Joseph Schreiner: Author and Columnist

American Imperialism Under Trump 2.0

Snow Moon, 01 February 2026

I deviate from my series of posts regarding crime and punishment to address a more immediate issue – growing American imperialism under the Trump 2.0 administration. The imperialism became undeniable with the kidnapping of a head of state, Nicolas Maduro, and shows no sign of abatement.

The Trump administration’s deceptions regarding its attack on Maduro are many. The kidnapping is obviously not about drugs. Countries other than Venezuela, such as Mexico, are far greater sources of illicit drugs. Trump himself has pardoned so-called drug kingpins. On the surface, it appears that the lust for petroleum was the real reason for the kidnapping. I am not so sure. The real, ulterior motivations could be any of banking interests, Israeli interests, a maneuver against China, or just a naked display of power for its own sake.

And then there is Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. As with Venezuela, the Trump administration tries to justify its alternating threats and blandishments regarding Greenland with obvious lies. Greenland’s current status does not threaten the United States. The United States already has access to the Arctic Circle. It’s called Alaska. If Greenland were really so important, the United States could just lease military bases on the territory. US already has 700+ such bases. It appears that the Pituffik Space Base already on Greenland soil isn’t good enough for the Trump administration.

Nor can we forget the looming war with Iran, at the behest of Israel. United States battleships are marshalling in the Indian Ocean. The United States has no business meddling in the affairs of that far-away country.

Venezuela, Greenland, and Iran get the publicity in the mainstream media of the United States. However, they are far from the only entrants in the rogues’ gallery of United States imperialism. Consider the following.

Yemen was struck from January to May 2025 under Operation Rough Rider. Somalia suffered at least 111 strikes from February to December 2025. Iraq was struck in March 2025, where United States aircraft targeted the al-Anbar province. Syria endured 70 airstrikes in December 2025. Nigeria was bombed for the first time in United States history on Christmas Day, 2025, with strikes in Sokoto State. Iran nuclear facilities were bombed in June 2025 to aid the United States’s overlords in Israel. And we must not forget the United States bombing of Venezuelan fishing boats.

Such profligate use of military force belies any lip service to a so-called rules-based order. These activities are just a demonstration of realpolitik, where might makes right. Perhaps this is the reality in which we live, but the Trump administration should not be hypocritical about it.

There are plenty of people in the United States who oppose foreign interventions, yours truly being among them. But the United States military-media complex makes certain that their voices are not heard.

All of which leads to question – what really motivates the Trump administration to embark on these military misadventures? I like to think that free markets are beneficial to all concerned. In the United States, however, a relatively free market seems to have morphed into a crony capitalism where corporate interests use the United States military (the country’s wealth and blood) to commandeer, not peacefully purchase, resources. I think there is also a second factor, that being a Zionist-dominated establishment (government, media, banking) that also suborns the mechanism of United States government for its own interest.

How will this end? I can’t say. Eventually, the United States will overextend itself, as did the many empires that preceded it. Or war will come to United States soil. And few will shed tears for a wounded bully.