Trump’s Imperialist Ambitions destroys the PostWar Order

We Americans do not need to expand the borders of our nation. Donald Trump has forgotten, if he ever did know it, the maxim of the super rich: “Control, don’t own. Control everything, own nothing.” Besides, he’s talking about trodding over some of our closest military allies and trading partners and adding them all to his fantasy map of a new empire.

NATO would rupture into a most unnecessary schism at the worst possible time. If NATO self-destruct, it will damage the United States and empower Russian and Chinese efforts to keep taking over their neighbors. Trump will unwittingly or maybe deliberately turn lose wannabe conquerors everywhere. The Orange Man who would be a dictator probably doesn’t care. His MAGA cultists and allied Alt-Right mafias won’t care. These actions, however, will impoverish us Americans. To return to empire building in this 21st Century will tank our economy, deplete our treasury, overextend our quiet, de facto pretend-we-really-aren’t-empire-altho-we-are, turn powerful allies against us, turn comparatively weak dictators into allies. These consequences may well cost us unimaginable lives. We Americans will end up broke and shooting at each other if we keep going on like this.

The incoming President of the United States of America wants to conquer, buy, or otherwise annex several North American countries to a new American Empire. The old empire hasn’t ever gone away, but Americans like to pretend they’re anti-imperialists, genuinely dislike empires, and generally are uncomfortable reigning as overtly racist, colonial overlords. After all, the USA was birthed in a long, chaotic revolutionary war that saw a chain of British colonies along the eastern North American seaboard win their independence from a king. The American Revolution was itself part of a protracted 127 years long world war between multiple empires and kingdoms called the Second Hundred Years War (1688-1815).

So of course Americans, championing their constitutional democratic republic, want to keep their empire hidden. They prefer a network of vested commercial interests, financial control, and economic influence secured by hundreds of military bases and intelligence webs. Trump doesn’t care. He just powers in, bursting down doors and yanking open the curtains so he can see and to show off to the world what he finds. For he is a master finders keeper transactionalist. He doesn’t rob. That’s too stealthy. He takes. National security is usually the excuse. It’s often is the truth, ironically, but he doesn’t hide or deny such things. No discretion or backchannel negotiations. Continue reading →