January 10: Manifest Destiny 2.0?

In which, Team Trump eyes Greenland and the Panama Canal, Lebanon takes a significant step towards a post Hezbollah future, and Los Angeles burns.

Manifest Destiny 2.0?

With a new Congress seated, just over a week to go until Inauguration Day, and the Electoral College vote safely confirmed in the House this week, attention is turning towards the US Senate and the confirmation hearings for Trump administration nominees. Foreign policy heads are likely to draw the most attention starting with Pete Hegseth’s January 14 confirmation hearing.

The emerging Trump foreign policy is drawing renewed attention (equal parts support and skepticism) as Trump and his allies raised eyebrows this week over the possibility of adding Greenland and the Panama Canal to the United States.

At first glance, such ideas sound preposterous, and many said as much like Mexico President Schienbaum. However, some observers are noting that Trump’s interest in Greenland is nothing new to US strategic thinking (we’ve long maintained military bases there), the Panama Canal did belong to the US as recently as the 1970s, and, perhaps most crucially, America is not the only great power looking to gain influence in the Western Hemisphere.

In other words, Team Trump’s attention to the Western Hemisphere is not necessarily some neo-imperialist Manifest Destiny 2.0. Sure, it could be that, but some observers have also noted that in a world where America is competing with an increasingly aggressive China, this may be an opening round of the US rearticulating the Monroe Doctrine as a foundational strategic concept.

I find this read of the situation quite plausible given the China hawks leading the list of Trump’s cabinet nominees. Hegseth, in particular, has been quite vocal about the possibility of the American military losing a war with China in a fight over Taiwan. If that’s your basic assumption, then it makes sense to ensure your own backyard is secure.

---

If you haven’t listened to it yet, be sure to check out my latest podcast with New York Times bestselling author Stephen Mansfield on the future of American foreign policy.