Trump's bullying of Latin America isn't part of any plan - he doesn't have a clue what he's doing

[babylonsister]

Trump’s bullying of Latin America isn’t part of any plan – he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing
Simon Tisdall
The president’s threats to attack Venezuela are regressive, dangerous and almost certain to backfire
Sun 5 Oct 2025 01.00 EDT

snip//

Latin American governments are fretfully watching a big US military buildup around Venezuela, including warships, F-35 fighter jets, an attack submarine and 2,200 marines. Such powerful assets are not much use in drug interdiction. But they could be used offensively, or to support special forces raids and airstrikes. On Thursday, Venezuela accused the US of an “illegal incursion” by at least five F-35s. Maduro says he is readying a state of emergency to “protect our people … if Venezuela [is] attacked by the American empire”.

What is Trump up to? Drug smuggling is a serious problem – but killing people on a whim on the high seas, while common and difficult to prosecute, is still illegal. And anyway, the UN says, most of the cocaine entering the US comes from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, and is mostly not trafficked through Venezuela. Draft-dodger Trump likes to act the tough commander-in-chief. He is now trying to deport Venezuelan migrants, many of whom originally fled to the US to escape sanctions he himself imposed. Some analysts suggest he covets Venezuela’s abundant oil, gas and mineral resources.

It’s true that Trump and John Bolton, his then national security adviser, hoped to replace Maduro in 2019 in what Caracas claimed was a regime change plot. It’s also true that Maduro’s 2024 re-election victory was widely condemned as fraudulent. Given a free choice, Venezuelans would almost certainly sack him. And clashing ideologies are a factor, too. Maduro, unworthy heir to Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution, is an affront to Trump’s imperial idea of a US-dominated western hemisphere, where the 1823 Monroe doctrine rules again and neoliberal, free-market capitalism operates without restraint.

Yet given his hapless blundering on other key foreign issues, the most likely explanation for Trump’s behaviour is that, typically, he hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing – in Venezuela or Latin America as whole. There’s no plan. He throws his weight about, makes impetuous misjudgments, stokes fear of foreigners and bases policy on whether he “likes” other leaders. In 2019, with Maduro on the ropes, Trump blinked. Today, full-scale military intervention in Venezuela remains unlikely. More probable is an intensified pressure campaign of destabilisation, sanctions, maritime strikes, and air and commando raids.

more...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/05/donald-trump-interventions-latin-america-usa-venezuela

[PatSeg]

1. Bullies just gotta bully

And Trump thrives on it. It is like he has been given license to bully whoever, whenever he wants now. He's like a kid in a candy shop with unlimited credit.

[Ping Tung]

2. He gets what he always wants. Headlines, photo ops, and attention.

To him life is all about showbiz and advertising.

"God invented war so Americans would learn geography" Mark Twain

You can make a safe bet that somebody had to explain to him that Venezuela is in South America rather than Illinois before he sent the navy to kill people there.

[jmbar2]

3. It's about Chevron and Venezuelan oil

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78nl9lz8zeo

[malaise]

4. Ding ding

Imperialists steal resources and land - nothing new in this hemisphere