'Played for fools': Expert sees ominous signs in Trump's latest foreign policy rants

Political scientist Daniel Drezner over the weekend found himself feeling unnerved by the direction that President-elect Donald Trump seems to be taking his second-term foreign policy.

Writing on his Substack page, Drezner argued that Trump's reputation for pushing "restraint" in American foreign policy has always been wildly overstated, before adding that he has nonetheless picked up on a shift in tone from Trump in recent days that differs from the rhetoric he used in his first term.

"Over the past week... Trump has been making noises suggesting something altogether stranger and more aggressive: the territorial expansion of the United States," he writes.

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Among other things, Drezner points to Trump's rhetoric about transforming Canada into America's "51st state," as well as his threats to retake the Panama Canal and to annex Greenland, which is currently the property of Denmark.

Additionally, writes Drezner, several members of Trump's team are reportedly on board with plans to launch military operations into Mexico.

"When it comes to Mexico or the Panama Canal, however, it is hard to believe that Trump will back down," he warns. "I sure don’t see Marco Rubio trying to talk him out of it. As I noted in the New York Times, 'Mr. Rubio’s own hawkishness will mesh well with the MAGA view on Latin America; expect to see lots of American force used in that region.

"We will have to see how this plays out after January 20, 2025. It might amount to nothing. But I cannot escape the sense that those pundits who really believed that Donald Trump was going to embrace restraint in foreign policy have been played for fools."