The Donald Trump Era is Upon Us Once Again

2025 has kicked off with a bevvy of new stories surrounding the incoming US President Donald Trump. Much like 2024, this looks to be a year that will be dominated by discussions and debate around the policies of President Trump when he assumes office again on January 20th. This latest round of debate and discussion have been dominated by Mr Trumps statements about taking over territory off of a few of the America’s neighbours.  

Mr Trump has, so far, expressed his desire to seize back the Panama Canal from Panama take over Greenland from Denmark and make Canada America’s 51st state. In a recent press conference, he said that the use of military force to take over some of these territories by the United States was not out of the question. Moreover, as Mr Trump has been calling for Canada to become America’s 51st state, in an attempt to mock and belittle Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, he has been referring to the Prime Minister as Governor Trudeau. Mr Trump even went as far as to state that the US may use economic leverage to force Canada into becoming a US state. 

These recent comments have sent media outlets and social media into a frenzy of debate and discussion. In reality, it is unlikely that any of these comments would likely lead to any kind of real world change. It is highly unlikely that we would see any kind of military confrontation between the United States and Denmark over Greenland or the US military taking back the Panama Canal, especially since Panama is a major US ally in Central America. 

Perhaps the only tangible effect these comments have had have been in Canada, where we have seen the recent resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in part due to the fall out of Donald Trump’s threats to impose major tariffs on Canadian imports into the United States. A major tipping point in Trudeau’s downfall had been the resignation of his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, over disagreements over how to respond to Trump’s threats of tariffs on Canadian imports. 

Donald Trump is not even President yet however, much like during his first term, he has managed to take up all the oxygen in the room. Donald Trump has the unique ability unlike many other figures in history to capture the attention and ire of so many. It has been interesting, just today, reading Reddit threads of progressive Canadians absolutely raging against the comments made by the US president, to the point of even engaging in hypothetical discussions about joining the Canadian military to fight back against Donald Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty.

If this is the level of attention, Trump is managing to receive while President-elect, one can only imagine how things will be once he does finally assume office. When looking back at this time period in history, it may be that Donald Trump may be seen as being the most influential person of our age. It would not be an untrue statement to say that America and, to a certain extent, the whole world has been affected by Trump’s reign as US President. 

The role and perception of the United States globally today is very different compared to before the 2016 election. The amount of trust people have in media outlets is another major thing has been impacted drastically since Trump’s first electoral win. Trump’s influence has had effects not only in the US but in numerous countries around the world, as we have seen other Trump-like politicians rising into prominence around the world.

While the title of the blog post is ‘The Donald Trump Era is Upon Us Once Again,’ It is difficult to really say that the Trump era had really ever come to an end. Ever since Mr Trump had first ridden down that golden escalator to announce his intention to run for US president, America and the world have been captivated by him. Even during his time out of office, he still managed to be at the forefront of people’s minds: whether is had been the January 6 investigations; or his numerous legal cases; his attempted assassination; or his bid for reelection. The constant coverage of Trump continued. 

This trend, however, will likely not change anytime soon. Trump has shown already that he would continue making these sorts of attention grabbing statements before he has even entered the White House. Moreover, the world today is a much different place compared to when Trump had left office. In that time period, the United States has found itself deeply involved in 2 major wars taking place in Europe and the Middle East that Trump will be inheriting. Many would be looking keenly at how Trumps plan to navigate these conflicts.

So if perhaps at some stage you had thought you had finally had enough of hearing about Donald Trump, unfortunately it looks like he is going to continue to dominate our news streams for at least the next four years.