What is happening in Venezuela is a topic of much discussion on this board right now (for good reason).
But what next? I posted this (below) in the Venezuela thread and @Aspenglow let it stay but suggested a new thread about this.
When asked about Mexico by Fox’s Griff Jenkins, Trump responded that the cartels have more power than its democratically elected left-wing president, Claudia Sheinbaum, whom Trump clashed with early in MAGA 2.0 over immigration and the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.
Trump said that Sheinbaum, 63, has rejected offers of American military aid to take action against the cartels, claiming she has told him, “No, no, no, Mr. President. No, no, no, please.”
Trump then hinted that he might order action in Mexico anyway, claiming that drugs coming over the southern border are killing Americans by the hundreds of thousands.
“Something’s going to have to be done with Mexico,” he said.
What repercussions can the US expect from the global community? Will they let this slide (Venezuela)? Threats like the above to Mexico…a long time ally and peaceful neighbor for 200 years can be threatened like this?
If so, is there any line drawn or are we in an era of chaos?
So they can have bases as long as those bases have nothing threatening to the US (beyond a mere token show of force). Not sure that makes sense but ok.
Those bases were threatening and diverted a lot of American resources to defend against them. Chinese bases in Mexico means having to protect our southern border from more than aspiring gardeners and housekeepers.
I agree with @Little_Nemo. If the countries on our borders (Canada, Mexico) realign themselves with countries like China and (less likely) Russia, then we introduce potential war at our own borders both north and south.
One of our greatest assets in keeping enemies at bay was that oceans prevented others from attacking us on our soil. It is difficult to provide support and infrastructure for troops in faraway places. Now there is a basis for hostile nations to establish military bases in the countries of our traditional adjacent allies.
There’s a reason to form strong alliances with countries that share borders. For 250 years, we had that. But maybe not for long.
This militarism will of course be wildly popular with the Right, and seeing this popularity the centrists will naturally follow suit, with perhaps very faint criticism of the not following “procedure”. If it becomes a disaster these same centrists will quickly claim to always have been opposed and the Right will claim unpatriotic Leftists sabotaged the occupation.
More like China will become the dominant economic partner with Mexico and China, along with many other nations we have pissed off.
I think Trump really wants Greenland due to access to the Artic trade route and resources. I think this global warming denial of his is just a ruse, he can’t wait for the ice caps to melt and wants a piece of the action.
As I’ve said in the past, I expect NATO to either dissolve or to eject the US, and Europe to transition into a military alliance with China against US aggression. Most likely resulting in a new Cold War of the US against everyone else.
If Congress continues to give him a pass on this, it will be very difficult to then bitch-slap him later on. He won’t stop unless he is forced to, and that will likely mean that Hegseth and others will have to be found guilty of crimes by Congress and removed from office.
It’s not clear how, precisely to read that. Maybe Trump is trying to muscle his way into the drug trade, rewarding those who send him Monero Coin and capturing those who don’t, or something else.
But you certainly don’t have a primary concern of fighting drug trafficking if you’re freeing convicted drug kings and going all out for the 20th most important drug cartel, while ignoring the top 19.
So, in general, I’d say that we don’t have enough information to predict his next move. Could be an attack on Mexico, could be Greenland, could be to conquer Texas and make Maduro its new king because the guy handed Trump enough money to make it happen.
In countries with the rule of law, it might be very expensive to build a new business, because you’ve got to work through a lot of paperwork and the local workers tend to be expensive. But, that’s all something that you can account for when evaluating the business opportunity. The problem with corrupt countries and corrupt leaders is that, fundamentally, you never know what’s going to happen. Maybe you can set up a new business center. Maybe you’ll get squeezed dry by endless blockades and requests for bribes, just to finally have your applications denied.
In general, Trump views his own capriciousness as an asset. It makes for good headlines and sells newspapers by the bunch. But, as far as America is concerned, this is all real bad for business.
Whoa whoa whoa! Let’s not jump the gun here. TFG is still under the delusion that we’re already running the country there without having to go through any of that occupation stuff.
You’re giving Trump far too much credit. He wants Greenland because he’s only seen it on Mercator projection maps and thinks it’s yuuuuuge, and therefore it should belong to him because he’s the Most Special Boy and he deserves the most tremendously bigliest country ever.
