saying, "the sovereignty and independence of our country aren’t negotiable" Trump posted "We’ll see about that!” and then later posted a picture of the canal with the words, "welcome to the United States canal." ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/12/23/donald-against-foreign-nations-are-not-about-revenge/