The Trump Doctrine Is About Power — and Venezuela Is Just the Beginning
A few hours after U.S. forces launched strikes in Venezuela and reportedly captured President Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump stood before cameras and said the quiet part out loud.
“We’ll run Venezuela for a period of time, until there’s a transition…”
“We’ll be taking a tremendous amount of wealth out of the ground.”
It was a stunning admission — not of policy, but of purpose.
The operation wasn’t presented as regime change or liberation. It wasn’t framed as a war on terrorism or a humanitarian intervention. The justification was narcotics charges.
The outcome was continued U.S. authority over Venezuela’s governance and resources. And the plan, according to Trump himself, involves seizing control of the country’s oil and mineral reserves — under the guise of transition.
If this sounds more like looting than law enforcement — it is.
And the most disturbing part is that none of it is accidental. It’s strategic. And it’s written down in black and white.
The Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
In November 2025, the Trump administration released its new National Security Strategy. It included a bold new framing of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America: a sweeping agenda called “The Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.”
This updated doctrine lays out a vision in which the entire Western Hemisphere is viewed as America’s rightful sphere of control — politically, economically, and militarily.
Here’s what it says, verbatim:
“We want a Hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us…
one that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets…
that supports critical supply chains…
and ensures our continued access to key strategic locations.”
That’s not diplomacy. That’s dominance.
It continues:
“We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to own or control strategically vital assets…
We must be preeminent in the Western Hemisphere…
[so we can] assert ourselves confidently where and when we need to.”
There is no ambiguity here. The goal is to control Latin America’s resources, supply chains, ports, and politics — and to use military, diplomatic, and financial pressure to ensure that outcome.
This isn’t just about Venezuela. It’s about asserting ownership over the region itself.
Follow the Resources
The new National Security Strategy makes no secret of the real prize: natural resources.
It repeatedly highlights the need to:
“take wealth out of the ground”
secure “critical minerals and rare earth elements”
ensure U.S. access to key geographies and infrastructure
build “near-shore manufacturing” hubs to replace China as a source of cheap labor
This is not hypothetical. It’s operational.
Venezuela is the world’s largest proven oil reserve. It also has significant deposits of rare earth elements. So when the Trump administration justifies military action by citing narco-trafficking — and then immediately announces plans to “run the country” and extract its wealth — Americans have every right to ask:
Is this about justice, or about plunder?
From Security Strategy to Imperial Blueprint
What makes this moment even more dangerous is that the Trump Doctrine doesn’t just rely on raw military power — it combines it with a full-spectrum effort to reshape political regimes across Latin America.
The National Security Strategy outlines a plan to:
“enlist and expand” regional partners aligned with U.S. principles
isolate or pressure those aligned with rivals (particularly China)
control ports, infrastructure, and digital supply chains
and treat any independent economic ties as threats to U.S. security
According to reporting by journalist Ben Norton and others, this strategy has already played out through:
U.S. pressure on Panama to cancel Chinese infrastructure deals
support for the 2025 right-wing electoral takeover in Honduras
threats against Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia for working with China
and now, the use of military force in Venezuela
It is not a foreign policy. It is a corporate war plan.
The American Public Deserves to Know
None of this is about defending Maduro, or excusing Venezuela’s past failures. It’s about defending a principle: that we should not allow power — any power — to weaponize law, military force, and propaganda to hide what is ultimately a strategy of economic extraction and regime engineering.
The Trump Doctrine tells us exactly what it is: a plan to reassert U.S. dominance across Latin America, control critical resources, and block foreign competition.
“Taking wealth… while we run the country.”
Trump said exactly what this is about. And now we know, it will not stop at Venezuela.
Say the Quiet Part Loud
We are told this is justice. But Justice isn’t supposed to be a cover for looting resources.
We are told this is security. But security doesn’t begin with threats.
We are told this is leadership. But leadership doesn’t loot.
This is extraction, not liberation. And it’s time to say that out loud.