Was the left right about Emperor Trump?

Everyone wants to be an American, right? Or to enjoy our way of life anyway. So it would seem as millions continue to risk life and limb to get into the United States illegally, while others make monumental sacrifices to become naturalized. Still, things may get easier for people wanting a taste of America if President-elect Donald Trump’s imperial dreams come true.

Left-leaning outlets have been panicking for a while now over the possibility that a second Trump term would result in an American Empire of sorts. Trump’s reign would be eerily similar to Julius Caesar’s, Politico warned ahead of the 2020 election; the pair’s similarities are “uncanny,” the Globalist declared in October 2024. While Julius Caesar himself didn’t dismantle the Roman Republic in favor of the Roman Empire, he did set the stage for it. And perhaps all the comparisons have inspired Trump to broaden America’s sphere of influence as he sets his sights on acquiring Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.

“Trump on Tuesday said he will use ‘economic force’ to make Canada a part of the United States,” reports the Economic Times. “When asked if he would use military force to acquire or annex Canada, Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, ‘No. [I will be using] economic force because Canada and the United States, that would be something…They should be a state.”

According to the BBC, “Asked if he would rule out using military or economic force in order to take over the autonomous Danish territory or the Canal, he responded: ‘No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this, we need them for economic security.’”

Trump’s conquests don’t end there, either, as he also said at a recent press conference, “We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.”

The New York Times reports “few appeared to be taking Mr. Trump’s threats very seriously,” but everyone is reacting just the same.

Panama’s foreign minister, Javier Martínez-Acha, said, “The sovereignty of our canal is nonnegotiable and is part of our history of struggle and an irreversible conquest. Let it be clear: the canal belongs to the Panamanians and it will continue to be that way.”

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said, “Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either.”

Canada’s Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, took to X to say, “Canada will never be the 51st state. Period. We are a great and independent country.” And for what it’s worth, Canada’s outgoing prime minister Justin Trudeau said there isn’t “a snowball’s chance in hell” Canada will become the fifty-first state.

-Teresa Mull

On our radar

BASSCLOWN Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, is away in Africa while a wildfire rages in her city, destroying thousands of homes and forcing residents to flee. 

WORKPLACE FOUL Fox Sports has been hit with lawsuit brought by a hairstylist who is accusing several prominent employees of workplace misconduct.

CHILLED OUT While LA burns, a big swath of the rest of the United States is enduring a cold snap that is bringing dangerously cold temperatures.

Biden remains defiant

Had Joe Biden run for reelection, he would have beaten Donald Trump — according to Joe Biden. Others aren’t so sure, especially given the historic defeat suffered by his running mate a few short months after he bowed out of electoral politics.

Biden sat down with USA Today for what may be his only exit interview before he leaves office in under two weeks. During the interview, he maintained that he could have defeated Trump, that he hopes his controversial pardon of his son Hunter won’t set any precedents and that he hopes history “records that I did [my job] with honesty and integrity, that I said what was on my mind.”

His mind, however, proved to be his undoing towards the end. Biden told USA Today’s Susan Page that he could have beaten Trump, but he didn’t want to be president as an eighty-six-year-old man.

“When Trump was running again for reelection, I really thought I had the best chance of beating him,” he said. “But I also wasn’t looking to be president when I was eighty-five years old, eighty-six years old.” Biden made no reference to his visible decline over his time in the White House.

His remarks resurface the debate over the extent to which Democrats and the media covered up Biden’s cognitive decline. Senator Chuck Schumer recently insisted that he did not cover for Biden, despite being confronted with the evidence on air.  

The president also said that while he doesn’t want his pardon of Hunter to be used as inspiration for future presidents, he also attempted to say that he is undecided about pardoning Trump foes, like Anthony Fauci or Congresswoman Liz Cheney.

“Well, a little bit of it depends on who he puts in what positions. If in fact, he… Here’s how… I was very straightforward with Trump when he got elected.” The pardon question is evident of how Page, throughout the interview, lent Biden a helping hand.

After failing to answer her question about Fauci, Page replied: “So you haven’t decided yet. You’re still assessing this issue?”

“Well, no, I have not,” Biden replied, finally answering the simple question. 

–Matthew Foldi