“Trumperialism”

Imperialism is a policy or practice where a dominant nation extends its power and influence over other territories, nations, or peoples through direct territorial acquisition, military force, or economic and political control. It involves exploiting foreign lands for resources, labor, and markets, often resulting in unequal power relations. This accurately describes Trump 2.0 and his new “Trumperialism.”

History is rife with examples of nations with imperialistic aspirations brought to fruition. In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, and France colonized the Americas. Nazi Germany, Japan, and Fascist Italy formed the Axis during the 30s and 40s. Their expansionist aggression resulted in World War II. What may have started as colonization morphed into imperialism and eventually all out war.

The United States, after expanding across North America, eventually acquired Hawaii, the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico. William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft used the excuse of “economic interests” resulting in the Monroe Doctrine of1823, to control European interests in the western hemisphere.

Now, Donald Trump, after campaigning to be against war and military action so he could dedicate himself to improving our economy, has made American expansion and interference in other nations his new mantra. Trumperialism is his own form of American expansion. It represents a return to exploitation, cultural destruction, conflict, and economic inequality. The promise of "America First" with a focus on internal matters has been abandoned for the glory of war and conquest. With meat and other grocery prices at all time highs, a distracting war was needed.

He has threatened to “acquire” Greenland and Canada and wants to control the Panama Canal. He has used military force to try to overthrow the regimes of Venezuela and Iran. He has removed leaders but not much else has changed. Trump’s view is one of political subjugation and theft of natural resources in the name of US “national security.”

The president claims that the United States should be free to remove foreign leaders and dominate foreign lands without regard to national sovereignty and the conventions of international law. “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

He is fast becoming America’s despot. He will use military force and economic domination for control. He will quickly abandon cultural or diplomatic activities for quick gratification through military might. He seems to hold Vladimir Lenin’s view that imperialism is the pinnacle of capitalism whereby dominant military powers divide the world into international monopoly businesses. This is not colonialism where one nation settles into the new land, but where satisfaction comes with indirect control of that nation and its resources.

It would seem that Trump is playing his own version of Risk (often subtitled “The Game of Global Domination”), where up to six players seek to occupy every territory on the board (the world) by managing armies and engaging in battles. The winner is the one who eliminates all rivals. He rolls the dice and people die.

Trump’s interest in imperialism may just be a distraction from his waning popularity and the Epstein files debacle, or it may just be another thinly veiled money grab. Quite possibly, it is both.