[ April 14, 2026 ]
President Donald Trump’s move in Venezuela is the purest expression of America First—a modern revival of the Monroe Doctrine, now unmistakably the Trump Doctrine. Why did Trump greenlight the operation to apprehend the indicted Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro? As Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies explains, Maduro’s capture delivered a decisive blow on two fronts: the war on drugs and the great-power struggle with China and Russia. Rather than continue the hollow, domestic sloganeering of past drug policy, Trump took the fight to the source—beginning in 2025 by destroying narco-vessels feeding poison into the United States. Regime change was not the point; hemispheric control was. Maduro did not merely preside over a narco-state—he anchored a hostile axis in the Western Hemisphere, partnering with Iran, Cuba, Russia, and China, and even hosting senior Chinese officials in Caracas shortly before his capture. Bringing down Maduro was about restoring American primacy in the Americas—and denying Washington’s enemies a strategic beachhead at our doorstep.
Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies provides a succinct explanation:
The Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro on Saturday was a US victory on two fronts: the war on drugs and the great-power competition with China and Russia. For years, the war on drugs has been fought at home, primarily with slogans, aimed at changing the behavior of American citizens. President Trump upended that feckless approach in 2025 when he began bombing the narco-vessels bringing drugs to the United States…. Will Trump’s base give him the opportunity to improve upon the regime-change failures of his predecessors? He appears determined to try. In truth, the regime-change controversy is of secondary importance. Bringing down Maduro was about bringing the Western hemisphere back under the influence of the United States. Maduro was not just the head of a narco-state. He was an ally of America’s nastiest enemies. In fact, Maduro met with a senior Chinese delegation in Caracas shortly before he was captured by US special forces. But Maduro’s regime was not just an ally to China. The regime in Caracas was also a valuable partner to other rogue states like Russia, Cuba and Iran (FDD).
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