As Trump grows more dictatorial, it’s time for Congress to assert its power and rein him in. Hear that, Dusty?
Not long ago, I contacted the office of South Dakota's lone representative, Dusty Johnson, to inquire about his stand on President Trump’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric about seizing the Panama Canal, which his predecessor Jimmy Carter had returned to Panama years ago. In his response, Johnson pointed out that the canal “is a vital passageway for American imports and exports” and bemoaned the fact that a Chinese company has purchased the ports on both ends of the canal.
To the extent that ownership of the ports is a legitimate concern, it may have been resolved. Black Rock, a huge American investment corporation, has agreed to purchase those ports, as well as 41 others around the world, from CK Hutchison, which is based in Hong Kong, for a total price of $22.8 billion.
It was unlikely that cargo ships would be redirected around the tip of Tierra del Fuego, to get from China and other Asian countries to our East Coast, or to the so-called “Gulf of America,” but CK Hutchison’s CEO Li Ka-shing was motivated by a desire to “remove (Hutchison) from Trump’s crosshairs,” according to Eric Platt, writing in the Financial Times.
Apparently that business decision is not enough to satisfy Dusty Johnson. While he termed the pending purchase of the ports “a big step in the right direction,” he is sponsoring legislation that would allow Trump to re-purchase the Panama Canal. If Panama responds that the canal is not for sale, it is unclear whether our man on Capitol Hill would support American military action to seize the canal and to re-establish the Canal Zone as an American colony.
I’m almost afraid to ask whether Dusty Johnson would support military action to seize the island of Greenland from Denmark. Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha visited the huge Arctic island last week, and the Trump administration is salivating over the prospect of exploring for rare earth minerals, as climate change melts the huge sheet of ice that covers the territory.
Greenland has a total population of about 60,000 people, who are concentrated in villages along its southern coasts. They just held territorial elections, and there is growing sentiment for independence, but very little support for becoming an American colony. Since Denmark is a NATO ally, it traditionally has had warm relations with America and has allowed us to maintain military bases in Greenland, from which we can monitor Russian activity in the polar region.
The policies of the Trump administration have seriously damaged our relations with our European allies, as well as our neighbors in Canada and Mexico. When Trump talks about seizing the Panama Canal and Greenland “one way or the other,” the rest of the world wonders whether they should take him seriously. If there was ever a time when Congress needed to assert its power to rein in an overly dictatorial executive branch, that time is now.
Unfortunately, Dusty Johnson and his Republican colleagues in Congress are more than willing to rubber stamp Trump’s most destructive impulses.
Jay Davis is a retired Rapid City attorney and a regular contributor to The South Dakota Standard.
