On Christmas Day, US President-elect Donald Trump sent messages to his Democratic opponents, including demands to annex Canada and the island of Greenland, which is under the sovereignty of Denmark, and control the Panama Canal.
Through his own platform, “Truth Social,” Trump wrote about 30 messages yesterday, Wednesday, one of which included a Christmas greeting, while the rest dealt with various internal and external issues.
In contrast to the president-elect’s messages, which included attacks on Democrats and claims for sovereignty over foreign lands, current President Joe Biden called on Americans to unite and reject what divides them.
In one of the messages, Trump singled out holiday greetings for what he called “the crazy extremist leftists who are constantly trying to obstruct our court system and our elections.”
The president-elect posted a photo showing him as “National Man of the Year,” and another in which he mocks former President Barack Obama.
His publications included articles that praised his choices for members of his next administration, and others that reflected what he considered to be the political persecution he had been subjected to in the recent period.
Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal
In one Christmas letter, the US president-elect described Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as Canada’s “governor”, saying that if Canada became “our 51st state, its taxes would fall by more than 60%” and its “business would immediately double.”
Trump also repeated his demand for US control of the Panama Canal, once again expressing his complaint about the fees paid by American ships while crossing the canal.
He said that China is exercising “illegal” influence over the important waterway, while Washington is spending billions of dollars on “maintenance” of the canal, without being able to interfere in “anything” at all, as he put it.
He also said that Chinese soldiers run the Panama Canal, without providing evidence of this.
Panama had rejected previous statements by the president-elect in this regard, and Panamanian President Jose Raul Molino said that the canal is not controlled by China, the European Community, the United States, or any other power, neither directly or indirectly.
In a post, Trump announced his selection of Kevin Marino Cabrera as ambassador to Panama, “the country on the Panama Canal that plunders us more than you could ever dream of.”
The US President-elect also expressed his desire to purchase the vast island of Greenland, which enjoys semi-autonomy under the sovereignty of Denmark, and he had said a few days earlier that controlling the island was an “absolute necessity” for the United States.
Trump’s threat prompted Denmark to increase defense spending on Greenland.