The Dangerous Doctrine of “Manifest Destiny” Trump Seeks to Revive

At the outset of his second presidential term, during his inauguration speech on January 20, President Donald Trump declared, “From this day forward, our country will prosper and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will no longer allow ourselves to be exploited. During every single day of the Trump Administration, I will simply put America first.”

He added, “Our sovereignty will be restored, security will return to our streets, and justice will be balanced once more. Our highest priority will be to build a proud, prosperous, and free nation. America will soon be greater, stronger, and more supreme than ever before.”

Trump continued, “From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” affirming, “God saved me to make America great again.” He even expressed a desire to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America,” and declared his intention to “plant the American flag on Mars” by sending astronauts there. He concluded, “We are one people, one family, and one glorious nation under God.”

Through these remarks, Trump resurrected a deeply rooted ideological concept from America’s political history: the doctrine of Manifest Destiny — a dangerous narrative first articulated in the mid-19th century to justify imperial expansion under the banner of divine will.

According to this view, it was “destiny” that had chosen Anglo-Saxon Protestants as the bearers of this mission, legitimising their conquest of Indigenous lands, their wars of expansion (including the annexation of Texas, the Mexican-American War, and the seizure of California, Arizona, and New Mexico), and later their imperial ventures in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Though wrapped in political rhetoric, the doctrine was built on a foundation of racial and religious supremacism, portraying “white Anglo-Saxon Protestants” as a people elevated above all others by divine favour — a justification for genocide, colonisation, and dominance.

Historically, Manifest Destiny cloaked expansionism in moral language. Today, Trump’s rhetoric discards those pretences, openly framing expansion as a matter of raw power, national supremacy, and self-interest.

This modern iteration of Manifest Destiny, as some scholars suggest, marks a return to the brutal logic of ancient empires: expansion for its own sake, not for any higher cause.

American historian Howard Zinn once wrote, “Manifest Destiny was never innocent — it was imperialism dressed in moral garments.” Trump appears determined to tear away even that disguise.

Moreover, his ambition for American dominance in outer space, disregarding international treaties banning militarisation beyond Earth, signals a dangerous escalation — one that could spark arms races in space, fuel nationalist rivalries worldwide, and bring colonial rhetoric back into global politics.

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