Trump exposed as a 'pirate' hell-bent on 'conquest and theft' in scathing analysis

A scathing new analysis tore into President Donald Trump's self-description of himself as the "Peace President."

Will Saletan of The Bulwark wrote Friday that Trump is a "pirate" whose real agenda is "obvious" — and it's anything but peace, highlighting that just this week, Trump detailed plans to take over Greenland and seize Venezuelan oil.

"It’s extortion, conquest, and theft," wrote Saletan, who asserted Trump seems to view international relations through the same transactional lens he applies to domestic policy — everything is for sale, everything has a price, and might makes right.

"He slaps our allies with heavy tariffs, insisting that they 'pay for the privilege of access to our market.' He bails out Argentina, meddles in its election, and then brags that his candidate’s victory 'made a lot of money for the United States.' He bars immigrants from 'third world countries' and sells visas to multimillionaires instead," wrote Saletan.

Trump has also recently sung the praises of the spoils of war, bemoaning that the U.S. has recently won wars and simply left. Indeed, he has floated plans to redevelop war-torn Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East" and extracted a rare mineral earth deal from Ukraine.

"Like Vladimir Putin, Trump has concocted grievances to justify aggression against other nations," noted Saletan. That includes fabricating claims that Venezuela and Canada "stole" American assets to justify harsh tariffs and military posturing. Trump even rehashed a decades-old nationalization dispute to rationalize potentially seizing Venezuelan territory.

"This isn’t the foreign policy many of Trump’s voters wanted," Saletan concluded. "They thought 'America First' meant staying home. Instead, Trump has gone abroad to seize land and treasure. He’s a pirate. And being a pirate is all fun and games until somebody loses an island."