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TOGETHER WITH MY wife and sons, I spent 10 days and nights in Washington, DC and in my cherished Boston over the Christmas and New Year period. We saw the sights and caught up with family and friends. Among numerous highlights was a jet lag-fuelled, crack of dawn walk with Larry Óg to Capitol Hill the morning after we arrived in the United States.
While in the vicinity, he and I took plenty of pictures. My namesake made me tear up when, awestruck, he gesticulated at the famous building and asked: “Is this where Uncle Brian used to work?” Our impromptu stroll to this seat of power at a potentially pivotal moment in history was followed by a swift trip on the Metro Red Line to neighbouring Bethesda, Maryland for a delicious breakfast at the incomparable Tastee Diner.
As usual, politics featured on the menu of the discussions I had with relations, old pals and acquaintances. What surprised me most was the degree to which the women and men I encountered, including those who I understand to be ardently opposed to Donald Trump, were fairly sanguine when asked to look ahead to his second term. “We survived the last ride… let’s hope he succeeds and can do some good things… it probably can’t get worse than it has been” were the dominant sentiments. Full-blown despondency about Trump was as hard to unearth as heartfelt tributes to the administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were.
Zooming out from the opinions that were espoused in the midst of conversations over beers, there is no shortage of uncertainty to be found in the global audience of stakeholders in Trump II. Just what is he going to do? Speculation is relentless on this front, yet the fact of the matter is that no one knows. Pundits who imply that they do aren’t worth listening to.
The apparently weightier sense of alarm beyond the borders of the US with respect to the imminent tenure of the 47th POTUS was definitely heightened by the comments he made at a press conference this week in Mar-a-Lago. He declined to rule out employing military force to retake control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, and averred that he would utilise his country’s financial might to compel Canada to morph into the 51st state.
Further, he revelled in his scepticism of the science supporting the existential threat of climate change and reiterated the “drill, baby, drill” mantra. Finally, and quite worryingly for the already besieged residents of Gaza, he indicated that, if an agreement to free the remaining hostages there isn’t reached by the minute he gets into office, “all hell is going to break out.” That we haven’t the faintest notion what that could translate into makes it even more terrifying.
First, these declarations of intent on external policy warrant parsing to assess their plausibility and what could flow therefrom. Second, this language is very muscular and contrasts with the isolationist messaging that was to the fore during the campaign. It’s America First, both at home and abroad. To what end?
There is, as the soon-to-be ex-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau posted on X, not “a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.” It is similarly a sure thing that Trump’s presidency will have a negative impact on the environment and will be detrimental to efforts to arrest rapidly rising temperatures. The tragic plight of those in Gaza could get far worse before it gets better, although Trump will not tolerate prolonged conflict.
Dispatching soldiers to seize the Panama Canal and/or Greenland would provoke widespread fury and be a catastrophic error. It is pretty unfathomable. International law scholars concur that, unless Trump were to order troops in, the US cannot recapture ownership of the canal from the Panamanians.
Greenland may be a different kettle of fish. Trump isn’t the only president ever interested in “acquiring” the massive Arctic island; Harry Truman mooted it, too. Greenland is a constituent component of the Kingdom of Denmark. That said, the Danes have consistently asserted that Greenlanders have the option to be wholly independent if they desire it.
For defence and other aims, Trump wants Greenland. If he were to propose that it become a US territory and simultaneously offer enormous – say, double the current allocation from Denmark – subsidies, permit it to retain the local parliament, provide a security guarantee, promise a substantial share of the spoils derived from natural resources and grant its people the right to live, work and study in the US at least temporarily, a deal could ultimately be done. A carefully crafted statement from Greenland’s foreign minister in response to the Trump family’s overtures is telling. Don’t dismiss this possibility out of hand.
Generally speaking, and this depends on whether Trump will stay the course in pursuit of a controversial agenda, how can such an arguably interventionist bent be reconciled with the mandate many millions of voters gave him to continue America’s retreat from the world? It seems that he is determined to copper-fasten regional hegemony, and he is convinced that, in doing so, he can address domestic concerns on inflation and avoid unnecessary wars at the same time.
This aggressive posturing may not be well received in a milieu where the prevalent mood is isolationist. And the legions of expert, critical observers of Trump now venturing that this rambling rhetoric is a smoke screen deliberately orchestrated to distract attention from the reality that his simplistic slogans will not solve the complex problems of America have a point.
Moreover, as has also been suggested, if Trump does move decisively and to some extent ludicrously – see, for example, his advocacy for retitling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America – to show that the US is supreme in the region, what signal will that send to China and Russia? Each has clear and foreboding ambitions in its own surrounds.
In sum, uncertainty – yes, that word again – abounds. Trump thrives on it. All eyes and ears will be focused on the content and tone of the inaugural speech on the 20th in a desperate search for greater clarity. However, because the uniquely loved and loathed man who pulled off an objectively extraordinary political comeback in 2024 is who he is, the truth is that we are unlikely to be any the wiser on the 21st.
Larry Donnelly is a Boston lawyer, a Law Lecturer at the University of Galway and a political columnist with TheJournal.ie.
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Don’t mind trump as much as the ceaseless reporting of his every thought and action by the media
The same media that assured us that him and Harris were “neck and neck” in the polls
Modern 24 hour clickbait media nonsense
@Johnny King: They live in their own dream world…
@smatrix mantra: The media is so politicised it needs to be replaced on they know it and are ranting with rage.
@Johnny King: johnny boy the US off a holes showed the world ,they wanted a crying lying sex offender fraudster rater then a woman off collar
@Robert Halvey: you can’t spell , seriously stop crying Mr butt hurt
Seems like Zuck has bowed down to trump in getting rid of fact-checking as we enter into a Post-Truth world.
@F1rYnpWc: Post-truth world? You would rather have elected officials and aristocrats tell you what is and isn’t true? How did that work with Covid? The same liberals who hate capitalism, but wanted everyone to line up and get the Covid vaccine to enrich the corporate pharmaceutical companies worth billions.
@F1rYnpWc: Fact-checking was just censorship of “facts” the so called checkers didn’t like .
The First Amendment rules. I forgot you don’t have that.
@F1rYnpWc: Like TheJournal fact-checkers who originally called Cora Sherlocks statements on abortion mostly true only to turn around a week out from the referendum and call the same statements ‘unfounded’. Those ‘fact-checkers’. Charlatans.
@Dave G Doe: you’re the reason fact checking should remain. Utterly deluded.
The media need to cop on still seeking to out do each other with the next sensational statement from Trump. The world didn’t end the last time he was president and it won’t end this time either.
The sensational media hacks are the biggest problem.
@Tim Brennan: The world didn’t end… and it won’t this time either ” Such dizzying heights you set the bar at. If the content of a comment by a person is in and of itself sensationalist, e.g.” all hell is gonna break out ” in relation to Gazza.. that doesn’t make the journalist in question sensationalist for reporting that. You are able to discern one from another aren’t you ?
@Brian: Yes journalists are invested in politics why has every party employed ex journalists as advisors strikes independence of political reporting has always been biased – Check the O Donoghue guy advisors to Coveney and now Harris
@Tim Brennan: why don’t you get out there and become a journalist so if you have all the answers Tim? That’s your comeback for anyone criticising ffg so should be relatable xx
@Tim Brennan: That in no way answered my question.. comprehension isn’t your strong point tbf.
You have to wonder is Ireland his next state to claim? That would certainly be a dream for his fan boys and girls here, until they had to live under him.
@Brian D’Arcy: Offer the North first, and then we take it from there…
@Brian D’Arcy: The gulf of Trump.
@smatrix mantra: Ha ha and he did what to ensure the north would become apart of a united Ireland?
@Brian D’Arcy: I’d like it if we had the rights of US citizens.
@Brian D’Arcy: wonder would he still be as popular when he cuts their dole.
@Brian D’Arcy: would be better than having a nanny diversity state.
@Brian D’Arcy: Nobody wants Ireland, even the Irish don’t want to be there.
@Ulick: thanks suck , back to sleep love
@Brian D’Arcy: tell us what you think that would be like?
Trump has turned away from his ‘MAGA’ base completely to lick up to his billionaire buddy’s like Elon Musk. He has completely gone away from the conservative values that the Republican Party have held. Trump and Musk have no problem turning the US into India to keep labour costs down. Basically importing indentured servants to keep the billionaires costs down, similar to what we’re doing here. It’s Corporatism at its finest. Seeing people as if they are nothing other than interchangeable economic units.
@Joe Willis: he was never a true republican and only ever paid lip service to their conservative values. He was a registered democrat for years and has donated millions to them.
@Setanta O’Toole: he’s controlled opposition, and is funded by the very globalists who despise Western nations and Western values. At least they have their own little nation to go to.
@Joe Willis: he’s president elect not opposition. As for the rest of your comment you got anything to back it up? I expect to see finances of both sides for an unbiased point of view.
@Damien Leahy: I’m not biased towards either party. Both financed by the same globalists. Hate them both.
@Tired Jim: no, I don’t think his mind was changed by any political motives though. Just which side would be more receptive to his shtick.
I really like the sound of Trump’s proposal of merging Canada with America. Look, Canada doesn’t have its own culture or identity. They were founded by American turncoats who fled there after the British lost in the American War of Independence. There really is no difference between Canada or America. Canada is blessed with vast natural resources, but they are underutilised due to overregulation and an overbearing government. By merging with America, they could truly unlock their potential, creating jobs and wealth for all. Canadians would gain the benefits of a stronger economy, lower taxes, and greater individual freedom, while Americans would see expanded markets and a fortified northern border. Canadian deserve better than weak men like Trudeau and Poilievre at the helm.
@William Jennings: I doubt if many Canadian would agree with you. If they look across the border at the Rust Belt and see the poverty and social problems there is no incentive to join the USA. Quebec has its own culture identity.
@Vincent Alexander: Quebecers don’t see themselves as Canadian and don’t view their French-Quebecois culture as Canadian. Sure the Rust Belt is struggling, but it’s only one part of America, primarily in the three Midwestern states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The whole of Canada is crumbling. The richest province in Canada, Alberta, is still only as wealthy as the 48th state in America, underscoring the economic disparities. Since 2019, the GDP per capita has decreased by 4% and the unemployment rate standing at 7.5%, with youth unemployment at 13.5%. 65% of people have spent at least 18 hours in a hospital waiting room and 38% of people don’t even have a GP. You’d be surprised at how many Canadians would want a better life. 126,300 made the move down south in the last 12 months.
@William Jennings: freedom to choose can you imagine a white person with blue eyes wrapped thier arms around everything you love and saying your gone
Trump is a comedian… treat every interview like he’s taking the pi88 and you might even grow to like him.. he’s gas.. he wont do any of the malark he’s talking about.. but he knows the Americans that voted for him love it. he’s a stand up comedian that happens to run America …
@Stiles: Kinda like Zelenskyy
No one knows how he will go on. Can we drop all these “not-really-news” about the guy?
@smatrix mantra: More Americans dead due to Covid than Vietnam, we’ve seen how he goes on.
@Brian D’Arcy: Man dies of heart-attack, find traces of Covid-19. Certify the death as Covid-19. :Lies, damned lies, and statistics comes to mind when I hear about those ‘Covid’ deaths.
@Lone Hurler: Spot on Lone. The ‘with’/ ‘from’ so-called stats P me off so much. You could have been murdered and the PM analysis will put down the COD as Covid. Absolute bull.
Good old Larry, the usual codswallop, Trump rules the world again, get used to it.
Anyone know why Michelle Obama was not at President Carters funeral?
@Helena Camella Cummins:At home doing the housework
@Helena Camella Cummins: She had the runs.
@Helena Camella Cummins: hang on there i’ll text her and ask.
@Helena Camella Cummins: She had a steamy affair with Jimmy (Big J she calls him) years ago and his family expressly asked, out of respect for their memory of him, that she not attend. She’s made some questionable decisions in her younger years(I’m not judging. I have a Rick Astly tattoo on the inside of my left thigh)but in all fairness, she did the right thing this Tim by staying away so she deserves some credit, imo
If the people voted for him, then they voted for his policies.
If trump was buying up farms in Ireland there would be war but our own amigos are grand. Much wants more.
CCPOTUS Convicted Criminal President Of The United States. What more do we need only that fact. Let the comedy begin.
Unhinged maniac is still, not surprisingly, an unhinged maniac. Cheers America.
The good ole US of A holes have shown the world they would rather elect a crying lying sex offender fraudster ,rather then a woman
If Canada joined the US, then they’d only do it on the basis of each province being treated as a state with 2 Senators each. Not too many will be electing Republicans.
Great read.
Apart from the industry the US would force on Greenland, I have visions of strip malls, casinos, adult theatres, and hotels lining the coastlines.
Sending my prayers to you at this difficult time, Larry!
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