Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) called out President Donald Trump during an appearance Thursday on CNN for threatening America’s allies, and wagered Trump is only doing so because he’s “scared” of confronting America’s actual potential enemies instead.
“Here’s the reason, by the way, that Donald Trump threatens our allies and not people that really deserve threats … because he’s small, he’s scared, he’s a coward, and you can threaten your friends because you know you’re not going to start a war over it, and it makes you look really tough,” said Kinzinger.
“If you tweet in all caps and then you threaten Panama, it makes you look like you’re ready to go to war, and tough,” he added. “But he doesn’t say much about Iran, he’s pretty quiet on that, certainly Russia, and China he’s been quiet on lately, because there’s a reality with that.”
Trump had yet to be inaugurated when he floated taking over the Panama Canal and using military force to do so. The U.S. military has since been ordered to draft up options for an increased presence there, two U.S. officials told NBC News on Thursday.
Trump, who has also imposed tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico that economists warn will affect U.S. consumers the most, added Greenland to his list of potential new U.S. land in January — and recently cast doubt over Denmark’s centuries-old claim to the territory.
“Denmark is very far away,” he said Thursday. “A boat landed there 200 years ago or something and they say they have rights to it. I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is … we really need it for national security … maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers go there.”
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
The U.S. Department of State explains on its website that America and Panama are allies who “work together to advance common interests,” and that the U.S. has “long enjoyed a close and mutually beneficial relationship” with Denmark — which now seems in jeopardy.
“I have asked the bureaucracy to summon the party chairmen as soon as possible,” Greenland Prime Minister Múte Egede wrote Thursday in a translated Facebook post. “Because this time we need to tighten our rejection of Trump. Don’t keep treating us with disrespect.”
“Enough is enough,” concluded Egede.