# Trump now wants to use military force to take the Panama Canal and Greenland **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [January 7, 2025, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691 "2025-01-07T20:27:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 58
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1141 "2026-08-25T16:02:35Z")
He’s “weaving”. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1142 "2026-08-25T16:56:17Z")
Would not Greenland have the right to order invasive persons and their impediments to be removed at once? Or even to seize these illegal immigrants and their illegal imports? Is it threat of military retaliation by Trump what prevents Greenland from taking such action? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1143 "2026-08-25T17:37:37Z")
> [@Gordon\_G](#): > > Is it threat of military retaliation by Trump what prevents Greenland from taking such action? The Secretary of Warmongering, Kegsbreath, and Joseph Goebbels lookalike Steven Miller, have both stated, using different words, that having the military power to do whatever you want gives you the God-given moral right to do it. This will remain the doctrine of international policy until Trump either drops dead or leaves office. This is what Americans voted for, and now they have it, though they may be sorely regretting it. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1144 "2026-08-25T17:52:19Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > having the military power to do whatever you want gives you the God-given moral right to do it For whatever it’s worth, pundits have been saying that that’s been the unofficial order of things ever since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, when it became clear that with the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, the bipolar balance that had limited what all nations did and did not dare to do was gone. Russian aggression in Crimea and now in Ukraine has underscored that the old guarantees are off the table. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1145 "2026-08-25T18:08:11Z")
If you want to go back far enough, American hegemony has been overt since the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. That doesn’t make it right. It has waxed and waned over time, and is now out of control. Civilized countries believe in peaceful diplomacy as a way to settle their differences and reach mutually beneficial agreements. Trump is now the most hostile exemplar in American history of the exact opposite – an implacably aggressive colonialist, alienating all of America’s traditional allies. There has never been anything like it anywhere since Hitler. And to those who think it’s an exaggeration, Iraq, Iran, and much of South and Central America would beg to differ. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1146 "2026-08-25T20:26:36Z")
In the same vein President Ineptstein threatens to rename Lake Ontario into Lake America (**[NYT gift link](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/us/politics/trump-lake-ontario-america-canada-trade.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8FA.RAEs.WHS5f6Z-Lhm-&smid=url-share)**): > “The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America,” Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post, rationalizing the change because “we don’t expect to be doing much business with Ontario any longer.” I am sure that has the Canadians frightened to death! Have you observed the petty childishness of the contradiction in that threat? “The United States” (that’s him!) is giving serious (no, seriously!) consideration to renaming the lake Lake America. Not Lake United States, no. Lake America. I have often writen that the USA are not America. The USA are not even the United States. Your neighbour to the south is oficially called the United States (of México). Your country is called the Unites States of America. USA. If you want to threaten Canada, you (that is: he) should threaten to call the lake Lake United States of America. Good luck with that. It really roll off the tongue like a love song. Even thinking that is threat is so stupid that only he could come up with it. As if renaming a lake changed geography, or the border crossing points, or the currents in the lake. What happened with the Gulf of America, BTW? Haven’t heard of that one in a while. Is he still on that trip? I think that is the same pettiness he is applying to Greenland’s oil stealing threats. Next he’ll threaten to rename Greenland into, I don’t know, USAland, or Americaland, or Americaisland, and geography be damned! In two months it is going to get cold in Greenland, and then he’ll forget about this BS until next summer. I hope so, anyway. I also hope he has lost the mid-term elections by then and has other problems. > Historical references to Lake Ontario predate the founding of either the United States or Canada. The name is thought to be derived from an Indigenous term meaning either “beautiful water” or “great lake.” ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1147 "2026-08-25T20:33:01Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > What happened with the Gulf of America, BTW? If you go to Google Maps here in the USA, it’s labeled Gulf of America. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1148 "2026-08-25T20:42:06Z")
OK, if you go to Google Maps here in Germany, it is labeled Golf von Mexiko (Golf von Amerika). Golf von Mexiko comes first, Google is a US corporation, so they bow to Chieftain Ineptstein the Orange Stain in brackets: [![](https://i.imgur.com/GFyCXpQ.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/GFyCXpQ.png) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1149 "2026-08-25T20:43:11Z")
Yeah, but they changed it from Gulf to Golf because he loves golf so much, right? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1150 "2026-08-25T20:44:04Z")
Yes, that is probably the reason. And also because _golfo_ in Spanish means scoundrel. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1151 "2026-08-25T20:49:06Z")
Haha! That’s the real reason. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2026, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1152 "2026-08-25T20:55:57Z")
I don’t know if it’s still the case, but for a while Mapquest had it labeled “Gulf Of” and you could type in your own name. I named it after myself for a quick screenshot. ETA: I just checked, and Mapquest calls it by its name. Gulf Of Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2026, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1153 "2026-08-26T15:16:26Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > What happened with the Gulf of America, BTW? In my Google maps app, this is listed as "Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America), which I assume is due to locale settings. I imagine USAians get only “Gulf of America”. Edit: Ninja’d, by about 19 hours. I really should read the full thread before posting. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1154 "2026-08-27T20:01:55Z")
Is Trump still threatening to conquer Iceland as well? At one point, that was being laughed off as a “mistake”. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2026, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1155 "2026-08-27T22:17:16Z")
Not exactly threatening, only dropping hints, saying that many people, great people, are saying this and that, and that Iceland is very important to the USA, as it sits in the right place to plug the gap they call GIUK or so (Greenland? Iceland? UK? What stands UK for again?), Iceland is vital to listening to Russian submarines leave the Arctic Ocean and enter the Atlantic Ocean, and he likes it so he wants it. Because they love him! Be it as it may, it was enough to make some Icelanders nervous. This weekend they are having a referendum about re-starting accession negotiations with the EU. Hoping that will strengthen their hand against a former ally turned bully. The polls suggest the yes vote could win, but it is close. Yes to starting those negotiations again, not to direct accession, because that is not how it works. The main reason for a no vote is fear of losing sovereignty over their fishing stocks (remember the **[Cod Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cod_Wars)**? Fish and fishing rights are really important to Icelanders). The main reason for voting yes is President Ineptstein. Here a gift link from the NYT with some backgroud from a couple of months ago: [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/world/europe/iceland-eu-membership-trump.html?unlocked\_article\_code=1.8lA.fKA9.JxQ9reeOjXgY&smid=url-share](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/world/europe/iceland-eu-membership-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.8lA.fKA9.JxQ9reeOjXgY&smid=url-share) This is a recent analysis: > **[Iceland Heads to the Polls: A Referendum That Could Reopen the Road to the...](https://all-things-nordic.com/2026/08/03/iceland-heads-to-the-polls-a-referendum-that-could-reopen-the-road-to-the-european-union/)** > > On 29 August 2026, Icelanders will vote in a referendum that could reshape the country’s future relationship with Europe. The ballot will not determine whether Iceland joins the European Union, but whether it should reopen accession negotiations that... The UE would be delighted to start those negotiations, has promised to be very flexible about fishing quotas and rights, hoping to reverse a trend that started with President Ineptstein (back then only Manchurian Candidate Ineptstein) backing Brexit. ETA: Very few countries do not have an army. Iceland is one. Costa Rica is another one. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1156 "2026-08-28T04:09:20Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Iceland is very important to the USA, as it sits in the right place to plug the gap they call GIUK or so (Greenland? Iceland? UK? What stands UK for again?), Yes, the [GIUK gap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIUK_gap) is as you have described, an area between these three nations which is littered with submarine detection technology, originally intended to keep Soviet submarines from disrupting shipping in the North Atlantic (which the Russians absolutely could not do today) in a hypothetical WWIII scenario. It features prominently in early Tom Clancy novels and it is still in operation, guarding regular old commercial shipping against the ghost of the Soviets. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1157 "2026-08-28T16:17:54Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > …as it sits in the right place to plug the gap they call GIUK or so (Greenland? Iceland? UK? What stands UK for again?) The United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). But in the context of the GIUK gap, they are referring to geographical features, so it really refers to the British Isles. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2026, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1158 "2026-08-28T18:07:32Z")
Oh, damn, I was pretending to speak in his name, giving his internal monologue, wondering what UK means (it means England, of course, and Queen Elisabeth really liked him), and you are the second poster that takes me literally. I should give up my attempts at humour. I should also have used the first person and not the third person. Be it as it may, the referendum takes place this week-end. Let’s see what the result is, and how much interference there will have been, and by whom. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1159 "2026-09-03T00:52:44Z")
[Reuters: Denmark sends conscripts to Greenland as Arctic tensions grow](https://www.reuters.com/world/denmark-sends-conscripts-greenland-arctic-tensions-grow-2026-09-02/) > [@](#): > > For the first time in recent history, Danish conscripts have been deployed to Greenland, as Denmark moves to bolster its presence in the Arctic ​after U.S. demands to acquire the territory. . . . > > The conscripts are part of the ​first cohort under Denmark’s new [extended conscription programme](https://www.reuters.com/world/denmark-begins-extended-military-conscription-response-russia-trump-2026-08-03/), aimed at producing soldiers able to ​operate in one of the kingdom’s most strategically important and challenging ⁠regions. > > “It shows presence that we’re here and not just thinking of our own ​skin. And also thinking of the people in Greenland,” 19-year-old conscript David told Reuters. If someone is bringing this to Trump’s attention, I think it could really reduce the chances of a U.S. invasion. I know, big if. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691/1160 "2026-09-03T12:59:59Z")
Denmark has compulsory military service? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691.md?page=57) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-now-wants-to-use-military-force-to-take-the-panama-canal-and-greenland/1012691.md?page=59)