In a Sunday night missive, the White House Office of Communications shared big news: the South American country of Colombia has succumbed to America’s demands and will not be subject to crippling sanctions unless it “fails to honor this agreement.”
Sometimes, you have to cry uncle, and it appears that Colombian President Gustavo Petro did just that after acting defiant earlier Sunday by saying his country would refuse to take back its citizens who were in America illegally.
The current president of the United States, however, is not named Joe Biden.
After realizing who he was dealing with, Petro apparently even retweeted the White House’s statement:
The president of Colombia has retweeted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s post. https://t.co/EY6xeUkMja pic.twitter.com/4ANu3y0JiV
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 27, 2025
It was a busy day for Colombia and quite the wake-up call for them about the new world under President Donald Trump. It’s not a puppet president who’s asleep at the wheel anymore:
He's not playing around:
Colombia Refuses Illegal Alien Repatriation Flights From US - Trump Vows Retaliation
It was a day of back-and-forth threats, but for the moment, it would seem that Trump has decisively won this round.
“The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in the statement. “Based on this agreement, the fully drafted IEEPA tariffs and sanctions will be held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement.”
Leavitt said tariffs and financial sanctions will be paused, but visa sanctions against Colombian officials and stricter customs inspections of Colombian nationals and cargo ships ordered by Trump earlier Sunday will remain in effect “until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned.”
A terrific post from the X account Cynical Publius Sunday perfectly summed up the new reality:
To fully understand just how remarkable today’s exchange with Colombia was, you need to understand how Washington DC has traditionally worked through these sorts of issues, and the different way it works now under Trump.
— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) January 26, 2025
I’ll illustrate.
Traditional Approach:
1. Colombia…
It’s long, but I think it’s eminently worth quoting in full:
Traditional Approach:
1. Colombia announces it will not take our repatriation flights.
2. On Monday, the State Department convenes an interagency task force with DoD, NSC, DEA, INS, ICE, Commerce, Treasury and Homeland Security.
3. The task force meets for four days and develops a position paper.
4. The position paper is rejected by the Secretary of State, who is unhappy that insufficient equity considerations are built into the process.
5. The task force reconvenes a week later to redevelop three new, equity-centric courses of action and create a new position paper.
6. The process is delayed a week because Washington DC gets three inches of snow.
7. SecState approves the new position paper for interagency circulation, and considerable input is received from the heads of other departments so the task force must reconvene.
8. The original three proposed responsive courses of action are scrapped in favor of a new, fourth course of action that achieves the worst aspects of the three prior courses of action but satisfies the interagency.
9. Someone in State who disagrees leaks to the Washington Post, who writes a story about how ineffective the Presidential administration is.
10. The White House Chief of Staff sets up a session three days later to brief the President, who approves the new fourth course of action.
11. Over a month after the issue is first raised, the State Department Public Affairs Officer holds a press conference announcing that Colombia has agreed to try to send fewer criminals into the US and everyone declares victory.Trump Approach:
1. Colombia announces it will not take our repatriation flights.
2. After a par-5 third hole where he goes one under par, Trump uses his iPhone to post on social media as to how the USA will destroy Colombia’s economy if they do not do what the USA demands.
3. By the time Trump gets to the par-4 sixth hole, Colombia’s President has agreed to repatriate all the illegal Colombians in his own plane, which he will pay for.
4. Trump finishes three under par and goes to the clubhouse for a Diet Coke where he posts a gangsta AI image of himself and the new FAFO Doctrine.
5. Winning.See the difference? It’s called LEADERSHIP.
I don’t usually post such long threads from social media, but I thought this one was appropriate because it’s indicative of what we’re seeing: a wholly different approach to using America’s strength than we saw under the feckless leadership of the vacant Joe Biden.
If you’re wondering what “gangsta AI image of himself” Publius is referring to, allow me to help you out:
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 26, 2025
I’m sure there will be many more twists to this story, which RedState will, of course, bring you, but for now I think it’s safe to say we haven’t seen this kind of decisive leadership in a long, long time.
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