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Publisher / Editor:
Paul Hayden

Is Trump the Next Teddy Roosevelt?

January 13, 2025


It’s rather ironic that the last three presidents have modeled themselves after a Roosevelt presidency. However, while Barack Obama and Joe Biden used Franklin Delano Roosevelt as their model, Donald Trump seems to be looking to Theodore Roosevelt as his. A fair question is whether Trump’s approach is as vastly superior as it may seem on the surface. Let’s see.

Trump has kept his name in the headlines during the “transition” period, which has turned into a de facto early presidency, by proposing three rather bold territorial acquisitions: (1) acquiring Greenland from Denmark; (2) reacquiring (or taking back) the Panama Canal from Panamanian-Chinese ownership/operation; and (3) most controversial, asking our neighbor to the north to renounce its sovereignty and join the U.S. as the 51st state. Although the first two certainly have some merit, especially in the realm of national security, talking Canada into being our 51st state is a tall order, even for someone as experienced in negotiating deals as Trump. My problem with these well-publicized proposals is the appearance that Trump has his priorities out of whack; that is, he seems to be taking his eye off the ball of what the voters deem most important. What happened to tackling the border crisis and inflation as the top priorities? How many balls can a president juggle at once, even one who is constantly on the go like Trump is?

Unless Trump is playing some sort of multi-dimensional chess that we mere mortals cannot comprehend, we have to take his proposals at face value. Like George W. Bush who also saw his reelection as a mandate and charged ahead with a controversial Social Security partial privatization scheme without preparing the public adequately, Trump the idea man keeps coming up with ideas without a lot of explanation for his proposals. For instance, the bluster about Canada is, on the surface, akin to a big brother taking over his little brother’s lemonade stand because big brother can do a better job running it. Since Trump is no dummy and has to know that his proposal is going nowhere without a draconian effort perhaps better spent elsewhere, what does he hope to accomplish by putting it out there? What’s the end game in making this proposal?

One could argue that Trump’s mere suggestion, along with the threat of tariffs, has prompted a chain reaction in Canada resulting in the planned resignation of leftist Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. If so, that’s not a bad development. Of course, Canada will deny that Trump’s ideas had anything to do with Trudeau’s stepping down, as his popularity has sunk to non-survivable depths for a lot of the same reasons that Joe Biden’s did here.

One could also argue that Trump, in making these bold proposals, has given his opponents on the left fodder to continue their narrative that Trump is a “wannabe” dictator and his thirst for acquisition of other nations and properties proves their point. The question I’d be asking if I were a journalist is: Supposing each of these proposals was enacted, how could we ensure that future presidents (especially Democrats) will not reverse them due to political pressure? 

Then there is the financial aspect of doing these deals. Each of the proposed moves will cost a lot of money; the only question is just how much. For instance, a total takeover of the Panama Canal will entail both the costs involved in getting the Chinese port operators out, and getting an American-sponsored operator in. Granted, the canal is a highly profitable enterprise, but this is a key reason the Panamanians as well as the Chinese will be loath to relinquish their control without massive compensation. Of course, Denmark will demand a relatively high price for the largely frozen wasteland of Greenland since there are apparently some rich mineral deposits there – if the owner is willing to spend a lot of money to get to them. And Canada would not come in as the 51st state without dragging some baggage along also. Although Canada’s annual deficits are puny compared to ours, they’re still running in the red consistently, and they too are teetering on a recession.

To accomplish these aims, especially regarding the Panama Canal, Trump, like Theodore Roosevelt before him, has not ruled out the possible use of military force to achieve the goals. After four years of adhering to a woke agenda and the associated deterioration of combat readiness, Trump may be asking a depleted military for something they may or may not be able to deliver.

One thing we can be sure of – Donald Trump’s second tour of duty in the White House will be at least as adventurous as his first, and probably more so.


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