Trump wants Greenland again - Oh, and the Panama Canal too.

[toucana]

According to reports in The Hill and elsewhere President-elect Trump said on Sunday evening on social media that owning Greenland “is an absolute necessity”

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5053319-trump-greenland-purchase/

Trump also gave a speech to a conservative group demanding the return of the Panama Canal to US control (some 50 years after the canal zone was ceded to Panama) citing “ridiculous shipping fees” as the reason.

Trump originally proposed trading Puerto Rico for Greenland back in 2019 during his first term in office - much to the bemusement of Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen who called the idea “absurd” telling reporters at the time “Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic. I persistently hope that this is not something that is seriously meant.”

In the case of Greenland, Trump  - along with the minority of his advisers who don’t think that global warming is a Chinese hoax -  are presumably attracted by the idea that the loss of Greenland’s icecap will expose a treasure trove of extractable mineral ores, oil and natural gas.They also probably imagine that no one else in the entire world has thought of this possibility either.

But why is Trump so interested in the Panama Canal, well before he is even due to take office ? Part of the answer can be found in this YT video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sv_Wv_Ui1A

Back in 2018, Trump owned management companies were accused of substantial tax fraud in respect of the partial sale of a 70 storey tower hotel called the Trump Ocean Club in Panama to a private equity firm called Ithaca.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-companies-accused-tax-evasion-panama

Ithaca subsequently ousted the Trump Organization who unsuccessfully petitioned Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela to intercede on their behalf. The Trump team were physically thrown out of the premises by Ithaca security teams, and the Trump logo was very publicly hacked off  the frontage of the hotel which was later renamed the JW Marriot Panama.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JW_Marriott_Panama

More recently  in February 2024, Laura Loomer who is a whackadoodle  9/11 conspiracy theorist and ally of Trump began urging him to seize the Panama Canal as soon as he takes office.

Happy Days !

 

Edited Monday at 08:54 PM by toucana
corrected "loss of" para 3

[MigL]

D Trump had better check with his boss, E Musk, before making any more demands.

[exchemist]

11 minutes ago, toucana said:

According to reports in The Hill and elsewhere President-elect Trump said on Sunday evening on social media that owning Greenland “is an absolute necessity”

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5053319-trump-greenland-purchase/

Trump also gave a speech to a conservative group demanding the return of the Panama Canal to US control (some 50 years after the canal zone was ceded to Panama) citing “ridiculous shipping fees” as the reason.

Trump originally proposed trading Puerto Rico for Greenland back in 2019 during his first term in office - much to the bemusement of Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen who called the idea “absurd” telling reporters at the time “Greenland is not Danish. Greenland is Greenlandic. I persistently hope that this is not something that is seriously meant.”

In the case of Greenland, Trump  - along with the minority of his advisers who don’t think that global warming is a Chinese hoax -  are presumably attracted by the idea that the loss of Greenland’s icecap will expose a treasure trove of extractable mineral ores, oil and natural gas.They also probably imagine that no one else in the entire world has thought of this possibility either.

But why is Trump so interested in the Panama Canal, well before he is even due to take office ? Part of the answer can be found in this YT video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sv_Wv_Ui1A

Back in 2018, Trump owned management companies were accused of substantial tax fraud in respect of the partial sale of a 70 storey tower hotel called the Trump Ocean Club in Panama to a private equity firm called Ithaca.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-companies-accused-tax-evasion-panama

Ithaca subsequently ousted the Trump Organization who unsuccessfully petitioned Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela to intercede on their behalf. The Trump team were physically thrown out of the premises by Ithaca security teams, and the Trump logo was very publicly hacked off  the frontage of the hotel which was later renamed the JW Marriot Panama.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JW_Marriott_Panama

More recently  in February 2024, Laura Loomer who is a whackadoodle  9/11 conspiracy theorist and ally of Trump began urging him to seize the Panama Canal as soon as he takes office.

Happy Days !

 

This sort of ill-considered, threatening shit is what we are all going to have to put up with, on a daily basis, for at least the next 4 years. It's terribly wearing. Most of it won't see the light of day, as the Pentagon or whoever will point out it's utterly mad and impractical. But some of it could be Trump's idea of a kind of protection-racket negotiating ploy. Give me something (whatever it may be) and I'll stop threatening to annex part of your territory, kind of thing. Trouble is we don't know what is a ploy and what is just mad or a brain fart. So everyone gets sleepless nights, all the time.

What an arsehole. And what's worse, elected by the American people, knowing he's an arsehole.  

[CharonY]

Well, folks apparently got what they want. I suppose that many also think that bullying is a demonstration of strength. But then the internet has regressed everyone to highschool students again. I guess it is at least internally consistent...

[DeepBlueSouth]

america deserves this. not gonna lie. I feel sorry for the rest of the world, but after forty years of life in this country, I cannae help but admit that this crooked dotard is uniquely perfect to represent this nation of racist, xenophobic, misogynistic clowns; and those oppressed by these same people, but who simply won't vote for unnecessary personal reasons. the ones who keep falling for russian propaganda, spouted by americans though it is, there is simply no hope for. they will believe anything podcasters tell them to and ignore the obvious.

joe-y rogain-e [turns out around ten million viewers a day can indeed be woefully wrong] told them trump was an idiot and never to vote for him [oddly sound advice coming from him], then he gets a block of cash to do a new standup "comedy" special [which, for the sake of this conversation, did not do well at all; nobody would have produced this for him, he is not selling well because of the things that come out of his freaking mouth] and then suddenly after that new money, a few weeks later, he begs his radio clan to vote for the guy he had begged them not to vote for before he just got all the money to produce that failure of a standup special [couldn't even book a tour with it, he can only get so many butts in seats]. he is not the only podcaster to have a story like this is 2024. there are now dozens of people with his "profession" who are participating witnesses and/or defendants in an espionage case with various federal agencies because the Kremlin [or connected individuals therein] was paying right wing american podcasters to promote russian talking points [which many republican congresspeople like mine have also been "mysteriously" doing for years now, doubtlessly out of the goodness of their hearts {hahaha}].

I know why so much of the establishment and the elite people who tell the rest of them what to do were against the republican candidate for once... if anything is gonna turn everyone else down here with us against this system and this form of government and to quit watching [only] the mainstream news [uncritically, thus ignoring more important and/or less shared stories].... all this ought to do it. they wanted us to be content with stale cake and moldy bread and tired circuses. yea, that american exceptionalism crap just ain't gonna do it anymore. we want work, we want homes, we want futures, we want peace. let Greenland and the go******d Panama Canal take care of themselves, russia can go mind their own problems for a change, and they'd better get started, they have more ground to cover than the US and that's saying a LOT.

once again, the democrats just looked for the "best suited for helping the rich criminals get off in court" candidate to continue their life's work to help the monied interests of this country in elected office... and the gqp just couldn't ditch their adjudicated rapist, convicted felon, third rate excuse for a carnival barker, and future Miranda Law candidate who can't even dress himself; and as usual, that did not work out for literally any of us.