An Imperial Presidency?

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Size matters to a man like the next President of the United States.  Whether it is the square-footage of his penthouse apartment, the enormity of his plane, the length of the shore-line at his Florida resort, or the acreage of his golf courses - size matters.  To him, the measure of a man's success is how high he can pile his assets.   Size matters.

As the wobbly King of Mar-a-Lago prepares to return to the White House and the world stage, his thoughts seem to be focused of the size of his grand domain, and he is making noises about expanding the United States into an empire - with, no doubt, an imperial presidency.   Still weeks away from regaining his prized berth aboard Air Force One, the large orange politician is already stirring the diplomatic waters by intimidating several of our international neighbors with not-so-subtle threats of annexation.  

At a recent dinner at Mar-a-Lago where suitors of the once-and-future US President come to openly grovel for attention and favor, our nation's in-coming leader blithely told Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, that the US could annex his entire country as our fifty-first state, and then to add salt to that wound, he began referring to the highly respected Trudeau as "governor."  In a Christmas post on social media yesterday that appeared to be an entreaty to the Canadian people for his absurd proposition, the President-elect said:  

" . . . if Canada was to become our 51st state, their Taxes would be cut by 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World."   (All of the misplaced capital letters are his.)

The once-and-future US President also tried his hand at interfering in Canadian politics to help achieve his aim of taking over Canada.  He said that he had encouraged former professional hockey star, Wayne Gretsky, to run for Prime Minister of Canada, but Gretsky had declined.

(Canada is larger than the United States by 1.6 %, yet we would limit them to only being one state?)

A good number of Canadians are bilingual and speak both English as well as French, and chances are most of Canada's residents, Wayne Gretsky included, also recognize malarky when they hear it.

Next there is the incoming President's long-standing fixation on Greenland.  Someone during his first administration apparently showed him a map of Greenland, and when he saw how big it was (836,300 square miles - or over a third the size of the continental US), he had to have it - so much so that he posited the idea of purchasing it with funds from our national treasury - a.k.a. "other people's money."  But Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory with special status within the Kingdom of Denmark, was not for sale.

Earlier this week, the Danish government coincidentally announced it was increasing defense spending for Greenland.   (Take that, America!)   The in-coming US President says that we need the country for "security" purposes, and the free spirits on the internet are saying that Elon Musk needs it for the rare minerals contained in the land buried beneath the ice.  Surely the head of government efficiency is not pushing for a major US incursion abroad just to line his own pockets!

And finally, the in-coming President is rattling his saber about taking the Panama Canal and placing it back under United States control.  The canal, which was constructed largely by the United States in the early 1900's, was controlled by the US up until the latter part of the century.  President Carter signed an agreement in 1977 giving control of the canal to Panama, and it was formally transferred in 1999.  That agreement has continued to be a sore point with American conservatives of over the ensuing years.

The President of Panama, who has enjoyed a good relationship with the United States until now, has said clearly that the Panama Canal is not - and will not be - for sale.

The next administration is still several weeks out from taking office, yet its leader has wasted no time in angering foreign governments and once solid neighbors with bold threats about encroaching on their sovereignty.  These forays into demented diplomacy along with an assortment of oddball appointees to run our government makes it seem as though the major thrust of the incoming administration may simply be chaos.

We are going to need leadership, Mr. Trump, not a pack of jackals and grifters tearing the country apart to see what they can pocket for themselves.  The size of your legacy will not be measured in acres or dollars or grand palaces.   Your true legacy will be the amount of effort that you put into helping others and making their lives better.   That is where size really will matter.