The neo-royalist King Donald I
You say neo-royalism, I say mercantilist imperialism. Neo-royalism might be more apt
A lot of what Donald Trump has been up to looks to be about extracting resources. His governing style, however, has been imperious, both domestically and abroad. Many have observed that the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro tests the irony of a foreign leader’s broadly recognized immunity against Trump’s own, as recognized by the Supreme Court.[1]
I’m thinking first of Trump’s insistence on a deal for Ukraine to extract rare earths.[2] He unconvincingly whined that Venezuela “stole” U.S. oil.[3] Greenland also has rare earths and Trump wants those.[4] And in the wake of his takeover of Venezuela,[5] we’re hearing about the “Donroe Doctrine” as he thinks Cuba’s government will collapse, threatens Colombia and Mexico, and renews his threats to annex Greenland, which Denmark may have to surrender for Europe to save Ukraine.[6]
There are a lot of reasons—none of them good—for what happened in Venezuela[7] and there’s some doubt that there’s a coherent doctrine at all.[8] I was thinking, however, of a return to mercantilist imperialism when a Vox newsletter[9]pointed me at “neo-royalism,” described in the abstract in a context where “the US seems willing to sign deals with traditional adversaries including Russia and China, while targeting long-standing allies like Canada and Denmark.” Neo-royalism, it seems, “centers on ruling cliques, networks of political, capital, and military elites devoted to individual sovereigns, seeking to generate durable material and status hierarchies based on the extraction of financial and cultural tributes.”[10]
Trump is by no means the first and will by no means be the last ruler to embrace this order. “But Trump’s position at the top of unparallelled power resources including the dollar-based global financial system and US military power, allows him to act as a ‘world orderer,’ with ‘a particular vision of the whole world ... who want to order it in a particular way and, in doing so, create, modify, and reproduce political, economic, and social institutions in the world.’[11]” And there are a number of ways that Trump could fall.[12] (I still think he’ll die soon.[13])
But we are clearly beyond the point where “King Donald I”[14] can be dismissed as mere hyperbole.
[1] Jessica Levinson, “The incredible irony at the center of Trump’s case against Nicolás Maduro,” MS Now, January 7, 2026, https://www.ms.now/opinion/maduro-trump-immunity-supreme-court-defense
[2] David Uren, “The value of Ukraine’s critical minerals is overstated,” Strategist, March 6, 2025, https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-value-of-ukraines-critical-minerals-is-overstated/
[3] Tobi Raji and Leo Sands, “Trump says Venezuela stole U.S. oil, land and assets. Here’s the history,” Washington Post, January 3, 2026, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/12/20/venezuela-oil-nationalization-expropriation/
[4] William Booth and Laris Karklis, “Trump covets rare earth riches, but Greenland plans to mine its own business,” Washington Post, July 27, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2025/greenland-minerals-mining-trump-difficulties/
[5] David Benfell, “Yet another f---ing war,” Not Housebroken, January 3, 2026, https://www.disunitedstates.org/p/yet-another-f-ing-war
[6] Michael Birnbaum and Dan Lamothe, “White House floats military option for Greenland, rattling Denmark and NATO,” Washington Post, January 6, 2026, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/01/06/white-house-floats-military-option-greenland-rattling-denmark-nato/; Karen DeYoung and David Ovalle, “Trump team puts a target on Cuba, with threats and oil blockade,” Washington Post, January 6, 2026, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/01/06/cuba-venezuela-regime-change-trump-rubio/; Julia Ioffe, “Neocon Don,” Puck, January 5, 2026, https://puck.news/trumps-strike-doctrine-venezuela-iran-new-neocans/; Yves Smith, “Trump’s Greenland Threats: Will He or Won’t He Act?” Naked Capitalism, January 6, 2026, https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/01/trumps-greenland-threats-will-he-or-wont-he-act.html; Ishaan Tharoor, “The crisis over Greenland is here,” Washington Post, January 6, 2026, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2026/01/06/venezuela-greenland-trump-stephen-miller/; Nicholas Vinocur, “Is Greenland next?” Politico, January 5, 2026, https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/is-greenland-next/; Nicholas Vinocur, “Europe hugs America close — despite Greenland fears,” Politico, January 6, 2026, https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/brussels-playbook/europe-hugs-america-close-despite-greenland-fears/
[7] David Benfell, “Hip, hip, hooray for yet another forever war,” Not Housebroken, December 21, 2025, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/hip-hip-hooray-for-yet-another-forever
[8] Gabe Fleisher, “There is No Trump Doctrine,” Wake Up to Politics, January 5, 2026, https://www.wakeuptopolitics.com/p/there-is-no-trump-doctrine
[9] Caitlin Dewey to Today, Explained newsletter, “The key to understanding Trump’s foreign policy,” Vox, January 6, 2026, https://link.vox.com/view/60917b5fac7e007ef63bd58aptkbn.qod/e4cfd2c5
[10] Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman, “Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System,” International Organization 79, no. S1 (December 2025), S12-S25, doi: 10.1017/S0020818325101057
[11] [quoted] Zarakol, Ayşe. 2022. Before the West: The Rise and Fall of Eastern World Orders. Cambridge University Press.
[12] Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman, “Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System,” International Organization 79, no. S1 (December 2025), S12-S25, doi: 10.1017/S0020818325101057
[13] David Benfell, “The publicly absent Donald Trump,” Not Housebroken, December 23, 2025, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/the-publicly-absent-donald-trump
[14] David Benfell, “King Donald I,” Not Housebroken, December 8, 2025, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/king-donald-i