U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), ignoring his home state’s aerospace and defense industries that manufacture military aircraft components and ships, is siding with President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to take back the Panama Canal from Panama, by claiming America needs the canal to defend Taiwan against China.

“We’ve got to take the Panama Canal back,” Tuberville told Fox Business on Tuesday (video below), hours after Trump spoke. “We’ve got to do something because if we were to happen to go to war with uh China over Taiwan and they were to shut the Panama Canal down, we’d have to go eight to ten-thousand miles longer just to get things back uh, to the to the war zone if we had to go from the east coast to China.”

China does not control the Panama Canal, contrary to Trump’s claim and Tuberville’s suggestion.

During his rambling and wide-ranging press conference, Trump had said he would not rule out taking control back of the Panama Canal by military force.

“It might be that you’ll have to do something,” Trump told reporters, claiming the U.S. needs the canal “for economic security — the Panama Canal was built for our military.”

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“Uh, look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China,” Trump falsely declared. “China, and we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn’t give it to China.”

If China attacked Taiwan, and if the United States decided to get involved — as President Joe Biden has vowed — contrary to Senator Tuberville’s expressed concerns, the U.S. military has planes it could fly to the area, planes manufactured and maintained in part from components made in Alabama.

There’s also the Pacific Fleet, which, according to the U.S. Navy, “remains the world’s largest naval command, extending from the West Coast of the United States, into the Indian Ocean, encompassing three oceans, six continents, and more than half the Earth’s surface.”

Senator Tuberville, who has repeatedly attacked the U.S. military, ignored that his home state is home to the military industry’s “Big Ten,” according to Business Alabama.  The Alabama Department of Commerce has an entire website devoted to aerospace and aviation that is “Made in Alabama.”

In 2023, Tuberville was accused of “putting our national security at risk” by the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force in rare public remarks.

Watch Tuberville’s remarks below or at this link.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville: “We’ve gotta take the Panama Canal back. We’ve gotta do something because if we were to happen to go to war with China over Taiwan and they were to shut the Panama Canal down, we’d have to go 8 to 10,000 miles just to get things back to the war zone.” pic.twitter.com/zNyH7Rn7US

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2025

RELATED: Trump Refuses to Rule Out Using US Military to Take Control of Greenland, Panama Canal

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U.S. Congressman Jim Himes (D-CT) is blasting Donald Trump, after the President-elect held a rambling 70-minute press conference aired live by cable news stations on Tuesday, during which he declared he will rename the Gulf of Mexico, threatened the possible taking of Greenland and the Panama Canal by military force, threatened annexing Canada as the 51st state via “economic coercion” if necessary, suggested Hezbollah was part of the January 6 insurrection, criticized the late U.S. President Jimmy Carter on the day his body is set to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol before his funeral Thursday, declared rain comes “down from heaven” while ranting about states trying to conserve the precious commodity, claimed windmills are “driving the whales crazy” while threatening to ban them, and threatened if the Gaza hostages are not released by the time he is sworn in to office, “all hell is going to break out.”

Congressman Himes railed against Trump’s remarks, noting that, “Mexico is really, really important to us in stopping fentanyl, and helping us with the migration problems we have that at the southern border. Canada’s really important to us, another NATO ally. We should not be gratuitously pissing these people off.”

The Connecticut Democrat asked, “where is the economic benefit for the people who voted for Donald Trump when he’s off, you know, telling tales of Greenland and renaming the Gulf of Mexico?”

READ MORE: Trump Refuses to Rule Out Using US Military to Take Control of Greenland, Panama Canal

The CNN host responded, “the way he pitches it is, you know, when it comes to Greenland, for example, it’s for ‘national security purposes.’ Is there any credence to that statement?”

“No, it’s bananas,” Himes replied.  “It’s, it’s insane.”

“I mean, you know, again, Denmark, which owns Greenland, I think that’s probably a fact that most Americans are learning, um, is a NATO ally, right?” he continued. “So it’s just complete madness from a national security standpoint, and it also is antagonizing, right? What if some leader in Canada or Mexico is elected and says, ‘you know, Mexico, we want California back. We’re getting California back.'”

CNN: Well, the way Trump pitches it is that when it comes to Greenland for example, it’s for national security purposes. Is there any credence to that statement?

REP. JIM HIMES: No. It’s bananas. It’s insane. pic.twitter.com/Qr85oS9U55

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2025

“And taking Greenland from the Danish, where’s the economic message there?” Congressman Himes asked, referring to Trump’s repeated vows during the campaign he would lower the costs of groceries and mortgages, and put a cap on credit card interest rates.

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“I certainly see your point about the economic message being a big driver for the election, but a lot of his supporters also just like that he bucks tradition, that he he doesn’t do what what others do, that he’s willing to, you know, to throw stuff out there that may be controversial,” the CNN host responded. “Um, and, you know, he portrays himself as a negotiator and a businessman, and a lot of his supporters frankly like that. A lot of his supporters frankly like what he threw out about, you know, renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.”

“Ma’am, I, I get that. I get that,” Himes said. “Politics has become entertainment in this country, and by the way, I’ll be the first to say that there are some apple carts that should be turned over. It takes me years to get a build a bridge built, in Connecticut. You know, we’re not moving projects that are critical to the American people as fast as you, as we should like. But at the end of the day, the business of government is very, very serious.”

CNN is working overtime to sanewash Trump today pic.twitter.com/4FM4e4lMtI

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2025

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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President-elect Donald Trump says he will not commit to refraining from using military or economic coercion to assume control of Greenland or the Panama Canal, and might consider “economic force” to take control of Canada.

“It might be that you’ll have to do something,” Trump told reporters at a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort and residence Tuesday (video below), less than two weeks before he will be sworn in to office as the 47th President of the United States.

“Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of these areas, you are not going to use military or economic coercion?” Trump was asked.

“No,” Trump immediately replied.

“And can you tell us a little bit about what your plan is? Are you going to negotiate a new treaty? Are you going to ask the Canadians to hold a vote? What is the strategy?”

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“I can’t assure you — you’re talking about uh, Panama and Greenland,” Trump responded, not answering the questions about plans or strategy. “No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But uh, I can say this, we need them for economic security — the Panama Canal was built for our military.”

“I’m not going to commit to that now. It might it might be that you’ll have to do something,” Trump continued, talking over the reporter. “Uh, look, the Panama Canal is vital to our country. It’s being operated by China. China, and we gave the Panama Canal to Panama. We didn’t give it to China.”

Q: Can you assure the world that as you try to get control of areas like Greenland or Panama you are not gonna use military or economic coercion?

TRUMP: No. I can’t assure you. I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you’ll have to do something. pic.twitter.com/YbscfcOgmH

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2025

When another reporter said to Trump, “can you elaborate you didn’t rule out military coercion?” he replied, “We need Greenland for national security purposes. I’ve been told that for a long time, long before I even ran. I mean, people have been talking about it for a long time. You have approximately 45,000 people there.”

“People really don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it, but if they do, they should give it up because we need it for national security. That’s for the free world. I’m talking about protecting the free world,” Trump said, suggesting taking over another sovereign nation’s territory would protect freedom.

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“You look at, you don’t even need binoculars. You look outside, you have China, ships all over the place, you have Russian ships all over the place. We’re not letting that happen. We’re not letting it happen.”

Q: You didn’t rule out using military coercion —

TRUMP: Well, we need Greenland for national security purposes. People don’t even know if Denmark has any legal right to it. But if they do, they should give it up. pic.twitter.com/D74jFXZsln

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2025

NBC News added that Trump “said later that he would not use military force against Canada, only ‘economic force.'”

“’That would really be something,’ Trump said of the U.S. taking control of Canada. He has quipped lately that it should become the 51st U.S. state.”

“You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like. And it would also be much better for national security,” Trump claimed.

Former Lincoln Project executive director Fred Wellman, an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, and is now a political consultant and the host of the podcast “On Democracy,” weighed in:

“Seems like familiar language,” he warned. “ ‘…the reunification [of Germany and Austria] is a life task to be carried out by all means! German-Austria must be restored to the great German Motherland… People of the same blood should be in the same REICH.’ ”

China is not operating the Panama Canal. Chinese companies have made investments in ports near the canal, but the Panama Canal is operated by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), a government agency of the Republic of Panama, according to the bipartisan think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. Axios recently reported that “China has become increasingly influential in its operations since” the U.S. gave Panama back the canal in 1999.

In 2021, CSIS noted that China’s “increasing presence in and around the Canal has made the waterway a flashpoint for U.S.-China competition over spheres of influence.”

Journalist Alan Fisher warned, “Let’s be clear what [Trump] is saying – we will take by force, the land another Democracy has…… Remember he ran on an anti- war platform and is now threatening both Denmark and Panama.”

Daily Beast opinion columnist Rotimi Adeoye responded to Trump’s comments, saying: “Gen-Z voters who supported Trump should realize that if any war happens they will be the first to go. Trump is not pro-peace.”

Some have noted that Greenland, a territory of Denmark, is by extension part of NATO, and the U.S. already operates a military base on Greenland: Pituffik Space Base (formerly Thule Air Base), a U.S. Space Force installation.

Watch videos of Trump’s remarks above or at this link.

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Image via Reuters