Local Conditions.  Trump’s America and its Neighbors 5 21 2026

It would seem that Donald Trump has a history of constant threats and intimidation of not only foreign countries like Iran and Afghanistan on the other side of the world, but also Canada, Mexico and Cuba.

First it was Canada, when Trump started calling the “51st” state.  He also called the Prime Minister “governor” repeatedly.  

Canada values, like  America’s other neighbors, its sovereignty.  Although they still honor Britain, they never practiced slavery.  The remnants of slavery still exist in America, with large ghettos of freed slaves still present more than 100 years after the abolition of slavery.  Simply put, massive ghettos Southern style do not exist in Canada. If Trump took over the lumpenproletariat would be removed to Canada, as well as honest migrants.  

Then there is Mexico, connected to the drug war near Venezuela, where the army is bombing boats linked to drug dealing. The cartels down there are selling the luxury goods, often lethal, to buyers north of the order. Trump has threatened to use the CIA to stop the drug gangs. 

With these two countries there is also the tariffs,  Steel and Aluminum is subject to a 50% tariff under Trump.  Even Mexico has not had to pay what Canada has to pay to enter the American metals market.  Recently the Supreme Court detoothed Trump’s ability to apply tariffs, but some remain a problem.  

Trump has yet to have threatened to conquer Mexico, although he now calls the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”.  They discovered Mexico and in 1846 conquered the northern part of it.  Its residents are now returning, Trump’s response is military.  The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is active in the Southwest to stop illegal migration, much of it from America’s nearest southern neighbor, Mexico.

Mexicans in Trump’s America are often treated harshly, ICE has a history of violence when stopping migrants.  Sometimes it is even white people who  get repressed, like protestors in Minneapolis. 

Last but not least of neighboring countries, Cuba shares the southern border a mere 228 miles (367 Km) from Miami, just 95 miles (145km) from the state of Florida.   They are currently under embargo again, with Trump threatening sanctions on any  country that supplies oil to them.  They do not have solar panels and have no way of producing electricity.  They have been embargoed almost constantly since the revolution in 1959, with only brief let ups like under Barack Obama.

It seems like every day Trump gets closer and closer to direct threats of violence against Cuba.  What does Cuba see when they look at Trump? They see Mar a Lago, his castle on the border of Cuba.   He lives a bourgeois lifestyle right next to repression caused suffering, the Cubans are under embargo by him.

It is a sorry tale what our casino owning president did to neighbors who once trusted the Americans.  Canada is trading with China now,  they are buying 50,000 electric cars a year from China.  The big 3 non metric auto manufacturers are up in arms,  Trump has his lips sewed to their ass, keeping cars that cost 5 times what a Chinese EV costs competitive.  

The whole purpose of the tariffs was to keep American exports competitive by raising prices on everything, so  commodities produced in America would be able to compete.  But you can buy 5 BYD EV’s for the price of one large petroleum motored Detroit auto. 

Cuba has stood up to the bourgeoisie for more than half a century.  The socialist revolution is really in force there, after several changes in government.  Fidel Castro, the leader of the revolution there passed away November 25, 2015 at 90.   He led Cuba as a socialist country,  nationalizing the land, much of it owned by the United Fruit Company, large  American landowners. 

This put the bourgeoisie and Castro on a collision course,  and Trump is no different.  In 1961 John F. Kennedy decided to invade Cuba, considering Fidel to be a criminal.  It failed, and Fidel would rule 46 years as a constant thorn in the side of capitalists.

Cuba has known attempts to stop the revolution, and Trump’s efforts may not work, as in Iran.  It is hard to believe the bourgeoisie could take comfort in not being able to change Iran into its colony.  It’s a small country in the developing world, and does not border a rich country like Cuba. 

Yet Iran has survived the latest military aircraft show of force, fighting back and forcing Trump to content himself with pious wishes of no “Weapons of Mass Destruction” there.  He has given up on removing nationalized oil there, and Trump now asks for Iran not to be like the neighbor it shares a 565 mile (905 km) and build an atomic  bomb.  Israel has them too, so does India.  

Given what just went down it should be clear Iran does not need a nuclear weapon to stop the Americans.  They stand and remain a non colonized nation, even with the port embargoed. 

Cuba has not attacked another country, no less America.  Yet the cruel and unusual punishment continues, and is ratcheting up again under Trump.  Lowering the embargo could lessen the suffering there.  Petroleum is in short supply, electrical generation solar panels are also needed. 

Trump may be able to make Cuba suffer, but what is the plan to replace the revolution with?  Capitalism? A reactionary bourgeoisie?  Given the options Cuba really has no choice but to keep fighting.  The men who gave their lives to create the revolution may no longer be with us, Fidel passed at 90 ten years ago.   But their legacy and ideas of a sovereign Cuba not under the yoke of any foreign power remain.  

Nicholas Jay Boyes

Milwaukee Wisconsin

American Democratic Republic

5 21 2026