Looting and Pillaging, an American Tradition since 2026

 

Looting and Pillaging, an American Tradition since 2026

Has Donald Trump’s mouth replaced the Constitution, Congress and the Law?

“No!” 

Sen. Lindey Graham (R/SC) when asked by NBC News on December 7th whether there’s any way Congress would limit President Donald Trump’s war powers after he ordered an operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro

“The Kingdom of Denmark — including Greenland — is part of NATO. Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders.” 

A joint statement from the leaders of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

“If the United States were to choose to attack another NATO country, then everything would come to an end… The international community as we know it, democratic rules of the game, NATO, the world’s strongest defensive alliance—all of that would collapse if one NATO country chose to attack another.” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen

As motorcycle gangs, loyal to Maduro, patrol the streets of Caracas, looking for anyone evidencing disloyalty to the current regime (with deadly consequences), as Venezuelan police and military search out (and arrest) any locals who may have assisted in the abduction of Nicolás Maduro on January 4th (the old regime is clearly in control) and as Donald Trump has repeated that he personally will run Venezuela and personally will determine the fate of $30 to $50M barrels of oil seized from tankers carrying Venezuelan crude to foreign markets; the notion of drug seizures comes up seldom but the drip, drip, drip of the word “oil” is everywhere. With no real US administrators on the ground, given the disaster when we tried to run Iraq, the only thing that defines Venezuela is violent chaos… and the makings of a civil war. It is a very long and bloody path to a Venezuela that might be subservient to US demands.

The conquer and seize precious assets, that “pillaging and looting” thang, appears to be the driving force behind Trump’s Donroe Doctrine. It clearly not about drugs in Venezuela, since the boats blown apart weren’t even carrying the dreaded fentanyl and most were not even heading to the US – not to mention Trump’s very recent pardon of mega-drug lord, the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, who had only begun his 45-year sentence in federal prison. The same is true about Greenland, where pursuant to a 1951 treaty with Denmark/ Greenland, the US has free rein to station troops and conduct military operations in this huge frozen land with only 57,000 residents. NATO ships constantly patrol and monitor Russian and Chinese ships in the region.

No, what Trump wants is local assets, stuff he can purloin under his new “pillage and loot” priority. “Greenland possesses some of the world's largest untapped reserves of rare earth elements (REEs)—minerals critical to modern technologies, clean energy transitions, and defense systems. As the global demand for these materials surges, Greenland's strategic importance as an alternative source grows.

“The latest data from the USGS highlights how the self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, a NATO member, compares with major producers, underscoring part of the reason why the island has become a focus of U.S. policy discussions, including President Donald Trump’s push to acquire it—a move which has raised geopolitical tensions.” Newsweek, January 7th.

It’s not as if Americans, even Trump’s MAGA cult, even want such foreign adventurism. “Most Americans wanted the U.S. government to focus in 2026 on domestic issues, such as health care and high costs, rather than foreign policy issues, an AP-NORC poll conducted last month found. Meanwhile, polling conducted in the immediate aftermath of the military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro suggested that many Americans are unconvinced that the U.S. should step in to take control of the country.

“And despite Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. may take a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere, Republicans in polling last fall remained broadly opposed to the U.S. getting more involved in other countries’ problems.” Associated Press, January 6th. Anti-American sentiments are exploding, and even as a majority of Americans oppose most of Trump’s recent policies, foreign leaders and citizens point out that Trump was duly elected by the American electorate.

Few leaders in the international community believe that Trump is mentally stable, but they are acutely aware that the American Congress is doing nothing to contain him. One Danish activist even suggested that if Trump took over Greenland by force (coercive or military), NATOI should immediately seize all US military bases and assets in Europe. NATO nations have many of their own weapon systems, but the most sophisticated weapons are American made. Picture a battle between non-US NATO nations deploying their missile-laden F-35s against US aircraft similarly equipped… it is wrong at every level. I ask, “what’s really in it for us?” Ego enhancement?

I’m Peter Dekom, and sooner or later, an unrestrained Trump is going to embroil the United States in a war… and we will stand alone to fight it.