The Trump Doctrine
Anyone have Venezuela as the 51st state on their bingo card?
The Trump regime’s military assault on the South American nation is the first time the imperial ambitions of Donald Trump have gone beyond the words hurled at Canada, Panama, Greenland and Colombia.
For history buffs, it’s a rewrite of the Monroe Doctrine, an 1823 declaration that the western hemisphere was closed to European colonization, establishing a sphere of influence where what the United States says goes.
That not-so-benevolent muscle flexing has included the 1954 overthrow of the Jacobo Arbenz government in Guatemala, on behalf of United Fruit, installing what may have been the first actual right-wing “banana” republic with the backing of the CIA.
Other exercises in “spreading democracy” have included installing a military government in the Dominican Republic in 1916 and a history that included a long-term occupation by Marines and the eventual CIA-assisted assassination of dictator Rafael Trujillo; and the overthrow of democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973.
Perhaps closest in “style” is the 1989 invasion of Panama which led to the capture and jailing of General Manuel Noriega on charges of drug trafficking and racketeering.
There’s also been a history of failed United States efforts, like the invasion at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba and the plot to sell arms for American hostages in Iran where Oliver North played a starring role.
Not to mention the 1953 CIA overthrow of an Iranian prime minister that led to the installation of the Shah and eventually the seizure of those American hostages and the ongoing cold war with the Iranian mullahs.
The sordid history of Yankee Imperialism is catalogued here.
What’s different this time is, as with all of Donald Trump’s crimes — from fraud in paying off an adult firm star in a failed attempt to rig the 2016 election to fomenting an insurrection in 2021 — this one is out in the open. Well sorta, kinda.
The regular attacks on boats allegedly carrying cocaine toward the United States have been a prominent feature of the campaign leading up to the land strike that captured and arrested Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
The Trump regime claim it has been fighting fentanyl trafficking — which comes largely from Mexico — and that Venezuelan shipments are generally bound for Europe — will certainly be tested in a trial in Manhattan federal court.
Let’s stipulate Maduro is a bad man, a dictator who stole an election. But indictments, unlike social media posts, require hard evidence. And it’s difficult to ignore that a right-wing Latin American dictator, Juan Orlando Hernández, received a presidential pardon from Trump after being convicted on similar charges.
And Trump let the cat out of the bag last month when he declared assembling the large American armada in the Caribbean was actually about:
“all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us” — an undertaking that the country would have to do “IMMEDIATELY.”
As the New York Times explained, Trump appeared to be referring to the Venezuelan government’s takeover of the oil industry in 1976, which led to almost all U.S. oil companies leaving the country.
Also left unsaid was the apparent role of Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, highlighting business opportunities if she were to replace Maduro:
“I am talking about a $1.7 trillion opportunity.”
The formal Mar-a-Lago announcement of the attack laid bare this reality even more plainly. Asked about the potential presence of U.S. forces in Venezuela, Trump said that there would be a:
“presence in Venezuela as it pertains to oil.”
Plus he declared Secretary of State Marco Rubio would “run” Venezuela in addition to his other jobs as National Security Adviser, Acting USAID Administrator, and Acting Archivist. Of course he will be working with Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth so there’s at least one stable set of hands on the wheel.
Trump was quick to say it won’t cost the United States anything.
The Venezuelans are having none of it, at least for now. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was quick to declare after being sworn in as the interim leader:
“There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro Moros.”
But it is safe to say at least two world leaders looked upon today’s events with smiles. Trump’s declaration that the United States would “run” Venezuela because of oil sounds an awful lot like Vladimir Putin’s claims to Ukraine.
And Xi Jinping’s claims to Taiwan.
All of this is taking place as Trump — who promised to end endless U.S. wars, not to mention lower prices on Day One and release the Epstein Files — is watching his popularity circle the drain.
While claiming this was a legal rather than military action might buy temporary silence from elected Republicans, the facts speak very clearly to anyone not in the Trump Cult.
I guess the FIFA Peace Prize will just have to do. And where do the producers of “Wag the Dog” go to complain about Trump stealing their idea?