THE NEW YORK TIMES: President Trump opened a new chapter in American nation building as he declared that the United States had toppled Venezuela’s leader and would “run” the country for an indefinite period.
President Trump’s declaration on Saturday that the United States planned to “run” Venezuela for an unspecified period, issuing orders to its government and exploiting its vast oil reserves, plunged the United States into a risky new era in which it will seek economic and political dominance over a nation of roughly 30 million people.
Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago private club just hours after Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, and his wife were seized from their bedroom by U.S. forces, Mr. Trump told reporters that Delcy Rodríguez, who served as Mr. Maduro’s vice president, would hold power in Venezuela as long as she “does what we want.”
Ms. Rodríguez, however, showed little public interest in doing the Americans’ bidding. In a national address, she accused Washington of invading her country under false pretenses and asserted that Mr. Maduro was still Venezuela’s head of state. “What is being done to Venezuela is a barbarity,” she said.
Mr. Trump and his top national security advisers carefully avoided describing their plans for Venezuela as an occupation, akin to what the United States did after defeating Japan, or toppling Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Instead, they vaguely sketched out an arrangement similar to a guardianship: The United States will provide a vision for how Venezuela should be run and will expect the interim government to carry that out in a transition period, under the threat of further military intervention. » | David E. Sanger and Tyler Pager | David E. Sanger and Tyler Pager are White House correspondents. | Published: Saturday, January 3, 2026. Updated: Sunday, January 4, 2026
Just imagine how much safer and stabler the world would be today had the powers-that-be had the courage to incarcerate Trump when they had a golden opportunity to do so! Many Americans must surely be rueing the lack of courage. Now, we have to ask how many innocent Americans are going to have to lose their lives in the ensuing conflagrations after this extra-judicial kidnapping of a world leader.
The USA has lost its lustre as a result of this military operation which has questionable legitimacy. For certain, the world can no longer look up to the USA for leadership for moral clarity.
Donald Trump was re-elected on the promise that he would put an end to the ‘forever wars’. But here Americans are again: up to their necks in military conflict. And Venezuela won’t be the last. In fact, it is almost certainly just the start. We already know that Trump is suffering from megalomania. We also know that he has several countries in his crosshairs. Greenland, Canada, and Panama to name just a few. Cuba had better start preparing for the worst, too.
Not so long ago, many feared that Trump was planning on taking the country back to the 50s. To the previous century would be a more accurate description! — © Mark Alexander
