Unfortunately for correspondent Aaron Gilchrist (and the crew), while ABC and CBS seemingly gave their political correspondents the day off, NBC’s Today made him trek out to the White House on a cold, post-Christmas Thursday morning to do a live shot to help them pearl clutch over President-elect Trump’s social media posts. They were left concerned by Trump’s Christmas foreign policy posts about acquiring new territory for the U.S. and reacquiring some old.
“Back here at home, there are new questions this morning about President-elect Trump's ideas to claim new territory overseas, after he fired off a series of social media posts on Christmas Day, suggesting that the U.S. should expand into Canada and Greenland and take control over the Panama Canal,” announced fill in anchor Laura Jarrett.
After noting that Trump has been “brain-storming policy ideas on social media” for a while, Gilchrist noted that Trump had a new fixation with the Panama Canal given their high usage fees which largely effect U.S. shipping since we’re the largest beneficiary:
The President-elect starting off a holiday Truth Social post, expressing frustration about the U.S. pouring money into repairs for the Panama Canal. That's after he all already said that he would demand control of the canal back if Panama doesn't ease usage fees. And this comes as he also named his pick for ambassador to that country, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera.
What went omitted was the fact that Democratic President Jimmy Carter was the one who gave away U.S. control of the vital maritime traffic passage.
Up next was Trump’s “musings” about acquiring Canada as the U.S.’s 51st state, or at least having hockey legend Wayne Gretzky take over as prime minister:
And Trump's musings about potentially expanding U.S. power didn't really stop there. He went on to wish a merry Christmas to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and again suggested the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state. There was another post where he also encouraged former hockey star Wayne Gretzky to run to replace Trudeau. Trump then ends the post with a mention of Greenland, saying yet again that the U.S. could obtain the nation for national security needs, Laura.
As for the oversees reaction to Trump stirring the pot, Panama and Denmark (the owner of Greenland) were not amused:
JARRETT: Aaron, there are countless questions about how this is supposed to work in reality, but what are the leaders of these countries saying?
GILCHRIST: Well, these leaders are all really pushing back on these ideas from Mr. Trump. Panama and Denmark both insisting that they are not selling anything.
Gilchrist did note that Trump’s comments didn’t necessarily mean military conquest was on the table, but rather they could just be “some sort of strategic positioning, or if they're just plain internet trolling.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
NBC’s Today
December 26, 2024
7:13:30 a.m. EasternLAURA JARRETT: Back here at home, there are new questions this morning about President-elect Trump's ideas to claim new territory overseas, after he fired off a series of social media posts on Christmas Day, suggesting that the U.S. should expand into Canada and Greenland and take control over the Panama Canal.
NBC's Aaron Gilchrist is at the White House with the very latest on all of this. Aaron, good morning. What are Mr. Trump's intentions here?
AARON GILCHRIST: Well, Laura, good morning. Trump's brain-storming policy ideas on social media has been a key feature of his campaigns and his first term in office. There were no signs of him slowing down over Christmas day, either. The President-elect starting off a holiday Truth Social post, expressing frustration about the U.S. pouring money into repairs for the Panama Canal. That's after he all already said that he would demand control of the canal back if Panama doesn't ease usage fees. And this comes as he also named his pick for ambassador to that country, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Kevin Marino Cabrera.
And Trump's musings about potentially expanding U.S. power didn't really stop there. He went on to wish a merry Christmas to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and again suggested the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state. There was another post where he also encouraged former hockey star Wayne Gretzky to run to replace Trudeau. Trump then ends the post with a mention of Greenland, saying yet again that the U.S. could obtain the nation for national security needs, Laura.
JARRETT: Aaron, there are countless questions about how this is supposed to work in reality, but what are the leaders of these countries saying?
GILCHRIST: Well, these leaders are all really pushing back on these ideas from Mr. Trump. Panama and Denmark both insisting that they are not selling anything. And it remains to be seen if all of these comments amount to real foreign policy goals, some sort of strategic positioning, or if they're just plain internet trolling, Laura.
JARRETT: Fair enough. Aaron Gilchrist at the White House for us, thank you.
