Trump's Insincere Christmas Greetings

- jim Young,

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.” - Roy L. Smith

Most of Trump's posts on Truth Social are full of the kinds of lies, misinformation and bullying tactics we have come to expect from him on a regular basis. So why should his "Merry Christmas to all" post be any different?

THE PANAMA CANAL

To accuse China of illegally operating the Panama Canal is a slap in the face to Panama President José Raúl Mulino suggesting that the country of Panama is a puppet of China. It’s a bullying tactic intended to put Panama on the defensive.  Why does Trump all of a sudden even care about the control of the Panama Canal? Well he’s been picking a fight with China for some time now, so what if push comes to shove and war breaks out? 

Control of the Panama Canal would be critical to the U.S. While no warships such as aircraft carriers from the U.S.or China would even fit through the canal, many other vessels of either country’s Navy would and are permitted through the canal as per the Neutrality Treaty signed in 1977 “so long as nothing is in conflict with the provisions set up in Article II of the Neutrality Treaty” 

The Neutrality Treaty “relinquishes American control over the canal by the year 2000 and guarantees its neutrality.” Quite simply Trump does not want the Panama Canal to be neutral in the event of war with China. He wants control and is trying to find ways to get it back

In addition to the bullying tactics Trump is using misinformation (or misleading information at best) to gain support for his nefarious plans knowing full well his supporters have no interest in the truth and will quickly spread his lies through social media in acts of misguided blind faith.

“We lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago.” Even if Trump wasn’t trying to imply that it was Americans that died during the construction of the Panama Canal, the actual number has been inflated. France lost 22,000 people during their part of the construction of the canal and the U.S. lost another 5,609 people for a grand total of less than 28,000 deaths. 

Many of these numbers of course were neither French nor American citizens but workers who came from the West Indies, especially Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada, Martinique, and Trinidad as well as India and China.

The loss of life is nonetheless tragic, but has less of a patriotic call to arms than it does suggesting 38,000 American lives were lost.

Trump suggests the U.S. has put “billions of dollars” into repairs for the Panama Canal with no reference to support his claim. The U.S. did spend about $500 million to construct the Panama Canal which, adjusted for today’s dollars would equal $15.2 billion. Was that what he meant?

By that logic, France, who began the construction of the Panama Canal, also put $287 million into the project. This would be the equivalent of about $8.7 billion today. 

So would it also be fair to say that France lost 22,000 lives after spending “billions of dollars” on the canal? Would that give France equal claim to now demand at least a partial ownership and control of the Panama Canal be returned to them as well?

Beyond this post Trump went on to say “The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair," without giving any support that the U.S. is being charged any different rates than any other country.

Of course the bigger issue here is that Trump seems to be preparing for a war with China and maybe that should be of concern to the rest of the world.

If Trump is planning a war with China, you can’t really blame him for wanting to control the Panama Canal but that doesn’t automatically give him a legitimate claim to renege on the treaty that was signed by a former president in good faith and just take it back.

However you may feel about the wisdom of Jimmy Carter’s decision to the gradual return of control to the Panama Canal in 1977, the fact remains that the deal was completed in 1999. What gives Trump the right to renege on it a quarter of a century later? What message would that send to the world about the credibility of the United States to make any kind of agreement in the future knowing they might one day just decide they wanted to renegotiate the terms?

GOVERNOR TRUDEAU AND CANADA, THE 51ST STATE

Trump wishes Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a Merry Christmas with the same disrespect as he does with almost every other world leader and politician. Doesn’t seem like a very “Christmassy” thing to do for a religion that preaches “love thy neighbour”.

Whatever your views may be of Justin Trudeau, referring to him as the “governor” of Canada and Canada as the 51st state of the USA is an insult to every Canadian citizen and not just our Prime Minister.

Then Trump goes on to promise that if Canada were to join the United States he would cut our taxes by 60%. Maybe he would, but you can be damn sure that he would also cut out Health Care. Like everyone, even Canadians complain about high taxes. The truth is, world wide we are far from the most heavily taxed countries in the world and in some individual cases even less so than the U.S.

As Wikipedia explains “A comparison of tax rates by countries is difficult and somewhat subjective, as tax laws in most countries are extremely complex and the tax burden falls differently on different groups in each country and sub-national unit.”

But consider some of the following tax comparisons between Canada and the U.S.

But you didn’t really believe Trump when he said you’d get a 60% tax cut in the first place anyway did you? You did? How's that tax cut looking now?

CANADA WOULD BE “MILITARILY PROTECTED LIKE NO OTHER COUNTRY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD”

Really? You mean the U.S. military that many claim “have more or less lost every war since World War II?”  Even Trump himself confessed Americans don’t win wars when he was quoted as saying, “When I was young, in high school and college, everybody used to say we never lost a war. Now, we never win a war.”

The Americans lost in the Russian Civil War, the Korean War and the VietNam War.

The U.S. didn’t even enter World War II until 2 years after it had begun and only after they came under attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.

The U.S. failed to even overthrow Castro when they invaded the small country of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

The U.S. failed in their attempt to conquer Canada in The War of 1812 which led to the British burning down the White House in 1814.

I’m not suggesting the U.S. Military would not be a great asset in a time of war, but to suggest their military strength is superior to all other countries is a bit of a stretch.

GREENLAND

And then there’s Greenland. According to Trump’s Christmas message the people of Greenland “want the U.S. to be there.” Admittedly Greenland welcomes American investments. While they may not oppose American presence in exchange  for investments in jobs, it’s a far cry to suggest they have any interest in selling their country to the U.S. 

Just because I welcome you to come over to my house to drink beer with me, it doesn’t mean I want to sell you my house.

Denmark and Greenland both have made it abundantly clear that Greenland is not for sale.

But let’s not forget that Trump is a felon who was convicted because he doesn’t know how to take “No” for an answer. History shows us that when told he can’t have something, Trump will illegally attempt to take it by force.

In spite of the American Military Bases already located in Greenland, Trump feels “owning” Greenland is necessary for National Security and Freedom throughout the whole World. Of course it wouldn’t have anything to do with Greenland’s national resources such as uranium, rare-earth minerals, and oil would it? 

Or perhaps it has more to do with Russia’s and China’s joint venture to expand shipping through the Northern Sea Route. And there we are, full circle and back to an American conflict with China.

And just who does Trump think his “buddy” Putin will side with in THAT conflict?

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