An effort to explain why Donald Trump is threatening Canada, Panama, Greenland/Denmark, and wants to re-name the Gulf of Mexico.
WARNING! This article contains a conspiracy theory!
A map of the new world order? Possible division of the world under the Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping triumvirate. Dark colors denote direct governance, lighter colors denote spheres of influence. (Map: Author)
Jan. 10, 2025 by David Silverberg
This essay is a theory. About a conspiracy.
It’s a theory because there’s no proof. None of the participants have made this explicit.
But in looking ahead at America’s possible role in the world in 2025, on Jan. 2, The Paradise Progressive argued that when—and if—Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, he will complete a triumvirate of leaders that include Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Part 2—Defying darkness: Anticipating the year ahead abroad and the new triumvirate.)
It’s the most exclusive club in the world. Only three members are allowed.
Since that was published, on Jan. 7 Trump held an hour-long press conference at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida headquarters—and did nothing to dispel the conspiracy indications.
In a digressive ramble he included allegations that gas-powered space heaters are better than electric, “As the expression goes, you don’t itch;” that wind-driven turbines “are driving the whales crazy, obviously;” and that water pressure in showers is too low, “you’re in the shower ten times as long.” (On a personal note: this author agrees but doesn’t believe it’s a presidential-level issue.)
But Trump also made statements regarding foreign affairs and geography that, while bizarre, should be taken seriously.
On the Gulf of Mexico: “We’re going to 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 and it’s appropriate.”
On his desire to annex Canada, the US would not use military force: “No—economic force because Canada and the United States, that would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security.”
On relations with Panama and the future of the Panama Canal: “They laugh at us because they think we’re stupid, but we’re not stupid anymore. So the Panama Canal is under discussion with them right now.”
On the US purchase of Greenland: “Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes.”
Annexing Canada? Invading Panama? Making Denmark an offer it can’t refuse for Greenland?
It sounds like the fevered dream of a madman.
However, if in fact, Trump, Putin and Xi have actually divided the world among themselves, then Trump’s rants are not mere ravings—they’re premature expressions of what he intends to do with his portion of the world once he feels he’s taken ownership of it on Inauguration Day. They’re dots that, when connected, make a very frightening picture.
As lines drawn on a map, the Trump claims to Canada, Panama and Greenland make imperialistic sense. Trump (and along with him Elon Musk) gets North America to do with as he pleases. In his mind, Greenland is territory weakly held by Denmark that is ripe for the taking—by him.
Let us presume for a moment that he did everything he is threatening to do. The map of the Western Hemisphere would be a solid block between the North Pole and the Rio Grande with the exception of the re-claimed Panama Canal. The only independent countries would be the ones on Caribbean islands.
He could also lay claim to Mexico, Latin America and South America but other than the Panama Canal he has never shown much interest in that area or its people. In fact, his first instinct as expressed in his 2016 campaign was to wall off the United States from Mexico and the southern part of the hemisphere and keep its people out. In 2025 he doesn’t want to rule Mexico directly or the Spanish-speaking South but he wants to expel all such people originally from there who are in the United States.
People might roll their eyes at Trump’s territorial claims and think it’s just his unrestrained stream of supposed “consciousness.” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had a particularly blistering response to his idea of renaming the Gulf of Mexico, suggesting that it be called “America Mexicana” instead.
It’s hard to believe that Trump is expressing serious intentions that he might try to implement as president.
However, it’s worth remembering that his possible co-conspirators also have territorial ambitions and they’ve expressed these openly as well. Doing a deal with Putin and Xi would be the ultimate art of the deal.
Together these three presidents could conspire—and likely have already conspired together—to get what each one wants.
Putin’s plans
Putin, of course, wants Ukraine and is in the midst of a bloody war to get it. That war has been going badly in large part because of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people and their president. However, it’s also been effective because of the support of the United States for a fellow democracy and traditional American opposition to dictatorial land grabs.
If in fact the global triumvirate has divided up the world, Putin is likely promised Ukraine. He would also be able to resurrect the Soviet Union—and more.
“First and foremost it is worth acknowledging that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” Putin said in an annual state of the nation address to Russia back in April 2005. “As for the Russian people, it became a genuine tragedy. Tens of millions of our fellow citizens and countrymen found themselves beyond the fringes of Russian territory.” What was more, “The epidemic of collapse has spilled over to Russia itself.” Then, he was referring to separatism as expressed in Chechnya. But he also regarded the creation of a supposedly independent Ukraine and other former Soviet republics as part of this “epidemic.”
Ever since then Putin has tried to restore the Soviet Union through subterfuge and subversion. In many instances that worked, most notably in 2014 when was able to seize Crimea. But otherwise in Ukraine the people repeatedly rejected his interference. When his machinations failed and Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and Putin knew he’d face opposition from President Joe Biden, he settled on a lightning coup, which also failed.
But Putin is likely to look at Trump’s return to office as resurrection of his dreams. In this scenario, Trump will stop supporting Ukraine and may take the United States out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Trump may even go to war with Canada or Denmark, NATO allies. This will allow Putin to conquer Ukraine, perhaps the parts of Eastern Europe that were once part of the Warsaw Pact, and even bring Western Europe under the Russian sphere of influence. Trump will not lift a finger in opposition. As he has said publicly, he would let the Russians do “whatever the hell they want.”
In return, Putin will support—or certainly not object—to a Trump takeover of Greenland, Canada, and Panama by force or economic pressure.
Xi and the “inevitable”
Ever since Nationalist forces fled the Chinese mainland to Taiwan in 1948, the Chinese Communist government has laid claim to the island, threatening to take it with force when not working against it diplomatically. One way or another, China’s goal has been to bring the island back into the mainland fold.
Meanwhile, Taiwan grew increasingly democratic and independent-minded, a movement the Chinese government strenuously denounced. Recent polling showed rising support for independence by the island’s 23 million people and their distaste for Xi’s increasingly oppressive regime in Beijing.
In August 2022 then-US House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-12-Calif.) visited Taiwan to show “unwavering commitment to supporting Taiwan’s vibrant democracy.” The visit was stridently denounced by the Chinese government, which conducted military exercises on a very large scale to threaten the island as well as hone its forces for potential action.
In his annual speech to the nation on Dec. 31, Xi reiterated China’s opposition to Taiwan independence and his commitment to reunification.
“The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our family bonds, and no one can stop the historical trend of national reunification,” he said. Reunification, he said, was “inevitable” and all Chinese “should be bound by a common sense of purpose and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
If indeed there is a triumvirate conspiracy it is not hard to see that in return for Xi supporting Putin and Trump’s territorial ambitions, they would support his. Xi could conquer Taiwan and likely bring the rest of Southeast Asia into the Chinese sphere of influence.
This power grab could include South Korea, given that during his first term Trump called the South Koreans “horrible to deal with,” thought South Korea was “ripping us off” and wanted to withdraw all US troops from the peninsula. He led a rapprochement with North Korea, which is allied with China and Russia and supplying troops to fight in Ukraine.
Even if China didn’t seek direct control, leaving South Korea to the mercy of Xi and North Korea would certainly be within Trump’s worldview and would fit into the patterns of a triumvirate conspiracy. What is more, if Trump withdraws US commitments from Asia, most, if not all, of East Asia could be left in China’s sphere of influence, including such traditional Chinese adversaries as Vietnam and Japan.
The end of Pax Americana?
This year marks 80 years since the end of World War II.
That’s four generations—enough time for critical lessons to be forgotten.
Since 1945, under American leadership, the world has been governed by a rule-based order designed to respect the sovereignty of internationally recognized nations and the desires of their people as democratically expressed. It has provided an array of forums like the United Nations to air concerns and grievances, avoid armed conflict, support human needs and give all the nations of the world a say in how the globe is governed.
Having learned the lessons of World War I and II, the world’s countries opened trade, increased global prosperity, broke down barriers, fostered international integration, improved global health, and boosted transportation, infrastructure, education and human rights.
The two intolerable sins in this world order were genocide and violent, military land grabs that violated national borders.
This rule-based order received an immense boost when the Soviet Union and its allied Warsaw Pact collapsed from their own internal contradictions and imperfections in 1991. After that the world was no longer divided between capitalism and Communism and it could come together as one.
The result has not been perfect but it is far better than what preceded it. At its best its intentions were benign and its aspirations noble. It has been called the “Pax Americana,” the American peace.
This is the peace that Putin violated by invading Ukraine. It is a peace that would be violated by a Chinese attack on Taiwan. And it would be destroyed by American aggression in the western hemisphere.
The accession of Donald Trump doesn’t just threaten democracy in the United States, it appears that in league with Putin and Xi he and they are threatening the entire post-war, post-Soviet world order.
Putin started this with his completely unprovoked attack on Ukraine. For America to join him in unjustified aggression would represent regression to the age of imperialism when might made right, territorial expansion was a measure of success and brute firepower spoke louder than sovereign rights, fairness or justice.
And that brings us to the Gulf of Mexico, the body of water that laps the beaches of Southwest Florida.
Trump’s desire to unilaterally re-name the Gulf of Mexico isn’t just a whim. It’s an expression of his contempt for the entire world—and it’s not the first time a dictatorial leader has tried this kind of move.
In 1980, following his sudden and unilateral attack on Iran, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein demanded that the name of the “Persian Gulf” be officially changed to the “Arabian Gulf.”
Hussein never got what he sought but western media and businesses, trying to avoid offense to either side, started calling that body of water “the Gulf.” Everyone, presumably, knew the reference.
After eight years of bloody, trench-like warfare, Hussein claimed something of a win in 1988; Iran accepted a cease-fire. But his perceived success fueled more ambition in Hussein, who went on to unilaterally invade Kuwait in 1990.
That was too much of a direct challenge to the Pax Americana (and to global oil supplies). It triggered an international response that saw the crushing defeat of Iraqi forces in 1991 and then the invasion and conquest of Iraq by the United States in 2003.
Saddam Hussein ended up hiding in a hole and then hanging at the end of a rope. And the Persian Gulf remains the Persian Gulf to this day.
Donald Trump, who shows no knowledge or understanding of history, might nonetheless want to take note of this bit of the past. Even if he’s in a conspiracy with Putin and Xi to divide up the world, if he imitates Saddam Hussein and goes about attacking sovereign countries and allies without provocation or justification, he could end up like Saddam Hussein as well.
And the Gulf of Mexico would remain the Gulf of Mexico no matter what he wants.
Liberty lives in light
© 2025 by David Silverberg