‘If Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60 percent, their businesses would immediately double in size,’ Trump said.
President-elect Donald Trump issued a Christmas message on Truth Social that once again reiterated his stance on resecuring the Panama Canal, turning Canada into America’s 51st state, the annexation of Greenland, and President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of nearly 40 prisoners.
“Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago),” his address on Truth Social began, adding that the United States was always expected to spend billions for repairs without getting a say in “anything.”
Republican lawmakers like Sen. Marco Rubio and former Rep. Matt Gaetz have previously expressed concern for the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing influence around the canal. A Hong Kong-based company Hutchison Ports PPC has been the operator of Balboa Port on the Pacific side and the Cristóbal Port at the Atlantic entrance of the canal since 1997 and is contracted to continue to do so for another 20 years. The Latin American nation also joined the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2017.
Trump also announced Kevin Marino Cabrera, a Miami-Dade County commissioner and vice chairman of the International Trade Consortium, as his nominee to be the U.S. Ambassador to Panama.
“Few understand Latin American politics as well as Kevin,” Trump said on Truth Social. “He will do a fantastic job representing our Nation’s interests in Panama!”
Trump then wished a Merry Christmas to the Canadian prime minister, whom he once again called “Governor Justin Trudeau.”
“If Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60 percent, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World,” Trump wrote.
He also proposed that professional ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky should become Canada’s next prime minister.
Trump also extended Christmas wishes to the people of Greenland, an island that he echoed is needed for U.S. national security purposes. He said the people of Greenland want the United States to be there.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced a new $1.5 billion defense package for the arctic territory on Dec. 24, adding that the timing of the boost in relation to Trump’s comments was “ironic.”
“We have not invested enough in the Arctic for many years. Now, we are planning a stronger presence,” he said.
Turning to the homefront, the president-elect then wished a Merry Christmas to the “Radical Left Lunatics,” who he said were trying to obstruct the nation’s court system and elections, and “are always going after the Great Citizens and Patriots of the United States but, in particular, their Political Opponent, me.”
There was one group Trump refused to wish a Merry Christmas: the 37 federal death row inmates whose sentences were commuted by Biden on Dec. 23 and will now serve life in prison.
“To the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, … I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas … but, instead, will say, go to hell!” Trump wrote.
“We had the Greatest Election in the History of our Country,” he concluded. “A bright light is now shining over the U.S.A. and, in 26 days, we will, make America great again. Merry Christmas!”
Frank Fang and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.