The overstretched empire
With loud talk of annexing Canada, Mexico, and Greenland, the US’s global rampage has reached a new dimension.
After the de facto president of the US, Donald Trump, expressed his first fantasies of world domination, reactions have been mixed. They range from concern to schadenfreude. But the US is only following its own rules, regardless of who is elected president.
[This article posted on 1/24/2025 is translated from the German on the Internet, https://www.manova.news/artikel/das-uberdehnte-imperium.]
Donald Trump is and remains unpredictable. It is to be feared that even in 2025, the president of the United States will still not know in the morning what he will think in the evening. Trump‘s volatility is a fact, but he does not approach his plans and deals completely thoughtlessly. And so he will realize that he will not be able to do much against “great enemies” such as Russia or China for the time being. From his point of view, it is understandable to shift the focus to other “construction sites.” However, this is not good news, neither for Annalena Baerbock (the Greens), who tried her hand at diplomacy, nor for Alice Weidel (AfD), who sees herself as the chancellor of hearts.
The US, Greenland, and other “trifles”
In an episode of “Das dritte Jahrtausend” with Robert Fleischer, Dirk Pohlmann, and Mathias Bröckers, Dirk Pohlmann spoke at length about Greenland and its significance for the US—and for other powers such as China and Russia. Greenland was already important to the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, as it lies between the two superpowers and was strategically contested. What exactly is driving Trump to annex Greenland is anyone’s guess, but imperialist ulterior motives are certainly part of it.
But why Greenland? And why Mexico and Canada?
Well, first of all, Trump is someone who always has to prove that he has ideas that others don’t have. And his desire to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America is probably due to his need for recognition. It’s almost a miracle that he doesn’t want to call it Trump Gulf.
Incidentally, Trump’s ally Elon Musk recently toyed with the idea of overthrowing the government in the UK because Keir Starmer allegedly covered up the horrific rapes committed by the so-called “grooming gangs,” a group of mainly Pakistani men, in order to avoid being suspected of racism. The incomprehensible acts took place during Starmer’s tenure as head of the British Crown Prosecution Service between 2008 and 2013. According to Musk’s X-post, rapes of underage girls were committed that are almost beyond belief in their cruelty. Musk quoted from the court records:
“We have read cases where a child was doused with gasoline and threatened with being set on fire. Children who were threatened with weapons. Children who witnessed brutal rapes and were threatened that they would be the next victim if they told anyone. Girls as young as eleven were raped by a large number of male perpetrators, one after the other.
In two cases we read about, fathers tracked down their daughters and tried to get them out of the houses where they were being abused, only to be arrested themselves when the police were called to the scene. In a few cases (which have already attracted media attention), the victims were arrested for offences such as breach of the peace or drunkenness and causing public nuisance, without any action being taken against the perpetrators who had raped and sexually abused the children.”
After posting this, Musk launched a poll among X users asking whether the US should remove the British government from power. Given the seriousness of the crimes described, most users agreed in their responses.
Back to Trump:
He wants to rid Mexico of drug cartels and claims that Canada is unable to protect itself militarily. In both cases, Trump feels “called” to put an end to these situations.
The bottom line is that Trump and Musk have put Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and the UK on their to-do list, naturally with the aim of restoring order, establishing security, and ensuring justice. However, it would be the first time that the US has taken up these attributes without lying through its teeth.
What does Trump want?
The question of what Trump wants must be preceded by another: What can he do and what is he allowed to do? The whole world is currently acting as if the US president alone can decide what US policy will look like in the future. This is likely a mistake, because behind the active politics of the US—and numerous other countries—stands the deep state, even if this term is always dismissed as a “conspiracy theory” by the relevant circles.
The military-industrial complex, asset managers such as BlackRock, and the Israeli power elites in the United States continue to exert considerable influence on US politics, and even Donald Trump will not be able to change that. However, as long as they do not feel threatened by Trump’s plans, the new US president will probably not have much to fear.
As already mentioned, it is difficult to assess the motivation behind Trump’s plans; the man is simply too erratic and often superficial or spontaneous in his thinking. Nevertheless, there is a suspicion that Trump does not want to pick a fight with countries such as Russia and China immediately after taking office. It is by no means set in stone that this will remain the case, but Trump is likely to focus initially on negotiating some kind of deal with Russia regarding Ukraine. Trump’s vanity alone is likely to be a factor here, as he repeatedly claimed before the US election that he would be able to end the war in Ukraine quickly.
However, Russia, China, and other countries—including those potentially affected by Trump’s plans—will not simply rely on Trump to do what he says, and even if he did, this would not be good news for Denmark, for example. In theory, Denmark is a partner of the US, but when it comes to US interests, the Americans have no “relatives.”
German politics: torn between two sides
Parts of German politics have become completely disoriented since it became clear that Donald Trump would be the next US president. No wonder, since months of rhetorical attempts to influence the election in favor of Kamala Harris have now given way to disillusionment.
The attempts to influence the election results in the US through insults and exaggerations border on megalomania, since German politicians and journalists are in fact completely irrelevant here.
It may be that a Michael Roth (SPD) can make a difference here and there within the limits of his possibilities in Georgia.
However, the election in the US took place completely detached from the sensitivities of German journalists and politicians. It speaks to the almost absurd self-image of Germany’s attempts to influence the US elections that Trump’s victory was met with incredulous surprise at German political and media desks. After all, they had tried everything and still failed. It’s almost cute.
So the new president of the US is Donald Trump, and all those who previously insulted and defamed him without regard for the consequences must now come to terms with him. That will not be easy, because the new president is clearly open to international intervention as he sees fit. The fact that the potential victims of Trump’s policies include countries such as Canada and Greenland, and that he is once again pushing for increased military spending for “friendly” countries, makes it clear that Trump — unlike Biden — is by no means limiting himself to the supposed enemies that could previously be fought together, but is taking action wherever he sees fit.
Nevertheless, there is no need to fear that German politicians will now position themselves to become more independent from the US. If that were the case, one might expect, for example, that the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipelines and the investigation into it would be pursued more vigorously than has been the case so far. So it doesn’t matter whether the US president is called Biden, Trump, A-Hörnchen or B-Hörnchen, German politicians will continue to kowtow.
The AfD has a particularly difficult time in this regard. Donald Trump seems to represent the interests that the “Alternative for Germany” party pursues. A good example of this is the conversation between Alice Weidel and Elon Musk, in which the AfD politician behaved almost like a fan girl. Weidel could also be credited with having an authentic conversation, which was characterized by her open interest in her counterpart.
But how can the AfD demand an end to dependence on the US when it is currently immersing itself in the bubble surrounding Musk and Trump?
There is agreement that wokeness is bad, that bureaucracy in Germany is a monster, that renewable energies are damaging the economy, and that gender issues should not continue to dominate teaching in German schools. But when it came to Israel and the Gaza Strip, Weidel was downright submissive. She preferred not to say anything on the subject herself and instead asked Musk what a solution might look like.
How will the AfD position itself if Trump manages to establish some kind of peace in Ukraine but then threatens Russia with economic or military attacks? It will probably back down, just as it did with Trump’s demand for significantly higher defense spending in Germany. Weidel has already declared her willingness to do so, very clearly in fact.
The rule-based USA and its appetite for aggression
Whether it’s Great Britain, Greenland, Mexico or Canada — the USA is showing the world who’s boss, and even with Trump as president, this cannot be found in the UN Charter, but rather in the abstract thicket of the “rule-based order.” The USA does not follow laws, but rules, as Rainer Mausfeld recently emphasized in a lecture. And since those rules have neither been set down in writing nor legitimized by any institution, they can be interpreted however it suits.
In fact, Donald Trump is a man of deals, according to the impression he has already given during his first term in office. And one can and must acknowledge that he was one of the few US presidents who actively did not initiate a new war.
But that does not make him an orange-colored Mahatma Gandhi. Just think of the completely irresponsible idea of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, thereby creating a new reality in Israel’s capital. Whatever deal Trump may have had in mind in 2017 when he announced his decision, it certainly did not have a peacemaking character.
Ultimately, Donald Trump’s presidency will probably herald a new US policy internationally, but one that must ultimately benefit the American elites and thus keep Trump’s room for maneuver within certain limits. The question of German-American relations, which before Trump were uniform and almost boring, is an interesting one. For decades, German politicians have loyally and devotedly followed US guidelines, even during Trump’s first presidency. The most recent evidence of German subservience is Scholz’s appearance at the White House when President Joe Biden announced that he would prevent Nord Stream from going ahead if Russia invaded Ukraine. This announcement was carried out, but Germany is still waiting in vain for clarification of the question of guilt.
German politicians are clearly confused by Trump’s presidency and don’t know what to make of their “friend and partner” now, but at least when it comes to military spending, there is almost unanimous support for unlimited spending on wars, from the AfD to the Greens.
But beyond that, there is uncertainty, and rightly so. If Trump is given the opportunity to attack, exploit, and weaken other countries economically, he will do so, and he will make no exception for Germany. This is new in its open radicalism, because previous American policy had identified certain “enemies” that it was also in Germany’s interest to weaken. If Germany itself now becomes a target for the Americans, the situation will be completely new.
From Trump’s point of view, none of this matters. With his “America First” policy, he is pursuing US interests, just as his predecessors have done before him. However, since there has been no such thing as a “Europe First” or “Germany First” policy for some time now, the role of Europe and Germany in future US foreign policy is likely to be extremely fragile and uncertain. The idea that, in the future, the AfD of all parties will align itself with US policy, leaving the established parties helpless and at a loss to find their own position, is likely to be dangerous for Germany as a business location.
Of course, there are plenty of things in Germany that need to be turned upside down—more direct democracy, curbing the influence of big business, ending all censorship in the media, and that’s just scratching the surface.
However, given all the devastating regime changes that have been initiated by the US in recent decades, such a change in the political system in Germany brought about by the US would certainly not be the last word in wisdom. After all, one only has to look at what has become of countries that were “rescued” by the US to see why a system change à la US should be avoided at all costs.
Tom J. Wellbrock is an author, speaker, and blogger. He was co-editor of neulandrebellen and has recorded numerous articles for NachDenkSeiten. As editor of his podcast “wohlstandsneurotiker” (affluence neurotics), Wellbrock has already spoken with many interesting personalities.