"We thought this would be a president who might be neoisolationist, who might be inclined toward restraint," Council President and CEO Leslie Vinjamuri says. "That is just not what we're seeing now. "
Council Nonresident Senior Fellow Paul Poast reflects on the Trump administration's recent operation in Venezuela and what it reveals about the president's approach to foreign policy.
Trump's first foreign policy moves of the new year included invading Venezuela, threatening to coerce Greenland into becoming a US territory, and withdrawing the US from 66 international organizations.
The US capture of Venezuela’s Maduro echoed intents outlined by Trump in the 2025 National Security Strategy. While the action might have appealed to his Republican base, the strategy’s principles are mostly out of step with US public opinion on America’s engagement in the world.
"The person that is probably benefiting the most right now is Vladimir Putin," Nonresident Senior Fellow Bruce Jentleson says. "'What's yours in mine' is what he said to Ukraine."
We need to think about an approach to international law's control of the use of force that is true to the moral and power political realities of today's world.
"Whether one loves Donald Trump or hates him, this daring operation shows what leadership in the executive branch looks like," Council Board Member Richard Porter writes following the US intervention in Venezuela.
"This administration wants to enlist its friends to help secure its dominance in the Western Hemisphere," Leslie Vinjamuri says. "It's also willing to push the boundaries of what we have come to see as normal, expected, legitimate, international behavior in order to secure that dominance."
