I’m sure some political talk will be unavoidable but I’d like to keep this dry and to the point if we could.
This is all just my opinion on why Trump (or the people controlling Trump) is/are focusing on these things:
Greenland: Access to the Arctic where there are huge untapped oil and mineral reserves as well as better defensive positioning against Russia, who are also trying to tap into the Arctic.
Canada: Even better access to the Arctic as above, also we already have a good amount of oil in Alberta, hydro energy from Quebec, and all that fresh water in the Great Lakes. All things that would be painful for the US to lose in a potential trade war over tariffs.
Panama: Critical infrastructure for global trade that China also really needs and would be a key advantage in a potential trade war with them.
Gulf of Mexico: Probably just a distraction from everything and cheap populism points with the MAGA crowd, but also possibly because “Biden said we couldn’t drill more oil in the Gulf of MEXICO but this is the Gulf of AMERICA.”
It’s called a distraction. On Friday January 10th fat donnie will be sentenced in his criminal case. So he says crazy things to get people to talk about that, and not the fact that he is a loser criminal, con man. Also, he’s nuts anyway. Old man yells at windmills!
Whether that particular reason is correct, this is accurate. Trump making stupid noises publicly to distract from something he wants buried in the news cycle. Because the press is fucking stupid and always focuses entirely on the crazy shit he says.
Trump has always been about bluster. He’s currently “blustering” at the entire world. In his mind, he’s setting expectations and trying to put other countries on their toes/sow chaos to “improve his negotiating position.” In reality, his behavior is depressingly predictable even when the specific content is not, and no one is going to take the bait.
I also think part of this is focusing the American public on big manufactured controversies that have no chance of ever actually happening to keep them distracted from the awful things that are going to be coming out daily very soon.
Yeah I guess. But when he was saying last election “and Mexico is going to pay for the wall”
Mexico was just like “no we aren’t”
Today I’m seeing blurbs about the prime minister resigning and Denmark changing the royal coat of arms… I guess both could be just coincidence, I was too busy to read the articles…
But I get off work today and om like “wait… What?.. Why?”
Trudeau’s resignation and the forces leading up to it have been in motion for years, at best this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but everyone across the political spectrum has been thinking he should resign for at least a year now.
Dane here
The change in coat of arms actually improved Greenlands position. They previously shared a square with the Faroe Islands. Both now have their own square
It could be seen as a move to please Greenland, as they have long been wanted independence, but they lack the economy for it
Trudeau is wildly unpopular and we have an election coming up this year; him resigning is the best chance we have of keeping the Conservatives out of office
- He seems to really want to be the president that makes the 51st state. He mentions it a lot.
- Greenland is going to have a lot of power and probably be able to make a lot of money when arctic melt opens up the northwest passage to shipping in 10ish years, especially from the oil tankers leaving the arctic drill sites they want to “drill baby, drill.”
- Trump has always hated that we honored our agreements with Panama and gave up control of the canal. His advisors also know that climate change is going to force Panama to allow fewer and fewer ships, but MAGA has no qualms about using every last drop of their drinking water so long as shipping is unaffected.
- There seems to be a growing drum beat to invade another country. Time to place bets on who our Poland will be.
He seems to really want to be the president that makes the 51st state.
Puerto Rico is right there.
District of Columbia too.
He hates Puerto Rico. And no republican supports making DC a state because it’d vote very firmly blue and they’d lose the senate for probably at least 6 years, until the next super R favorable cycle comes up again.
And fuck it, Alberta
You really want a Texas but cold?
Most albertans also don’t like trump. It’s a loud minority here that likes him.
Destroying the US’s relationships with key allies is the reason putin put him in charge.
That’s not a satisfactory answer to my question. That’s what I said I didn’t want. I don’t like trump either. That doesn’t answer my question.
As an example if I asked “why is that school over there on fire” and you answered “we don’t fund schools enough”
I mean… Yeah … I agree… But even if it’s the “end of the day” reason it’s not providing the information I’m looking for. Compared to something like " the oven In the kitchen was old and got too hot, the kitchen was understaffed so no one noticed in time, and the sprinklers hadn’t been inspected in years so the fire spread. So it’s a funding issue "
That’s what I’m talking about.
The arctic drilling rights that come attached to Greenland are worth trillions
Control of Panama ensures American trade continues if shit hits the fact over tariffs and a trade war (it’s an American weak point that could be used as leverage if America don’t control it). Not that there’s going to be a trade war. But talking shit about it like you’re preparing for it is all part of the tactic.
But also all of this is nonsense designed for two reasons i) Trump’s negotiation tactic is based on the “Madman theory” which was also popular with Nixon. Basically make your opponent think you’re unhinged and crazy and they’re less inclined to call your bluff and you’re more likely to achieve your goals in the compromise. and ii) he doesn’t want anyone to be thinking or talking about the fact he’s getting sentenced on 10th January
It is a political question and therefore impossible to not awnser political
Trump wants to create a country in which the wealth of the nation is neither dependent on imports from other countries nor on the skilled workers within the nation
Why would you want that? Because setting up a more authoritarian government, where the government tells you what values, religions, and sexual orientation are acceptable is easier if neither your people nor other more liberal countries can stop you.
How would you achieve that? See Russia, have little complex labor and more simple or automated production. And rely on natural resources like gas and oil. Annex countries that have oil and gas but no strong military. I would assume both Canada and Greenland have gas reservoirs that are not used out if fears for environmental drawbacks. Trump could than use the fas without having to deal with disasters in his original borders
Assuming Trump acts logical, this annexation would help his goal while the negative relationships would not affect him strongly after he achieved it.
Or he just wants it because they said no, and he doesn’t realize how much global relationships affect even countries that would prefer to ignore them
Assuming Trump acts logical
This is where I am different from the other people with negative views on trump. I don’t think hes stupid. I’m a salesman. I’m good at sales. I used to like trump because he’s a great salesman. There are things we could discuss about his age and mental health but I’m not a Doctor. I’m a salesman.
With that being said… Hes not able to do all that you described there. Theoretically he could if he surrounded himself with talented people and trusted their opinions.
That’s where trump lost me a few years back. He’s a salesman, that’s a skill for sure, it doesn’t make you great at everything and he doesn’t seem to respect the opinions of others… So no team available to make good plans…
He can’t do that stuff. He can make a mess and get people to support that mess. A master plan is beyond him. Not because he’s stupid but because he fell for his own sales pitch. He’s a salesman. Like me .
Distractions so rubes can ship his picks through without the public eye.
Well that backfired then because I had resigned myself to just white knuckling the next four years and focusing on what I can control and avoiding the news as much as I can.
next four years
People keep saying that, but there’s a disturbingly strong chance that he’ll still be President in February 2029.
I want very much to be wrong about that, but if I was a betting man I’d put money on it.
Go out and talk to randos in public. They dont know what’s going on. They dont know who his picks even are. We’re fucked.
political talk will be unavoidable
its literally only political.
Yes I’m fully aware of that. I think you know what I was referring too. We all have our own opinions about trump. I just want to know the facts.
It’s my first time in this group so I don’t know what kind of crowd this is but I know if I look it up myself the story is going to be slanted one way or another.
I just want to know why taking Greenland, or Canada, or taking back the Panama canal is a thing I’m seeing at all on feed. Is this a real thing, a quote taken out of context, like what’s going on right now.
He wants these regions for the future where the polar ice caps melt, as they canada, Greenland and Panama will be/are major shipping routes. He’s serious. You can’t take it out of context. He wants these areas for greed.
Also: Canada is The top oil supplier to the US. 2nd highest uranium production 20% of the world’s fresh water Estimated to have 15.2 million tonnes of rare earth metal deposits. A significant world exporter of metallurgical coal.
Yes, those too of course! Also lots of lumber
Trump said he’d take control of Panama and Greenland potentially including a military invasion, and said he’d buy Canada.
Thats the short, out-of-the-loop, reason you’re hearing about it.
Is there a reason why? It just feels really out of the blue and random? It’s just I don’t think I’ve ever heard him mention anything about Greenland before.
Panama canal I could see some reasons, I don’t agree or like the idea, but I can at least see theres some history with that and America.
Canada is attached to the us and we had a war or two before I guess
Why greenland?
There’s a funny “rumor” going around that Trump wants Greenland because of how huge it is (ie he has no idea what the Mercator projection is and thinks it’s as big as Africa)
The only potential reason I can see is that it could be strategicly useful as climate change makes the weather there more mild. Given that this is Trump, however, and Denmark (and thus Greenland) is currently an ally, it would make more sense that he read it Twitter or something and he repeated it.
It’s just posturing to project strength and appeal to his base who want a strongman dictator. He did actually talk about buying Greenland during his first term as well. It’s probably just because it’s somewhat near the US and could conceivably be acquired without starting a world war. Not that I think it will happen.
Populists and consular republics are typically expansionist and autocratic. These are the WW3 aspirations leaking from a person unable to hold back such info even as nothing more than a front man. The solution to the climate problem is to not change the exploitation or 1%. The solution is to purge the population problem; us. This is why WW3 will happen before 2030. The boarders will be redrawn after.
Elon Musk also threatened the UK