Early Saturday morning,detailsemerged of a U.S.military operationin Venezuela that effected the successful capture and extradition of Venezuelas illegitimate president, Nicols Maduro, to the United States.Delta Force operators executed a daring mission in Caracas while combat pilots led the effort to destroy key military installations on the ground.The narcoterrorist Maduro will no longer wield power over the Venezuelan people or serve as a conduit for Americas enemies to poison Americans and wage hybrid warfare against the United States.Maduro wasblindfoldedaboard the USS Iwo Jima as he began his journey toward becoming a criminaldefendantin New York (maybe hell feel at home with fellow communistZohran Mamdaniat the helm in NYC).
President Trump reportedly warned the Venezuelan dictator weeks ago that if he refused to peacefully relinquish power and go into exile, the American military would reach down and collect him like an arm coming from the sky.As Vice President Vance drylyobserved, Maduro is the newest person to find out that President Trump means what he says.
Hopefully this decapitation strike upon Venezuelas illegitimate government serves as awarningto all communists and narcoterrorists in positions of power along latitudinal lines below Americas southern border:Your days of endangering the Western Hemisphere are numbered.
The success of this mission will lead casual observers to conclude that there were few risks.On the contrary, there were extraordinary risks.Putting U.S. servicemembers in harms way invites the possibility of catastrophe.When elite operators are tasked with complex objectives on battlefields with many unknown variables, the best laid plans lead the needle toward success only so far.The fact thatSecretary of War Hegsethand the U.S. military executed this mission successfully while avoiding American losses is a testament to the planning, skill, and courage of all involved.
Aside from paramount concerns for the lives of U.S. servicemembers, this operation carried significant political risk for the Trump administration.War with Venezuela has not been high on the list of policy expectations for most of Trumps MAGA supporters.Although America First voters have been more than willing to listen to the presidents rationale for blowing up drug boats and seizing oil tankers in the Caribbean, the majority of Americans who have grown painfully tired of D.C.s forever wars are wary of new areas of operations for boots on the ground.Had the mission to capture Maduro gone sideways and required the rapid deployment of contingency forces to secure American personnel, the political repercussions would have been staggering.
That said, President Trump was prepared to get the job done one way or another andtoldjournalists after the successful mission that the U.S. Navy was bearing down with an armada like nobodys ever seen should it be needed.
Observing the presidents chess moves from afar, it appears obvious to me that the president sees luck as nothing more than the product of opportunity and preparation.Nobody can doubt that intense preparation went into this strike.For months, the U.S. military has been slowlysqueezingMaduros assets like a boa constrictor coiling around its prey.As U.S. Navy personnel took out narcoterrorists one speedboat at a time and covert American forces operated inside Venezuelan territory, the Trump administration went after Maduros ill-gotten oil shipments and other sources of revenue.Combining economic sanctions with kinetic strikes, President Trump wound tightly around Maduros narco-regime as Delta Force operators prepared to cut off the head of the enemy.Luck is for suckers.Those who diligently prepareseizeopportunity.
As it stands, only Democrats in Congress arecomplainingthat President Trump took down one of the Western Hemispheres biggest tyrants and a man personally responsible for exporting terror into the United States and poisoning hundreds of thousands of Americans with cartel drugs.Those who recognized Maduro as a continuing threat to the safety, security, and stability of this hemisphere and as a remorseless communist willing to condemn his own people to poverty in order to maintain power are thrilled to see the beginning of the end of Hugo Chvezs murderous legacy.
As if to drive this last point home, the U.S. militaryobliterateda mausoleum honoring Venezuelas dead dictator a man who transformed his nation from one of the wealthiest in the Americas to one of the poorest after sweeping up Maduro in the dead of night.It was a fiery middle finger to communism and a Trump-sized American signature to a hemispheric course correction two and a half decades overdue.
Now Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado and other Venezuelan opposition figures have anopportunityto lead their country away from misery and back toward prosperity.Let us hope that they, too, have prepared accordingly.
President Trumps strike on Venezuela resembles his strike on Irans nuclear facilities back in June in that both operations were high risk and high reward.Had either Iran or Venezuela been successful in repelling American forces or worse, killing American personnel the loss to American military prestige would have been severe.Although peace through strength may sound like a banal mantra to some, Americas reputation for unparalleled lethality casts a long enough shadow to prevent violent altercations before they have a chance to begin.Gustavo Petro of Colombia surely isnt the onlyguerrilla narco-terroristsoiling his trousers right now as he worries about Delta Force operators knocking down his front doorsometime soon.
Just four hours before Americas premier special forces unit bum rushed Maduro, the Venezuelan dictator was taking pictures with members of aChinese delegationwho had arrived to show support for their communist comrade in South America.What do you think those Chinese diplomats were thinking while the U.S. military was blowing up parts of Caracas and swooping down to collect the most powerful and well-guarded man in Venezuela as if he were a piece of trash in need of recycling?Do you think that Beijing will be more or less likely to invade Taiwan now that its trusted emissaries have seen firsthand the will and resolve of President Trump?
As with all foreign policy maneuvers and military actions, the chessboard is much bigger than it initially appears. Decision-makers sitting in capitals around the world are paying attention.They are intently aware that when President Trump makes promises, everyone should listen.
For twenty-five years, the communist regime in Venezuela has been a constant source of chaos in the Western Hemisphere.After stealing American infrastructure built as an investment in the country, first Chvez and then Maduro turned Venezuela into a South American hub for exporting drugs, murder, slavery, terrorism, and organized crime into the United States.One might understandably ask why successive presidents since Bill Clinton have failed to defend the Monroe Doctrine and Americans inherent interest in a peaceful Western hemisphere.The answer is that President Trumps immediate predecessors lacked grit, strength, and vision.
To serve effectively as president of the United States, Americas chief Executive must be a skilled multitasker.There was a time when I assumed that anyone crafty enough to reach the White House probably knew a thing or two about artfully juggling numerous responsibilities.
Watching Donald Trump serve as president has made me realize that I gave previous officeholders too much credit.While his predecessors might have occasionally proven capable of keeping three or four rings in the air, President Trump appears always to be juggling several dozen chainsaws, machetes, and grenades all at once.However else one thinks of the president, he is a multitasker extraordinaire, and most of those who served before him were pikers by comparison.
To secure the Western Hemisphere, we didnt need a new Monroe Doctrine.We just needed a new president.
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