Is It the Monroe Doctrine or Donroe Doctrine?
And what the hell IS that?
In the wake of the assault on Venezuela and all of Trump’s talk about conquering Greenland — something that I hope doesn’t happen before this article is published, cross your fingers — I keep hearing a particular word out of the mouths of Trump administration officials.
Hemisphere.
They talk about having control over the Western Hemisphere, about how the U.S. dominates their hemisphere, about how it’s important for them to control and defend their hemisphere.
They keep talking about the Monroe Doctrine.
The Monroe Doctrine is a stance in U.S. foreign policy that dates back to 1823, from the term of President James Monroe — hence the name.
In simple terms, the so-called Monroe Doctrine set in stone the idea that the Western Hemisphere, meaning the Americas, were under the dominion of the United States. It held that any attempted intervention by European powers or colonial interests into the Americas would be taken as an act of war.
It laid claim to the entirety of our side of the world, including nations, peoples and territories that were not under U.S. control in any way.
In return, the U.S. would keep its nose out of Europe’s business; it left Europe to the European powers to handle as they saw fit. Everybody minds their own business and runs their own corner of the world.
Bear in mind, this was laid out in a time when revolution against Old World power from Europe was in full swing. The U.S. had independence, many of the Spanish colonies were building towards independence, and autonomy was the buzzword of the day.
It would be another forty-odd years before Canada started moving in that direction, but we caught up eventually. Sort of.
It was a firmly worded letter to the nations of Europe, mainly Spain and England, that attempting to establish more footholds in the New World would not be tolerated. It was meant to be a bulwark against hostile invasion, an attempt to stave off further colonialism.
At least, non-U.S. colonialism. The fledgling American government was still in the swing of genocide against the Indigenous nations of the continent and the Trail of Tears hadn’t even happened yet.
Still, Monroe Doctrine was the basis of many U.S. foreign policy decisions for quite a while, and it was never really taken off the books.
But I can’t really remember hearing it be brought up so boldly and with open intent by a President in my lifetime. It’s to the point where Trump’s White House has literally published a pledge to bring it back on the anniversary of Monroe’s famous speech to Congress.
As you might imagine, this is making a lot of neighbouring nations very nervous.
Including mine. I’m fucking terrified!
I don’t love the idea of Trump’s America claiming dominion over the continent my country is located in.
I also don’t love his blatant imperialism, his flaunting of international law and his threats to effectively disolve NATO by conquering an allied territory — which would also leave my country virtually surrounded on all sides by a maniac who keeps talking about making us the ‘51st State.’
I would like to live in a world where all I need to worry about is my paycheck, what to make for dinner and what show my spouse and I will be watching while we eat.
I’d love to be able to relax and sleep a whole night through without stressing over whether I’ll even get to see my husband again, or whether our borders will close because his country decided to suicide-bomb the treaties of mutual defense that have kept us safe since World War II.
I’d like to live in a world where the idea of World War III is ludicrous, rather than constantly checking the news to find out if today is the day it starts.
I’m praying that the immigration process moves faster than Trump’s ambitions. I’m terrified of what could happen to the person I love if he’s trapped in the United States when everything finally explodes.
I’m terrified for his family, for our friends, and for all of the innocent people being targeted by Trump’s regime.
I’m terrified for the world.
Trump’s stated reasoning for his threats to Greenland is that he thinks China or Russia will take Greenland if he doesn’t, and he doesn’t want them for neighbours.
First of all, Russia is already your neighbour. The coast of Russia is closer to Alaska than Greenland is to the east coast of the United States. It’s also on the other side of the goddamn country. The entirety of Canada is right there to back Greenland up.
I came by this stunning and brilliant deduction by looking at a fucking map.
Furthermore, there’s zero chance that either China or Russia would ever try to take Greenland. You know why? Greenland is a part of NATO.
It’s a territory of Denmark. If Russia or China tried to touch it with a ten foot pole, the entire weight of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization would swat them so hard their great-grandchildren would spit out teeth.
Russia can’t even handle Ukraine on its own, do you honestly think the entire force of NATO wouldn’t crush them? They’re desperately fighting to keep NATO from granting Ukraine membership because they know they wouldn’t stand a chance.
And China just isn’t that fucking stupid.
Trump, on the other hand, is a dumbass.
Now, a fair number of Americans out there have it in their heads that since the U.S. is such a big part of the funding and manpower behind NATO, that means that if a conflict broke out, the U.S. would automatically be victorious.
Oh, you sweet summer children. No.
Part of the reason the United States is so powerful is because of NATO. Alliances make or break a superpower.
Membership in NATO benefits the U.S. in many incredible ways. It gives you the ability to force project by holding military bases in other allied countries. It gives you the ability to call for aid if you come under attack via Article 5.
By the way, Article 5 of NATO has only been invoked once. By the U.S.
And Denmark was among those who answered by sending troops.
It also has massive economic benefits to the U.S.; membership ensures a friendly political relationship with other member nations, meaning that trade negotiations are always open.
Particularly with regards to the military industrial complex, which the U.S. has historically taken full advantage of. When NATO needs weapons and supplies, they turn to the United States to buy them. That’s a huge volume of cash that you would immediately lose if they turned to other markets.
And they will. Canada already is.
Even before the dissolution of NATO, member countries are already shifting away from the United States, based on the threat of potential hostility.
Imagine what’ll happen if Trump actually launches a direct attack on a member.
And don’t kid yourself; Denmark is not going to throw up its hands and let Greenland go if the U.S. makes a show of force. It doesn’t matter how powerful you think the United States is, or how weak you think other countries are.
Denmark’s military doctrine can be summed up as; “Shoot First.”
In the aftermath of World War II, Denmark remembered the communications interruptions that made it nearly impossible for them to maintain cohesive defenses against invasion.
In 1952, they made it a formal rule that if a hostile force turns up, their military doesn’t ask clarification or seek orders or wait for a declaration of war. Enemy shows up, Denmark lights them up with lethal rounds on sight.
In light of Trump’s threats, Denmark has made it very clear that those standing orders are still in effect. In addition, NATO is already sending troops for ‘military exercises’ on Greenland.
They aren’t backing down and letting Trump have his toys. They’re preparing for the worst.
Trump recently came out and said that the oldschool Monroe Doctrine might as well be renamed Donroe Doctrine.
Because he’s a malignant narcissist who can’t resist a chance to put his name on something, even if it’s childish and stupid.
Whatever you want to call it, the fact remains that his policy of controlling the Western Hemisphere is a bad idea that will have very real, very stark consequences for the entire world.
And you should care about that. I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t understand why, but you should, and I hope you grow the fuck up if you don’t.
This isn’t internet trolling on the part of a President. This is not some meme brigade on Reddit. This is not funny, not ‘owning the libs’ or any such nonsense.
I know some of the right-wing asshats are chronically online and can’t distinguish it from reality, but reality fucking exists.
And in reality, what Trump is doing will cause chaos, disaster, and death.
They’re going to suffer. And if they don’t snap out of it, they won’t even see it coming until it’s too late.
Every now and then I glance at right-wing spaces on the internet to see what they’re talking about — right now, a not-insignificant number of them seem to be convinced that Trump’s talk about Greenland is just a 4D-chess move. It’s a ploy designed to increase NATO presence on Greenland for defense.
They’re patting him on the back and labelling this a success, calling him a genius tactition and insisting that it’s just plain silly to think he’s actually going to do it.
He’s doing the international diplomacy equivalent of a prank. A “Made you look!” crack at NATO.
They are delusional.
Some of them, anyway. This Greenland stunt has actually been snapping a few of them out of it because part of the MAGA-base’s love for Trump came from his promise to keep the U.S. out of international affairs.
They’re upset that he broke that promise. The rest of his crimes, apparently, weren’t enough to shake them.
At any rate, that’s the Donroe Doctrine in a nutshell. Broken promises, international war crimes and delusion.
I’m just hoping we get to yell ‘TACO’ before he does something even worse.
Solidarity wins.