Alright...At first I suspected Trump's talk about taking over Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal was just Trump antagonizing or even trolling the media. I've since heard some views on this that has me thinking he might be serious.

This from Trump's former defense secretary...(5:20 to 7:00 minute marks):

Key take away... Since China is increasing their influence in these areas, there is an economic and shipping interest in taking over these areas

Not sure how much I agree with that or if we should ever resort to military force in this case but I'll put it up for discussion.

For Debate...
1. Is increased Chinese influence at the Panama Canal a national security threat? Or is it just an economic threat? Or both?

2. Should the US resort to military force?
 
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2. Should the US resort to military force?
As a serious idea, it's terrible. It's like Iraq invading small Kuwait in August of 1990. Plus, Denmark who owns Greenland is a cooperating member of NATO.

Politically ...

Trump floats trial balloons and sees how his base responds.

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PS with the Panama Canal Treaty, our own United States military advised multiple presidents, hey, it will massively expensive in people and resources to defend the Canal. And thus the political decision from Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ford, and Carter, hey, let's just stay friends with the Panamanians.

And Presidents Reagan, Bush senior, Clinton, Bush junior, Obama, Trump 1, and Biden followed this policy.

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President Trump is trash-talking looking for a response. "It's Trump being Trump" — I hope!
 
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President Trump is trash-talking looking for a response.
Agree. The only problem is that the media keeps taking the bait. It's like Trump is manipulating the headlines and they keep walking right into it.

Trump floated the idea of buying Greenland during his first presidential run in 2012.

That's why I think it's best if we focus on his actual policy and actions, as opposed to his random press conferences.
 
What happened to competing market ideals of the US? If we can't get on the top of the economic food chain through competition, we just take over forcefully? This point was addressed some in this interview starting at 6:45 minute mark...