When I was still a kid, I remember asking my father if the United States might ever take over Canada, and make it part of the United States.
He answered decisively, suggesting that the age of countries taking each other over was finished. A part of the past, with no place in the present, much less the future.
As it turns out, that might actually not be the case.
In recent months, since Trump won another term in office, the possibility of the United States expanding it's borders at the expense of neighboring countries in North America just seems to come up constantly. It probably started during his first term in office, when he inquired about purchasing Greenland. Denmark declared that it was not for sale. And for a while, that seemed to be it. It became a source of ridicule and derision on social media, but people largely forgot about it.
Until, that is, Trump won another term in office in this past election in November. Pretty quickly, he began to talk about the possibility of the United States expanding beyond it's present borders.
It began with "joking" to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the possibility of Canada avoiding tariffs by becoming part of the United States. Or becoming the "51st state," as he put it.
Then, it went into a whole bunch of other things. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. There were musings - apparently serious ones, though - about putting boots on the ground in Mexico, to restore order and control there, according to Trump and his supporters. And then, Trump refused to rule out the possibility of using the military to take over the Panama Canal and Greenland, which sent out alarm bells for much of the rest of the world.
This seems to make the new foreign policy under President Trump consistent with Putin's desire to expand Russia's borders at the expense of Ukraine, and China's desire to take over Taiwan, once and for all. It now appears that maybe my father was wrong. That the age of empire building and expansionism has, in fact, not come to an end.
Indeed, it feels like a new era of this is only now beginning. Because Trump's interest in Greenland, which he declared "an absolute necessity," strategically, is now being countered with measure by both Russia and China to get in on the action there. In fact, Russian state television mused about the possibility of arranging something where the United States and Russia might split Greenland between them,
You know, a little like how Germany and the Soviet Union arranged to split Poland, in a move that made the outbreak of World War II just a matter of time?
That's not all. There have been other voices outright championing a quite massive expansion of Russia, to bring it back to the height of it's empire: A television host in Russia voiced his apparent belief that this ushers in a new age, where taking over other countries militarily is acceptable. How much of this was tongue in cheek, I cannot say for sure, because he talks about adding Poland and even Alaska back into the new Russian empire, according to an article b Pavel Devyatkin published in the Arctic Institute earlier this month (see link below):
Television host Vladimir Solovyov gave a thumbs-up to Trump’s statements and said that “Finland, Warsaw, the Baltics, Moldova, and Tallinn should come back home.” He remarked: “Do you think I’m joking? No! They should all rejoin the Russian Empire, followed by Alaska.” During the same talk show, military analyst Mikhail Khodaryonok said, “After Trump’s statement, in my opinion, we can now consider special military operations as the norm for resolving arguments between countries. The silence of European leaders clearly confirms this.”
That same article had some thoughts by the Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, who said:
“We are watching very closely this rather dramatic development of the situation, so far, thank God, at the level of statements.”
Peskov emphasized that Moscow is interested in keeping the Arctic peaceful and stable and that the region is a zone of Russia’s national and strategic interests. While the Kremlin is keeping an eye on Trump’s proposals regarding Greenland, Peskov expressed that Moscow believes the situation is part of Washington’s bilateral relations with Copenhagen.
Meanwhile, Peskov noted Europe’s “timid” response, noting that “Europe is reacting very cautiously, modestly, quietly, almost in a whisper.” The Russian official also took the opportunity to connect the situation to Russia’s military actions in Ukraine. If everyone is highlighting the need to listen to the aspirations of the Greenlandic people, “then, probably, we still need to remember about the opinions of the people of the four new regions of the Russian Federation and we need to show the same respect for the opinions of these people,” said Peskov.
It sounds like expansionist desires and tendencies by one power (in this case Russia) are being given credibility and validity by Trump's apparent expansionist ambitions. Similarly, China has remained largely quiet on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which many have expressed is probably because China feels that their remaining uncritical of that military intervention now might be paid back later with Russia remaining uncritical if and when China decides to take over Taiwan in a similar fashion.
Now of course, the rest of the world has reacted. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed anger at Trump suggesting that Canada could soon become the “51st State."
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” Trudeau shot back via X Tuesday.
Still, that has not stopped bootlickers like Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) from announcing that he wanted to introduce a bill which would empower President Trump to acquire the Panama Canal for the United States, the congressman's office confirmed to The National News Desk (TNND) days before Trump's inauguration. Johnson’s bill is known as the Panama Canal Repurchase Act of 2025. According to an article by the National News Desk (see link below), it would give the president permission and support "to enter into negotiations for the reacquisition of the canal, It would also ask the president to submit a report to Congress on the progress of negotiations and any “potential challenges” which arise within 180 days of enactment of the legislation."
"President Trump is right to consider repurchasing the Panama Canal,” Rep. Johnson said in a statement. “China’s interest in and presence around the canal is a cause for concern.”
“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,” he added.
In defending his interest in obtaining the Panama Canal, Trump mentioned the usual suspect: China, and the apparent need to contain the threat of their global expansion, according to the same article by the National News Desk:
“I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you have to do something,” Trump said. “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.”
Trump’s call to acquire more territory for the United States, presumably all a part of the effort to "Make America Great Again," seems to be getting some at least lukewarm support from surprising sources. That includes U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa), who compared this idea to the celebrated Louisiana Purchase, over two hundred years ago. According to the same article, here is some of what Fetterman has to say about it during an interview with FOX News prior to Trump taking office:
“There’s a lot of talk about Greenland, for example, and there’s a lot of freak-outs and of course I would never support taking it by force, but I do think it’s a responsible conversation,” the senator said on Fox News this week. “If they were open to acquiring it--whether just buying it outright—I mean if anyone thinks that’s bonkers it’s like, well, remember the Louisiana Purchase?”
“I think Alaska was a great deal, $50 million I think it was,” he added. “You know, open to having all kinds of conversations as well.”
Of course, Denmark already stated years ago, and recently basically reiterated their position, that Greenland is not for sale. Senator Fetterman seemed to conveniently ignore that, and also seemed to fail to take any kind of strong stance on Trump's threat of militarily taking the island over. Still, he urged Americans to “pace ourselves” and not get overly anxious about Trump’s words before he has even taken office.
Now, this discussion has obviously gone beyond just American elected officials, for that matter. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan, a hero for many in MAGA, seemed quite enthusiastic to the idea of taking other countries and lands over, and expanding the borders of the United States. In yet another article by The National News Desk, this one written by Ray Lewis, Rogan shared his thoughts, which sounded extremely supportive of Trump's desire to expand:
"Here’s what I think: I think we take Canada, and then we go right into Mexico,” Rogan said.
“How about we go into that? How about what I said, how about what I said, like, instead of trying to, like, let all the bad stuff in, how about we, like, make this totally lock-down safe and then expand safety? Expand it,” Rogan said. “But you gotta do it without stripping people of their rights.”
Rogan also shared similar thoughts in response to one of Trump's repeated postings on his Truth Social website about the positive possibilities of Canada becoming an American state (according to the same article):
“If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them,” Trump said. “Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!”
Rogan shared a screenshot of the post on Instagram with the caption, “I say we let Mexico in too.”
Rogan's words seem to suggest that we Americans should gift Mexico permission to also become part of the United States. Apparently, he seems to feel that Mexicans would surely want that, much like Trump seems to suggest - repeatedly - that many Canadians would be in favor of being absorbed into the United States.
Of course, this seems to run counter to the actual facts. In a recent poll, more than three-quarters of Canadians (77%, to be exact) wanted immediate elections in order to put a government with a strong response in dealing with what are perceived to be Trump's threats (according to a recent article by Priya Pareek of the India Times):
Over three-quarters (77%) Canadians want an immediate federal election, the Ipsos poll showed. But why? According to the poll, Canadians want a prime minister and government with a strong mandate to deal with Donald Trump. They want "to give the next government a strong mandate to deal with Trump’s threats".
Hardly sounds like Canadians are too fond of the idea of joining the United States and becoming the 51st state, as Trump has repeatedly encouraged them to do.
One of the questions which I cannot help but ask is just how much Trump himself actually means to do about all of this? Is he seriously considering taking over Canada and the Panama Canal and Greenland, and possibly even Mexico? Or is this some sort of a distraction, to get us to focus on these outlandish headlines and stories, which he uses as a smokescreen of sorts to pass legislation which would likely be unpopular among Americans?
These really are crazy and, frankly, scary times which we are just now entering into, are they not?
Below are the various links to articles which I used in writing this particular blog entry, and from which I obtained all of the quotes and statistics used above:
Originally, what got me into this topic was a Facebook post from former Pearl Jam drummer Dave Abbruzzese, who had this to say about this story:
David Abbruzzese · Some serious minds at work, here... Dueling knuckleheads. Rogan suggesting "We let mexico in, too.". Let Mexico in? Like they are just waiting to be let into becoming part of the USA? Neither Canada or Mexico would like to be "let" into this shit show. It seems to me that the Trump administration is already hellbent on expansion. Greenland, Panama, Canada, ...Mexico? If someone like Hegseth is in place it begins to become very worthy of concern.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10165268442423508&set=a.65227178507
China, Russia’s growing Arctic presence underpins Trump’s Greenland musings by Listen Illustration: La Ka-kuen Seong Hyeon Choi Published: 6:00am, 22 Jan 2025:
Observers doubt the new US president will buy the world’s largest island but his interest underlines its strategic importance
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3295590/china-russias-growing-arctic-presence-underpins-trumps-greenland-musings
Russian TV Says 'We Need Greenland,' Eyes Deal With Trump by Isabel van Brugen Jan 14, 2025:
https://www.newsweek.com/russian-state-tv-trump-us-annex-greenland-2014505
Uncertainty and Tension: Russia reacts to Trump’s Greenland Proposal By Pavel Devyatkin | Commentary January 10, 2025:
https://www.thearcticinstitute.org/uncertainty-tension-russia-reacts-trumps-greenland-proposal/
The Trump link in Canada's call for immediate election by Priya Pareek, Jan 22, 2025:
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/donald-trump-tariff-threat-fuels-justin-trudeau-trouble-canadians-want-election-2668431-2025-01-22
Joe Rogan suggests US 'go right into Mexico' after taking Canada by RAY LEWIS | The National News Desk, January 9th 2025:
https://katv.com/news/nation-world/joe-rogan-suggests-us-go-right-into-mexico-after-taking-canada-trump-greenland-panama-canal-trudeau-the-joe-rogan-experience
House Republican-led bill would allow Trump to negotiate Panama Canal purchase by JACKSON WALKER | The National News Desk, published on January 8th 2025:
https://thenationaldesk.com/news/americas-news-now/house-republican-led-bill-would-allow-trump-to-negotiate-panama-canal-purchase-dusty-johnson-legislation-congress-greenland-canada#
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