Expansionist twist in Trump’s MAGA pitch

Make America Great Again (MAGA) always had a revanchist ring to it, but its face and voice, Donald Trump has just revealed that territorial expansion is a part of its agenda. The incoming president of the US told the press Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, Texas that he has the Panama Canal and Greenland in his sights. When asked if he could use military action to annex them — the Panama Canal is a part of Panama and Greenland is with Denmark — he did not rule it out. “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security,” he said. He was kinder towards Canada, which he wanted to become the 51st state of the US: He indicated that his preferred instrument to achieve the aim would be economic action. He also announced the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed as Gulf of America, though the naming of the sea as the Gulf of Mexico predates the formation of the US.

Grandstanding that borders on the comic has been a part of Trump’s disruptive style aimed at unsettling political rivals, the Washington establishment and countries he sees as hurting America’s interests. In that sense, his Mar-a-Lago performance stuck to the script; for instance, he has claimed that the Panama Canal is a strategic asset that has now come under Beijing’s control. But it is also a departure from the norm because his America First plank so far was limited to furthering the US’s economic interests using tariffs and sanctions as instruments while arguing against America’s military interventions. This seemingly isolationist policy now seems to be making way for American exceptionalism and expansionism that threatens to redraw boundaries. It was always evident that the second Trump term would be disruptive. But it is just becoming clearer how much — and he hasn’t even taken office yet.

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