Donald Trump did not win an electoral mandate to seize territories. He did not win a mandate at all, in fact, as he won by just over 1.5% points and got just under half of the total votes. While he clearly won the election, Trump getting less than 50% of the votes is not a mandate. As an aside, the certification of the 2024 election was a model of democracy, unlike January 6, 2020. Trump certainly did not receive a mandate to seize Greenland or the Panama Canal. He didn’t campaign on land seizures. Still, he is tossing a hand grenade under the bus of international order. He remains a blustering bully. With any luck, this will be like his promise to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. He didn’t build much wall, and he didn’t make Mexico pay for it.

Speaking of Mexico, there is no mandate to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America.’ Meanwhile, any sane person knows Canada will not be the United States’ 51st state — but the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico should be in line to become states. Why haven’t Republicans acted on adding these two as new states? Easy: Because it would add four Democratic senators. Trump has clear support for lowering inflation and securing the border. He should stick to those things. Instead, he is pin-balling between Greenland and Panama.

Corey Belobrow

Concord