What Explains Trump’s Aggression Toward Venezuela? Who Knows.

After campaigning on promises to end American entanglements overseas, Donald Trump announced a mere month after winning the 2024 presidential election that the United States’ “ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity” for “National Security and Freedom throughout the World.” In his inaugural address, weeks later, he delivered a casus belli against Panama, accusing the country of mistreating the United States: “China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”