As he was sworn in for a second time, Donald Trump openly declared America to be a territorial empire that would expand, even to Mars, reports Joe Lauria.
Donald Trump delivering his second inaugural address on Monday. (C-Span)
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Donald J. Trump in his second inaugural address left little doubt that he will seek to expand America’s global empire and reverse what he sees as its recent decline, boldly declaring that a “golden age” of U.S. supremacy had begun.
Trump has been seen before ripping the mask from America’s true global intentions and on Monday made clear the U.S. has been an empire for centuries, which he aims to enforce in a super-charged, imperial presidency.
“America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on Earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world,” he proclaimed.
“America will soon be greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before,” he added. Challenges the U.S. face will be “annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing in the United States of America.”
He declared: “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”
[During the transition period, Trump took aim at the nine- nation BRICS bloc, which constitutes the greatest challenge to U.S. global dominance, since certainly the Soviet Union.]
As though he couldn’t have made the point about U.S. primacy any clearer, he declared:
“Above all, my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization. […]
The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons.” [Emphasis added.]
Trump used the word destiny, even “manifest” destiny to proclaim the country’s quasi-religious right to rule worlds. “Our liberties and our nation’s glorious destiny will no longer be denied,” he said.
And the U.S. would not stop at just the dominance of planet Earth. “We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars,” he said.
“The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts,” Trump said. “The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls.”
Donald Trump promising to make the U.S. “more exceptional than ever before” during his second inaugural address on Monday. (C-Span)
He then launched into a riff on “American exceptionalism,” recounting the building of an empire from “our American ancestors [who] turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic” by pushing “thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness,” without mentioning the people who already lived there and were soon annihilated.
“Ambition is the lifeblood of a great nation,” he said. “And right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other.”
Trump apparently intends to do what few empires have done before: expand by starting no new wars. He said though that the U.S. would “build the strongest military the world has ever seen,” something that previous president have already done with little effect lately in winning wars of aggression.
“We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but by the wars we end and more importantly the wars we never get into,’’ he said in his inaugural address from inside the Capitol rotunda. He wants to be seen as a “peacemaker” he said, clearly the peace of an enforced Pax Americana.
Trump again played on a note he has sounded many times before, a frankly absurd notion that America is a victim on the world stage.
“From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer,” he said.
While the U.S. has for decades run roughshod over the sovereignty of a host of nations, he declared, “Our sovereignty will be reclaimed.”
Trump blasted the stewardship of the empire by the Biden administration. “We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad,” he said.
Trump attacked any effort in U.S. schools to open students’ eyes to America’s actual historic behavior in the world.
Donald Trump delivering his second inaugural address on Monday. (C-Span)
“We have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves in many cases, to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them,” he said. “All of this will change starting today, and it will change very quickly.”
Trump wants American school children to only be taught what he sees as the greatness of America’s historical, imperial might. In doing so, he praised President William McKinley, one of the most openly imperial presidents in history, who led the war to take territory from the Spanish Empire.
In his quest to reverse what he see as “wokeness,” Trump wants to deny the long history of indigenous peoples on the North American continent, victims of empire-building, white settlers for whom Trump acts as spokesman.
He said: “A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. And we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs.”
He said McKinley “gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did, including the Panama Canal,” as if making money is what presidents do.
Trump declared that the canal has “foolishly been given to the country of Panama” after the U.S. built it. “We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made,” he said, incorrectly stating that China “operates” the canal, when it only controls ports at either end.
“China is operating the Panama Canal,” he said, “and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama. And we’re taking it back.”
Trump unquestionably compared himself to the super empire-builder who he says paid for the canal. “President McKinley made our country very rich, through tariffs and through talent. He was a natural businessman,” Trump said.
Trump sees what appears to be a megalomaniacal role for himself in furthering U.S. imperial might. In speaking of his survival from an assassin’s bullet, he said: “My life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former 25-year U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
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“Trump sees what appears to be a megalomaniacal role for himself in furthering U.S. imperial might. In speaking of his survival from an assassin’s bullet, he said: ‘My life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.’”
After surviving his attempted assassination, Trump anointed himself, telling us he was “saved by the grace of God,” presumably — in his view — to give him a second chance to serve us. With an agenda of imperial expansion and retribution? Well, that’s the self-centered (surprise!) interpretation of only one (dubious) theologian. But God works in mysterious ways, with implications not just for Trump but for all of us. Dare I suggest that — in God’s view — the American people were not sufficiently punished for electing Trump to his first term of office, so they were given a second chance, along with our creaking political system, to set things right. Did they redeem themselves with their votes? Or have they, like the Republican Party, lined up behind Donald Trump to “kiss ass and take names” (a tip of the hat to writer Matthew Stevenson) in a quest for retribution against the U.S.’s (and Trump’s) imagined enemies, thereby ensuring that a malignant narcissist and his obsequious followers can finish the job of wrecking our increasingly fragile democracy?
It looks like the 19th century gilded age all over again. At least there was a brief anti-imperialist party then.
see “The True Flag” by Stephen Kinzer or “The Imperil Cruise ” by James Bradley
Speaking of McKinley’s untimely death and the TR cruising into history for our manifest destiny too.
Trump proposes; the multipolar world disposes.
Fear is not respect. Eyes on, is not always admiration.
Teddy might have benefited from Ritlin; Henry and McKinley might have benefited from Demerol.
I used to enjoy Red Skelton. Bafoonary no longer amuses and often its become dangerous.
But thank you Mr. Lauria for this.
“we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer,” he said… Our soverignty will be reclaimed.” If you think about it, there’s only one country that is not only running roughshod over the US government, but has a stranglehold on it. That would be Israel.
Break those chains!! (IWBIWISI)
Fact is the US has been having a stranglehold on Israel, the favourite attack dog of the coloniser in the Middle East…so that would be Zionist Israel is the chained one! Worst, Israel is the executioner of current genocide against Palestinians on orders of the evil US colonial empire, as it has been at least since 1945. Please do not forget or bypass historical facts, so most reasonable not to blame the dog but its megalomaniac owner!?
“America is a victim on the world stage.”
That’s the mindset of Trump’s major funders kicking in, Miriam Adelson et al.
China is operating the Panama canal is an out and lie. Why is no one calling him out on this?
The above article clearly does that: “”We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made,” he said, incorrectly stating that China “operates” the canal, when it only controls ports at either end. “
the huge conceit of the miles gloriosus
“The existing Panama Canal is vulnerable to many forms of attack, even though extensive protective measures have been taken to strengthen the dams holding its water supply, to double-gate the canal locks, and to guard its power sources. Drainage of Gatún Lake is the greatest danger. A guerrilla raid on the locks or dams, or the demolition of a shipload of explosives in the locks, could result in the loss of stored water that could take as long as [two] years to replace [NOTE: possibly even longer at this point, given recent drought conditions]. Shorter term interruptions could readily be created by sabotage of power supplies and lock machinery, by scuttling ships in the locks or channel, or by harassment by fire on ships in transit.”
Source:
“1970 Interoceanic Canal Studies” (Washington, DC: Atlantic-Pacific Interoceanic Canal Study Commission, Dec. 1970), p. 9, available from the University of Florida George A. Smathers Library (original-ufdc.uflib.ufl.edu/AA00006086/00001/19j)
Translation of the above: Even without a standing military (such as the Panamanian National Guard, which mobilized a covert sapper unit during the late 1970s as a contingency to cripple the Canal in case US-Panama negotiations over transfer of the canal went south, as discussed in Jonathan C. Brown’s recently-published book, “The Weak and the Powerful”), all it would take would be even one nationalistic Panamanian saboteur, acting with or without their government’s approval, to incur damage to a vital artery of interoceanic commerce in an effort to preserve their nation’s gained sovereignty over the Canal Zone or avenge the loss thereof (which could have a deleterious economic impact that would put the “Ever Given” incident of 2021 in the Suez Canal to shame). This was a concern reiterated in various declassified USSOUTHCOM documents that I consulted as part of my dissertation research at the US Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC), and without any sea-level canal having been constructed in the interim as an alternative (seemingly thanks in large part to the machinations of US policymakers in thwarting construction of any proposed second canal in Panama financed by the likes of Japan and Libya, due to those states being perceived as economic and geopolitical competitors), the underlying circumstances remain almost entirely the same.
Thank you. I was in high school in the 70’s. So, I vaguely remembered that a part of the argument about why America needed to let the Panamanians run their own canal was the fact that it was undefendable. And that was in 1970.
Consider two images from what we’ve seen in the world in recent years. ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) being used against structures in warfare. They are ‘smart’ and ‘guided’ and hit targets with accuracy with enough firepower design to destroy a tank. They fly low and fast and are unstoppable by “missile defense”. They have ranges up to 10 km (6 miles), and do not need to be fired with line-of-sight at the target. Imagine a group getting ATGMs (reported to be available on black markets from the many shipped to Ukraine) and waging a campaign against the locks of the canal.
The other image is of drones. At each end of the canal there is a port/bay which is full of ships that wait for their turn through the canal. Sitting ducks for modern drones. And those drones can be launched from a hundred miles away or more. If the USN tries to defend, then they use missiles that cost a couple of million dollars a piece to shoot down a drone that can be supplied to ‘rebels’ for $100,000.
Trump’s Folly is a term that has come to mind with relation to Greenland. But the real Folly that Trump is proposing would be to retake “America’s Canal”. If he believes this is a strategic gain for the USA, then consider that it can lead to a future where freight traffic avoids that canal they way they’ve been avoiding the Red Sea of late. Or that the USN might have to go back to some old plans of needing to transit Chile and Argentina to move ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific or vice-versa, as the canal might become too dangerous or just be blocked by destroyed locks or a damaged ship stuck in the way.
None of that includes the political effect on every place “south of the border” from the image of the Yankees being untrustworthy and reneging on one of the few decent things they did back under Jimmy Carter.
To that I applaud wholeheartedly, what a deluded clown, Godless nutter, Adolf eat your heart out, why do always the most obvious loonies end up in the highest position of power, I wonder? Because people love circus the most, even if bread is rather scarce, bread and circus, the way Romans ruled!? Consolation none lasts forever, Trumpeltier Trumpy at most four years unless he decrees himself life long dictator of the empire?! Get your popcorn while watching the just unfolding exceptional circus.
I am informed that an alternative canal is being planned through Nicaragua from the Gulf to Pacific, financed and built no doubt by China!? Has anybody told Donald that yet? Is he going to order sabotage in Nicaragua, how about some more sanctions thatnever work?
Construction of a Nicaraguan canal has long been a quixotic ambition for all manner of individuals, states, and entities, from the era of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Chris Lo, “Unanswered Questions at the Nicaragua Canal,” Ship Technology, March 17, 2015) to the more recent but ultimately abortive efforts of the Hong Kong-based HKND Group that were officially terminated by the Nicaraguan government last year (“Nicaragua Cancels a Controversial Chinese Inter-Oceanic Canal Concession After Nearly a Decade,” Associated Press, May 8, 2024).
It has thus far been rendered unrealizable not only by the high seismicity and volcanic activity of Nicaragua compared to Panama and some other parts of Central America, but also intermittent activities by rival states and powers to nip such initiatives in the bud before they have a proper chance to get off the ground, such as the Panamanian military government’s support for the FSLN revolutionaries under General Omar Torrijos and Hugo Spadafora in the mid-late 1970s partly to end the US-backed Somoza dynasty’s efforts to construct a competing canal that would undermine their leverage vis-à-vis the United States (Mary Russell, “Somoza Declares State of Siege in Nicaragua,” The Washington Post, June 6, 1979), and of course the United States’s own seeming ironic efforts to sabotage the HKND proposal as part of their regime change efforts against an FSLN-governed Nicaragua during the past decade (John Perry, “The US Contracts Out Its Regime Change Operation in Nicaragua,” Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), Aug. 4, 2020, and “Nicaragua’s Interoceanic Canal: President Accuses US of Attempting to Sink Project,” Business News Americas (Chile), June 16, 2023).
Of course, as a separate aside, it is intriguing that Donald Trump and other members of the US political class seem to care so much about CK Hutchison-operated ports in Panama, and selective Chinese activities in other contexts, as opposed to, e.g., CNOOC natural gas concessions in West Virginia (Kayla Tausche, “West Virginia is Still Waiting on a Game-Changing $84 Billion Investment from China That Was Promised in 2017,” CNBC, June 21, 2019), or Chinese-owned business and banking space rented in Trump’s own properties (Dan Alexander, “China Paid Trump Millions In Rent, Then He Left The White House,” Forbes, Aug. 10, 2023). Of course, Trump stands in “good” company on that front (see my comments as “sveltesvengali” here: tinyurl.com/TransnationalMICIMATT).
Not yet, but don’t be surprised to see Venezuela attacked soon enough. We’re going to install another right-wing loser whether Venezuelans want it or not.
Thank You Joe
“Those whom gods destroy they first make mad with power.”
Neil Armstrong planted a American flag on the Moon and was applauded. No one thought that he was an imperialist. To this day, the USA remains competitive and co-operative with Russia in terms of space exploration.
“the USA remains competitive and co-operative with Russia in terms of space exploration.”
I’m not convinced, I believe that the great days of NASA have passed and with the outsourcing to the private sector pure research and maintenance of technical capability are over. China, Russia and even India are surpassing the USA. As Astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore might say, ‘a week is a long time in the private sector’ !
And that plastic flag was bleached white in 15 minutes of exposure to unmediated sunlight, quite poingiantly and appropriately, as if signifying human silliness’ surrender to the incomprehensible vastness of the universe.
Boy, those are some thin reeds you’re grasping there.
This empire is toast no matter what Mr. Trump believes. The majority of the world is more than fed up with Western imperialism. As if Russia and China are going to dissolve the BRICS growing economic block because he wishes it so. Please. What a delusional duffus. His comeuppance is going to be interesting to observe.
Lois, I think what Mr Lauria so eloquently describes here is known as “hubris”, which is usually accompanied by “Delusions of Grandeur”. If he wasn’t so deadly serious about these outrageous ambitions it would be laughable. The flag on Mars bit did make me smile though. Considering there are already a couple of Astronauts already stranded in near Earth orbit, and have been for months now. Will he be asking for volunteers to accomplish this extraordinary ambition?
big TQ Joe Lauria, after not being able to listen to this myself. may I be sick now?
A timely message by Martin Luther King, whose holiday surrealistically took a backseat today:
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzGZ3v-74Ro
From one President not playing with a full deck to another one. I hope that what happens in the next two years is that Americans come to realize their mistake, and give the Congress back to the Democrats – domestically the lesser of the two evils. Foreign policy expect no real difference – just a different style.
The Democrats have led us to the brink of World War III by provoking a proxy war between Russia and Ukraine and have sponsored a genocide. At this point, I would call the Democrats the most evil.
Ds? Rs? If Bill Clinton were honest he would have said: “It’s the oligarchy, stupid”
If you pay attention to Congress and both R and D POTUS, the unconditional support of Israel and the war appropriations are BIPARTISAN.
I am not so sure the dems are better domestically anymore. Biden crushed the brewing railroad strike, they didn’t deliver living wage or healthcare, couldn’t respond adequately to either the NC hurricane or LA fire disasters, and homelessness and opioid addiction are epidemic. The dems are far from a party for working people. The lessor of 2 evils is the evil of 2 lessers.
Well said!
Great summary of the sweet oligarch flavor of the dual aspect monoparty. The other flavor being sour plutocrat. Both are toxins exuded by an econopathy defining away devastation of human communities and destruction of ecosystems as irrelevant “externalities.”
The Democrats are scum, too.
Like all the Western regimes, the USA is under Uniparty rule. Anyone who believes there is any substantial difference between, so called: left or right, democrat or Republican, labour or conservative is seriously deluded and hasn’t been paying attention. You don’t have a real choice other than not voting and being complicit with the charade.
Really? Nope. Time to get rid of both Parties. You go ahead and run . . . what, exactly, in four years? Nothing, or the same as usual. N more “lesser of two evils.”
Thank you Joe Lauria for covering this: I couldn’t bear to watch/listen to the bloviating BS.
It is a pity that millions of gullible, and desperate folks fall for the same lies time and again – whether they are Ds or Rs. The oligarchy and their mass media cartel have the population divided, distracted and tilting at windmills. The empty promises are already being broken. Gosh a politician/conman lie? A politician breaks their promises? Gosh, that never happened before, The Orange Savior is going to magically make everything peachy keen with unicorns and rainbows doncha know.
Even educated and informed people fall for the empty rhetoric and false promises. They make pathetic excuses, just like the “hope and change” crowd.
DT’s cabinet is packed with hardcore Zionists, oligarchs and all around socioptath-assholes – just like the JB regime
The starvation-siege warfare against Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, etc. will continue. Tariffs (taxes) will rise, inflation will spike, cost of living will continue to skyrocket, the housing crisis will worsen, the health care crisis will worsen, the climate/environmental crisis will worsen, jingoistic warmongering will continue and despite the cheap PR stunts, the slow-burn Genocide of Palestine will continue.
The facts are the facts- wishful thinking, excuses, and “hope” aint gonna pay the bills, aint gonna save Palestine, and aint gonna stop imperial regime changes, economic warfare, proxy wars etc.
.
This is why I am a socialist and want to see the entire capitalist imperialist system overthrown. Only the working class can do it and it’s time for them to get off their asses. I wish I were still young and healthy. But it’s the young who must take on this task.
Sadly, most of the young are far too ignorant of the reality they are in, and think that any other system, apart from capitalism, would restrict their so-called ‘freedoms’ and choices under authoritarian rule. They’ve been fed the supposed evils of Chinese and Russian systems, without any of the facts.
They’ve been well propagandised to think that all of the alternatives are evil and draconian, not understanding that there have been periods of successful socialism that actually worked, that were not authoritarian.
by coincidence Jonny, yesterday i was watching a dvd entitled “the assassination of richard nixon” based on the true story of sam bicke. in it, sam’s boss describes nixon as “the greatest salesman in the world”. “he sold the whole country. 200 million people on himself”. “twice”. “he said he would end the war.” “he would get us out of vietnam”. “he made a promise”. “he didn’t deliver”. “and then he sold us on the exact same promise all over again”.
throughout the film there are real clips/videos of nixon. and i couldn’t help comparing trump to him with some of the phrases/rhetoric nixon used.
the whole inauguration circus with its attending circus actors was eye-opening. and i must say that at the end of trump’s speech, all i could think was “goodbye america”.
Thanks Carolyn and Valerie. I agree, great points.