Conservative Wall Street Journal Blasts Trump’s News Conference

It is weird. Every once in a while incoming President Donald Trump floats ideas that really do deserve strong consideration but then does so in a manner that makes the whole enterprise so unserious as to render the whole it all useless going forward. For a guy that once put out a biography bragging about the ability to artfully bring about deals that were so good they benefited all sides, it gets both bothersome and somewhat humorous if the subject weren’t so serious. The idea of acquiring Greenland has been floated by various presidents throughout history and might well have some merit. Similarly, concern about the choke point that is the Panama Canal is legitimate, certainly, and ideas to solidify American interests aren’t crazy at all, Democrat or Republican. Obviously, it was the approach that concerned the conservative and often supportive Wall Street Journal, which took Trump to task for the simply bizarre and inexplicable way he went about putting them on the table. Their case is almost inherently compelling.

President Biden largely focused on domestic issues while leaving Ukraine and Israel supported by cash alone, maintaining some distance while keeping American interests close to the vest. Domestically, he succeeded in ways that shocked even liberals with aggressive progressive values and did so with panache, often getting significant Republican support. But Trump has shown a more aggressive international focus and – if done rightly – could be in American long term interests. He just needs to kind of, well – let’s visit the Journal’s interpretation and advice. As reported in Rawstory:

“A Greenland deal has potential if he’s artful. Panama would be a mess, and his Canada trolling could hurt the Conservatives,” according to the board. “Mr. Trump often prefers to talk tough, but using the bully pulpit to bully America’s friends is no help against the real bad guys.”

A lot of us would say that even the Panama Canal could be handled without any mess – so long as Panama was willing to approach some kind of compact with the U.S. But the key is obviously throwing away a lot of international goodwill from what had heretofore been strong American allies, leaving our true adversaries laughing at us.

“If he means that, he’s asking for trouble,” the board wrote in their op-ed. “It would turn an ally in the Western Hemisphere into an adversary. Does he want a forever guerrilla war?”

Yes. Now this is when folks of the type that inhabit offices on Wall Street do actually help because few really think about the consequences, financial and otherwise, of just bullying our way through Latin America, a full hemisphere of countries that should – and presumably would – run to support American interests in a true controversy under any semblance of what had been the Monroe Doctrine, in place now over a century. It really is kind of nice having an entire Hemisphere to oneself.

The Journal went on to describe some means of getting exactly what he wants without much controversy at all – something that actually would help him and us in the long run:

“One possible option might be a defense free association compact with Greenland, similar to U.S. arrangements with Pacific island states,” the board wrote. “The subtle art of persuasion would be required.”

Right. In such a scenario, the deal enhances our strength with allies and makes adversaries start looking around the room, thrown a bit off balance.

It would seem to most of us – those without any experience in global diplomacy, that a “free association” agreement would allow the U.S. to essentially do whatever we want with Greenland while avoiding the expense of actually having to pay to buy it. Kinda artful. It doesn’t seem all that insane to do so with the Panama Canal, though – envisioning a scenario without having to really pay a whole lot of money is pretty difficult. But it is obviously a lot better than simply barging in with a “mine, mine, mine” attitude that prohibits real control. If you have Panamanians suddenly committing to a forever guerrilla war that – like all of them – never really ends and destabilizes the entire region, suddenly making enemies where we once had none simply invites a situation that no amount of money can reset.

Trolling Canada is exactly that, nothing but trolling. And, again – you just sort of shake your head because any incoming president would really impress people if he or she was able to arrange even better conditions between two nations – especially one as important as Canada. Instead, Trump has done nothing but set fire to the whole thing where, well – there had been none. Why even bother?

It gets even a bit more inexplicable when Trump had advertised his unwillingness to even mess with possible war – See Cheney, Liz et. al. But he’s almost now courting hostilities, especially in Latin America, and that’s just plain weird. To spelunk even further down Cave Weird, his supporters back everything he does, forgetting that they loved the fact that Trump was an isolationist in the first place.

I really have no true idea as to how one goes about setting things straight in an increasingly hostile world. But some of this doesn’t require any experience beyond “Well, that wasn’t helpful” and then turn around only to find backing by people at the Journal who worry about hundreds of billions of dollars riding on this approach. It reminds all of us that these things have a ripple effect that could then quickly bite Americans – all Americans. If one goes shopping for a mortgage that is suddenly four points higher because people on Wall Street aren’t exactly sure what is going on, it becomes a big problem for people rich and poor. Strange.

And so much of it seems to be put out just to sound tough, and even that begins paddling ripples. It really doesn’t take all that much to scare big money. But he does it and he’s doing it even before being sworn in – yet another odd strategy because isn’t this something that one would one want hold close to the vest prior to really bearing down? Who knows? I don’t. But by all appearances, Trump doesn’t seem concerned about the long term impact (See Canada), at least not as it concerns global interests. If Trump does know and doesn’t care about impacting financial concerns and goes about it this way, well – that doesn’t really require any experience, either.

So there you have it. One really hopes that he’s not all that serious about this stuff but seriously wants heat off the Senate confirmation process for his nominees. Now that would be strategizing that makes some sense from his point of view, but – again, you know – big money certainly can’t be distracted. The Journal references a “mess” but it appears to already be piling up at home.

God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and on X with the old @JasonMiciak, and now on the new Bluesky.

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