Donald Trump did not rule out using military force to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland and announced a bold plan to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’.
The president-elect, 78, announced his threat of coercion on the global stage and the name swap during a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday morning.
He laid out his vision for the world, took aim at Canada and tore into President Joe Biden‘s climate agenda.
Trump also attacked his nemesis, Special Counsel Jack Smith, by calling him a ‘nutjob’ and demanding all his criminal cases be brought to an end.
‘He will execute everybody’,’ he raged before taking questions from the press.
Just 13 days before the inauguration, he said the United States was entering the ‘golden age’ and will ‘take off like a rocketship’ when he gets the keys back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
He also slammed the crackdown on gas heaters by saying electric heaters ‘itch’ and said windmills are killing whales.
Donald Trump did not rule out using military force to take the Panama Canal and Greenland and announced a bold plan to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’
In a remarkable moment, a reporter asked Trump if could assure he would not use ‘military or economic coercion’ to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.
He has been ramping up threats to take over both in recent weeks as he prepares for his second term.
In response, Trump said: ‘No, I can’t assure you on either of those two.’
Trump added: ‘Look, the Panama canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China. And we gave the Panama canal to Panama.
‘We didn’t give it to China and they’ve abused it. They’ve abused that gift. It should never have been made, by the way!’
‘It (the Panama Canal deal) should have never been made, by the way. Giving the Panama Canal is why Jimmy Carter lost the election, in my opinion. More so maybe than the hostages. ‘
He was referring to the Iran hostage crisis where 53 U.S. diplomats were held in the embassy in Tehran between 1979 and 1981.
‘The hostages were a big deal, But if you remember, and nobody wants to talk about the Panama Canal now because you know, it’s inappropriate, I guess, because it’s a bad part of of the Carter legacy.
‘But he was a good man. Look, he was a good man, I knew him a little bit and he was a very fine person. But that was a big mistake.
The president-elect, 78, announced the name swap during a wide-ranging press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday morning
Trump said the deal to hand the Panama Canal to Panama should have ‘never happened’ and said it was why the late President Jimmy Carter lost re-election
Trump ramped us his threats to take over Greenland as his son Don Jr. landed in the territory
‘Giving the Panama Canal to Panama was a very big mistake. We lost 38,000 people, it cost us the equivalent of $1 trillion, maybe more than that, probably the most expensive, they say it was the most expensive structure, if we call it a structure, which I guess you can, ever built. And giving that away was a horrible thing.’
Later, he said that the United States needs Greenland for ‘national security’ and questioned whether Denmark has any legal right or ‘interest’ to the territory.
He made the comments as his son Donald Trump Jr. made a trip there to shoot social media content.
Trump Snr said that if Denmark tried to hold onto Greenland, they would face heavy economic tariffs.
In reference to the Gulf of Mexico, he said: ‘We are going be changing — the opposite of Biden closing everything up and getting rid of 50 to 60 trillion worth of assets — we’ll be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring.
‘That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. It is appropriate. It’s appropriate.’