Today is Monday, January 12, 2026. There is yet another reason for voters who backed this convicted felon to retake the White House a second time to suffer from disappointment with him as his original America First ethos has now been sickeningly replaced by “America Last” in his overarching imperialism displayed toward other nations after the seizure of Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro. Now this regime can be identified by its unbridled machismo toward countries once considered our allies that this mad king feels he has the authority to show aggression toward. In an opinion for MS Now, Hayes Brown makes the case for this regime moving from the isolationism of Dump’s first term to what he considers this push for global domination in his second, terrible term. The piece is called “Donald Trump wants to make imperialism great again.”

After Maduro’s capture, journalist Spencer Ackerman marveled at how “rarely in the era of mass media has U.S. imperialism been as unsubtle or as blatant.” Now there’s been no need to hide behind claims of protecting human rights or safeguarding against threat to American lives as was done by previous administrations. Even the pretense of preventing the flow of drugs being siphoned in America that allegedly justified the earlier attacks on drug boats has swiftly melted away in favor of a naked grab of resources.

In the past, Dump might have conned some of his supporters with the claim of being a “peace president,” but he plainly relishes the opportunity to put America’s military front and center, as in his appalling last year’s parade held on his birthday, June 14. In a recent abominable interview with The New York Times, Demented Don made clear that he sees the only limit on America’s global power, and by proxy, his own: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” This statement should have sent shivers down every American’s spine. First, what morality is this amoral subhuman talking about? He has none, so why would he ever think his own exaggerated sense of morality would ever stop him. And what mind is he talking about here? He has none either. He is clearly indicating his disdain for the two branches of government that could serve as his checks and balances, the legislative and the judicial.

So in pursuit of this new America Last agenda, Grump has also spoken to Colombia’s leftist president Gustavo Petro and threatened him because he hasn’t done enough to stem the flow of drugs from his country. In a separate interview, Petro told The Times, “Because the threat is real. It was made by Trump.”

Then there is the irrational wish by Dump to take over Greenland, a semiautonomous territory within NATO ally Denmark, that no one here in the United States is in favor of. Get this insanity: Reuters recently reported that this fucking regime is considering sending Greenland’s residents tens of thousands of dollars each in exchange for backing a referendum to break away from Denmark. Here we have a cruel, fascistic regime that would blithely let people in this country easily lose health insurance in order to pay residents of a foreign region tens of thousands of dollars for no sane reason other than seizing it for the land. Isn’t this the height of absurdity?

When talking about owning Greenland, Dump really couldn’t articulate why he wanted to own this country other than “ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.” What the fuck is he talking about here?

Another country now in the sights of this regime is Cuba, in which Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly viewed regime change in Venezuela as a step towards finally decapitating Cuba’s communist government.

The military operation snatching Maduro and his wife from Caracas does have at least historical precedent. There was the arrest of Panama’s Miguel Noriega in 1989. Also between the late 19th and 20th centuries, America ran numerous (covert and overt) operations in Latin America’s internal politics. As Brown puts it, “But there was little appetite in most of those scenarios for annexing or even openly administering the governments of many of the invaded countries.”

But with the newly stupidly rebranded “Donroe Doctrine,” it is Dump’s bold insistence that America has control over Venezuela’s oil, not that we are meddling with this country because American lives are remotely in peril.

Then there was that meeting at the White House with executives from multiple major oil companies last Friday with this demented lunatic where he made his desperate pitch for investing in the newly conquered Venezuela. This unproductive meeting was met with skepticism from those executives who exhibited a lukewarm response to such a plan. So here Dump couldn’t even sway these titans of the oil industry with his harebrained scheme.

As for who to really blame for us hurtling into naked expansionism, it’s Drumpf’s puppeteer, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who is the architect of this novel aggression. In a post on X, Miller lamented that after winning World War II, the victorious Allies “dissolved its empires and colonies and began sending colossal sums of taxpayer-funded aid to these former territories.” It’s this bald Nazi who has put this notion into his Supreme Leader to embark on a program of expanding territory, not anyone else.

“Trump’s swing towards naked imperialism harkens back to a darker time in global history.” But even the early 20th-century’s conquerors insisted that their causes were moral, claiming their colonization was more about bringing “civilization” to the world than mass pillaging. Not from this idiot who is the most honest liar to ever occupy the White House. He doesn’t make such high-flown claims anymore.

Brown recognizes that the “America First” slogan has lost most of its meaning over the last year, as a new cry, “America Over All,” becomes a more apt rallying cry for the days ahead. I still prefer my name “America Last” here, but whatever you choose to recognize, just know that your president is now turning his attention toward any weaker country that would step out of line with his expansionist ambitions.

In the meantime, the Epstein files have yet to be released.

In a related story, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen delivered a stinging rebuke to Dump’s wish to absorb Greenland into the United States. The statement read, “We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders.” Greenland’s party leaders stressed once more that “Greenland’s future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”

Tomorrow Elliot and I will meet new acquaintances “Jeremy” and “Mason” at a Turkish restaurant on West 46th Street. We met them at a gala held in Elliot’s late aunt’s synagogue in Jersey City way back on November 1. We’ve talked and texted since then, but could never get together sooner because of all of us traveling at one time or another. Until now!

I will probably not write my blog tomorrow, considering how long we’re out with Jeremy and Mason. But who knows? Maybe we won’t connect with them as imagined, and we’ll come home early.

And so it went!