it's that Trump just says the quiet part out loud.

This is the difference, and it is a difference that matters.

U.S. expansion has a history longer than the War on Terror. We can go back to the blowing up of the USS Maine, in Havana Harbor (1898). Or the imprisonment of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893. The war with Mexico that gave us most of the southwest, in the mid 1800s. The U.S. has always been an expansionist nation that violated constitutional requirements.But in each case, as you indicate, there was a pretext offered to the American people. The presumption was that in order for the action to receive popular support, the move had to be given the patina of legitimacy. What Trump has done is tell us that we no longer need to pretend. He has told us that we don't need a pretext. We can do whatever we want. We can, essentially be a lawless nation.

That, to me, is scary--not just for U.S. expansionism, but here at home. If there is no law, where does that leave me and other U.S. citizens? A leader, a government, ca do anything, without restriction. If the people of this country are ready for that, we have indeed entered a new stage in our history.