As Donald Trump’s inauguration draws near, the incoming President’s ambitious plans to expand the United States face significant resistance.
Leading Democrats, unwavering in their stance, have made it clear that they have no intention of supporting his vision.
Speaking at a press conference, Democratic House Minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries took a swipe at Donald Trump’s calls for the United States to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal and merge with Canada, saying that his party’s lawmakers were not elected to pursue such policies.
“House Democrats believe that they are not sent Washington to invade Greenland, rename the Gulf of Mexico or seize the Panama Canal by force. We were sent to Washington to lower the high cost of living in the United States of America.”
Hakeem Jeffries
Asked if he would get behind Trump’s call to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” Jeffries reiterated his earlier comments about lowering costs.
“Housing costs are too high, grocery costs are too high, insurance costs are too high, utility costs are too high and childcare costs are too high. We have to build an affordable economy for hard working American taxpayers.”
Hakeem Jeffries
Also, Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate Minority leader, iterated that Trump should focus on finding a plan to lower costs for Americans, rather than on issues like renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
He noted that Trump throws out “a lot of strange, and rather random, ideas on a regular basis.”
“Well, let me say this: I’d agree to working with Donald Trump on renaming the Gulf of Mexico, only if he first agrees to work with us on an actual plan to lower costs for Americans. That is what the American people want us to focus on first, not on renaming bodies of water.
“Our Democratic priorities are so much more closely aligned with the concerns of the American people than Donald Trump’s seem to be.”
Hakeem Jeffries
Moreover, outgoing Secretary of State, Antony Blinken poured water on Trump’s idea of the United States taking over Greenland.
Speaking at a press conference in Paris held alongside French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, stressed, “I think one of the basic propositions we brought to our work over the last four years is that we’re stronger, we’re more effective, We get better results when we’re working closely with our allies, not saying or doing things that may alienate them.”
“Having said that, the idea expressed about Greenland is obviously not a good one, but maybe more important, it’s obviously one that’s not going to happen. So we probably shouldn’t waste a lot of time talking about it.”
Antony Blinken
Sheinbaum Responds To Trump’s Proposal To Rename Gulf Of Mexico
Meanwhile, Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s President, responded to Donald Trump’s proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America with a counter-proposal to rename North America.
Trump, who will be sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2025, said on Tuesday he planned to rename the Gulf as “the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring.”
Standing before a global map in her daily press briefing, Sheinbaum proposed dryly that the continent should be known as “América Mexicana” or “Mexican America”, because an 1814 founding document that preceded Mexico’s constitution referred to it that way. “That sounds nice, no?” she added sarcastically.
She also noted that the ocean basin bounded by the US Gulf coast, Mexico’s eastern states and the island of Cuba has been known as the Gulf of Mexico since 1607.
Trump also claimed that the US’s southern neighbour was run by drug cartels, to which Sheinbaum gave a terse response: “In Mexico, the people rule.”
READ ALSO: Discretion Key to ORAL’s Success, Says Barker-Vormawor
