Trump’s wager on a regime change in Venezuela deviates significantly from the MAGA goal.

For a politician who has long condemned others for meddling in foreign affairs and pledged to stay out of global affairs, President Donald Trump’s choice to assault Venezuela, detain its president, and briefly govern the nation is a dramatic shift.

In a lunchtime news conference, he outlined his vision for US involvement in Venezuela, leaving open the potential of additional military action, continued engagement in the country’s politics and oil industry, and “boots on the ground.” The phrase alludes to the kind of military action that presidents tend to steer clear of out of concern for potential political repercussions at home.

Trump declared, “We are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.”

He offered no indication of the extent to which he was prepared to go in order to seize power in Venezuela, where Maduro’s closest advisors seemed to still hold sway.

“THE WARS THAT WE NEVER ENTER”

Trump stated to supporters at his inauguration for a second term in January of last year: “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, by the wars we never get into.”

Since then, Trump has blasted up dozens of suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, bombarded targets in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Yemen, and Somalia, and subtly threatened to invade Greenland and Panama.

His most forceful foreign military operation to date was the midnight assault on Venezuela, which hit the nation’s capital Caracas as well as other locations. President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were taken into custody and charged with drug trafficking in New York.

Republican expectations that the president would give more attention to the domestic issues of the electorate, such as affordability, health care, and the economy, were dashed by these events.

Trump claimed during the press conference that his “America First” stance supported his intervention in Venezuela.

“We wish to be surrounded by kind neighbors. Stability is what we want to surround ourselves with. In reference to Venezuela’s oil riches, he stated, “We want to surround ourselves with energy.”

However, US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia who has broken with Trump due to what she claims is his deviation from the America First rhetoric of limiting overseas excursions, reflected the growing political stakes in a social media post. Next week, she will step down from Congress.

Many MAGA members believed they had voted to put an end to this. Whoa, we were mistaken.

QUAGMIRE RISK

Ahead of the November midterm congressional elections, when control of both houses of Congress is expected to depend on a small number of contests across the United States, Trump’s continued focus on international matters gives Democrats more reason to attack him. Right now, Republicans hold a slim majority in both, allowing the president to essentially carry out his agenda.

In a call with reporters, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stated, “Let me be clear, Maduro is an illegitimate dictator, but launching military action without congressional authorization, without a federal plan for what comes next, is reckless.”

While campaigning for a Nobel Peace Prize, Trump has attempted to put a stop to a number of international crises, such as those in Gaza and Ukraine. However, US military operations typically garner greater public attention and have historically put presidents and their parties at greater political danger.

According to a November Reuters/Ipsos survey, approximately one in five Americans supported using force to overthrow Maduro, indicating that the idea of US military action in Venezuela was unpopular prior to the attack.

DEBATE ABOUT FOREIGN POLICY IN THE REPUBLICAN

In an attempt to soften opposition to military action, Trump’s top diplomat and national security advisor, Marco Rubio, called a number of members of Congress early on Saturday.

Prominent libertarian-leaning senator Mike Lee first questioned the administration’s use of force without a declaration of war or authorization, but after speaking with Rubio, he wrote on X that he believed the operation probably fell within the president’s authority.

Frequently critical of Trump, Republican Representative Thomas Massie wrote on X that Trump’s threat of more strikes on Venezuela “doesn’t seem the least bit consistent” with Rubio’s description to Lee. “The Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 US firearm law if this action were constitutionally sound,” Massie added in a different post.

US “WILL GET TANGLED UP”

Trump’s foreign policy has become quite similar to that of his predecessors, despite the fact that he has constantly compared himself with the Republican “neoconservatives” of the late 20th century.

The US invaded Grenada in 1983 under former President Ronald Reagan on the grounds that the regime was illegitimate, a charge Trump has also made about Maduro.

Former US President George H.W. Bush invaded Panama in 1989 to overthrow dictator Manuel Noriega, who, like Maduro, was wanted on US drug-trafficking charges. In that instance, Noriega’s replacement was placed by the US.

Elliott Abrams, who was Venezuela’s ambassador during Trump’s first term, stated that he “has a lot of latitude as long as American troops are not dying” and that he did not think the president was taking a domestic political risk by overthrowing Maduro. “I don’t know what running Venezuela means,” he admitted.

“He’s done the right thing in removing Maduro,” Abrams, a senior fellow at the think group Council on Foreign Relations, stated. “The question is whether he will do the right thing in supporting democracy in Venezuela.”

The US may now be forced to manage a convoluted transition process, according to Brett Bruen, a veteran foreign policy adviser in Barack Obama’s administration.

Bruen, who is currently in charge of the Global Situation Room, an international affairs firm, stated, “I don’t see any short version of this story.” “The United States will become embroiled in Venezuela, but it will also face new challenges pertaining to its