In case you missed it, President Trump just updated the Monroe Doctrine, with a clear lawsuit and an incredibly well-executed military action to take out Venezuela’s communist strongman and his wife. I believe Mr. Trump is absolutely right to bend the arc of history back toward freedom. It is a great and noble mission. And here is Mr. Trump’s definition of it.
Asked by a reporter: “If you had to summarize Operation Absolute Resolve, would you say it was about oil or about regime change?” The president responded, “It’s about peace on earth.” The reporter continued, “How is there peace on earth?” Mr. Trump’s response was: “Peace on earth. You have to have peace. It’s our hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine was very important when it was implemented. And other presidents, many of them, have lost sight of it. I haven’t lost sight of it. But it really is. It’s peace on earth.” Peace on earth, I think that’s the perfect way to say it.
Personally, I think this was a historic move by Mr. Trump. And I think it will change the course of history, not only in the Western Hemisphere, but also in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Mr. Trump is showing America’s remarkable strength. He is a president with a clear voice and common sense, who says what he believes and then takes action. There is no room for communism, war or narco-terrorism in this hemisphere. Maduro was warned, didn’t listen and paid the price.
Just like the bombing of the Iranian nuclear facilities, which took out Al-Baghdadi or Soleimani. Mr. Trump warned, then took action and changed history. And he does it again. And it is truly a wonderful thing. And it makes America strong again. And it helps wipe away the Biden stain from Afghanistan. And other failures.
Former National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien considers the future of Venezuela after the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro in ‘Kudlow’.
By the way, for those who may not have met him, President Monroe, in his seventh annual message to Congress, on December 2, 1823, issued a stark warning to the European powers that the United States would tolerate no further colonization or puppet monarchs. Monroe’s Doctrine has stood the test of time and has been invoked by a number of American presidents over the years.
Most notably, Theodore Roosevelt in the Dominican Republic in 1904, Nicaragua in 1911, and Haiti in 1915. John F. Kennedy used the Monroe Doctrine during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. President George HW Bush used it in Panama in 1990 to depose Manuel Noriega. But since then, presidents have become soft on infiltration and even colonization from China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, Hezbollah and other enemies.
Lately, they’ve all converged on an anti-American rat’s nest in Venezuela, where the Cuban military and secret police have effectively taken control of the government and, to a large extent, the entire country. Venezuela has lost three-quarters of its entire economy and most of its oil production. Yet Hugo Chavez and his successor Maduro have never cared about their downfall of the people of their country.
Narcoterrorism and cocaine exports were the turning point for Trump. And so he launched a legal action, backed by incredible military force, to stop the rot in Venezuela. Stopping the rot in Venezuela will have a major impact in Colombia, and Brazil, and probably Cuba, and probably around the world. It may be difficult to democratize Venezuela in the long term. And Mr. Trump has even threatened a second wave. Yet I believe he will do whatever it takes to clean up the drug-ridden communist neighborhoods in our backyard, to ensure that the arc of history continues with the American values of freedom and prosperity that will benefit all peoples.
