Return to Crazytown

It was a reminder of the past and a freighting look into the future. Donald Trump’s bizarre news conference at Mar-a-Logo was like listening to someone raging on a street corner. Let’s start with Greenland. Apparently some one showed Trump where it is on a map. He repeated his plan to take Greenland from Denmark. He says it’s a matter of national security. He said there are a lot of Russian ships sailing around it. Greenland is an autonomous part of Denmark and has been since 1814. We have a military base there. Don Jr is there now for an unofficial visit. Denmark’s Prime Minister says Greenland is not for sale.

Trump’s thoughts then drifted south. He says the United States should re-take the Panama Canal by military force if necessary. He claims China has too much influence there. The United States signed a treaty in 1979 turning the canal over to Panama in 1999.  I don’t recall any problems in the last twenty-five years, but maybe Trump has inside information. While we are down south, there is the burning issue of the Gulf of Mexico, something on the top of all our minds. Trump hates Mexico and wants the gulf re-named the Gulf of America. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum responded by showing a map from 1607 that labels North America as “American Mexicana” and shows the name Gulf of Mexico 169 years before the US existed. She suggested that the US go back to that original name.

Back north again to Canada. Trump wants Canada to become the 51st state. He wants to annex it. Outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says there is “not a snowball’s chance in hell” Canada will join the United States. One poll showed eighty-two per cent of Canadians are opposed to the idea. Another poll shows, if Canadians could have voted in the last election, sixty-six percent would have voted for Kamala Harris, twenty-one per cent for Trump. Sounds like they’re not interested.

Moving overseas, Trump warns if Hamas doesn’t release the hostages before Inauguration Day, “all hell will break out in the Middle East.” One Gaza resident was quoted as saying all hell has already broken out. Trump has also said in the past that we shouldn’t get involved in Syria. He posted, “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend. The United States should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight. Let it play out. Do not get involved.” Right, we shouldn’t get involved in one of the great international crises.

As we know, he thinks we should get more involved in the Ukraine-Russia war. He says he will have that wrapped up in twenty-fours after he’s sworn in. And, let’s not forget he’s going to round up eleven million illegal immigrants, take them to holding centers and fly them out of the country. Experts have said it’s impractical and will cost billions.

So these are the important issues the incoming president has on his to-do list. The majority of the people in the country voted for this guy. It sounds like the plot of a comedy about a third world country. Maybe it is. Trump’s former Chief of Staff Marine General John Kelly said working for Trump was the worst job he ever had. When he resigned he called the White House “Crazytown”. Well, welcome back everyone.