[Aktungbby]

...no doubt to defend sovereign French territory: Ste. Pierre and Miquelon Islands and French-speaking Montreal...particularly while 'le ogre' Trump currently hangs the portrait of past-president, top landgrabbing James K. Polk, in his oval office as an inspiration during his Iceland-Panama Canal acquisition frenzy...proving to Commie bastards! Russia(Ukraine) and China(Taiwan), that 'Merika can be just as bad.

Originally Posted by W.S.J.

President Trump called Speaker Mike Johnson with a proposed deal last month: I’ll give you one of the White House’s portraits of Thomas Jefferson if you give me the one of James Polk hanging in the U.S. Capitol.
Johnson agreed, and a painting of the 11th president, who oversaw the largest expansion of U.S. territory in history, was moved across Washington and now hangs in the Oval Office, people familiar with the matter said.
Trump told others in the White House that he admired Polk, a champion of “manifest destiny” who through annexation and war acquired the Oregon Territory, Texas, California and much of the American Southwest. “He got a lot of land,” Trump said to White House visitors soon after the painting—featuring a steely-eyed Polk against a dark red background—was hung in late February. One of the most striking features of Trump’s second term has been his thirst for expanding American territory. Since taking office, he has said that Canada is fleecing Americans on trade and should be made the 51st state; that the U.S. should retake control of the Panama Canal to ward off Chinese influence; and that the war in Gaza should be ended by the U.S. taking over the territory and rebuilding it. Trump has also talked about acquiring Greenland from Denmark.

The actual inhabitants of all these places have loudly rejected Trump’s claims, but he has persisted in making them, even as they threaten to derail other American priorities on trade and security. Expanding U.S. territory is part of the vision of a new “Golden Age” Trump has promised for his second term, which he says will restore American dominance abroad and usher in a new period of prosperity at home.