So Renee Good is dead, Venezuela is under American occupation for who knows how long, United States Coast Guard boats are seizing oil tankers flying Russian flags on international waters , and on Friday, the president of the United States told a meeting of skeptical oil and gas executives whom he’s trying to convince to return to Venezuela that he also covets ownership and occupation of Greenland.
About which he mused, “I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”
The president’s almost laughably performative, Mafia-movie-scene rhetoric should not be allowed to obscure the dead-serious, drastic turn of direction it represents on the world stage.
The question barges in the door: What kind of world do the American people want to live in, based on what view of the human being and flourishing societies?
If carried through, it would dethrone the U.S. from its historic leadership role in the law-abiding, norms-based world order that it painstakingly helped build from the ashes of the 20th century’s two world wars and through the Cold War that followed.
Instead, the president’s implied threat of a violent takeover suggests a world-shattering regression to an 18th century dog-eat-dog world of big powers devouring smaller ones strictly because they want to and they can.
Trump advisor Stephen Miller gave voice to this view in a harrowing interview last Monday with CNN’s Jake Tapper:
“We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.”
The resultant shock and awe of those words have been ringing their way around the globe ever since, compounded all the more by the death of Renee Good just days later at the hands of a heavily armed, helmeted, bulletproof-vested ICE agent projecting the very image of “strength, force, power” and “iron.”
Miller, like so many in the Trump administration, seems oddly enamored of hyper-masculine imagery and antics, such as the push-up/pull-up aficionados, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and HHS czar Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Bizarrely, we can count Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem among that number with her hard, unyielding eyes, perpetual scowl, and seemingly ubiquitous baseball cap that was last week supplanted by an oversized cowboy hat engulfing her head while she was standing at a lectern denouncing Good’s purported offense of “domestic terrorism.”
Taken together, the threat to do to Greenland what had been done to Good seems to have set the world on its head, spinning like Yeats’s gyre, in a way almost no one alive today could ever have imagined.
How is it possible that the United States is now assuming the mantle of the world’s most lethal bully—and then bragging and threatening about it on TV? Will the president really bring the country’s overwhelming military might to bear even on free, democratically run countries solely for purpose of strategic advantage and control (read: “theft”) of its natural resources?
Are we simply enduring a huge collective nightmare?
Would that were the case.
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The question barges in the door: What kind of world do the American people want to live in, based on what view of the human being and flourishing societies?
The queries are as basic as can be, but they have everything to do with a nation’s self-identity and the laws, policies, and cultural norms that flow therefrom.
Give them credit for this much: Neither Miller nor Trump minced words. They said out loud last week how they view relationships between nations and their peoples, and my own view has gone from horror to appreciation that they laid it out in such clear and uncomplicated terms.
In a profound sense, they have thrown down the gauntlet of the greatest moral challenge of our time. Will we henceforth be a people who subscribe to their worldview that the exercise of brute naked power is the only practical and honest option to pursue in safeguarding the security and well-being of the American people?
Will we accept that the nations and peoples of the world are engaged, as part of their very essence, in an endless competition for superiority that will reward only the strong, and that the strong can thus do as they will to the weak?
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This views springs from almost prehistoric times, when humans existed in what philosophers call a “state of nature,” unfettered by any ruling body outside their tribe. While their oversized brains made them craftier than their less intellectually endowed fellow animals, they were otherwise little different than the lions who seek their prey when hungry, but are otherwise oblivious, uncaring and unrepentant for the suffering and harm they cause.
Is this who we still are?
Humankind invented religion and later ushered in the Enlightenment largely to consider and nurture another way of being in the world, another form of relationship to one’s fellow humans, emphasizing the mutual benefits of cooperation rather than competition. This more feminine, less power-driven sensibility has undergirded the modern world’s ever-increasing emphasis on international relations and justice for all peoples, particularly for previously disenfranchised populations. It asserts the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings, an idea that resounded through all the founding documents and rhetoric of the American Revolution.
And not coincidentally, it forms the very basis of the Christian vision for the sanctity of human life, along with one of the central dictums of the faith: to “Love thy neighbor.”
And now we are told we can take what we want from that neighbor, whatever their protestations and sufferings, because we are more powerful and are guided by “the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.”
Really?
With Venezuela in hand, Greenland, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Iran and ultimately, to judge by much of the president’s rhetoric over the past year, Europe also on the horizon of our unfettered greed, we stand on the precipice of a potentially cataclysmic change in the dynamics of our world. Hence the sense of confusion and angst I have been reading about and hearing from friends and associates far and wide in recent days, their barely contained waves of emotion also reverberating and amplified through many quarters of the larger world.
After most every mass shooting or other domestic horror takes place in America, we hear the plaintive refrain: “This is not who we are.”
Now, the case has been made by the highest officials in our land that the seizure of sovereign nations by force is our inherent right, conferred by the most elemental laws of the jungle.
Is that who we are?
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It is hubris which helps facilitate control and power, and hubris which inevitably leads to over-reach. The last year we have seen that over-reach play out domestically with mind boggling success. This appears to have been a test run for a new imperialism on the world stage. History has taught us it will ultimately fail. Rome will burn. But how long before the seams start to split? The world order has already been upended in one short year. 2026 looks to be worse. I’ve tossed my rose color glasses in the trash. I wish there were more positive and effective actions we could take to stop the oncoming train wreck.
I’ve been thinking recently along the lines that this new imperialism has always been a goal of the Project 2025 gang led by Miller & Vought, but I doubt Trump ever read it with any great interest. And since it is the exact opposite of the new isolationism (no foreign adventurism!) that he ran on and which is almost sacred to his base, he didn’t put much energy into it. But now that they deposed Maduro with such dispatch in that made-for-TV little military incursion, Trump rather enjoyed the feeling, so he very quickly started bubbling over with enthusiasm and looking around for more conquests.
At heart (though he doesn’t have one!), Trump is a 4-year-old who likes collecting stuff—money, buildings, golf courses, trophies, accolades, women—and now, “Wheeeee!!! I own Venezuela, that was easy, this is fun, next stop Greenland!” Yes, he may get bored after a while, but I’m not so sure: it’s a really big world out there, lots of countries primed for plunder, and maybe he can catch up to Elon in net worth!
Now he’s hot for Venezuela’s oil, but why? The world is awash in cheap oil that will get cheaper still if Venezuelan oil comes back online, but since the oil companies can’t make enough money if that happens, the big boys won’t come in. Still, Trump likes the idea of controlling the WORLD’S BIGGEST OIL RESERVE (!!), just one more notch on his belt of collectibles.
That’s basically what’s running our foreign “policy,” such as it is, with Miller & Vought nudging him in their desired shiny new directions, hoping he’ll bite. In the end, I think, and have stated elsewhere, that only congressional Republicans can save the country at this point. If we can’t get more than five of their senators and a few more of their House members to finally say, “Enough, no you cannot be Emperor of the World,” I doubt Democrats and millions of people protesting in the streets will be enough to stop the steady “oncoming train wreck” you cite above. Doesn’t mean we’re absolved from trying, or that we disappear into privatized life, but yeah, three years is a long time, though 10+ months that bring us to the mid-terms might help make a difference. Lot of variables there, though!
Happy 2026 anyway, Dennis! Writing helps me sort things, so you’re welcome back here anytime!
A lot of variables, indeed! Trump appears to be an easily manipulated pawn for darker forces at work. The goal appears to be upending 80+ years of progressive foreign and domestic policy. I’m betting the Steven Millers and Russ Voughts (and the Roger Stones…..the OGs for all this mayhem) pinch themselves in amazement it has all worked so well. Having played such an effective long game to get to this point, they will not give up for something silly like mid term elections. The general public has been conditioned to believe almost anything. Even those of us who bring as much critical thinking to bear as we are able will often wonder where solid ground is. At least I do. What do you think the chances are that violence will be a pretext to canceling the upcoming mid terms? A better than even chance, I would guess. Even if the mid terms are allowed, the effort to delegitimize them will be massive. I don’t know that a 1/2 dozen suddenly enlightened senators or house reps are going to be able to shore up this leaky dike. Like you, I’ll keep trying. We have a responsibility. We need to be grimly clear about the uphill battle ahead.
Indeed, Dennis, the long game has worked out astoundingly well for the black-is-really-white propaganda machine the Republicans rolled out as long ago as Reagan’s trickle-down theory and Dubya’s WMD claims in Iraq—all of it dwarfed and kicked into ultimate high gear when the perpetually lying media huckster Trump suddenly found himself winning the 2016 election.
I think the entire over-the-top ICE presence is based on the fervent hope that street riots finally ensue and Trump can call up every last army reserve to occupy every key city across the country. And if it happens to be anywhere near the mid-term election, sure, I could see martial law in the offing, with canceled elections.
One thing we know for absolute certain: if elections do take place, the chance is zero that they will not be protested, with loud and relentless claims of fraud, if they go against Trump—and they will also try every possible way to dampen turnout via intimidation, polling location snafus, voter challenges, etc. Any way one cuts it, we are in for a tempestuous 2026, all the more so if Trump continues to flounder, lose court decisions, and we suffer the effects of his intrusions into the economy.
Who are we? I don’t know if we exists in America today. We indicates some degree of unity; we now reside in the Un-United States. It seems that too many Americans have discarded their long-held status as homo sapiens (“wise men”) for the more maga-taxonomic homo stulti (“unwise men”). Considering their aversion to anything hinting at intellectualism, perhaps they don’t consider “unwise” as a slap in the face but rather a high five. Anyway, their leaders have become…well, like the Clampetts. Jed Rump Clampett, the head of this homo stulti Klan, decided to go a-hunting with his adopted son Jethro Hegsick Clampett. They got a little juiced up on steroid laced PowerAde and fired their shotguns into fallow Venezuelan ground and, lo and behold, “black gold, Texas tea” came up a “bubbling” up. They rejoiced. Greed overwhelmed them. What next? Stephen Millamouth, a somewhat nefarious cousin and a doppelgänger for Nosferatu, sensing their avarice, recommended Greenland as a possibility.
Jed said, “Doesn’t Greenland belong to the Dane Gang?”
Stephen said, “Yeah. So what?”
“Okay. If I can attack Greenland at night, it’ll be dark.”
Sick agreed but added, “Dad, not if there’s a full moon.”
Mouth put in his two-cents worth, “I like the night. It becomes me.”
They invaded Greenland at night, but it wasn’t as green as they thought. Sick, obviously the most disappointed, shivered, “It’s kinda too cold. Who’d wanna live here?”
Stephen said, “No problem. I know these guys who live in the hollow near me. They like freezing temps. They call themselves the Ice Men.”
Jed rubbed Mouth’s bald head like Aladdin stroked his lamp, “Mouth, call them. Give ‘em nice uniforms and facemasks. It’ll keep them happy.”
Sick, feeling left out. interjected, “Your wish is my command.” The Ice Men loved it. After a few weeks, Rump grew bored. He needed a new project. One night, he tweeted, “Let’s go for Europe.” Sick and Mouth drooled with enthusiasm. They met the next day in the West Wing. Rump said, “Before we hit Europe, clear it with Vlad Pudding in the East Room. I don’t want to step on his toes.” Sick found Pudding sitting alone in his red стул. When Sick informed him of Rump’s idea, Pudding smiled. “Great. Just let me have the Ukraine.”
That night, darker than any night ever, Rump ordered the invasion. The Ice Men yelled, “Hey, maybe we can go there once Greenland is cleaned out.”
The homo stultri screamed, “God bless the Rump.”
The homo sapiens cried and between tears lamented, “What has become of us?”
Am I a bad person to not want to care anymore? I just want (need?) the shitshow to be flushed out of my life. Pretending that living in Costa Rica insulates all this from my life is fleeting in the least. The USA has agreed to send 195 Coast Guard boats and over 7000 personnel into Costa Rican waters, all under the premise of stopping the drugs. The whole Venezuela fiasco started as a Coast Guard operation to annihilate drug running boats. Then it escalated to absurdity. What fantasies will be in store for Costa Rica from the lunatics in charge? Not Costa Rica you say. Ask the people of Greenland what they think. So not watching the simulated realities of all types of media gives me no respite, knowing the insane mental state of the powers that be. …….. Anybody have any elk hair I can have to tie my trout flies?
Robert, how I wish our current reality were only a fable even half as zany and entertaining (and pointed) as yours! But like many fables, the moral in yours is deeply foreboding. I fear you’ll have plenty of fresh material coming your way in coming months and years.
Kirk, the problem is you sound like you care a whole lot, but I sure do understand the feeling of wanting to shove the whole fetid mess over into some alternate reality we need only note as a matter of strange fascination rather than living within it. I have zero doubt that if Trump had a military force of, say 10 times as large and lethal as the one he has, he would indeed try to declare himself President of the World, doling out favors to his devotees and dungeons for his detractors. But given the real constraints and the fallibility of empires that Dennis cites above, I don’t think he’ll have either time or resources or enough sheer competence to invade either Costa Rica or scores of other countries he would otherwise gladly scoop up and tuck into his portfolio. Eventually, all such empire building crashes for all the reasons historians have always cited, Trump will get older and die, and the world will be picking up the jagged pieces of the debacle he left behind. Will America “recover?” Hard to say to what degree and in what form. Many surprises await—that’s about the only sure thing we can say. And to cite the Gatsby yet again: “”So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past….”
I know my fearful fantacies sound absurd, but during this time, nobody knows what Trump’s twisted mind, fed by S. Miller’s evilness, could result in. If they come for our coffee, I imagine we will copy the “The Secret of Santa Vittoria,”.. by M. Crichton.
Not absurd at all, Kirk—the whole idea of Trump ever becoming more than a clown candidate seemed absurd to me in 2015, and he has blown through enough of my “That can’t happen” predictions to make me much more sober about such matters than I used to be. (Though I have been right about a number of things as well—it’s been instructive for me recently to go back to a number of old posts over the years and see what I said about the ever more evident train wreck coming our way.) So yes, absolutely anything could happen, including an attempt for Trump to basically bcomee the Mafia boss of all South America. But my suspicion is it’s too big of a bite and would spread even the U.S. too thin. The old saying applies: Time will tell…
Meanwhile, I think I may have seen the Santa Vitorria movie a terribly long time ago, but thanks for getting it back on my list! Minor correction on the author, though: I think you have the wrong Crichton—it was Robert, not the sci-fi thriller guy Michael…Cheers & Happy New Year, mate!