Appearing on MSNBC on Christmas Day, former U.S. War College professor Tom Nichols dismissed out of hand Donald Trump's desire to take control of the Panama Canal as more "out-of-left-field" rambling.
Speaking with holiday host Yamiche Alcindor, Nichols was asked about Trump's sudden fascination with the canal which never came up during the 2024 presidential election.
After watching a clip of the president-elect telling a crowd at a Turning Point USA gathering, "It was given to Panama and to the people of Panama, but it has provisions — you’ve got to treat us fairly. And they haven’t treated us fairly. We will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full, quickly and without question. I’m not going to stand for it. So to the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly," Nichols was asked what Trump thinks he's doing.
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"He's probably got some pebble in his shoe about something that's happened in Panama that relates to his interests –– that's usually what provokes sort of out-of-left-field tirades from Donald Trump," he offered.
"It's important for people to remember that this is not simply -- this wasn't simply a gift put under a Christmas tree 45 years ago," he explained. "This is actually the relationship with Panama and the Panama canal is governed by a Senate-ratified treaty that exists that already lays out the relationship between the United States and Panama."
"When Donald Trump says 'Well, we'll just take it back,' you know, just as in his first term we'll be saying something using a phrase that we used a lot during those first four years, which is 'Things don't work that way," he added. "That's not how any of that works."
"So you know, he can say it and he can complain about it and he can get big cheers about it at conservative meetings, but that's not going to happen," he predicted.
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