Thoughts on the Trump presidency

[YorkshireBear]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0zg974v1o

Danish PM tells Trump to stop 'threats' against Greenland
Colourful little houses stand amid lots of snow next to some water
Image source,Reuters
ByThomas Mackintosh
Published
4 January 2026
Updated 5 hours ago
Denmark's prime minister has told Donald Trump to "stop the threats" about taking over Greenland.

Mette Frederiksen said "it makes absolutely no sense to talk about the need for the United States to take over Greenland", adding: "The US has no right to annex any of the three nations in the Danish kingdom."

Her remarks come after Katie Miller - the wife of one of Trump's aides, Stephen Miller - tweeted a map of Greenland in the colours of the American flag alongside the word "SOON".

Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of Greenland becoming an annexed part of the US, citing its strategic location and mineral wealth, and doubled down on his claims after Frederiksen's comments.

In her statement, posted on the Danish government website, Frederiksen said she was addressing the US "very directly".

She said Denmark - "and thus Greenland" - was a Nato member and covered by the alliance's security guarantee. Denmark already had a defence agreement with the US that gave it access to Greenland, she said, and Denmark had upped its investment in security in the Arctic region.

"I would therefore strongly urge the United States to stop the threats against a historically close ally and against another country and another people who have very clearly said that they are not for sale," she said.

Hours later on Air Force One, Trump reiterated the goal. "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it," he said.

Earlier the Danish ambassador to the US responded to the post, external by Mrs Miller - a right-wing podcaster and former aide to Trump during his first term - with a "friendly reminder" that the two countries were allies and saying Denmark expected respect for its territorial integrity.

The exchange comes after the US carried out a major military operation against Venezuela on Saturday, capturing its president Nicolas Maduro and his wife and removing them to New York.

Trump later said the US would "run" Venezuela and US oil companies would "start making money for the country".

The US president has previously refused to rule out using force to secure control of Greenland, a vast island in the Arctic.

Trump has claimed that making it part of the United States would serve US security interests due to its strategic location and its abundance of minerals critical to high-tech sectors.

The Trump administration's recent move to appoint a special envoy to Greenland prompted anger in Denmark.

Greenland, which has a population of 57,000 people, has had extensive self-government since 1979, though defence and foreign policy remain in Danish hands.

While most Greenlanders favour eventual independence from Denmark, opinion polls show overwhelming opposition to becoming part of the US.

I still can't believe this is how the US now conducts itself.

 

[weeklycommuter]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0zg974v1o

I still can't believe this is how the US now conducts itself.

The United States of America has several times since World War Two offered to buy Greenland from Denmark for strategic reasons.
However, the current approach by President Trump and some of his acolytes is really not the way to do it.

 

[styles]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g0zg974v1o



I still can't believe this is how the US now conducts itself.

The thing is, this is surely a short term issue. As in, Trump is on his second term and I doubt will even be healthy enough to run for a third. Even if they got another Republican president, they surely will not be this absurd?

The issue is, Trump has years left in his term during which he can cause untold damage. I mean, taking over Venezuela and imprisoning their president wasn't on my Trump bingo card.

It's more frustrating that Americans aren't rising up against what is blatantly a Trump dictatorship. Executive orders for whatever he wants, National Guard into opposition controlled cities, practically invading countries and openly saying they're doing it for oil. Where is the protest?

 

[pdeaves]

I am reminded of something seen recently; behavioural guidance issued to US soldiers based in Britain in the mid-1940s. Essentially, it said that it is incredibly bad manners to criticise your host and monumentally, militarily stupid to criticise your allies.

 

[DarloRich]

practically invading countries and openly saying they're doing it for oil. Where is the protest?

it is a cult - the MAGA crowd were dead against invading foreign countries until they weren't!

Essentially, it said that it is incredibly bad manners to criticise your host and monumentally, militarily stupid to criticise your allies.

but in the 1940's America was a sensible country run by sensible, mature people. ( putting aside the obvious racial segregation and all that!)

 

[styles]

it is a cult - the MAGA crowd were dead against invading foreign countries until they weren't!

Sure, for the MAGA crowd, but what about the Democrat supporters, or just general voters disgusted by such actions?

 

[OhNoAPacer]

Sure, for the MAGA crowd, but what about the Democrat supporters, or just general voters disgusted by such actions?

Never underestimate the lack of interest in events that don't directly concern them in the average person, especially in the US.
I guess it also helps in that Maduro was a seriously nasty dictator, would be different if I suspect if they had abducted Mark Carney.

 

[The exile]

Sure, for the MAGA crowd, but what about the Democrat supporters, or just general voters disgusted by such actions?

It didn’t happen in Germany in the 1930s (to all intents and purposes), so it’s hardly surprising it’s not happening now. At least the Germans had the excuse that nothing like it had ever really happened before…

 

[martin butler]

Sure, for the MAGA crowd, but what about the Democrat supporters, or just general voters disgusted by such actions?

For evil to succeed it only needs good people to do nothing, Trump, and those who are the real power behind the throne, are using Trumps frail ego and need for praise, to get him to do their bidding, His own lack of any feeling except revenge against anyone who he feels has slighted him, makes him extremely easy to manipulate,
I'm not even sure what the end game is, other than maybe to sow chaos, world-wide, unless there's some weird thinking that chaos means you can make money from it, because you've destroyed all the rules,as long as you can evade the consequences , ie private islands, military, untouchable, but chaos never lasts, eventually order does need to be placed again, and often agents of Chaos tend to die in the aftermath,

 

[LAX54]

My worry isn't about Trump initiating nuclear annihilation - I don't think Trump is mad enough for that and even if he was, as you say the generals wouldn't do it. It's that he has discovered that he can deploy an enormous amount of very capable conventional force with which he can achieve anything that doesn't cost US lives or upset Russia or China too much. But he has no idea how to act constructively and cooperatively to achieve long term solutions, because he has never had to think like that. So he is going to cause increasing chaos. You can see that in Iran and Israel/Gaza. He thinks that waving a big stick and occasionally hitting a country over the head with it is a solution.

If there are any reprisals in the USA later in the year, not sure I'd want to be at any of the World Cup matches !

 

[brad465]

Sure, for the MAGA crowd, but what about the Democrat supporters, or just general voters disgusted by such actions?

There have been the "No Kings" protests, however they are only once in a while events; they need to last several days on the trot to have any effect.

 

[Gloster]

There have been the "No Kings" protests, however they are only once in a while events; they need to last several days on the trot to have any effect.

If the protests start growing will Trump call out the National Guard? Then we could see casualties far exceeding Kent State University, but Trump and co.’s grasp of social media and their friends in other parts of it will put the blame on radical antifa Democrat lefties. So further repressive measures will be justified to stop. Possible? Most definitely. Probable? Who can tell in this current mad world.?

 

[edwin_m]

The thing is, this is surely a short term issue. As in, Trump is on his second term and I doubt will even be healthy enough to run for a third. Even if they got another Republican president, they surely will not be this absurd?

Vance has a similar attitude to Trump, if anything more anti-European, and is unlikely to be constrained by term limits or mental powers. Possibly less absurd but more dangerous.

 

[najaB]

Vance has a similar attitude to Trump, if anything more anti-European, and is unlikely to be constrained by term limits or mental powers.

Do you mean now, or when he criticised Trump as "America's Hitler"... oh, wait... that wasn't a criticism was it?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Jan 2026 ==

For **** sake. Just saw video of DJT's Air Force One press availability in which he said:

It's our hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine was very important when it was done, and other presidents...a lot of presidents...lost sight of it but I didn't.

For those who aren't familiar with the Monroe Doctrine, in summary it says that the US is opposed to European colonisation of the Americas which is, on its face, a good thing. However, what Trump is most likely referring to is the Roosevelt Corollary which can be summed up as saying that it's the USA's right and responsibility to "save" Latin American countries from mismanagement*.

AI summary of the Roosevelt Corollary: https://share.google/aimode/wUBtmmB7yI6XU9DxEThe

The Roosevelt Corollary (1904) was President Theodore Roosevelt's addition to the Monroe Doctrine, asserting the U.S. right to intervene in Latin American countries to maintain stability, prevent European intervention, and ensure financial responsibility, essentially acting as an "international police power" to protect American interests in the Western Hemisphere, justifying numerous U.S. military interventions in the region.

Key Points:

• Extension of Monroe Doctrine: While the Monroe Doctrine warned European powers away from the Americas, the Corollary asserted the U.S. right to step in when nations in the hemisphere misbehaved or couldn't manage their affairs.
• "International Police Power": The U.S. would exercise its power to stop "chronic wrongdoing" or "impotence" in Latin American nations to prevent European powers from using debt defaults as a pretext for invasion, as seen in Venezuela.
• Justification for Intervention: It provided the ideological basis for extensive U.S. military and political intervention in countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic throughout the early 20th century.
• Impact: It solidified U.S. dominance in the region, replacing potential European influence with American control, though it often bred resentment in Latin America.
• End of Era: The policy was largely renounced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy in 1933, but its legacy continued to shape U.S. relations in the hemisphere*Mismanagement: not allowing US companies to run rampant and control the economy.

 

[Annetts key]

It's more frustrating that Americans aren't rising up against what is blatantly a Trump dictatorship. Executive orders for whatever he wants, National Guard into opposition controlled cities, practically invading countries and openly saying they're doing it for oil. Where is the protest?

Before the events of the weekend, there was a movement by some Americans:
It's known as No Kings, link to their website.

No Thrones. No Crowns. No Kings.
On October 18, more than 7 million of us rose up at more than 2,700 events in all 50 states, DC, and cities worldwide to say: America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people. Now, our task is to stay vigilant, stay united, and continue to push back.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Jan 2026 ==

Do you mean now, or when he criticised Trump as "America's Hitler"... oh, wait... that wasn't a criticism was it?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Jan 2026 ==

For **** sake. Just saw video of DJT's Air Force One press availability in which he said:

For those who aren't familiar with the Monroe Doctrine, in summary it says that the US is opposed to European colonisation of the Americas which is, on its face, a good thing. However, what Trump is most likely referring to is the Roosevelt Corollary which can be summed up as saying that it's the USA's right and responsibility to "save" Latin American countries from mismanagement*.

AI summary of the Roosevelt Corollary: https://share.google/aimode/wUBtmmB7yI6XU9DxE

*Mismanagement: not allowing US companies to run rampant and control the economy.

The ‘Donroe Doctrine’: Trump’s Bid to Control the Western Hemisphere

The ‘Donroe Doctrine’: Trump’s Bid to Control the Western Hemisphere
President Trump has tightened the U.S. grip on the Americas by rewarding allies and punishing rivals. That has upended the region’s politics.

By Jack Nicas
Jack Nicas has been a lead correspondent across Latin America since 2021.

Nov. 17, 2025

President Trump opened the year with pledges to seize the Panama Canal, take control of Greenland and rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

He is ending it by bombing boats from South America, stationing the world’s largest aircraft carrier in the Caribbean and exploring military options against Venezuela’s autocratic leader.

In a sharp shift of decades of U.S. foreign policy, the Western Hemisphere has become the United States’ central theater abroad. In addition to military threats and action, the White House this year has carried out punishing tariffs, severe sanctions, pressure campaigns and economic bailouts across the Americas.

Mr. Trump has said he is seeking to stop drugs and migrants from entering the United States. But, in other moments, top administration officials have been explicit that their overarching goal is to assert American dominance over its half of the planet.

“He believes this is the neighborhood we live in,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, Mr. Trump’s special envoy to Latin America until June, who continues to advise the White House. “And you can’t be the pre-eminent global power if you’re not the pre-eminent regional power.”

The United States has long tried to tip the scales around Latin America, where it has supported military coups, conducted covert operations and invaded Panama.

That U.S. foreign policy was often tied to ideology. During the Cold War, there was the effort to champion capitalism — even if it meant backing dictators. In recent decades, as attention drifted to wars and competition in the other hemisphere, the focus was on democracy and free trade in Latin America.

Mr. Trump’s approach appears purely pragmatic: What is in it for the United States?

Stronger control of the hemisphere, and particularly Latin America, promises major benefits. Ample natural resources, strategic security positions and lucrative markets are all in play.

Backed by a team of hawks with a long history in Latin America, most prominently Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mr. Trump is overhauling U.S. policy in the region to try to extract those prizes.

The effect has been a reordering of politics up and down the Americas. Many leaders have twisted themselves to align with Mr. Trump — often winning major benefits in return — or bet their governments on defying him.

Many observers have begun calling the new U.S. approach “the Donroe Doctrine” — a term that appeared on a January cover of The New York Post — a Trumpian twist on a 19th-century idea.

In 1823, President James Monroe aspired to stop European powers from meddling in the hemisphere.

In 2025, the competing power is China, which has built up enormous political and economic power in Latin America over the past several decades.

Some foreign policy analysts believe that Mr. Trump would like to divide the world with China and Russia into spheres of influence. In recent months, top U.S. officials have explained their strategy in those terms.

The ‘Donroe Doctrine’: Trump’s Bid to Control the Western Hemisphere
President Trump has tightened the U.S. grip on the Americas by rewarding allies and punishing rivals. That has upended the region’s politics.

President Trump opened the year with pledges to seize the Panama Canal, take control of Greenland and rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

He is ending it by bombing boats from South America, stationing the world’s largest aircraft carrier in the Caribbean and exploring military options against Venezuela’s autocratic leader.

In a sharp shift of decades of U.S. foreign policy, the Western Hemisphere has become the United States’ central theater abroad. In addition to military threats and action, the White House this year has carried out punishing tariffs, severe sanctions, pressure campaigns and economic bailouts across the Americas.

Mr. Trump has said he is seeking to stop drugs and migrants from entering the United States. But, in other moments, top administration officials have been explicit that their overarching goal is to assert American dominance over its half of the planet.

“He believes this is the neighborhood we live in,” said Mauricio Claver-Carone, Mr. Trump’s special envoy to Latin America until June, who continues to advise the White House. “And you can’t be the pre-eminent global power if you’re not the pre-eminent regional power.”

The United States has long tried to tip the scales around Latin America, where it has supported military coups, conducted covert operations and invaded Panama.

That U.S. foreign policy was often tied to ideology. During the Cold War, there was the effort to champion capitalism — even if it meant backing dictators. In recent decades, as attention drifted to wars and competition in the other hemisphere, the focus was on democracy and free trade in Latin America.

Mr. Trump’s approach appears purely pragmatic: What is in it for the United States?

Stronger control of the hemisphere, and particularly Latin America, promises major benefits. Ample natural resources, strategic security positions and lucrative markets are all in

Stronger control of the hemisphere, and particularly Latin America, promises major benefits. Ample natural resources, strategic security positions and lucrative markets are all in play.

Backed by a team of hawks with a long history in Latin America, most prominently Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mr. Trump is overhauling U.S. policy in the region to try to extract those prizes.

The effect has been a reordering of politics up and down the Americas. Many leaders have twisted themselves to align with Mr. Trump — often winning major benefits in return — or bet their governments on defying him.

Many observers have begun calling the new U.S. approach “the Donroe Doctrine” — a term that appeared on a January cover of The New York Post — a Trumpian twist on a 19th-century idea.

In 1823, President James Monroe aspired to stop European powers from meddling in the hemisphere.

In 2025, the competing power is China, which has built up enormous political and economic power in Latin America over the past several decades.

Some foreign policy analysts believe that Mr. Trump would like to divide the world with China and Russia into spheres of influence. In recent months, top U.S. officials have explained their strategy in those terms.

“The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood — and we will protect it,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote Thursday, in the latest example.

To a president who grew up in New York — where businessmen, politicians and mob bosses battle for turf — controlling a neighborhood is common sense, former officials and analysts say.

“He translates that very parochial New York view to a global view,” said John Feeley, a former U.S. ambassador to Panama. “And if you put it in the current context, the Americas are his sphere of influence.”

So how to secure the block?

The White House has killed many of the aid programs devised to foster influence and good will across Latin America. Instead, Mr. Trump appears focused on assembling a roster of allies in the region, or at least acquiescent governments.

To do so, he has rewarded leaders who have fallen in line with his demands and punished those who have not.

President Javier Milei of Argentina, for instance, campaigned to “Make Argentina Great Again” and questioned Mr. Trump’s 2020 election loss. When his government was wobbling on the edge of an economic crisis last month, the Trump administration arrived with a $20 billion bailout, and in midterm elections days later, Mr. Milei’s party won big.

The next day, Mr. Trump took credit. “We’re getting a real strong handle on South America,” he told reporters. On Thursday, Mr. Trump and Mr. Milei announced the framework of a trade deal that should give the United States more access to Argentina’s critical minerals.

In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele agreed to take more than 200 Venezuelan deportees into his nation’s maximum security prison when no other nation wanted them.

Mr. Trump promptly praised Mr. Bukele to the cameras in the Oval Office and, in a critical boon for El Salvador’s tourism industry, the State Department removed its travel warning for the country.

Mr. Bukele, who has overseen a sweeping crackdown at home, also got something else he wanted: the return of MS-13 gang leaders in American custody. U.S. officials had previously found evidence of secret negotiations between Mr. Bukele’s government and gang leaders; he has denied having any pact with them.

For many, playing ball with Mr. Trump has been a winning strategy.

El Salvador, Ecuador and Guatemala last week secured new trade deals. Panama has staved off Mr. Trump’s threats. The positive relationship with Washington has helped some Latin American leaders remain among the most popular in the region, and more right-wing figures appear to be ascending in their wake.

Bolivia ended two decades of leftist rule last month, an election celebrated by U.S. officials. Chile appears poised to elect a right-wing president who has embraced Mr. Trump. And Trump officials sought to aid a leading candidate for Peru’s presidency, a right-wing mayor known as Porky, just as he held a memorial for Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist assassinated in September.

On the other side, there have been consequences for those who do not cooperate.

The White House has worked to punish Latin America’s three leftist, autocratic governments, threatening 100 percent tariffs on Nicaraguan imports, further isolating Cuba and beginning an intense pressure campaign against Venezuela.

U.S. officials have called Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, a fugitive and offered a $50 million reward for his capture. In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has been considering land strikes and the use of Special Operations forces there.

At the same time, the U.S. military has built up its largest presence in the hemisphere in decades, with more than 15,000 troops. Last week, the Navy moved its largest carrier within striking distance of Venezuela.

Since September, the U.S. military has carried out 21 strikes against speedboats it says are ferrying drugs, killing 83 people. U.S. officials have not presented evidence the boats were smuggling drugs.

That highly unusual campaign, which has raised concerns in Congress and elsewhere about its legality, has also been used to pressure other nations.

In Colombia, for instance, President Gustavo Petro has become one of Mr. Trump’s most prominent critics — and targets.

After Mr. Petro, a leftist, criticized the boat strikes, the United States halted aid, and its military struck a boat hailing from Colombia. Then the Treasury Department hit Mr. Petro with sanctions, accusing him of being a drug trafficker. Mr. Petro’s popularity has fallen, and analysts believe the nation could swing right in next year’s election.

In one sign of Mr. Trump’s impact, the premier diplomatic forum for the hemisphere, the Summit of the Americas, was abruptly canceled this month for the first time in its 31-year history. Organizers cited “deep divisions that currently hamper productive dialogue.”

When it has come to the hemisphere’s largest players, Mr. Trump has found limits to his strategy of pressure and threats.

As the United States’ two largest trading partners, Mexico and Canada retain enormous leverage. Each has found ways to comply with some of Mr. Trump’s demands while holding firm on others. And the nations’ leaders, each from left-leaning parties, have benefited politically from their approach to Mr. Trump.

But Brazil represents the strongest test case for Mr. Trump’s approach. In July, he hit the nation with 50 percent tariffs and sanctions in an effort to stop the Brazilian government’s criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.

Brazil’s current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, quickly criticized Mr. Trump and watched his poll numbers rise. Brazil then convicted Mr. Bolsonaro of trying to stage a coup and sentenced him to 27 years in prison.

Weeks later, Mr. Trump abruptly changed course. He met with Mr. Lula and said he liked him, and now the two nations are negotiating an end to the tariffs.

Jack Nicas is The Times’s Mexico City bureau chief, leading coverage of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.

 

[BAFRA77]

Did hear the following ominous comment from him on the radio earlier:

"We'll worry about Greenland in about two months... let's talk about Greenland in 20 days."

This article was published in thejakartapost.com - Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2026/01/05/trump-renews-push-to-invade-greenland.html.

Time to strap in it looks like...

 

[Annetts key]

Did hear the following ominous comment from him on the radio earlier:

Time to strap in it looks like...

Maybe time for the countries that are in NATO (apart from the U.S.A.) and which have navies to suddenly start a large scale exercise in the seas near Greenland. Just to remind some other presidents that there are other capable militaries in the world...

If they can make it look hard and difficult, maybe someone will change their mind.

 

[The exile]

Maybe time for the countries that are in NATO (apart from the U.S.A.) and which have navies to suddenly start a large scale exercise in the seas near Greenland. Just to remind some other presidents that there are other capable militaries in the world...

If they can make it look hard and difficult, maybe someone will change their mind.

Also reminiscent of Yes Prime Minister - “It’s just an awful lot of goodwill”

 

[nlogax]

Attempting to grab Greenland by the ***** would truly put the cat amongst the pigeons and cause mayhem amongst NATO members. Beyond some serious monetary compensation as part of some sort of limited lease deal for a predefined and short period of time to diffuse the situation I cannot imagine anything happening at all.

 

[adc82140]

Did hear the following ominous comment from him on the radio earlier:



Time to strap in it looks like...

Someone should tell him that two months is 60 days.

I wouldn't give that comment too much credence, he probably thought of it as he was saying it, and past experience of Trump deadlines speaks for itself.

Also, although his methods have been extremely questionable, it's a world of difference between unseating a nasty dictator and invading a Nato ally. I think in the case of the latter, the rank and file Republicans would not sit quietly.

 

[brad465]

The fact this article was written just shows how mad the time we live in is now:

Which countries could be in Trump's sights next?

Trump has made numerous threats against other nations in Washington's orbit.

www.bbc.co.uk

US President Donald Trump's second term is being shaped by his foreign policy ambitions.
He's followed through on threats against Venezuela by capturing its president and his wife from their heavily fortified Caracas compound in a dramatic overnight raid.
When describing the operation, Trump dusted off the 1823 Monroe Doctrine and its promise of US supremacy in the western hemisphere - re-branding it the "Donroe Doctrine".
Here are some of the warnings he's made against other nations in Washington's orbit in recent days.

Greenland​

The US already has a military base on Greenland - Pituffik Space Base - but Trump wants the whole island.
"We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security", he told journalists, saying the region was "covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place."
The vast Arctic island, part of the Kingdom of Denmark, sits roughly 2,000 miles (3,200 km) to the north-east of the US.
It's rich in rare earth minerals, which are crucial for the production of smart phones, electric vehicles and military hardware. Currently, China's production of rare earths far outweighs that of the US.
Greenland also occupies a key strategic location in the North Atlantic, giving access to the increasingly important Arctic circle. As polar ices melt in the coming years, new shipping routes are expected to open up.
Greenland's Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen responded to Trump by describing the notion of US control over the island as a "fantasy".
"No more pressure. No more insinuations. No more fantasies of annexation. We are open to dialogue. We are open to discussions. But this must happen through the proper channels and with respect for international law," he said.

Colombia​

Just hours after the operation in Venezuela, Trump warned Colombian President Gustavo Petro to "watch his ass".
Venezuela's neighbour to the west, Colombia is home to substantial oil reserves and is a major producer of gold, silver, emeralds, platinum and coal.
It is also a key hub for the region's drug trade - most notably cocaine.
Since the US began striking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in September - saying, without evidence, they were carrying drugs - Trump has been locked in a spiralling dispute with the country's left-wing president.
The US imposed sanctions on Petro in October, saying he was allowing cartels to "flourish".
Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said Colombia was being "run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States".
"He's not going to be doing it for very long", he said. Asked whether the US would carry out an operation targeting Colombia, Trump replied, "It sounds good to me".
Historically, Colombia has been a close ally in Washington's war on drugs, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars annually in military assistance to counter cartels.

Iran​

Iran is currently facing mass anti-government protests, and Trump warned overnight that the authorities there there would be "hit very hard" if more protesters died.
"We're watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States," he told reporters on Air Force One.
Iran theoretically falls outside of the realms defined in the "Donroe Doctrine", but Trump has nonetheless previously threatened the Iranian regime with further action, after striking its nuclear facilities last year.
Those strikes came after Israel launched a large-scale operation aimed at decapitating Iran's capability to develop a nuclear weapon, which culminated in the 12-day Israel-Iran conflict.
In a Mar-a-Lago meeting between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, Iran was said to be top of the agenda. US media also reported that Netanyahu raised the potential of new strikes against Iran in 2026.

Mexico​

Trump's rise to power in 2016 was defined by his calls to "Build the Wall" along the southern border with Mexico.
On his first day back in office in 2025, he signed an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America".
He has frequently claimed Mexican authorities aren't doing enough to stop the flow of drugs or illegal immigrants into the US.
Speaking on Sunday, he said that drugs were "pouring" through Mexico and "we're gonna have to do something", adding that the cartels there were "very strong."
Mexico's president Claudia Sheinbaum has publicly rejected any US military action on Mexican soil.

Cuba​

The island nation, just 90 miles (145 km) south of Florida, has been under US sanctions since the early 1960s. It held close relations with Nicolás Maduro's Venezuela.
Trump suggested on Sunday that US military intervention there wasn't needed, because Cuba is "ready to fall."
"I don't think we need any action", he said. "It looks like it's going down."
"I don't know if they're going to hold out, but Cuba now has no income," he added.
"They got all their income from Venezuela, from Venezuelan oil."
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio - who is the son of Cuban immigrants - has long called for regime change in Cuba, telling journalists on Saturday: "When the president speaks, you should take him seriously."
"If I lived in Havana, and I was in the government, I'd be concerned - at least a little bit," he said.

 

[nw1]

Isn’t Katie Miller now working for Musk? So who does she represent?

It's time that people stop treating these people with any kind of respect. The fact that they are white English-speakers doesn't make them any less bad than any other imperialist.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Jan 2026 ==

Vance has a similar attitude to Trump, if anything more anti-European, and is unlikely to be constrained by term limits or mental powers. Possibly less absurd but more dangerous.

Though Vance doesn't command the cult-leader like status that Trump does, and is thus less likely to win.

 

[3141]

Though Vance doesn't command the cult-leader like status that Trump does, and is thus less likely to win.

That's true, but the next election is nearly three years away, and there's a lot that the people behind Trump might do between now and then to swing things their way.

On the other hand, a very important factor in elections is the state of the economy. Trump and co. need to improve that, especially if the Republican presidential candidate in 2028 is someone without Trump's charisma (for want of a better word in this case). There's no guarantee that "running" Venezuela will produce noticeable improvements to the economy of the USA. Other things that Trump might do, such as taking over Greenland, intervention in Columbia or Mexico (as he threatened the other night), and some sort of action against Canada might create new problems over the next three years rather than lead to economic progress.

Regrettably, saying all this (and much else on this thread), and telling one another how bad Trump is, doesn't get rid of him. Only the Americans can do that. It will require things to become pretty awful before a sufficient number of people there have the guts to start taking effective action against him.

 

[Bevan Price]

That's true, but the next election is nearly three years away, and there's a lot that the people behind Trump might do between now and then to swing things their way.

On the other hand, a very important factor in elections is the state of the economy. Trump and co. need to improve that, especially if the Republican presidential candidate in 2028 is someone without Trump's charisma (for want of a better word in this case). There's no guarantee that "running" Venezuela will produce noticeable improvements to the economy of the USA. Other things that Trump might do, such as taking over Greenland, intervention in Columbia or Mexico (as he threatened the other night), and some sort of action against Canada might create new problems over the next three years rather than lead to economic progress.

Regrettably, saying all this (and much else on this thread), and telling one another how bad Trump is, doesn't get rid of him. Only the Americans can do that. It will require things to become pretty awful before a sufficient number of people there have the guts to start taking effective action against him.

Two nasty people have already tried, but failed to stop Trump - permamently. ..............

 

[najaB]

Other things that Trump might do, such as taking over Greenland, intervention in Columbia or Mexico (as he threatened the other night), and some sort of action against Canada might create new problems over the next three years rather than lead to economic progress.

Mandatory pedantry: The country is Colombia, Columbia is a city.

To your point, even if the new boss (same as the old boss) in Venezuela is open to US oil companies moving back in, given the current state of the industry, it's almost impossible that the USA would see any significant economic benefit this side of the mid-term elections.

Military interventions elsewhere in Latin America would be almost guaranteed to tank the economy for years, as would any attempt to take Canada by force.

 

[weeklycommuter]

On US President Trump's military action to arrest Maduro I agree with the following comments from Wes Streeting.

The military action so far is, as far as I can see, an enforced extradition of Maduro and Cilia Flores as the USA does not appear to be occupying Venezuela. US President Trump's comments that the USA will run Venezuela and fix the oil infrastructure have confused and complicated this. It is not clear if or how this would happen.

I agree with the UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer choosing his words carefully and wisely. Comments by others that the US military action is against international law are undermined by the Nobel Peace Prize winning Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado saying she was grateful for Donald Trump‘s action in Venezuela, calling it a “huge step for humanity, for freedom”. At present it is better to choose words carefully and wisely.

Venezuela latest: Trump says 'many' Cuban soldiers killed in Caracas raid but calls operation 'brilliant'

It comes after Nicolás Maduro and his wife were seized from Caracas and flown to the US. They have since appeared at a New York court.

www.bbc.co.uk

UK PM 'choosing his words carefully' on Venezuela, minister says
published at 08:40
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is "choosing his words carefully and wisely" on Venezuela "to try and influence how events unfold from here on," a senior government minister says.
"The prime minister has judged what he says and when he says it with one overriding consideration, which is how to make a challenging situation better not worse," Wes Streeting tells the BBC, and to do so "in the interest of the people of Venezuela, who have the right to choose their own leaders".
He says he appreciates that others have been "more strident" in criticising the US operation - including a senior MP in Sir Keir's own Labour party, who said it was a breach of international law - but Streeting says the PM "has a different responsibility".
"He's not a commentator, he's a world leader," he adds.

Trump's action in Venezuela 'a huge step for humanity', says opposition leader
It's now three days since US forces stormed Nicolás Maduro's Caracas compound, seizing the Venezuelan president and his wife.
A few hours ago, the country’s opposition leader María Corina Machado, who lived in hiding for months last year, said she was grateful for Donald Trump‘s action in Venezuela, calling it a “huge step for humanity, for freedom”.

 

[ainsworth74]

Comments by others that the US military action is against international law are undermined by the Nobel Peace Prize winning Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado saying she was grateful for Donald Trump‘s action in Venezuela, calling it a “huge step for humanity, for freedom”. At present it is better to choose words carefully and wisely.

I would reckon she's got her eye on the prize of the Presidency of Venezuela and Trump is of the view that makes her persona non grata:

In a press conference that followed the mission, Trump said, ‘It’d be very tough for her to be the leader,” claiming she “doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country.”

The comments stunned members of Venezuela’s opposition, who had expected Washington to rally behind Machado, according to the Washington Post.

Citing two people close to the White House, the paper reported Monday that Machado’s efforts to praise Trump after winning the Nobel Prize last year, an award long coveted by the president, failed to undo what one source described as the “ultimate sin.”

“If she had turned it down and said, ‘I can’t accept it because it’s Donald Trump’s,’ she’d be the president of Venezuela today,” the source said.

Trump Sidelined Venezuela Opposition Leader Machado for ‘Ultimate Sin’ of Accepting Nobel Peace Prize: Report

The president was not happy Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado accepted the Nobel Peace Prize — and thus decided not to back her bid to replace Maduro.

www.yahoo.com

She needs to suck up to Trump now if she's to have any chance of winning him over and gaining the support of the current US administration.

That being said it remains unclear to me how she (or anyone else for that matter) would assume power anyway at present because the Venezuelan state remains in situ. Just without Maduro and it seems to be the official position that he remains President so...

 

[weeklycommuter]

Sure, for the MAGA crowd, but what about the Democrat supporters, or just general voters disgusted by such actions?

The acronym MAGA has different meanings depending on location.

In the United States of America it means "Make America Great Again".

In Greenland it means "Make America Go Away".

Anti-MAGA hat in Greenland goes viral: 'Make America Go Away'

A red cap made in Greenland which says "Make America Go Away" has gone viral days before Usha Vance's visit to the autonomous territory.

www.newsweek.com

Anti-MAGA Hat in Greenland Goes Viral: ‘Make America Go Away’
Published Mar 24, 2025 at 10:09 AM EDT
An anti-MAGA Hat made by a Greenlandic creator that reads: "Make America Go Away" has gone viral as Usha Vance's visit to the island approaches.
Aannguaq Reimer-Johansen, the creator of the anti-MAGA hats, has said he believes her visit is a "charm offensive," and that he wants people in Greenland to show that they do not want the U.S. to take over their nation.

 

[SHD]

The German Spiegel has reported that the Trump administration is considering sanctions against individuals in Germany's intelligence service and in the French judiciary who were involved in monitoring far-right extremist movements and/or prosecuting far-right politicians.

https://brusselssignal.eu/2026/01/u...intelligence-officials-over-afd-surveillance/ (does not mention the targeting of French judges, but the Spiegel article does)

(S+) US-Sanktionen gegen HateAid: Weitere Maßnahmen gegen Deutsche befürchtet

Die Sanktionen gegen HateAid könnten erst der Anfang sein. Die Trump-Regierung erwog nach SPIEGEL-Recherchen schon vor Monaten, deutsche Staatsdiener zu bestrafen – weil der Verfassungsschutz die AfD überwacht.

www.spiegel.de

For a European citizen, being under US sanctions is a severe form of disenfranchisement, comparable in a way to a modern imposition of civil death. The consequences on banking and access to information technology are immense.

The Trump administration has already sanctioned Nicolas Guillou, a French judge of the International criminal court.
Apart from meek protestations of the French diplomacy, no action was taken in response.

We are really powerless.

 

[Annetts key]

On US President Trump's military action to arrest Maduro I agree with the following comments from Wes Streeting.

The military action so far is, as far as I can see, an enforced extradition of Maduro and Cilia Flores as the USA does not appear to be occupying Venezuela. US President Trump's comments that the USA will run Venezuela and fix the oil infrastructure have confused and complicated this. It is not clear if or how this would happen.

I agree with the UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer choosing his words carefully and wisely. Comments by others that the US military action is against international law are undermined by the Nobel Peace Prize winning Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado saying she was grateful for Donald Trump‘s action in Venezuela, calling it a “huge step for humanity, for freedom”. At present it is better to choose words carefully and wisely.

It doesn’t matter what Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado says, the action by the Trump administration was illegal under both international and American law.

Transcript from Channel 4 News yesterday, where they interview David Cole, who's a law and public policy professor at Georgetown University:

7:10 Was the the the the method of the abduction legal in
7:18 international and American constitutional law? Absolutely illegal under both international and American
7:24 law. Absolutely illegal. Absolutely illegal. The the first principle of international law is that one country cannot invade or attack
7:32 another country except in self-defense uh in response to an attack on it or an
7:38 attack on its citizens. Venezuela has not attacked the United States. Venezuela has not attacked our citizens.
7:44 If anyone has a claim to self-defense here, it's Venezuela, not the United States.

YouTube video
6:55 - Does this breach international law?

In most jurisdictions (democratic countries), what other interested parties, especially those with vested interests say does not (should not) change how law is interpreted. The problem here is that Trump is a bully and at the moment, it appears that no one who is powerful is prepared to challenge him.

Further, what has happened here completely undermines diplomatic immunity for officials from any country.