Is it a revival of the old notion of Manifest Destiny, the idea of the inevitability of American control over the entirety of the North American continent?
Donald Trump has taken to calling Canada America’s fifty-first state, and to calling our prime minister its governor. As you can imagine, this has had the effect of a large number of us crying out in indignant protest, something I’m absolutely sure he intended and enjoys.
Say nothing else about the guy, he knows how to get a reaction.
Taken with his promise to first-day slap us with across-the board 25% tariffs, I can completely understand how many of us are contemplating the return of some form of American imperialism, one that could even be directed at us.
In his first term, Trump made a pitch to buy Greenland. It’s owners then and now, Denmark, said no. As he gets closer to taking the wheels of the presidency once again, he’s mused out loud about that very same thing, buying Greenland. Canada and Greenland take up a pretty big slice of North America. Has Trump been reading up on his American history?
In 1979, the United States gave up operational control of the Panama Canal in an agreement brokered by former president Jimmy Carter during his 1976-1979 term. Trump has made a point of floating the idea of the Americans taking back control of that strategic waterway from Panama, much to the chagrin of the Panamanians.
How long before the Big Orange starts looking at Cuba as place worthy of U.S. boots on the ground? Maybe slap Mexico around a little bit. I mean, it’s all on the table right? If America isn’t fighting in Afghanistan, or Iraq, or anywhere in the Middle East, or in Asia, what the hell are they going to do with that huge military of theirs? If they’re no longer in NATO, where would they put all those guys and all those toys?
What does he and his acolytes truly have in mind when they say “Make America Great Again?”
For what it’s worth, I don’t think the United States will do any of these things. Maybe some day well off in the future, long after I’m gone and quiet, but not today, not right now.
They don’t have to.
Short of Cuba maybe, the United States already controls those places, especially in the sphere they care about most, and that’s security.
America is in need of nothing. If there’s such a thing as a totally self-sustaining nation on this planet, it’s the United States of America. Nobody else comes even remotely close. They’re not out for resources, although oil and strategic commodities will always grab their attention. They can grow and make and produce anything and everything they want or need, with very few exceptions.
Another thing that America doesn’t need is the hostile populations of occupied countries. Taking over places is easy for the United States, it always has been, other than the two times they went for Canada and failed. What’s difficult is holding on to them, or occupying them. The Americans absolutely suck at that part of things. Always have. Smashing down the door and blowing away everyone inside is an American strength. Maybe too is their ability to renovate the place to make it look suitable. But they’ve always had problems with the people, who tend not to forget the smashing-in part.
Greenland? Why?
The U.S. already has bases in Greenland and can do whatever they like whenever they want. Why would they want responsibility for Greenland itself? The place is loaded with seals and penguins and some people who chase after them. It makes no sense. Same for Iceland while we’re at it.
Panama? Really?
The Americans already have unfettered and preferential access to the Panama Canal as it is. Why would they want to waste the time, effort, and expense of administering 4.5 million angry Panamanians?
Canada? Mexico?
America already controls these two places by the use of its most strategic weapon, the U.S. dollar. Canada is a strategic military ally and America’s greatest trading partner. It’s a tough enough place for Canadians to govern. Why would the Americans want to take a stab at it? Plus they’d have to figure out what to do about that whole Ma-Te-Way mess. Who, in their right mind, would want to try and figure out that quagmire of competing egos? Also, the American patience at having to listen to pseudo oldy-hit radio stations has to be factored in. In this sense, taking Canada is not the way to make America great. That would be sliding down the wrong pole.
Mexico is Mexico, but with a population of 129 million, and as a significant source of the rapidly growing Spanish-speaking population in the States, one needs to give that a bit of thought. They, the Americans, might just decide that the wall and razor wire is the way to go, at least until everyone in Mexico shoots everyone else in Mexico.
No, taking over all these places represents just too much damned work for the Americans, and it would be absolute folly for them to even consider making the attempt. The notion of empire is intoxicating to some tyrants, but not necessarily to smart ones who may realize they already have that empire, only it just doesn’t show up on current maps.
In fact, making a physical move towards a Manifest Destiny is the very kind of thing that leads to the demise of empires, as it has throughout time.
So maybe those history books will save us after all.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 