It was a speech with a very religious tone that Donald Trump delivered during the inauguration ceremony. According to him, he was chosen by God himself to occupy the Oval Office. He spoke of the assassination attempt against him in Pennsylvania, where he was shot in the ear by a shooter on a rooftop. “I felt then and I believe even more now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to restore America to its greatness,” the new president announced without blinking. American. He then described his inauguration as a “day of liberation”, which will allow us to return to the “golden age”; and promised Americans: “we will not forget our country, our Constitution, nor our God.” Under his leadership, he continued, “the United States will once again think of itself as a growing nation, which increases our wealth, expands our territory…” Before adding: “And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Star-Spangled Banner on the planet Mars. To the great joy of Elon Musk, sitting in the audience, who has been pushing for exploration of the planet for years.
“Manifest Destiny” is a mid-19th century idea that white pioneers, given their moral superiority and Christian values, were entrusted with a divine mission to conquer and civilize the territories. towards the west. This notion served as justification for grabbing land belonging to Mexico and the Indians and thus recovering Oregon, Texas, New Mexico… A stone’s throw from where the president gave his speech in the Capitol, is a mural titled “The Race for Empire Takes its Way West” which depicts a glorious caravan of pioneers with their wagons looking toward the Pacific.
Imperialist foreign policy
Over time, the concept of manifest destiny has attracted many critics who felt that it mainly masked increasingly ambitious commercial and expansionist aims. At the end of the 19th century, “divine Providence” was used to justify an imperialist foreign policy in the case of, for example, the war against Spain which ended up ceding Puerto Rico, the island of Guam and the Philippines to the America while Cuba became a de facto protectorate. In 1920, after the First World War, President Wilson in a message to Congress instead described an America whose mission was to spread the democratic model throughout the world: “This is the moment when democracy should prove that its purity and its power spiritual can prevail. It is certainly the manifest destiny of the United States to lead the effort in trying to make this spirit prevail.
Donald Trump, since 2016, has advocated an isolationist vision summarized in his slogan “America first” and has violently criticized the current of neoconservatives going to war who campaign for an America policeman of the world. But that did not prevent him from talking about an annexation of Greenland already during his first mandate. And, in recent weeks, he has continued to make extraordinary calls to extend the country’s borders through the use of military force if necessary.
In his speech, he promised to continue the conquest of space. He also spoke again of his desire to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”. And once again attacked Panama, to which the United States “stupidly” left the management of the canal after having administered it for decades. “We were treated very poorly following this stupid gift that should never have been given,” he said. According to him, American ships do not benefit from fair treatment and he accuses China of having taken control of operations. But “we will take it back,” he added.
He did not mention his other dreams of territorial expansion: annexing Greenland and making Canada the 51st American state. As usual with Donald Trump, it is difficult to know how far he is willing to go. Analysts believe that these are mainly threats aimed at obtaining concessions from Denmark and Panama. According to a recent poll, while Americans are generally favorable to the new president’s policies, they do not appreciate his overly extremist ideas. As for his supporters, fiercely attached to the slogan “America first”, are they really ready to invade Panama, even if it is dictated by the Almighty himself?
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