Donald Trump’s tough talk—Buy Greenland! Take back Panama

Donald Trump says it is “an absolute necessity” for our country to own Greenland.

He says the U.S. should take back the Panama Canal unless the “ridiculous” shipping fees are lowered.

He threatened that any Republican who opposed him on the bill to avoid a government shutdown can and should be primaried.

The president-elect is earning his reputation as a disruptor, with enough influence over what is now his party to blow up carefully negotiated bipartisan compromises. Let’s look at each of these.

HOW PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP COULD PULL OFF ‘THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY’ AS HE ENTERS OFFICE

Trump tried in his first term to buy Greenland, which is controlled by Denmark but under home rule. That went nowhere, though it created a diplomatic crisis with Danish officials.

While the U.S. built the Panama Canal in the early 20th century, it was turned over to Panama under a treaty approved by both countries. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino says “every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone is Panama’s and will continue to be so. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”

That didn’t stop Trump from posting an AI image of an American flag flying over a waterway presumed to be the canal.

The incoming president has certainly demonstrated the ability to engineer primary challenges to those who cross him. But three dozen conservative Republicans voted against him on the government shutdown bill, including on final passage, which dropped his demand to eliminate the debt ceiling during his term. Would he really gin up primaries against all of them?

So the overwhelming likelihood is that the status of Greenland, the Panama Canal and rebellious Republicans won’t change in the second term.

The reason Trump does this is that it reinforces his role as a disruptor, someone taking on the decrepit Washington establishment, even though a president, by definition, is the new establishment.