Doug Manchester Is Not The Problem

What is instructive is not that San Diego businessman Doug Manchester – reportedly a Lyford Cay homeowner – deems The Bahamas a “protectorate” of The US in all but name, but that the US Senate views The Commonwealth of The Bahamas most strongly through the lens of the British Commonwealth. RAFAEL BERNAL, writing for The Hill yesterday, said, “As a British Commonwealth realm, The Bahamas is a sovereign state that shares a head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, with the United Kingdom and 14 other nations.”

Under questioning from Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Trump's nominee for US Ambassador to The Bahamas Doug Manchester repeated and sought to explain his view – and more importantly, the Trump Administration’s belief – that The Bahamas is “for all intents and purposes” a US Protectorate.

The full quote is:

“Well certainly, for all intents and purposes, we believe that it is a protectorate. We have Coast Guard there, Homeland Security…We are obviously working with the Royal Bahamian Police Force, which we want to in fact continue to support, who are doing a great job in the interdiction of human trafficking and drugs and also gunrunning.”

Protectorate

Dictionary.com defines “protectorate” thusly: “the relation of a strong state toward a weaker state or territory that it protects and partly controls” and “a state or territory so protected.” The British Dictionary definitions for protectorate is, “a territory largely controlled by but not annexed to a stronger state.”

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary has a more succinct definition: “government by a protector.” And a more fulsome definition: “the relationship of superior authority assumed by one power or state over a dependent one,” and “the dependent political unit or territory in such a relationship.”

There is no benign definition of the word “protectorate.” There is no definition of that word that does not either implicitly or explicitly declare the nullification of sovereignty of the dependent territory. That is to say, the prospective US Ambassador to The Bahamas, nominated by and backed by and therefore thoroughly in line with the ideology of the Trump Administration, sees the US as having assumed “superior authority” over The Bahamas, which he sees as “a weaker state” that the US either “partly” or “largely” controls.

Manchester told the US Senate that he based his view – that The Bahamas is “for all intents and purposes” a US Protectorate – on the presence of US Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security officers in The Bahamas. So the question must be asked: are these the strings that are supposedly not attached to the US’ foreign aid and development aid? Assumed control and direction? And does this view pervade the US government, or is this just the view of a few rich Republicans who believe they can buy anything?

Who Is Manchester?

Manchester is a major Trump fundraiser, and was an early backer. He and his wife, Geniya Manchester, each gave $454,800 to Trump’s political committee and Trump-supporting Super PACS, more than anyone else in the San Diego area.

Manchester has no foreign policy experience. He will require Senate confirmation to become ambassador.

Manchester is the former publisher of The San Diego Union-Tribune, and has been described by the Trump Administration as a “leading industrialist with accomplishments on a national and international scale” in several industries. He made his name in real estate development, particularly in the hospitality industry. Manchester is currently working on a $1.3 billion downtown development on San Diego Bay, which has been in the making for over a decade. He also opened luxury resort Grand Del Mar, which was recently taken over by the Fairmont hotel chain. He also developed the Manchester Grand Hyatt, a hotel with 150,000-square-feet of event space. Manchester no longer owns that property, but it still bears his name.