The Trump administration's willingness to entertain territorial conquest of Panama, Greenland, and Gaza represents the first US presidency since before World War I to openly embrace territorial expansion as foreign policy, signaling a return to pre-WWI great-power norms of conquest that destabilize the international order created to prevent such conflicts.
factualpending
Speaker
Ben RhodesEvidence Quote
“Trump is that first president in my lifetime who came to office pledging in his inaugural dress an era in which the United States quote expands our territory um so we're kind of back in a pre-World War I mindset where kind of territorial acquisition is at least on the table [8:24]”
Source
Ben Rhodes: The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign Policy— Weatherhead Center for International AffairsCreated: 8/11/2026, 7:39:48 AM
My Notes
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