What are we to make of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that the United States should welcome Canada as his country’s 51st state? Or to take us over by economic force?
Or his proposal to buy Greenland, and retake the Panama Canal if Panama doesn’t reduce what he considers “exorbitant” fees?
One answer would be that Trump is an arrogant, bombastic self-promoter with an ego the size of Texas. Nothing he says need be taken at face value.
Another is that he learned his negotiating skills in the dog-eat-dog environment of the New York real estate sector. He asks a sky-high price, settles for half, and calls it a win.
As for admitting Canada to the U.S., some of this was his way of nettling Justin Trudeau, whom Trump despises. He refers to him as “governor” Trudeau.
Our answer would be that Canada’s prime minister will become a U.S. governor the day after Trump is crowned King Donald the First.
As for buying Greenland, Denmark holds title to the island and would never “sell” it, no matter what the price.
Likewise, Panama would never yield ownership of its canal, though conceivably there might be some adjustment of its fees.
We have a different take on Trump’s acquisitive ambitions. Instead of casting greedy eyes on other people’s territory, he should worry first about his own back yard.
His first six months will begin with an all-out assault on a good portion of the country’s state agencies. He intends a massive overhaul of the Justice Department, which he blames for instigating criminal charges against him.
Likewise he aims at shaking up the FBI, the CIA, the Education Department and the armed forces.
To carry out this program, Trump has nominated cabinet officers, many of whom are outspoken critics of the departments they will head. They include Kash Patel as FBI director.
In 2023 Patel published a book, Government Gangsters, in which he wrote that “the FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken.”
And that is merely a beginning. Trump has committed to deporting several million illegal immigrants, starting with known criminals and gang members, but moving on from there to whichever migrants can be found without the proper papers.
And he’s nominated Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head up a new Department of Government Efficiency, with the aim of trimming billions from the federal budget.
The problems are obvious. All of the changes Trump proposes will threaten jobs, necessarily in the tens of thousands.
But the employees affected will not take this onslaught lying down. There will be protests, strikes, public demonstrations and, no doubt, copious leaks to the media, many of whose outlets are not generally known for their love of the incoming president.
In effect, the “Deep State,” as Trump likes to stigmatize it, will fight back, and with a vengeance.
Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush’s secretary of defence, told friends after his retirement that getting anything done through the Pentagon was hopeless. The only route forward was around the layers of over-mighty generals and their staffs.
And Rumsfeld was generally well thought of. If he found himself stymied, what will Trump’s nominee, Pete Hegseth, face?
A reasonable prediction, therefore, is that not too far into this campaign of change, a perception of chaos will take shape.
A further safe prediction is that Trump, often his own worst enemy, will add to the uproar by railing against his opponents in ways that confirm his critics’ views of him.
What we can say for certain is that the next six months will be a time of uproar.
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