158. A brazen, unapologetic political pressure

Dictators have historically shown cowardice, and U.S. President Donald Trump is no exception. They show their bravado only to the weaker people, those who cannot resist their aggression.

A confident, brave man avoids weaker people even when they show him some disrespect. Instead of anger, he smiles.

Have you ever thought about why this gentleman always feels the need to cajole some of the leaders who could pose a threat to the US, and those who don’t care about him? 

That’s why Trump fears Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

But he brags about taking over Canada as the 51st state of the US, capturing Greenland, and, more recently, attacking Cuba, Colombia, and other Latin American countries. Not to mention his open threat to the new acting President of Venezuela, Rodriguez, that she might pay a higher price than Maduro if she doesn’t do what’s right. And this “right” will be decided by the US.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez insisted that Maduro remains Venezuela’s rightful leader and criticized the United States as an illegitimate, imperialist power attempting to exploit the country. She called for relations with Washington to be grounded in sovereign equality and non-interference, and she directly addressed Trump, emphasizing that our peoples and region deserve peace and dialogue, not conflict.

Now, what lies ahead? When Trump took office, he promised to annex Greenland and regain control of the Panama Canal. Now he says that the cartels are running Mexico; meanwhile, Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned the Cuban government to be alert.

Trump called Colombia’s president a 'sick man' and claimed he is involved in producing and selling cocaine to the US, saying, “He’s not going to be doing it very long.” When asked if this suggests a US operation in Colombia, Trump replied, “It sounds good to me.”

When Colombia’s President Petro said the U.S. intervention in Venezuela was an attack on Latin America's sovereignty, an infuriated Trump told the Colombian leader to “watch his ass”. 

This language reflects that of a criminal, not a leader, and definitely not that of the US president.

Trump, the self-proclaimed Police Man of the world and king, has also dismissed the key lesson from decades of US foreign policy failures, namely that regime-change wars are easy to start but hard to win, and even harder to achieve genuine success. 

One more thing I am intrigued by is that Trump recently pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who was convicted of drug trafficking. How does this align with his claimed crackdown on narco-terrorist Maduro?

Today, a Washington-based journalist friend shared an interesting insider story about Trump.

He said that on February 22, 2022, when Vladimir Putin had just declared parts of eastern Ukraine independent and sent Russian troops to serve as so-called peacekeepers, the once-and-future American president, Donald Trump, was impressed, even inspired, and said, “This is genius. We could use that on our southern border.” Trump was unaware at the time that it was a full-scale invasion, which has now continued for nearly four years and resulted in over 1.5 million casualties and counting.

Not all Americans are happy. A former infantry chief has warned that Trump and his defense secretary are aggressively trying to politicize the highest levels of the US military, and this effort resembles Stalinist tactics and may require years to undo. 

Senator Bernie Sanders has condemned military action as illegal and unconstitutional, warning that it violates international law and endangers global peace. He said, “Donald Trump has, once again, shown his contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law. The President of the United States does NOT have the right to take this country to war unilaterally. Congress must immediately pass a War Powers resolution to end this illegal military operation and reassert its constitutional responsibilities.”

Sanders said, “This brazen violation of international law gives a green light to any nation on earth that may wish to attack another country to seize its resources or change its government. This is the horrific logic of force that Putin used to justify his brutal attack on Ukraine. Trump has spoken openly about controlling Venezuela’s oil reserves. This is rank imperialism. It will and should be condemned by the democratic world. Trump is failing in his job to “run” the United States. He should not be trying to “run” Venezuela."

I am thinking of this man who, in his first term, said that great nations do not fight endless wars. Then he spoke like a businessman, which he is, but now he is trying to talk like a leader and politician, which he is not. 

America will pay a heavy price if this madman is allowed to stay in the White House for another three years. Trump must be counseled that the Monroe Doctrine happened in 1823, and this is the 21st century. 

Other, more powerful, absurd, and irrational entities than Trump have the capability to devastate Europe in a single day and the entire United States in just two days. After all, North Korea, China, and Russia are not accumulating missiles just to display on their special day. 

That would be the beginning of WWIII, which is at the door of the globe, waiting to enter any time soon, due to the stupidity of a single individual.