Earlier this year, on the first anniversary of his second inaugural, Donald Trump posted an item to his social media platform that raised eyebrows here and abroad. It showed the Republican president in the Oval Office alongside a large image showing much of the Western Hemisphere, including the entirety of Canada and Greenland covered in American flags, as if they were part of the United States.
But those who looked closely might have noticed that there was another country, farther down in the image, that was also covered in the red, white and blue: Venezuela, which Trump had bombed two weeks earlier.
It was an early indication that the Republican had imperialistic ambitions toward the South American country, but it wasn’t the last such hint. In mid-March, after Venezuela defeated Italy in a World Baseball Classic game, Trump wrote on his social media platform, “Good things are happening to Venezuela lately! I wonder what this magic is all about? STATEHOOD, #51, ANYONE?”
This week, he made clear that the idea remains on his mind. USA Today reported:
More than five months after the United States captured now-former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump has again suggested that his administration would try to annex the oil-rich country.
The president told Fox News correspondent John Roberts on Monday, May 11, that he was now “seriously considering a move to make Venezuela the 51st state.”
His serious considerations notwithstanding, there’s no reason whatsoever to think this is likely to happen. Indeed, Delcy Rodríguez, the acting leader of Venezuela, wasted little time in pushing back against Trump’s reported comments, telling reporters that Venezuela would “never” consider the idea of statehood because the country loves its independence and would continue to defend it.
For that matter, even if Venezuelans were interested in such a radical move, it would be up to Congress to approve the idea, and there’s no reason to believe there’s any appetite along these lines on Capitol Hill.
But this struck me as notable anyway for a reason that might not be immediately obvious.
Since getting elected to a second term, Trump has repeatedly talked about trying to make Canada the 51st state. There was related talk about making Greenland a state, too. Now, evidently, the incumbent American president has related ambitions about Venezuela.
Those who hear such talk and shrug it off as nonsense are right to be skeptical, but I’m struck by the fact that in GOP circles, it’s not uncommon to hear Republicans condemn Democratic talk about making the District of Columbia and/or Puerto Rico states. Indeed, just last week, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin mentioned this during an on-air interview as if it were part of his own personal nightmare.
And that’s precisely why I’m interested in Trump’s incessant talk about adding to the United States: The more the president focuses on this, the more this becomes less of a debate about whether to add new states and more about which states to add.
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