Reading More and Writing Better: Don Tanka by Chen-ou Liu

History Often Rhymes, I: "the Donroe Doctrine"

the Don posed 

behind the Resolute Desk

with fingers cocked

for the cameras' rapid fire ...

a map crossed with red X’s

FYI: History Often Rhymes is my new/end-of-year writing project. Its title refers to the following remark:

History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes.

-- (often attributed to) Mark Twain, a quintessential American satirist who exposed the absurdities and injustices of American life, including racism, religious hypocrisy, and class divides.

This tanka plays on the “Donroe Doctrine,” a socio-satirical echo of the Monroe Doctrine (1823), which warned European powers against involvement in the Western Hemisphere while affirming U.S. influence there. The term “the Don” evokes both the leader of a crime syndicate and a shortened form of “Donald,” adding a double edge to the tanka’s commentary.

And The New York Times, November 17 2025: The ‘Donroe Doctrine’: Trump’s Bid to Control the Western Hemisphere

President Trump has tightened the U.S. grip on the Americas by rewarding allies and punishing rivals. That has upended the region’s politics.

President Trump opened the year with pledges to seize the Panama Canal, take control of Greenland and rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

He is ending it by bombing boats from South America, stationing the world’s largest aircraft carrier in the Caribbean and exploring military options against Venezuela’s autocratic leader.

In a sharp shift of decades of U.S. foreign policy, the Western Hemisphere has become the United States’ central theater abroad. In addition to military threats and action, the White House this year has carried out punishing tariffs, severe sanctions, pressure campaigns and economic bailouts across the Americas...