Jonathan Alter, journalist and author, discusses Trump's threats to take back the Panama Canal, unraveling foreign policy work done by Jimmy Carter in 1978.
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00:00You did mention the Panama Canal, so I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you about President-elect
00:05Trump suggesting we use military control to take the canal.
00:09He called that deal a disgrace.
00:12Could there be a more stark contrast between President Carter given our next president?
00:18No.
00:19No.
00:20Carter was the un-Trump.
00:21You know, Carter told the truth.
00:23He exaggerates sometimes, but he told the truth.
00:26Trump lies flagrantly.
00:28On the Panama Canal, at the time, two-thirds of the country was against handing over the
00:37canal to Panama, and it required a two-thirds vote in the Senate.
00:42Eventually, Democrats and Republicans understood that if we didn't give Panama control over
00:50its own canal, even though we had built it under kind of corrupt circumstances, if we
00:56didn't turn it back to them, there would be a war in Panama.
01:02They would sabotage the canal, the Panamanian saboteurs, and then this critical global artery
01:10of commerce would be shut down.
01:13And that's what Trump is potentially headed for doing if he doesn't shut up about this.