Donald Trump has a special affinity for William McKinley, the former American president who was struck down by an assassin’s bullet in 1901, ending his second term before it really began. Trump has called his distant predecessor a “great but highly underrated” chief executive who made the United States wealthy by slapping tariffs on foreign goods. Whether or not this description is accurate, Trump genuinely believes it. Indeed, Trump feels so strongly about the man that he restored the name “Mount McKinley” to America’s highest peak during his first day in office.
Yet by the looks of it, Trump has more in common with another U.S. president who held court more than two centuries ago: James Monroe. While Monroe might not be in the same league as the George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s of the world, he is best known for establishing the so-called Monroe Doctrine, which was designed to keep the Europeans out of the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine has since been used as a shorthand for maintaining U.S. dominance in Latin America by ensuring no strategic competitors are able to get a permanent foothold in the region.
Trump, though, has taken the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine to the next level. He not only wants to keep China out; he aims to flaunt American power and coerce Washington’s allies and partners in the Western Hemisphere to meet his demands. The first two weeks of Trump’s presidency have been filled with bombastic threats of tariffs, sanctions and even military action if countries on the receiving end don’t submit. Whether it’s trying to convince Canada to become the 51st state, pressuring Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States or proclaiming that Panama Canal will soon be American property again, Trump’s browbeating has caused an immense amount of heartburn in the U.S. foreign policy establishment, which tends to view coercion over friendly states as bad optics and even worse policy.
But at the risk of stirring up a hornet’s nest, Trump’s tactics are actually working—so far. The tantrums on social media and stern, tough-guy prose from behind the resolute desk are getting results and moving various countries to cater to his whims or reassess their previous positions.
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