I’m as worried about what comes next in Venezuela as the next sane person. Nobody has forgotten the aftermath of recent American interventions abroad.
On Friday night, Zohran Mamdani went to sleep as the newly sworn-in mayor of New York City, having delivered an inaugural speech noted for its warm, sloppy embrace of “Third World socialism.” Hizzoner then awoke on Saturday morning with the human embodiment of it packaged up in restraints and winging its way toward his town, airmailed by Donald Trump directly into his lap.
How better to frame our discussion of the amazing raid of U.S. Delta Forces into Caracas on Saturday morning, where they swooped down upon Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, seized them, and got out of Dodge without suffering so much as a scratch? It was a stunning performance on an operational level, equally if not more impressive than our foray under Obama to bodybag Osama bin Laden. (We lost a chopper in that one, but give al-Qaeda their due: Maduro was relying upon Iranian and Chinese-bought air defenses, so he wasn’t nearly as well prepared to fight back.)
On a gut level, it is impossible not to tip your cap: We took the Maduros alive and unharmed, iced a bunch of Cuban communist praetorian guardsmen on our way in, and bombed Hugo Chavez’s mausoleum on our way out — just for good measure. (As a gratuitously symbolic act it was petty, spiteful, and awesome.) America’s special forces remain truly elite. Rock, flag, and eagle.
The reactions of Venezuelans — on social media, on the streets of American cities (including my own), and around the world — were equally as thrilling to see. Understand that Venezuela has lost nearly 9 percent of its population to refugee outflows during the Maduro era; none of those people were upset to see the American eagle reach down quickly with its giant military talons to pluck the Maduros up like hapless field mice.
The dynamic on Twitter/X alone was astonishingly entertaining, as one white DSA activist-type after another would weep about “Caudillo Trump” and apologize to every Spanish-speaking person they knew for American imperialism, meanwhile actual Venezuelans were, down to the last man and woman, responding with variations on “please shut up, Maduro is actually evil.” (This was a perfectly emblematic exchange.)
In some ways the Saturday news felt a bit like a tacked-on Christmas gift, and I had my share of fun just listening to the talking heads of my local NPR station lament it with funereally somber voices all morning long. So sometime on Saturday afternoon, a drive-by social media commenter grumbled bitterly at me: “It’s so cool being a Never Trump neocon and getting everything you want from Trump isn’t it?”
Not really. First off, I would quibble with several aspects of that characterization. For one thing, Donald Trump is president; being “Never Trump” under such circumstances is akin to declaring yourself “Never Storm” during a blizzard — this is a season to be weathered, and you best hope it doesn’t turn into an ice age. Furthermore, I am no neocon; the experience of the early 21st century cured me of that youthful folly.
But more importantly, I remain unclear as to what we’re actually getting here. A temporary protectorate? I can assure you I don’t want that — as I just said, I am no neocon — though I am waiting to see how many in MAGA world are suddenly in favor of full-throated 19th-century imperialism if Donald Trump endorses it. Trump claims that we will “run” Venezuela and their oil industry, until such time as we see fit to hold elections. He has already expressed his disdain for opposition leader Maria Machado, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. He emphasizes that strikes may continue if Vice President Delcy Rodríguez fails to give him what he wants.
What kind of a commitment are we talking about here? The U.S. displayed unparalleled military excellence in capturing Maduro. As to what comes next, it doesn’t seem like they have much of a plan at all, except to tell the current oppressive regime (and more importantly its military) to just be better. Give us what we want. If Trump expects the Marxist regime to simply voluntarily disassemble itself, well — good luck with the army. If they want to brutishly extract resources with a more pliant group of scum, well — that strikes me as the sort of matter that ought to be put to a congressional vote, at the very least.
I am under no illusions about Donald Trump as some kind of avatar of democratic values and virtues; he has approximately a half-century’s worth of statements and actions to evidence his contempt for anything except graft and/or visceral strength in international politics. I am similarly under no illusions as to Donald Trump’s credentials as a drug warrior; a man willing to pardon the drug-trafficking president of Honduras only months prior to snatching up Maduro on putatively criminal charges — for drug-trafficking — hasn’t much of a leg to stand on. Trump seems to understand international law the way all honest students of it do, which is that there is really only one true rule: The strong do as they will while the weak suffer what they must. All else is governed by norms, and Donald Trump has little concern for those.
I do, however, believe that there are men and women underneath Trump who are committed to such things. (Marco Rubio has had quite the run as secretary of state, even if I suspect it’s felt for him a bit more like being strapped into a minimally steerable rocket-sled.) And so, once the rush of initial success has worn off — and setting aside the sordidness of Trump’s worldview — what I want to know most is: What is your plan for success here? I’m as worried about what comes next in Venezuela as the next sane person. Nobody has forgotten the aftermath of recent American interventions abroad. We have a history of mishandling such things. And once again, I fear we don’t have a real plan, only a vague concept of a plan. We’ve seen where that can lead.