In the lead-up to his second inauguration, Donald Trump has been putting the world on notice, at home and abroad. He's learned from the mistakes of his first administration, during which he was both too conciliatory towards and too trusting of his adversaries as well as his fence-sitting allies. This time around, there will be no more Mr. Nice Guy.
The same usual suspects in the West who whine about our "bullying" seem far too content to sit back and let the barbarians through the gates to overrun their nations. Europeans and their American sycophants would let their civilizations fall prey to the bloody ambitions of Asiatic imperialists, Islamic colonists, third-world "workers," and feral leftists rather than admit they were wrong about the virtues of a confident West, led by a confident America, projecting strength pragmatically and effectively.
President Bush wasted a year of time and mountains of political capital forging a coalition of nations against Saddam Hussein. And while a few allies did make significant contributions, the main bulk of the coalition contributed little more than verbal support, which promptly evaporated the minute things soured.
Donald Trump is effectively saying that he's not interested in wasting time explaining to fellow democracies why it's in their best interests to resist tyranny. We're the winning team, and we're also the leading team. Whatever opportunity other democracies had to lead in our place, they've completely surrendered, and they have neither the moral right nor the economic or military capabilities to dictate otherwise.
As he did in 2019, Trump has again expressed interest in buying Greenland. By virtue of its location, Greenland plays a pivotal geopolitical role, in which China has shown increasing interest. Liberals blasted Trump's idea as imperialist, and even some conservatives scoffed at it as unrealistic. Liberals are projecting and conservatives are missing the point.
Trump was absolutely correct when he posted that "ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity" for the national security of the United States. But here's the thing: we don't need to actually "buy" Greenland in order to exert influence and control over the island. Trump knows this. His offer to buy it was his opening bid, with the expectation that whatever final deal is hashed out will probably be less than direct and total American ownership of the island. But if, for all intents and purposes, we wrest the direction of Greenland towards America and away from China, it doesn't matter who "owns" it.
The same line of thinking goes for the Panama Canal which, in one of the worst unforced errors in U.S. foreign policy, was literally given away by former President Jimmy Carter. And for the record, he gave it not to a healthy, elected democratic government but to a left-wing dictator. Upon our final surrender of the canal in 1999, guess who immediately swooped in and took de facto control? Did you guess China? Ding ding ding, we have a winner!
That canal was built and paid for by America. And, yes, that canal plays a vital role in our security and economic interests. Experts warn that China may be embedding surveillance technology within the infrastructure of the Canal itself (which they helped upgrade), allowing them to more effectively spy on our commercial and naval activity. Allowing China to do this is a Panamanian violation of the neutrality clauses of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties, effectively negating the treaties. President Trump has every right to do what's needed to protect America.
As with Greenland, do I think we need to "own" the Panama Canal to effectively control it? No, but again, this is Trump's opening bid. After a visit by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018, the Panamanian government cancelled five infrastructure projects with Chinese companies. So the Panamanian government can be made to see reason. And this time around, Trump will get us a better deal.
Trump is changing the behavior of our "friends" in Mexico and Canada towards us without firing a single shot. In November, Prime Minister Trudeau crawled on his knees to Mar-a-Lago to grovel, kiss the ring, and beg Trump not to impose the promised 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum didn't get the Mar-a-Lago invite and had to make do with a phone call from Trump, during which she pledged to do more to stop illegal immigration into the United States from Mexico.
Recommended: Little Boys With Obnoxious Toys
Both foreign leaders tried to backtrack after Trump made their concessions public on social media. But the writing is on the wall, and their backtracking will do little more than serve as empty reassurances to their respective domestic electorates. Trudeau has already announced his resignation rather than face a more confident America.
For some icing on the cake, Trump also announced his intention to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Why? Because from our perspective, it's the Gulf of America, that's why. And that's the only reason we need. We don't ask for, nor do we require, permission from the UN, from Mexico, or from anyone else to rename it in our fashion.
We call Australia "down under" based on our perspective. If Australia calls us "up over," we wouldn't take offense. We understand that, from their perspective, that's how they see things. The rest of the world wants to use the metric system? Have at it. We're sticking with feet and inches. We drive on the right side of the road. We don't use the letter "u" when spelling "color." And that big body of water south of Texas and west of Florida is called the Gulf of America.
In other foreign policy arenas, South Africa has been put on notice that its cush trade deals with us will be jeopardized by its increasing coziness with Russia, China, and anti-Israeli bigots. Qatar has expelled Hamas's leaders, and the group itself, along with Hezbollah, is desperate for peace terms with Israel.
Whether all this pans out to our advantage remains to be seen. The point is that Trump is doing something that Republicans are not used to doing: he's playing offense. By default, conservatives are used to playing defense. This stems from our most basic political tenets, i.e. just leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. But the world is not static, and the world isn't going to leave us alone. We conservatives might not be interested in the world, but the world is very interested in us, and it is very interested in taking what we have. Our (hopefully) future border wall will be like Israel's Iron Dome: helpful, but not enough. You have to attack the source.
In a sophomoric whine fest that treats Russia, China, and Hamas as the good guys, Foreign Policy magazine "expert" Stephen Walt manages to get every assumption wrong (impressive, even for a Harvard grad). Every assumption, that is, except the one about Trump being a bully.
Yes, Trump is a bully. In a world of bullies. And in a world of bullies, you want the biggest bully on your side. Especially if that bully is a pro-freedom bully standing up to tyrants, terrorists, and their Western bootlickers.
For the first time in decades, American power will be projected wisely, consistently, and forcefully. Anyone who claims to love freedom will benefit as a consequence, at the expense of their would-be masters. Trump is doing this by calling our enemies' bluffs, and by reminding our "allies" that they need us more than we need them.
Oh, and about Trump's idea to buy Greenland that triggered leftists and made some conservatives roll their eyes? Turns out that, after the initial pearl-clutching theatrics from the Greenlandic government (which, for the record, was their opening move), they're expressing interest in breaking away from Denmark in favor of closer ties with the United States. The people themselves seem to have tired of being dictated to by enlightened, socialist Europe and are leaning toward us deplorable Yanks.
So, there's that. Results already. Flap your irrelevant hands and squeal all you want about big, mean America and loudmouth, bully Trump. You'll thank him later. Or you won't.
Either way, he won't care.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member