Is Donald Trump the New Teddy Roosevelt?

Who said the following… and in what year?

“Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or leave the country.”

Donald Trump in 2016? Donald Trump in 2020? Or Donald Trump in 2024?

Would you believe Teddy Roosevelt, circa 1903?

That’s right, folks. America’s 26th President – whose face was forever carved onto Mount Rushmore alongside those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln – said those words more than 120 years ago.

To be one of only 45 men to serve as our nation’s chief executive is one thing, but to be included in the “Pantheon of Presidents” is another. And what, pray tell, made Teddy Roosevelt so great? He was an “America First” populist, just like Donald J. Trump.

Shortly after becoming president following the assassination of William McKinley – and amidst some meddling in Central America by Germany, Great Britain, and Italy – Roosevelt issued what became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

“Chronic wrongdoing or an impotence which results in a general loosening of the ties of civilized society, may in America, as elsewhere, ultimately require intervention by some civilized nation, and in the Western Hemisphere, the adherence of the United States to the Monroe doctrine may force the United States, however reluctantly, in flagrant cases of such wrongdoing or impotence, to the exercise of an international police power.”

That certainly put Kaiser Wilhelm II on notice!

In 1903, the United States acquired the rights to build a canal through the Isthmus of Panama, choosing that route over a similar one in Nicaragua. However, after the U.S. Senate ratified a treaty with Panama (which was a part of Columbia at the time), Columbia rejected it outright. The result was a rebellion – vigorously supported by the U.S. – after which the treaty was approved for a second time by the newly independent Panamanian government.

Chalk one up for Teddy Roosevelt and heavy-handed diplomacy!

The United States paid the bankrupt Panama Canal Company and the New Panama Canal Company $40,000,000 (equivalent to $13.56 billion in 2023) for the rights and equipment to build the canal. However, President Roosevelt later described the transaction as follows: “I took the Canal Zone and let Congress debate; and while the debate goes on, the canal does also.”

In other words, it is sometimes easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Three years later, Roosevelt sent Secretary of War William Howard Taft to Cuba following an insurrection there. Although Taft’s job was to monitor the situation, Roosevelt was convinced that he had the authority to deploy U.S. Marines, if necessary, without congressional approval.

Dr. Serge Ricard, professor emeritus of American studies and U.S. history at the Sorbonne Nouvelle (University of Paris III), wrote the following about Roosevelt’s foreign policy approach…

“The most striking evolution in the twenty-first-century historiography of Theodore Roosevelt is the switch from a partial arraignment of the imperialist to a quasi-unanimous celebration of the master diplomatist.... [Recent works] have underlined cogently Roosevelt's exceptional statesmanship in the construction of the nascent twentieth-century "special relationship". ...The twenty-sixth president's reputation as a brilliant diplomatist and real politician has undeniably reached new heights in the twenty-first century...yet, his Philippine policy still prompts criticism.”

Sounds to me like Donald Trump and Teddy Roosevelt, had they been contemporaries, would have seen eye-to-eye… and may very well have become good friends and political allies.

Many Americans are familiar with Roosevelt’s most famous quote, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far", which is a diplomatic strategy adopted, modified, and enhanced by President Trump. A lesser-known Roosevelt quote that also sounds eerily similar to Trump’s foreign policy is this: “Don’t hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.”

Hamas had better take notice because if the past is indeed prologue, Trump’s promise that “All hell will break out” if the American hostages aren’t released by Inauguration Day is anything but an idle threat.

Which brings me back to Teddy Roosevelt’s quote about requiring immigrants to learn English within five years of entering our country. If illegals think for a minute that President Trump – aided and abetted by Tom Homan, Michael Waltz, and Kristi Noem – won’t send them packing ASAP, they have another thing coming.

As for the legal immigrants in the U.S., learning English, adopting American values, and assimilating into American culture sure sounds like a good idea to me. After all, that is exactly what many of our ancestors did from the moment they landed on Ellis Island.

There is one more similarity between these two New York born and bred presidents. During the 1912 presidential campaign, Roosevelt was shot in the chest by a would-be assassin while in Milwaukee. The bullet tore through his eyeglass case and the 50-page speech in his coat pocket, lodging in Roosevelt’s chest but not penetrating his lung. Against his doctor’s advice, Roosevelt insisted on delivering his entire 90-minute speech with blood soaking through his shirt. As for the bullet, it remained buried in Roosevelt’s body for the rest of his life.

That tragic but inspiring episode reminds me of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump on July 13, 2024, in Butler PA. Grazed by a bullet fired from a semi-automatic rifle less than 100 yards away, Trump rose to his feet with a clenched fist, urging his supporters to “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Teddy Roosevelt would have been proud.