The Art Of The Distraction
Donald Trump is a master at deflecting attention. Over and over again, he trots out some outrageous idea or catchphrase, and the media all goes chasing after it because they seemingly can't help themselves. Meanwhile, the things Trump is actually doing don't get much attention, which is the whole point of the exercise.
Case in point is Trump suddenly championing a twenty-first century American "Manifest Destiny," where he has set his sights on three pieces of real estate he'd like to add to the United States: Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. Spoiler alert: none of these are serious proposals. None will actually happen. And yet they are being treated seriously (or at least semi-seriously) by people who really should know better by now.
So let's run down these three ideas, in the order of how preposterous they are (although it's tough, since they are all kind of equally preposterous, when you get right down to it).
Canada
Trump has been joking (or is he?) that Canada would benefit from just giving up their sovereignty and decide to become "the 51st state" (he's taken to calling their prime minister "governor," just to rub this in). This is not going to happen, to be blunt. And even if the Canadians did somehow covet becoming part of America, it wouldn't work out anything like what Trump is feverishly dreaming about.
In the first place, Canada is big. Really, really big. It's bigger than all of America, in fact. Not in population, but in area -- Canada is the second-largest country on Earth. The country is divided into ten provinces, each of which would likely want to become states in their own right (in the ridiculous scenario where Canada actually did want to join America).
In the second place, Canada is a lot closer to Europe in their governmental makeup than the United States. For instance, they enjoy national healthcare, and would be outraged if asked to give it up and replace it with the American system. That's just one example among many of the changes Canadians would recoil in horror from, if they ever actually did become American states. They have a government that swings between conservative and liberal, but their Overton window is a lot closer to Europe's definition of "conservative" and "liberal" than the way they are used in America. Trump, of course, hasn't thought any of this through.
His main objective in taunting Canada with becoming the 51st state seems to be to annoy Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump seems to know that his idea of somehow annexing Canada is ridiculous, which means that (so far, at least) he has couched all his taunts as mere jokes ("I'm just kidding!").
Trump also shows his complete ignorance of how international trade works by complaining that somehow the fact that the U.S. runs a trade deficit with Canada means were are "subsidizing" them. This, of course, is not even remotely true. We buy stuff from them, give them money, and they give us goods in return. This simple concept, however, has always been beyond Trump's understanding.
Perhaps Trump is trying to humiliate Canada just to get some sort of upper hand in tariff negotiations, but even he seems to understand that Canada is just never going to voluntarily decide to become part of the United States any time soon.
Greenland
Somebody put a bee in Trump's bonnet during his first term, convincing Trump that it'd be a dandy idea to buy Greenland (or even to trade Puerto Rico to Denmark for it). This, of course, did not happen during his first presidency, and it is not going to happen during his second one either.
Trump has taken to talking about his Manifest Destiny desire to acquire Greenland in terms of "national security." This doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since Greenland is no sort of threat to us at all, and we even already have a military base there.
It's hard to really understand Trump's obsession with Greenland, other than a spoiled child screaming: "I want it! Gimme!!!"
There are strategic minerals in Greenland, and as the ice cap on Greenland melts more and more due to climate change, more of them might become a lot more accessible. But the people who live there may not be in favor of huge mining operations springing up all over the place, and they have shown zero interest in selling their island to the United States.
Again, this one is perhaps the most mystifying of all three of these suggestions. Perhaps its just a hangover from his first term, when he was rebuffed with laughter when he proposed buying Greenland. Maybe he just wants another crack at it, or something. But it's just not going to happen, period.
Panama Canal
At least this one seems to have some basis in reality, although merely as a bargaining chip. Trump has bombastically been talking about taking the Panama Canal back from Panamanian control, tossing out facts and figures which have no basis in reality. For instance, 38,000 Americans did not actually die during the construction of the canal, and China is not currently operating the canal at all. Trump has seized on these as rallying cries, however.
The reality of this situation is that Trump is annoyed about high tolls charged (Panama is "ripping us off," according to Trump). Again, he claims that American ships (or ships travelling to American ports) are being vastly overcharged by Panama, which simply isn't true. The tolls have gone up in recent years, partly because of a drought that reduced travel through the canal (since a canal has to have sufficient water, otherwise it becomes useless). But American ships are being charged the same rate as everyone else, no matter what Trump claims.
Nevertheless, America is simply not going to go down to Panama and seize control of the canal. That is a pipe dream and is just not going to happen. What could happen is that Trump could whip up popular support for Draconian economic tactics and force Panama to bargain for cheaper tolls. This is why I say this idea at least has some connection to reality, as it may all just be a bluff for Trump to use as leverage in trade talks with Panama.
All of this is nothing more than a giant red herring (or three of them). These proposals are not reality-based at all. They are perhaps designed to stir up the jingoism of "America First!" among his followers, but none of the three ideas is ever going to become reality in any way. We're not going to annex Canada, Greenland, or reclaim control over the Panama Canal, no matter how badly Trump may want to do so.
The thing to do, whenever Trump flies off the handle with some bizarre distraction or another, is to try to figure out what he is trying to distract us all from. Maybe this is giving him too much credit, since he has the attention span of a coked-up hummingbird, so it's never clear if he's actually trying to distract or just firing up his base for no real reason other than he can.
Trump just suffered a rather humiliating defeat in Congress. First Elon Musk took the lead (leaving Trump to meekly follow) and then the whole thing blew up in their faces. Over three dozen House Republicans rebuffed Trump's orders and tanked his legislative demands. This could be a worrisome harbinger of fractiousness to come, since it showed the limits of Trump's control over his own party. And Trump may be heading towards a few more humiliations in Congress as the new year dawns and the Senate begins hearings into all of his nominees. Several of them could already be in trouble, but it's hard to tell since Republican senators are quietly keeping their heads down right now. Nobody knows how many of them will vote against Trump's nominees, several of which are either laughably unqualified or problematic in other ways.
That's the best guess I would venture, as to why Trump is dangling Manifest Destiny red herrings in front of his MAGA followers right now. He wants to whip up some ridiculous fight that could serve to distract from the actual business going on in Washington. But at least with this one, Trump's ideas are patent nonsense and will never actually be implemented.
Canada, Greenland, and Panama are just not going to suddenly decide to give up sovereignty, no matter how good an idea Donald Trump may think it is. It's all a giant distraction, from a master of the art form.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Best is watch what Trump does and pay no attention to what he says — which is just the latest shiny object.
"[Trump] has the attention span of a coked-up hummingbird"
Excellent! Nicely done.
And yes, the B.S. quotient about annexing any of those three countries or territories is 100%. And again, we wonder why the mainstream media (we know who they are) continue to parrot the president-elect's nonsense as if it were serious foreign policy, even if it's framed as 'speculative'.
What if the normal media just began to ignore Trump's pronouncements and tweets, printing them on the inside back pages or at the bottom of the screen with no leading teasers or links - what if you had to *hunt* for news of what the president said, because 99.9% of it is indisputably lies, B.S., or senile nonsense? Wouldn't that make for a happier, more contented 55% of the country that doesn't think DJT is the second coming of Christ? (Hint: he isn't).
What if the normal media just began to ignore Trump's pronouncements and tweets,
That has as much chance of happening as YA'ALL ignoring President ELECT TRUMP...
Let's face reality here, people.. OBJECTIVE Reality..
Ya'all are so coked up on PTDS and hating President ELECT Trump, ya'all couldn't ignore him if ya'all's life depended on it...
That's what happens when ya'all have nothing but hate for those who don't toe ya'all's America hating line.. :eyeroll:
Oh crap, where was I?? Oh yea, that's right.. :D
0204
Well, boy howdy now... Democrats and Trump/America haters are talking insurrection here.. :D
Congress has the power to block Trump from taking office, but lawmakers must act now
The Constitution provides that an oath-breaking insurrectionist is ineligible to be president. This is the plain wording of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. “No person shall … hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” This disability can be removed by a two-thirds vote in each House.
Disqualification is based on insurrection against the Constitution and not the government. The evidence of Donald Trump’s engaging in such insurrection is overwhelming. The matter has been decided in three separate forums, two of which were fully contested with the active participation of Trump’s counsel.
https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/5055171-constitution-insurrection-trump-disqualification/
President ELECT Trump is completely and unequivocally **INNOCENT** of insurrection... FULL STOP... END TRANS...
Therefore this whacked out idea of Democrats is simply moronic on it's face
Just another example of PTDS and Trump/America hate the permeates the 2-celled brains of Democrats.
0205
Donald Trump is a master at deflecting attention.
Yep he is...
And Weigantia and Weigantians fall for it EVERY TIME... :D
0206
The Democrat Party has completely and utterly collapsed..
“Following a huge bevy of losses for the Democrats, the party's reputation has been decimated, while President ELECT Trump appears to be growing stronger.” noted insightful researchers after conducting post-election focus groups with former Democrats and apathetic voters.
After suffering a second defeat to President ELECTTrump, this time in a much more pronounced fashion, Democrats who actually have more than 2 brain cells to rub together have recognized that their party's reputation is severely damaged. The phrase “in a terrible state” suggests that the party’s public perception is unappealing to many constituents and requires urgent action to rectify, rather than being something that can be saved for later.
On the other hand, overly optimistic Democrats ({{{cough, cough}}} Weigantians.. {{cough}} claim that everything is going well, asserting that 2024 was competitive despite Harris losing both the popular vote by a considerably great margin and losing ALL of the swing states. These brain-dead Democrats believe that more anti-Trump sentiment will steer the party towards success. There seems to be no concern for how the party is viewed publicly.
You Democrats ALWAYS take the wrong lessons from a loss and double down on the stoopidity that got you to where you are in the first place..
Please, Democrats.. Don't EVER change.. :D
0207
Basement Biden was asked if he had any regrets from his administration..
Like Token DEI Hire Headboard Harris' answer when asked a similar question on THREE separate occasions, Basement Biden missed a HUGE opportunity...
Or, as CNN's Scott Jennings said
"The fact that he didn't say 'I regret that 13 American service members lost their lives in Afghanistan' to me, that he can't muster the courage to say that now is a disgrace.
Beyond that, he's leaving office in disgrace.
Less than 30% of the American people think the country is on the right track. That's lower than on election day. And what's happened since Election Day? He pardoned his son, Hunter. He commuted the sentences of a bunch of evil killer thugs on federal death row. Not all of them, just the ones that he wanted to. He didn't even make a principled stand on that.
And then he went on vacation, which is where he is right now.
This is a failed, disgraced president, and he has never, ever owned up to what happened in Afghanistan and the role that played in destroying those families' lives and destroying his own presidency."
This is beyond the pale...
THIS is the POTUS that you people tried to convince yourself was "sharp as a tack"... :eyeroll:
It's well documented that Basement Biden's senility and dementia was already quite noticeable in 2020. At least noticeable to anyone with more than 2 brain cells to rub together....
It's a tribute to Democrat stoopidity that they thought they could pass off this befuddled and senile old man as a viable Presidential candidate.
Then they compounded their stoopidity by thinking that Token DEI Hire Headboard Harris was the solution.. :eyeroll:
It's very difficult to see how Democrats can plumb the depths of stoopidity any deeper than they have with this clown stunt..
But that's the nice thing about Democrats.. Just when you think they CAN'T get any dumber or any more depraved, they up and surprise you that they can even go deeper into the depths of depravity and stoopidity.. :D
0208
And Tampon Tim NOBALLZ Walz decided to step back into the limelight..
162 years ago, 38 Dakota men were hung in the largest mass execution in our nation’s history.
The sacrifice of these riders reminds us to recommit to accountability and healing for the Dakota people.
-NO BALLZ WALZ
Which explains perfectly exactly why he and Headboard Harris couldn't win an election for county dog catcher..
:eyeroll:
Stay out of the limelight, NoBallz... You just embarrass yourself and the state of Minnesota...
0209
I for one am pulling for the GOP to toss that silly Filibuster. Let those Repugs have free rein to show us THEIR version of Murica. And when if/when it fails the 90% of us then maybe Dems will get to show us THEIR version of Murica. The Filibuster is NOT in our Constitution — which was clearly set up to perpetuate white supremacy and therefore obstruct progress towards FORMING A MORE PERFECT UNION.
So instead of silly conjecture let’s see what happens WHEN THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD. Enough with fucking around let’s get something something SOMETHING besides INERTIA. Besides STASIS, cuz stasis sucks for all but the millionaires. Jeeze!
Look, even Trump and the GOP exercising power and completely trashing Murica would at least give the electorate something to go on. Something to assess.
Michale,
I made an exception and did NOT scroll through all your above posted column inches — look that term up and you’ll automatically be the smartest guy in whatever TruthSocial thread that yer currently dwelling in.
I sussed you out as just another garden variety troll when first I started hanging out in Weigantia back in 2019. I note how you disappear for years when Repugs lose. I notice you stayed because Trump won but I have to ask,
WHAT are you trying to accomplish with calling Weigantians bad names? By crowing just because Trump (finally) won? Are you interested in actually h changing hearts and minds, or are you just being a dick?
Unfortunately, when you post you usually suck up the oxygen down here in Weigantia. That kind of sucks. So stop, please. I’m not the only guy who wants to hear from a COGENT CONSERVATIVE but Dude you’ve failed to fill the bill.
YOU know why you’re right so why not sharing that instead of acting like you’re in Junior High School. I’ve seen your picture — congrats on losing the weight — so it’s clear that you’re old enough to do better.
So whaddup Michael. You COULD help me refine my Progressivism but you have to give me some reality to work with. C’mon you can do this for Weigantia!
Michale, I am not kidding and I’m willing to engage.
But you have to give us something besides Junior High School-level put-downs. I mean, really? That is NOT the way of the Warrior. As you’re now a big bad law enforcing pillar of the community, why not SHARE some of what got you to this point?
Oh, feel free to keep typing DISHONORABLY DISCHARGED DRUGGIE, said the Honorably Discharged EXCELLENT SOLDIER whose rent has been paid for 8+ years while I get through some surgeries at the VAH. No really! I don’t think that you’re smart enough to have loaded up the phrase but that’s typical of Trumpanzies.
Because of course the VA does that for Honorably Discharged Army Veterans. Oh, and there was college money…
‘Twas a splendid deal! I defended democracy out in the Mojave Desert at Ft. Irwin NTC. In return they delivered me from 15% unemployment rate in my Detroit in 1982, and I got college money and lifetime health care out of it. That’s why I say to “Thank you for your service” that I feel like I got the better of the deal.
…which makes me glad that I’ll be saying for the rest of my life, I’m grateful to my Army and I’m glad that in return I left my Army in a slightly better condition than I found it.
had a good read over at guardian UK, which applies the same to Israel as Ukraine. anyone who doesn't at least partially see it this way, doesn't really see it at all:
Can Europe switch to a ‘wartime mindset’? Take it from us in Ukraine: here is what that means | Oleksandr Mykhed
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/27/europe-wartime-mindset-ukraine-nato-kyiv-russia?CMP=share_btn_url
caddy, your thoughts?
nypoet22
17
Nice article and totally accurate... right down to the "spare pair of underwear and socks," although I personally would by no means put a limit like that on undergarments. :)