Apparently, in between rounds of golf and Twitter tirades, Donald Trump has decided that he wants to annex the Panama Canal, because why not? It’s not like international law or basic human decency have ever stopped him before.
Trump’s latest flight of fancy seems to be rooted in the moth-eaten concept of “Manifest Destiny,” the 19th-century belief that the United States was divinely ordained to spread across the American continent like a virulent rash. No, Trump hasn’t been seen donning a coonskin cap or straddling a bald eagle yet, but you can bet he’s channeling that same old-school imperialist vibe. He had already been cooking up a spicy Mexican-Canadian fusion of idiocy. He’s even had the audacity to suggest that Canada should bend the knee and become the 51st state. And now, in a move that reeks of desperation and megalomania, he wants to snatch a territory that legally and rightfully belongs to Panama.
Taking to Truth Social, Trump spewed a torrent of misinformation about the Panama Canal in his latest diatribe. The post is now being circulated on Elon Musk’s X:
Trump lamented the supposed “rip-off” of America by Panama over the canal fees, painting a picture of economic plunder that would make any populist MAGA nod in somber agreement. Here’s where Trump’s tirade takes a dive into the absurd. He claims that 38,000 Americans perished from mosquito bites while building the canal, a figure that wildly inflates the actual, albeit tragic, number of about 5,600, many of whom were Caribbean workers, not Americans. Then he took a swing at former President Jimmy Carter for handing over the canal, even though the U.S. Senate green-lit the move, hailing it as a nod to respecting national sovereignty.
Let’s not forget that the U.S. involvement in the canal project was a direct result of President Theodore Roosevelt’s support for the Panamanian independence movement, which led to Panama seceding from Colombia in 1903. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos signed the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which provided for the gradual transfer of the canal to Panamanian control. Under these treaties, the Panama Canal Zone ceased to exist in 1979, and the canal itself came under full Panamanian control on Dec. 31, 1999.
Transitioning to his fixation on China, Trump hints darkly at foreign influence without a shred of evidence. While China’s presence in Latin America has grown, and a Hong Kong-based company does manage two canal-adjacent ports, no Chinese entity controls the canal itself. This doesn’t stop Trump from painting a picture of geopolitical doom, all while missing the irony that his own rhetoric mirrors the imperial overreach he attributes to others. If he keeps this up, he might as well just change his name to “Donny Despot” and be done with it.
It’s high time someone parks Baby Donny in the naughty corner, snatches his phone, and lets the adults manage the world’s delicate diplomatic dance. The globe certainly doesn’t need a budget-brand dictator. And about that startling confession that he’s never cracked open a book — honestly, who’s shocked? This is the same genius who declared the U.S. and Italy have been besties since the days of Juilius Caesar. Can someone please toss a history book his way — or, heck, even a children’s encyclopedia?
Sadly in the end, you just know the MAGA crowd is going to eat up his every word. Just like Trump’s baseless claims linking vaccines to autism, here’s Marjorie, again bobbing her head like a bobblehead — and she’s eating it up like it’s gourmet garbage. Expect her to unleash a tweetstorm any second now.