Many PNW students disagree with President Donald Trump’s plans to expand U.S. territory to include Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal.
“In my opinion, it does not serve the American people, which should be any president’s main priority,” said Ulises Meza, a sophomore History major. “All his talk does nothing more than serve as a distraction from the actual issues we are facing here in the States.”
In the weeks leading up to his inauguration, Trump voiced interest in reacquiring the Panama Canal, which the U.S. returned to Panama in 1999, and acquiring Greenland. He also talked about making Canada the nation’s 51st state.
During his Jan. 20 inaugural speech, Trump affirmed that he plans to make the United States a “growing nation” again and promised to extend the country’s “Manifest Destiny” to Mars. The citation referenced the 19th Century belief that the U.S. had a divine right to expand west. It was used to justify seizing land from Native Americans and Mexico.
“I’d rather [he] focus on internal affairs before going full Manifest Destiny,” said Elijah Amos, a sophomore studying Biology and Sciences. “While we do have other issues going on, once those are solved it could help with national security.”
Other students said the other countries are better off remaining independent of the U.S.
“I don’t think they should become part of the United States,” said Farah Kakish, a sophomore Nursing major. “The major reason being that they have better policies, for instance [on] insurance or healthcare. … The United States will only make things worse for them.”
Juanita Pointer, a freshman Cybersecurity major, agreed.
“Let them stay their own country,” she said. “We have already colonized enough land. We should be mainly focused on the ongoing United States problems instead of trying to add more [territory] to an already struggling country.”
Mason Ploszay, a junior Construction Engineering Management Technology major, is concerned that Trump has not ruled out using military force to subjugate Greenland and the Panama Canal Zone – though he said only economic pressure would be used against Canada.
“I don’t think we should involve military force,” said Ploszay. “I think statehood should be something people apply for, not [have it] forced upon them, and I find it dangerous to have a president that damages nation relationships.”
Some students believe expanding the nation’s size could offer real benefits.
“I kind of agree [with Trump],” said Bram Karris, a junior Business Management major. “He is a businessman and from a business standpoint there could be a lot of value in that decision. The Panama Canal would get us a lot of revenue and we would get a lot more land. I just don’t know if he would actually get it done in his four years. … I also don’t know how we would manage all that territory.”
Ryan Mayton, a senior Construction Management major, is also eager to see the U.S. grow.
“I agree that President Trump should expand the United States into the Panama Canal,” he said. “I also believe it would be beneficial to expand into Greenland, as living expenses have increased and homes are being built on top of each other.”
But some students admit they are just confused by Trump’s recent embrace of expansionism.
“I just don’t see a point,” said Izabella Habzansky, a junior Computer Graphics Technology major. “Why make conflict and … bring in military force with countries that we have no issues with? It would just cause unnecessary violence.”
Alexia Collazo, Juan Navarrete, Darryll Coleman, Joshua Ream, Joseph Cimino and Taylor Quiroga contributed to this article.
