The Democrat’s and globalization, gone wrong.

The Panama Canal dates back to 1513. From Spanish conquistadors to France. The route has been used by explorers and military juggernauts. The construction of the canal is one of the largest and most difficult engineering projects ever. The number of nations who proposed and tried to build one of the 7 wonders of the world never succeeded. From the Holy Roman Empire, to Scotland, to Spain. They were all unsuccessful. Until America did the job.

The Panama Canal shortcut greatly reduces the time for ships to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The costs involved in upkeep of the canal are well worth it. The canal greatly influences global trade, and it boosts economic growth in developing countries. During WW2, the canal was vital for the US military to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. When the US entered the war, the strategically important Panama Canal Zone was defended by anti-torpedo nets and naval mines. US troops were stationed at the Panama Canal during the war. A vast number of Allied warships and various other vessels transited the Panama Canal during WW2. Although hostile submarines did venture near the canal, the canal was never in serious harm.

After Pearl Harbor and the attack by Japan. The canal helped restore the devastated United States Pacific Fleet. During WW2, the Panama Canal Projekt 14, was a German plan for crippling the Panama Canal. Germany and Hitler knew the canal was the reason that would allow America to react quickly during the war. The canal helped America reinforce their troops and the Ally forces. Our enemies knew the canal helped make America’s military, the navy in particular, superior.

The Panama Canal was another sign of great leaders that have blessed our Nation. From Washington and his defeat of the British rule. From our founding fathers who gave rights to all men. To Abraham Lincoln who separated from the Democrat party to free the slaves as the first Republican party president. President Roosevelt saw an opportunity to Make America Great. President Roosevelt helped secure the financial future of America by doing something similar to what Joe Biden and the Democrats did with Ukraine. Just like Ukraine was not recognized and accepted into NATO, the nation of Panama received the same cold shoulder from their bully nation too.

There was no country of Panama, until Roosevelt made it happen. Just like Trump, Roosevelt’s decision to spend millions to buy and build the canal were met with opposition from foreigners and people of his own country alike. Democrats and Republicans did not want to secure and build the Canal under Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s grand ideas and strong words made some Americans despise him. Roosevelt was looked down upon and ridiculed for being pro- American. His ways of doing things were unorthodox, but brilliant. He used an old American phrase to get what he wanted. President Roosevelt’s mission was to achieve Peace through Strength. He established deterrents and was able to get past congress and the Colombian government.  

The sale of the land and rights to build the canal were shot down by the Senate of Colombia, even though Roosevelt and America offered more than France. France had the rights and owned the land before America. Roosevelt changed tactics and used his version of the “Art of the Deal”. He actively supported the separation of Panama from Colombia. In 1903, US warships blocked sea lanes against Colombian troops in route to put down the Panama rebellion. Panama declared independence the next day and the nation of Panama was born. The United States quickly recognized the new nation, and Roosevelt gave them the money to buy the land and have the rights to the Panama Canal.  

The work ethic of Donald Trump has taken the left media and the Democrats by storm. They have no response to the myriads of things Trump has done in less than a hundred days back in office. Roosevelt moved the same way. The canal acquisition by America happened so quickly by the time the Colombian government responded, US troops had already entered the area. The Colombian troops dispatched to Panama may have been able to defeat the Panamanian rebels, but they would not have been able to defeat the US army troops that were supporting the Panamanian rebels. Peace through strength.

Joe Biden and the Democrats were supporting Ukraine and their survival, a noble thought. Roosevelt did the same, we just got something for it. That is called being a smart president. Just as Trump wanted to sign a deal with Ukraine for mineral rights. This would establish American engineers to work in Ukraine and the US military would protect these Americans and by proxy the Ukrainians. That military presence would deter Russian aggression and attacks on those civilians thus protecting Ukraine from a Russian attack. Trump learned from the great leader Roosevelt how to protect a country when NATO would not.

In 1902 the US brought engineering teams to Panama with the peace delegation to begin planning the canal’s construction before the US had even gained the rights to build the canal. This would result in the Colombians being unable to put down the Panamanian rebellion and expel the United States troops occupying the area. The Colombians would not attack because the US military was there. Donald Trump, like all great leaders, learned and took a page from history.  

The US formally took control of the canal property on May 4,1904 and Roosevelt signed a treaty with the leader of Panama to begin construction. This treaty gave the US some rights to the canal “in perpetuity”, but in article 22 limited a lease period to 99 years. The construction of the canal was completed in 1914. The US spent almost $500 million (roughly equivalent to $15.7 billion in 2024) to finish the project. This was the largest American engineering project to date. Roosevelt’s tenacity paved the way for America to become the global leader. He believed in MAGA in the same way Trump does today.

  

In 1999 another Democrat president had a chance to regain American global dominance. But Bill Clinton was all for the Panama Canal treaty that Jimmy Carter signed. The treaty required the United States to surrender control of the canal and to remove all U.S. troops by Dec. 31, 1999. President Clinton said he had no regrets that the U.S. was handing over the Panama Canal to Panama. Clinton told CBS News on November 30, 1999, that he had no idea that China planned to seize control of the canal through a Hong Kong company, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. Which had won the right to operate ports on both ends of the canal. The Chinese firm had close links to the Chinese military. Clinton and his people brushed off the notion that China was preparing to take over the canal. Jimmy Carter stood in for Clinton during the ceremony in 1999. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton both knew China was going to take it over and covered it up and lied.

Carter also apologized for the prevailing attitude of the United States during the ceremony. Carter said Panama should not be required to pay the United States for the $32 billion dollar waterway that the US gave them for free. Carter dismissed the theory that Panama would wreck or mismanage the canal. Even worse, allow the Chinese to hold it hostage. “There are still some in my country spreading false stories about the security of the canal,” Carter said at the ceremony in 1999. Carter and Clinton knew Panama was hiring a private firm, a subsidiary of the Chinese, to maintain and oversee the canal. Clinton never expressed interest in attending the ceremony, and the White House kept Vice President Al Gore and senior Cabinet members away as well.

Bill Clinton knew exactly what he was doing when he backed out of the Panama Canal. Bill Clinton knew that China would benefit financially by shipping their goods to America. The Clinton’s helped China make more money as it stole jobs from and added tariffs to America. Bill Clinton told CBS news that, “I think the Chinese will in fact be bending over backwards to make sure that they run it in a competent and able and fair manner.” Bill Clinton compared the operation of the canal to China’s campaign to win admission to the World Trade Organization. Clinton officially allowed China to set the rules on global trade.

The tariff war of today would never have happened if we just continued control of the greatest global trade waterway in the world. When a country raises tariffs on America, we could just raise the cost to ship and pass through the Panama Canal. Bill Clinton said, “China will want to demonstrate to a distant part of the world that they can be a responsible partner.” “And I would be very surprised if any adverse consequences flowed from the Chinese running the canal.” How is that working out for America and the world? The United States Democrat party of China has so many members trying to destroy America from within.

Clinton knew that China was going to take over the Panama Canal and did nothing. Setting up China’s dominance for decades to come. Controlling trade and shipping of necessary goods. Especially during times of crisis, like during COVID 19.  

Weak American Democrat presidents emboldened leaders like Putin and Xi. Russia warned President Trump against seizing the Panama Canal after he reiterated his intent to take control of the strategic waterway. Why, because during the Ukraine Russia war, the waterway became a strategic advantage for shipping and military movements. Russia expected both America and Panama to continue respecting that agreement, by observing the deal treaty of 1999, and demanded America observe the permanent neutrality of the Panama Canal.

So, if we do not run it or own it, why do American politicians keep funding it? The Latin Business Chronicle in August of 2006 noted, the unprecedented increase in trade between the U.S. and China. This has created longer delays in waterway transit. Since trade between these two countries will likely grow exponentially, Panama, as well as international trade circles are worried about the canal’s ability to accommodate higher trade volumes.

In 2006, the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations set the anticipated price range of work at between $16 and $25 billion. The government of Panama could grievously harm their nation’s economy by undertaking an expansion project which would likely enlarge their nation’s debt by over 200 percent. It also should be noted that the Catholic Church of Panama was adamantly opposed to the expansion. Not only because of the increased debt, but because it would prevent the government from focusing on other costly, yet pressing, social issues. So, when they did not have the funds, China stepped in but America still footed the bill.

Joe Biden raised more funding for the Panama Canal to the benefit of China. In 2009, 2011, and in 2013, then Vice President Joe Biden visited the canal and addressed Congress back home on funding. Vice President Joe Biden pushed for the passage of a $8.2 billion bill during the trip. The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) identified projects that could receive funding. The actual amount was decided on by the US Senate committee. So, nobody knows the real number given to the China Panama Canal.

The canal has embodied a long-term historical goal of the US. Having a waterway to facilitate international maritime trade as well as serving as a strong reminder of US technological and economic prowess. The expansion and cost of the waterway that is used by every international trader fell onto the Americans. Why does America pay but China does not?

China was not going to put up the money to ship more of its cheaply made goods globally. They used American politicians to get the funding for them. Biden traveled to Panama for an economic mission that included touring Panama’s $5.2 billion canal expansion project. Biden had said the project, scheduled to be completed by 2015, presented a challenge to U.S. ports that need to expand to receive the new, larger container ships that will pass through the waterway. The U.S. handed over the administration of the canal to Panama in 1999, but Democrats continue to fight for funding it.   

The Trump tariff war is all tied back to weak American leadership. Politicians who gave away a piece of American exceptionalism. The difference between a Republican and a Democrat is amazingly simple. A Republican thinks America is the greatest country in the world and they love American global superiority. A Democrat thinks America is the land of oppressors, and they take America down a peg at every opportunity. The Democrats do not believe in American exceptionalism, to them the term MAGA is wrong. It destroys America when weak American politicians do not fight for American greatness. They give in and cave, and Americans feel the cost of failed leadership. It is almost like the Democrat president Jimmy Carter worked with Drug cartels to destroy America in the 1970’s. Just like Joe Biden worked with the cartels when the border was open for four years.

Every type of vessel comes through the Panama Canal. From US naval ships to Carnival cruise liners. Eventually after Panama took control, the drug cartels used the canal as well. To appease to the Panamanian people Jimmy Carter gave away the canal in 1977. The war on drugs in America started around this same time. The connection, the Panama Canal was used to smuggle drugs into America.

In 1973 a Republican president Richard Nixon creates the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to coordinate the efforts of all other agencies. In November of 1975, Colombian police working with the DEA, seized 600 kilograms of cocaine. The largest seizure to date. Drug traffickers respond with a vendetta, killing 40 people in one weekend in what is known as the “Medellin Massacre.” The event signals the new power of Colombia’s cocaine industry, headquartered in Medellin.

By 1979 the Medellin cartel, purchased a 165-acre island in the Bahamas. Small planes transporting drugs from Colombia to the United States use the island to refuel. The Medellin cartel rises to power, and drug kingpins work together to manufacture, transport and market cocaine. Panamanian leader Gen. Manuel Noriega allows Pablo Escobar to ship cocaine through the Panama Canal.

This action by Carter leads to a drug epidemic in America that still goes on today. The drugs never stopped coming, it went from cocaine and marijuana, to crack and now fentanyl. When the DEA closes one drug transportation route, another one opens in another country. The one simple action of Jimmy Carter bowing down and apologizing for America has led to the biggest drug epidemic in the world, and the fentanyl war we see today.  And when Bill Clinton became president, the trafficking of drugs only gets worse.  

In November 1993, President Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which increases the amount of trade and traffic across the U.S.-Mexican border. This makes it more difficult for U.S. Customs to find narcotics moving across the border. By, May of 1995, the U.S. has a crack epidemic and it all flows from South America through the Panama Canal.

In August of 2000, President Clinton is giving $1.3 billion in aid to Plan Colombia, in effort to decrease the amount of cocaine produced in that nation. The aid supports the aerial spraying of coca crops with toxic herbicides and pays for combat helicopters and training for the Colombian military. We are already paying to fund the transportation routes of cocaine through the canal. But we must also pay to stop the growing of cocaine through the air, by spraying chemicals through the air in Colombia. How many civilians living in Colombia were affected by those fly overs?

How much fentanyl did China ship through the canal to Mexico when the border was open under President Joe Biden? Not controlling the trade routes through the Panama Canal created the war on drugs in America. Carter gave away the canal, and Joe Biden’s son and family paid the price with the war on drugs. What if Carter stood strong and made an American First agenda and secured the canal and everything that flowed through it? Then the cartels of the 1980’s would not be able to destroy America and their own countries. The drug war destroyed many lives in Colombia and Panama too. The Democrat president of the United States Jimmy Carter created a forever drug problem in America.

Trump is not backing down. The Panama Canal will be the next Gulf of America. American exceptionalism runs through the veins and heart of the Trump administration. Trump is another Republican president that must fix a disastrous Democrat president’s decisions. Carter destroyed America with allowing drugs to flow into America, the next president Republican Ronald Reagan fixed it. Democrat Joe Biden destroyed America by opening the southern border, Republican Donald Trump must fix it. History is just repeating itself. How about as voters, we learn from history.