Overview
- U.S. forces detained Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores in an early-morning operation, followed by a Trump briefing tying the action to the Monroe Doctrine, which he dubbed the “Don-roe Doctrine.”
- Trump alleged Venezuela had hosted foreign adversaries and acquired offensive weapons, and he said Washington would run the country until a replacement government is in place.
- The administration’s December national security strategy outlined a “Trump Corollary” aimed at restoring U.S. preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, providing a framework for the operation.
- Scholars quoted by the Associated Press linked Trump’s stance to a long history of invoking the Monroe Doctrine and corollaries to justify U.S. involvement across the region.
- Reaction was swift as commentators criticized the “Don-roe” phrasing and resource-focused remarks, with The National reporting Vice President J.D. Vance urging that “stolen oil” be returned and Trump saying the U.S. would take “a tremendous amount of wealth” from the ground.