Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (Alex Brandon/AP)
EA-Byline Times Podcast: Ego, Oil, and “Donro Doctrine” — Trump’s Invasion of Venezuela
Beginning with Venezuela and continuing across Latin America and beyond, I joined Times Radio’s Fergus Macphee for a 34-minute deep dive into the Trump Administration’s shattering of international law and its threat to international stability.
Asked about the Trump Administration’s motives and calculations around the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, I begin:
What’s in the mind of Donald Trump? That gets into Crazyland.
Then there are the others in the Trump Administration. They are not looking at regime change. They are looking at regime coercion.
I carry that analysis of the crazy v. the rational through the possible outcomes in Venezuela, and then consider how it plays out in the Trump camp’s threats to countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and Greenland.
Without predicting how far the Administration will go in its pressure, intimidation, and possible attacks, I summarize.
There are no more rules of the game, however much we try to make this rational. There are no more alliances for the Trump folks. There are no more regional organizations. There are only what Donald Trump thinks is good for Donald Trump and what his advisors think is good for American power.
That’s the new world that we have to deal with, starting with Venezuela but going across the globe.
