Thanks for your thoughts Michael. I don't think that Trump himself will create anything, but IMHO he does represent a trend among US capitalists to move towards a US version of Little England. This is not a new idea, the Republicans tried it out after WWI. Their policies contributed not only to the rise of Fascism in Europe, the expansion of Japanese imperialism in Asia, and a small breathing space for the struggling Soviet Union, but to the Great Depression itself. Their failure pushed the "Little America" option off the table for the rest of the 20th century. Now the failure of the US to really become hegemonic following the collapse of the USSR has put the option back on the table. It is even less likely to succeed now than it was in the 1920's.
Trump's delusional talk about Panama, Greenland, and Canada, fit into the Little America view of US imperialism. However, the western hemisphere has changed a lot since the 1920's. Mexico and all of the countries to its south have grown in many, many ways. Their populations are double that of the USA, there combined GDP would make them a world economic power if they worked together. Even before his inauguration Trump has united Latin America from right to left against him and his new administration. His bullying talk about Panama, Mexico and Latino immigrants is vilified even in the right wing press of every country. Latin America has always played Europe and the USA off against each other, but now they can play China, Europe and the USA off against each other, and China's economic weight within Latin America can be felt everywhere from the new metro in Bogotá (being built by a Chinese company) to the BYD electric cars on the streets of every capital. For all of Trump's splutter about making America great again, it looks to me like Trump is going to make the United States even smaller. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#34718): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/34718 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/110699138/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
