American “Imperialism”

Growing Evidence That Trump Is Planning To Be Aggressive Toward Latin American Neighbors, Reviving American “Imperalism” Historical Record!

Ronald 4 Comments

President Donald Trump came into office for his second term, declaring that he wished to downgrade our involvement in international affairs and overseas wars, attracting the support of isolationists in the Republican Party, which has long had a history of promoting that view, as in the two World Wars of the first half of the 20th century.

However, Trump had no problem in cozying up to authoritarian dictators, including the leaders of the Russian Federation, China, North Korea, Hungary, El Salvador, and elsewhere.

And there is now growing evidence of Trump’s desire to be aggressive toward our Latin American neighbors, and even Canada, displaying his imperalist urges.

So he has, earlier, made an issue of the Panama Canal, and spoken of making Canada “the 51st State”! He is unlikely to abandon these thoughts with still more than three years to go in this term.

But now, Trump, without Congressional authorization, is utilizing his “Commander in Chief” authority to promote attacks on what he believes are boats that are transporting drugs in the Caribbean, and coming from Venezuela, having caused the destruction of four boats, and the deaths of 21 people on board, without any clear cut evidence to have initiated such attacks.

Certainly, the US Navy could have stopped these boats and inspected them, and if need be, arrest those onboard, but just to attack and obliterate the ships and the occupants is a violation of international law, when America is not at war with any nation in the Western Hemisphere.

There are also veiled threats against nations, such as Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and particularly against Brazil, because that nation has convicted its former President for inciting a insurrection, equivalent to the one Trump provoked, and should have been convicted for, if the Biden Administration had only moved faster, to prevent Trump from running again for President in 2024.

Trump’s push to deport hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, who were supposed to have protection against harsh dictatorships in those nations, is another sign of his antagonism toward Latin America.

We are in for a period of controversial imperialistic ventures by the 47th President, reminding us of past sins toward the Western Hemisphere!

Trump State Of The Union Address: Highly Divisive And Lies, Lies, Lies! :(

Ronald 14 Comments

Donald Trump gave the longest State of the Union speech ever delivered last evening, about 9,900 words lasting about 100 minutes, surpassing Bill Clinton’s State of the Union speech in 2000.

The speech was highly, extremely divisive, unusual as Presidents usually try to promote a sense of unity when giving the State of the Union address, even with the opposition party, but instead Trump was gloating about his victory, which he exaggerated regarding its magnitude.

Trump, as usual, lied, lied, and lied some more, distorting and exaggerating reality, facts, and truth.

Trump lied about Joe Biden’s record, calling him the worst President in US History (which was an example of projection about himself).

Trump also took a dig against Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the primary promoter of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, that became law under Barack Obama, but now is on the chopping block.

Trump also claimed that there are people over 100 years of age, up to 300 years old, who are collecting Social Security, a clearcut attack on that program that has existed for 90 years since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt. There is fear that Social Security may not be paid in future months, due to the claims of waste, fraud, and abuse that are totally preposterous, and with layoffs of civil service employees in that agency.

Trump also promoted the idea of seizing the Panama Canal and taking over Greenland from Denmark, which will antagonize Latin America and NATO respectively, as Trump promotes “imperialism”.

Watching the smirks of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Vice President JD Vance was infuriating, as the nation clearly is evenly divided, but there was no interest in crossing the aisle and promoting cooperation, with the Congress more divisive and the majority unconcerned about compromise and negotiation.

Trump’s promotion of tariffs with Canada, Mexico, and China will raise the cost of living dramatically, and soon, and goes against the record of history, that tariffs are counterproductive.

Plaudits to newly elected Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin, who gave the Democratic response to the State of the Union, and introduced herself to the nation as a legislator who should be respected and paid attention to in the future of the Democratic Party.

The battle ahead for the average American taxpayer and families will be a long, bitter struggle, but the Democrats must not sit on the sidelines, but instead march, demonstrate, organize, and vigorously fight with every bone in their bodies against the extreme right wing tilt of the Republican Party, which has repudiated so much of their heritage over 170 years of their history from Abraham Lincoln to Theodore Roosevelt to Dwight D. Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan!

Donald Trump Creating International Crises And Disruption Of American Diplomacy!

Ronald 13 Comments

Donald Trump is creating an image that “Might Makes Right” in international affairs, and that presents a disaster for the world!

Trump has said the Russia-Ukraine War must end, and is taking the side of Vladimir Putin, that territory gained from Ukraine since 2014 should be conceded by Ukraine, and that Ukraine cannot be allowed to join NATO in the future.

Trump says Russian troops have been “sacrificed”, and that, therefore, that nation must be able to have its advancements on the battlefield legalized under international law!

Trump is setting up the situation for his own plans to be aggressive in foreign affairs, and claim that American “sacrifices” must be rewarded with the gaining of teritory he has an eye on, including the Panama Canal, Greenland (Denmark), Canada, and the Gaza Strip (Middle East).

We are about to see America become aggressive and imperialistic as it was in the 1840s under President James K. Polk and the 1890s under President William McKinley!

Trump wants to act like the governments of Russia and China, and divide the world into areas of dominance controlled by those two nations and America.

It is a repudation of our alliances, including European nations in NATO, and Pacific alliances with Asian nations and Australia and New Zealand.

This is a radical, revolutionary transformation of American foreign policy, diametrically opposite to that pursued by Presidents from Franklin D. Rooevelt through Joe Biden, minus the first four years of Donald Trump!

Alarming Trump Press Conference: Signs Of American Imperialism And War Mongering Expansion!

Ronald 23 Comments

One day after the Electoral College counting in Washington DC that officially confirmed the victory of Donald Trump for the Presidency, Trump has held a press conference at Mar a Lago, and is stirring up elements of imperialism, militarism, and expansionism as his plans after the Presidential Inauguration on January 20.

Trump’s earlier statements and assertions regarding the Panama Canal, Greenland, and Canada were emphasized, making clear his intentions to promote expansion of American territory, in the name of “national security”.

Trump issued what could be considered threats against Panama, with his assertion, wrongfully, that Panama mistreats American ships as compared to other foreign vessels, and making it clear that he believes America should never have agreed to President Jimmy Carter’s pursuit of the Panama Canal treaty a half century ago. He emphasized the financial cost and loss of lives of Americans in building and sustaining that canal over a century. He implied that American military force might be utilized.

Trump also made it clear, that in his mind, Greenland is essential for American national security, and seems ready to use pressure on NATO ally Denmark to agree to allow America gaining control of that vast area of land, no matter how Denmark may feel about the matter, including possible use of military force. Greenland is the largest island in the world, at 836,000 square miles, which if added to the total area of the US (3 million, 532 thousand square miles), would make America have a total of 4 million 368 thousand square miles), putting America ahead of Canada and China, and only behind Russia in land area. Of course, if Canada, crazily were to become part of the US, the total land area would be 7 million 879 thousand square miles, putting the US first, ahead of Russia with 6 million 323 thousand square miles.

Trump said economic pressure might be brought on Canada, as he pursues the mission of making Canada the 51st state, a totally crazy idea, undermining the close relationship of our northern neighbor and the stability of the boundary line, which has been stable since the early 19th century by treaties. It is the longest border between two nations, at 5,525 miles long, including both the border with the mainland United States, and also with the state of Alaska.

And to top it off, Trump stated that the Gulf of Mexico should be renamed the Gulf of America, therefore creating an issue with our southern neighbor, that we share a boundary of 1,954 miles.

Trump’s threat to wage tariff increases against both Canada and Mexico are bound to undermine relations with both of our neighbors, and will cause vast inflation if allowed to be pursued.

We are faced with a person who could be considered a “madman”, who could be a danger both to America and world stability, particularly with our neighbors in the hemisphere, and with our NATO allies, which include Denmark!

Hard To Believe: The Worst Week Of The Trump Presidency, And Every Week Is Worse Than The One Before!

Ronald 4 Comments

Hard to believe, but this past week has been the worst week of the Trump Presidency and every week is worse than the one before!

Trump has gone after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the GOP Party Leader this week, alienating Republican Senators, and making for an awkward situation for McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, who is Trump’s Secretary of Transportation.

He has ratcheted up the possibility of nuclear war against North Korea if any danger comes to our territory of Guam, or the possibility of a conventional war which would bring great destruction and death to our ally, South Korea, where the capital, Seoul, is less than a hour from the Demilitarized Zone, and millions of people live, including hundreds of thousands of Americans, a few million foreigners, and 28,000 American soldiers and their dependents.

Trump has also brought up the possibility of military intervention in Venezuela, which is a major problem, but we do not worry about human rights in other nations around the world, and instead promote the image of America, the imperialist nation, throwing its weight around in Latin America.

The last thing we need is to have military intervention in northeast Asia and in South America, to add on to the wars in Afghanistan, and against ISIS (ISIL) in the Middle East, along with alienating China, which we need as a supporter to curb the ambitions of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Trump is out of control in foreign policy, and foreign leaders are shocked at his loose language, and building up the tensions on the Korean peninsula, something never witnessed with any other American President. Our allies in Europe, and in Canada, Australia, Mexico, Japan and South Korea are not quite sure how Trump can be contained in his dangerous rhetoric and impulsive actions.

And Trump also has ignored the mosque bombing in Minnesota, refusing to condemn it, and now the right wing White Supremacists (Neo Nazis, Ku Klux Klan, Alt Right) have provoked violence at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, leading to the death of one person and nineteen injured, and Trump refusing to condemn these groups, and acting as if all sides in the debate over the statue of Robert E. Lee being removed are equal, when that is the furthest from the truth. To compare left wing groups to the right wing as equals is totally preposterous, but Trump continues to refuse to repudiate the right wing extremists who promote racism, antisemitism, nativism, and misogyny, including such hate mongers as David Duke and Richard Spencer.

All this adds up to the reality that Donald Trump has been a disastrous President, is getting worse by the week, and the move ahead by Special Counsel Robert Mueller to question those who have worked in the West Wing of the White House is a major move toward bringing closer the end of the Trump Presidency, as grounds for impeachment are growing.

Many Republicans and conservatives have repudiated Trump in various ways, and my article on History News Network, just published on August 6, and on the right side of this blog, details the growing opposition to Trump, and makes clear the dangers he faces as we finish Month 7 of the Trump Presidency!

Donald Trump Has Divided America More Than Any Other President Since The Civil War, Including Richard Nixon!

Ronald Leave a comment

America has had 44 men who have served as President.

We have had a person who had no issue with slaughter of Native Americans—Andrew Jackson.

We have had a person who chose to give his loyalty to the Confederate States of America in the Civil War—John Tyler.

We have had a person who warred with our southern neighbor, Mexico, on the basis of promoting slavery expansion and American imperialism—James K. Polk.

We have had a person who was openly racist after the Civil War, and was impeached, more because of his disagreeable personality and stubbornness—Andrew Johnson

We have had a person who presided over the worst, most scandalous Presidency of the 19th century—Ulysses S. Grant.

We have had a person who presided over the worst scandals since Grant, and was seen as very lacking in any intellect—Warren G. Harding.

We have had a person who was the most crooked President in American UNTIL NOW, and caused the greatest division since the Civil War a century earlier, and resigned from office under certainty of impeachment and conviction—Richard Nixon.

All of these seven Presidents had major issues and characteristics that undermine their historical reputation, but NONE, I repeat NONE, have divided America so much as Donald Trump. not even Richard Nixon, who actually had major domestic and foreign accomplishments, despite his many shortcomings.

But Donald Trump will go down as the absolute worst President in all of American history, and my prediction in February on History News Network, which went viral, still stands as of today—that Donald Trump will leave the Presidency by one method or another no later than the range of time between August 7, 2017–199 days of James A. Garfield and May 27, 2018–one year from today–or 492 days of Zachary Taylor!

Donald Trump Border Wall With Mexico—1989 Miles, 30 Feet High, Never Will Be Built, And Would Be Boondoggle Financially!

Ronald Leave a comment

The proposed Mexico Wall of Donald Trump will never be built. The price tag is uncertain: could it be 10 Billion? 20 Billion? 70 Billion? Such a project would be a 1,989 mile, 30 feet high wall, that cannot be built in many areas due to topography, including deserts, rugged hills, and two rivers (the Colorado and Rio Grande), and is opposed by many as unworkable, and sends a horrible message about the United States internationally. It would be a wall that would not prevent drugs, or human trafficking, and would cost loss of trust between two neighbors who share the 10th longest boundary between nations in the world. No wall or barrier has ever prevented breaching such an edifice, and it will happen in this case, were the wall to be built.

The Great Wall of China was built over many centuries, and never effectively barred invasions or prevented wars, and presented a psychological barrier for China, isolating it from the Western world, but in so doing, causing it to fall behind the West, and eventually be exploited in the 19th century by European powers. Disrepair, vandalism, and graffiti became common, and it never really advanced the Chinese economy. It marked China as backward.

The Berlin Wall, built by the Soviet Union beginning in 1961, and being destroyed in 1989, just 28 years in existence, marked the Soviets as a nation trying to stop the promotion of freedom, but the Wall was overcome by some courageous Germans, and became a symbol of the oppression of human liberty. It was a sign of the ultimate failure of Soviet Communism, with a humiliating ending in November 1989.

America gains nothing from such a wall, except to stoke fear and hatred in Mexico, and even in Canada, which has the largest land boundary in the world with the US, 3,997 miles between the 48 states and Canada, and an additional 1,538 between Alaska and Canada, for a total of 5,525 miles.

America’s reputation will be further undermined by a financial boondoggle that will be seen, were it to be built, as a negative development, which will help to sink Donald Trump to the bottom of the Presidential list all time.

It would insure that America would lose the respect and stature that it has had since World War II, as we wall off our nation, and make a very public judgment as to the inferiority of the people of Mexico and Central America, and further make America look like an imperialist nation, which has no respect for the people south of us in our hemisphere.

Donald Trump, The Warmonger: ISIL, Syria, North Korea, Iran—The Military Training School 14-18 Year Old Bully Gone Mad!

Ronald Leave a comment

Donald Trump was a bully as a kid and a teenager, and his misbehavior made his parents decide to send him to a military training school for his high school years from age 14 to 18, and Trump never matured beyond that stage.

As an adult, with a “gift” of one million dollars from his father, Donald Trump set out on a career of bullying people, harassing women, and demonstrating racism, misogyny, nativism, and willingness to cheat workers, contractors, and fellow businessmen, and possessing no moral compass or ethics.

Now he is the 45th President, and is showing he is a warmonger, a man who is determined to show the American imperialistic bent that became part of the 20th and early 21st century under most of his predecessors in the White House, and sacrificing generations of young Americans, most of them poor whites or minorities, who see the military as their last bastion of a chance for success in life.

America has not “won” a war since 1945, and has engaged in wars that have undermined the American reputation in the world, first in Korea, then in Vietnam, then in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with many interventions in nations we did not have a long term commitment of troops.

Donald Trump lives in his own parallel universe, however, and seems to think that being a warmonger against four adversaries at once is a smart idea, as he has now challenged ISIL (ISIS), Syria, North Korea, and Iran, along with using the MOAB (Mother Of All Bombs) in Afghanistan.

Thinking that he can wage four wars or more at once is a sign of maniacal behavior, of insane behavior, that will make our military cannon fodder for Donald Trump’s imperial ambitions.

It is something that should not be allowed to happen, as it will cause massive casualties and deaths to glorify a man who is dangerous to world stability and peace.

February 15: Momentous Day In American History Twice!

Ronald Leave a comment

On this day, February 15, two momentous events in American history, 35 years apart, occurred, transforming America forever.

In 1898, 114 years ago today, the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor in Cuba, killing about 260 on board, and although it was caused by an accidental explosion, it spurred America into war against Spain, in what became known as the Spanish American War. As a result of the war, America became an “empire” with colonies in Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine Islands, and had a “sphere of influence” over Cuba, eventually leading to problems when Fidel Castro rose to power in 1959 and condemned US “imperialism” in his island nation.

In 1933, 79 years ago, we almost lost President elect Franklin D. Roosevelt, as he was the target of an assassin, Joseph Zangara, who instead mortally wounded Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, while FDR was visiting Miami, Florida. Had FDR been killed or seriously wounded, we might not have had the New Deal programs that helped to ameliorate the Great Depression, and instead would have had conservative Texan and former Speaker of the House John Nance Garner, the Vice President elect, as our President.

The role of America in world affairs, and the coming of the greatest President of the 20th century, and only second to Abraham Lincoln in our entire history, were transformational moments in the American story!