'To name is to claim:' Inside Trump's cartographical compulsion
Source: Politico
‘To name is to claim:’ Inside Trump’s cartographical compulsion
It’s ingrained in his background in real estate and branding.
By Irie Sentner
05/10/2025 04:00 PM EDT
President Donald Trump’s tense exchange with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney over making Canada the 51st state this week offered a vivid example of how the president’s blunt demands to alter the world’s map are both shaping and complicating his foreign policy.
They have led to alarm among allies, a battle between the White House and its press corps over labels on the map, and concerns that foes will be emboldened on territorial claims — not to mention plenty of confusion. But Trump’s cartographical compulsion and his desire to alter them was ingrained long before his first presidency. It came out of his career in business, where he derived power from acquiring property and branding rights.
“I’m a real estate developer at heart,” Trump said Tuesday during his Oval Office meeting with Carney, referring to his wish to bring Canada under U.S. control. “When you get rid of that artificially drawn line … when you look at that beautiful formation when it’s together, I’m a very artistic person.”
In 2022, Trump told the journalists Peter Baker and Susan Glasser: “I love maps. And I always said: ‘Look at the size of [Greenland]. It’s massive. That should be part of the United States.’”
Trump has said he wants the U.S. to “get” Greenland, turn Canada into the “51st state,” “take back” the Panama Canal and “own” Gaza. ...
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Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/10/trump-maps-obsession-history-geopolitics-00339935
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