Last night, Trump made it very clear that we’re entering a brave new world. Or maybe a brave old world. Colonies, mercantilism, empires. It’s all back in style.
During a speech to a joint session of Congress, Trump talked about invading Greenland, taking back the Panama Canal, and forcing the Ukraine to accept major land losses to Russia, while giving us their minerals.
We’re dividing up the world between Putin and Xi like it’s a game of Risk. They’ll let us take Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and the Panama Canal, if we let them take Ukraine and Taiwan. The rest of the world will get carved up or ignored.
At one point last night, Trump said, “Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.” Yes, an American president mocked a small sovereign nation in Africa. Then, he and friends snickered like teenage boys in the back of a classroom. It’s shocking behavior, but that’s the new normal. He treated Zelenskyy with the same contempt last week.
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The threats to former allies, especially Canada, are just evil. I don’t know exactly what’s going to come of it, but I’m no more willing to take this as a joke or trivial than the Canadians are.
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The strategy seems to be, mock education – history, geography, political science – and then talk about other countries as if they are nonplayer characters and the US and maybe China and Russia are only “real countries.” The UK is a “random country,” and Canada is the “51st state.” And, of course, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine never happened and Russia isn’t a dictatorship.
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