It can fairly be said that the most precarious jobs in the world are those of a golf ball collector at a driving range, a mascot at a Chuck E. Cheese, and a Trump Administration lawyer.
That was evident at the press conference yesterday as President Donald Trump blew apart the carefully constructed narrative presented earlier for the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Some of us had written that Trump had a winning legal argument by focusing on the operation as the seizure of two indicted individuals in reliance on past judicial rulings, including the decisions in the case of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and General Dan Caine stayed on script and reinforced this narrative. Both repeatedly noted that this was an operation intended to bring two individuals to justice and that law enforcement personnel were part of the extraction team to place them into legal custody. Rubio was, again, particularly effective in emphasizing that Maduro was not the head of state but a criminal dictator who took control after losing democratic elections.
However, while noting the purpose of the capture, President Trump proceeded to declare that the United States would engage in nation-building to achieve lasting regime change. He stated that they would be running Venezuela to ensure a friendly government and the repayment of seized U.S. property dating back to the government of Hugo Chávez.
This city is full of self-proclaimed Trump whisperers who rarely score above random selection in their predictions. However, there are certain pronounced elements in Trump’s approach to such matters. First, he is the most transparent president in my lifetime with prolonged (at times excruciatingly long) press conferences and a brutal frankness about his motivations. Second, he is unabashedly and undeniably transactional in most of his dealings. He is not ashamed to state what he wants the country to get out of the deal.
In Venezuela, he wants a stable partner, and he wants oil.
Chávez and Maduro had implemented moronic socialist policies that reduced one of the most prosperous nations to an economic basket case. They brought in Cuban security thugs to help keep the population under repressive conditions, as a third fled to the United States and other countries.
After an extraordinary operation to capture Maduro, Trump was faced with socialist Maduro allies on every level of the government. He is not willing to allow those same regressive elements to reassert themselves.
The problem is that, if the purpose was regime change, this attack was an act of war, which is why Rubio struggled to bring the presser back to the law enforcement purpose. I have long criticized the erosion of the war declaration powers of Congress, including my representation of members of Congress in opposition to Obama’s Libyan war effort.
The fact, however, is that we lost that case. Trump knows that. Courts have routinely dismissed challenges to undeclared military offensives against other nations. In fairness to Trump, most Democrats were as quiet as church mice when Obama and Hillary Clinton attacked Libya’s capital and military sites to achieve regime change without any authorization from Congress. They were also silent when Obama vaporized an American under this “kill list” policy without even a criminal charge. So please spare me the outrage now.
My strong preferences for congressional authorization and consultation are immaterial. The question I am asked as a legal analyst is whether this operation would be viewed as lawful. The answer remains yes.
The courts have previously upheld the authority of presidents to seize individuals abroad, including the purported heads of state. This case is actually stronger in many respects than the one involving Noriega. Maduro will now make the same failed arguments that Noriega raised. He should lose those challenges under existing precedent. If courts apply the same standards to Trump (which is often an uncertain proposition), Trump will win on the right to seize Maduro and bring him to justice.
But then, how about the other rationales rattled off at Mar-A-Lago? In my view, it will not matter. Here is why.
The immediate purpose and result of the operation was to capture Maduro and to bring him to face his indictment in New York. That is Noriega 2.0. The Administration put him into custody at the time of extraction with law enforcement personnel and handed him over to the Justice Department for prosecution.
The Trump Administration can then argue that it had to deal with the aftermath of that operation and would not simply leave the country without a leader or stable government. Trump emphasized that “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
I still do not like the import of those statements. Venezuelans must be in charge of their own country and our role, if any, must be to help them establish a democratic and stable government. Trump added that “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”
The devil is in the details. Venezuelans must decide who has their best interests in mind, not the United States.
However, returning to the legal elements, I do not see how a court could free Maduro simply because it disapproves of nation-building. Presidents have engaged in such policies for years. The aftermath of the operation is distinct from its immediate purpose. Trump can argue that, absent countervailing action from Congress, he has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to lay the foundation for a constitutional and economic revival in Venezuela.
He will leave it to his lawyers to make that case. It is not the case that some of us preferred, but it is the case that he wants to be made. He is not someone who can be scripted. It is his script and he is still likely to prevail in holding Maduro and his wife for trial.
N.B.: This column appeared on Fox.com
Happy for the Venezuelan people. And thanks to our awesome military. ..but I’m puzzled about the Donald’s reluctance to support Maria Corina Machado, since she was elected el presidente in2024.
She was not elected President in 2024. She won the Presidential primary election 2024 then fell or was pushed out and Eduardo Gonzalez stepped in her place and won the election. They both won the Pulitzer prize and dedicated it to DJT. Maduro dumped on him and refused to vacate the presidency, does that sound right?
Mamdani-Maduro richly deserved the Pulitzer-Potemkin prize.
I would imagine that it was an effort to distance Machado from Trump & allay suspicion that she was actively involved in the attack to overthrow Maduro. Trump very pointedly stated that she was cooperating but really didn’t have any choice. Prior to this U.S. media has only criticized her indirectly by citing Europe’s opposition to her receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/world/americas/nobel-prize-venezuela.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Trump welcomed the appointment of Rodríguez as interim president: “We just had a conversation with her, and she’s basically ready to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again, it’s that simple,” the US President said at a press conference.
Trump constantly goes off script because he is a consistent liar. Look at his lies about the Epstein file and the at least 25 women who have made allegations of sexual misconduct along with the finding by a New York court that he committed sexual misconduct. His former wife alleged he raped her. This is in addition to the numerous financial frauds and bankruptcies he has engaged in. The MAGA cult will excuse any of his behavior no matter how immoral or illegal.
Get well soon.
No shit! Has to be Rosie, I don’t think Ive ever seen a case that bad. Lithium
We started as a country of small and legally-limited government, with low taxes, no standing army, and a dedication to international neutrality. Now we have a bloated government, high taxes, an unbearable national debt, a giant military establishment, and an international policy that intervenes throughout the world. Our two greatest Presidents, whom we honor next month, would be horrified.
Obama and Biden?
We’ve had a standing army since 1792. It’s not a recent thing.
And we were never “dedicated to international neutrality”. Cf our “foreign wars” in the 1790s and 1800s, and the Monroe doctrine.
So here’s the plan. You just capture Maduro and walk away while the next strong man with the help of the military takes over. That’s a real good plan. It’s not about nation building it’s about rescuing a people who experienced a rise of 36 percent inflation from March to April. Imagine that. If you had a ten dollar bill in March in April it would be worth six bucks. There comes a time when we must feel the pain of the people. Is just it might someday go wrong mean that we should never do anything?
Up springs chicken little.
It only makes sense for there to be a degree of oversight to ensure another tyrant does not take Muduro place. Ensure free and fair elections for the people of Venezuela.
As for the oil, I think there needs to be more focus on how the outster of Muduro will affect on the global stage. Russia, China, and Iran just lost a key ally.
which is what turley wrote.
So now on this forum we have the Trump haters and the Maduro lovers. Let’s put on the shoes of the Venezuelan people and walk a mile. Inflation Rate in Venezuela increased to 172 percent in April from 136 percent in March of 2025. Inflation Rate in Venezuela averaged 3527.03 percent from 1973 until 2025, reaching an all time high of 344509.50 percent in February of 2019 and a record low of 3.22 percent in February of 1973.
That’s a 36 percent increase in inflation on one month!
The Venezuelan people live in poverty and China gets the oil money.
And we’re supposed to believe that the leftist care about the poor and downtrodden.
Some people are in on the con and some people are too stupid to realize they’ve been duped.
There’s plenty of testimony to my conclusion on this forum. No need to name names but one starts with A and the other starts with X.
Your premises are all wrong. To begin, inflation played no role in Maduros arrest. As to the people, that they live in poverty based on some random numbers you concocted, leading to leftist are mad, is wholly false.
Whilst all that will change under Trump’s plan is that a dictator he likes will be installed, and American millionaires will pocket the oil revenue rather than the Chinese?
IF American oil companies return to Venezuela bring back the prosperity as they did prior to the socialists take over, raising the living standards of all Venezuelans that would be a much better thing than the socialist nightmare they have been living.
Whilst all that will change under Trump’s plan is that a dictator he likes will be installed, and American millionaires will pocket the oil revenue rather than the Chinese?
Whilst Britain’s communists supporting Kier Starmer are generally far more happy and in their natural environment over at Rachael Maddow’s blog… what model of Ouiji Board do they bring here that they believe tells them what Trump’s plans are?
These are the same dentally impaired slack jawed Brits who proclaimed just a few months ago that – based on their extensive military service as modern Walter Mitty’s – they predicted after Trump destroyed The Mad Mullah’s nuke factory that Trump had just began World War 3.
Still waiting for Trump to act and install his favorite dictator in Iran… it’s been over six months now…
TiT,
Well, the inflation rate was so high, the people of Venezuela would weight stacks of money to buy basics rather than count it. It was faster.
https://www.inkl.com/news/venezuela-s-currency-now-worth-so-little-shopkeepers-weigh-vast-piles-of-notes-instead-of-counting-them
While not directly analogous, the governance and recovery of Japan after WW2 by the United States may provide some guidance.
Germany, England, France, Yugoslavia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Finland etc.. all directly/indirectly part of the Marshall Plan, established governance in the recovered countries. Venezuela has it a lot better, they have assets galore. They just need a leader, not a socialist, at the helm now. The current vice president spouts leftist paroles, but she’s soon a goner. And how to get rid of Maduros henchmen? Military takeover by the US – hardly.
This will be something to watch. God Bless Donald Trump!
On 9/11/01 G. W. Bush reaped the harvest of seeds planted in the Middle East by his predecessors from the 1950s through the 1990s (oil soaked, perhaps?) and responded with a twenty year war in Afghanistan. I can hardly wait to see what a Trump successor will ultimately reap from all of this, and heap upon us, if our growing list of adversaries even wait that long to respond.
Meanwhile, one underlying cause of so much US demand for illicit drugs will continue to grow with the increasing use of toxic FDA approved food additives to make the American “illnesscare” industry more profitable. Trump has his head so far up his ass that what he may think are hemorrhoids are probably brain tumors. Legal, or not, before freeing any foreign people from murderous tyranny Trump should start in his own front yard. Charles G. Shaver
Charles G. Shaver says: On 9/11/01 G. W. Bush reaped the harvest of seeds planted in the Middle East by his predecessors from the 1950s through the 1990s (oil soaked, perhaps?) and responded with a twenty year war in Afghanistan.
Speaking of people whose posts show that their heads are so far up their asses that you have to wipe your lips with toilet paper after spewing stuff like that, Charlie G. Shaver:
1. The Muslim Brotherhood/Salafist-Wahaabist terrorism in the quest for a global Caliphate did not begin in the 1950’s – not even close, feeble one. Didn’t have anything to do with oil.
Didn’t even begin when the Ottoman Caliphate chose the losing side during WWI in hopes of getting recent losses in the Caucuses back – and the Slavs, Europeans, Jews, etc returned to what had been their occupied lands.
2. That 20 year war in Afghanistan that Obama turned into an “endless war” by switching the mission from close with and destroy the enemy to instead focus on “nation building”… did you enjoy the 20 years of security from hajji Muslim terrorism that allowed you to sit safely at home on your couch, acting as a Couch Keyboard Commando, who didn’t have to worry about jets being hijacked and flown into office towers, machine gun attacks on night spots, etc?
If so, then thank the men from the Coalition countries who left their homes and countries to keep those hajji terrorist leaders running from cave to cave attempting to survive one day to the next – while you stayed comfie and safe at home on your couch swilling cheap booze while composing lectures to tell those men how stupid they were to serve – rather than being smart like you and staying safe at home.
American freedom – you’re entitled to it Charlie, but you don’t deserve it.
Anonymous, your rant reads like a spoiled post “all voluntary military” juvenile who doesn’t remember any of at least three warnings our government ‘of-the-rich, by-the-rich and for-the rich’ failed to heed prior to the guerrilla warrior (as opposed to “terrorist”) attacks on the home bases of the American money, power and war mongers on ‘9/11;’ the oil embargo of 1973, the truck bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the truck bomb attack in the WTC underground parking in 1993. This must be a great time of the year for one who probably still believes in Santa Clause, the $1Trillion “Great Recession” of 2008 and the $7Trillion Covid-19 “pandemic.” Unlike you, probably, as the son of a decorated W.W.II veteran who died unexpectedly on a VA operating table about a month before my fourteenth birthday, I can not only see the tragic losses of “9/11” and of our misled courageous and dutiful troops, I can ‘feel’ them. Also, while not a long or illustrious career, I have a DD-214, do you? And, too, unlike Trump and his ilk, I still honor my oath to support and defend the US Constitution. CGS
The answer of course is, because it was DJT who made it happen…
That was the answwer ot your remark, However, returning to the legal elements, I do not see how a court could free Maduro simply because it disapproves of nation-building.
Why are the Constitution worshippers turning blind eyes to its violation all of a sudden?
Rand Paul wanted there to be a vote:
https://thehill.com/opinion/robbys-radar/5644630-rand-paul-trump-venezuela-congress/
Rand Paul: “The Constitution says that war only occurs when it’s declared by Congress”.
No, it doesn’t say that. Read it again, Rand. That provision is simply not there.
Rand Paul wanted there to be a vote:
Did he attempt a claim that he has a right to be given one? Or is that just a desired after Christmas gift he hopes he can get? Rand Paul’s egalitarian elitist Libertarian theory on foreign affairs is that we should pursue WWI and WWII isolationism, and never lift a finger until an enemy’s boots are walking on US soil.
Please explain the violation.
They are “cafeteria consititutionalists”.
Some violations get a pass, while other violations do not.
Because the “violation” exists only in your imagination. There is not one word in the constitution that says Trump couldn’t do this, or needed anyone’s permission to do it.
Why are the Constitution worshippers turning blind eyes to its violation all of a sudden?
There is no violation – you Marx worshippers don’t even own a copy of the Constitution from which you could copy the passages that you could hope would support your claim.
Trump would better serve himself and the nation by knowing when to stop talking.
Tomorrow is:
The 12th Day of Christmas is Twelfth Night (Monday January 5th 2026), the end of the festive season before the Feast of Epiphany (January 6th), marking the arrival of the Three Wise Men; traditionally, it’s a time for a big feast, taking down decorations, and even burning the Christmas greenery, with the carol’s final gift being “Twelve Drummers Drumming,” symbolizing doctrines of the Apostles’ Creed.
What a Gift to the Peoples of Venezuela, Their prayers have been answered. Freedom to breath and shape the direction of their future once again. The blessed manifestation is an theophany of God, worthy of the Feast (Tuesday January 6th 2026).
Blessing Jonathan – Brilliant
Lets hope so, but that country is a huge mess,and the bad guys won’t give in that easy.
Define mess.
Socialist hellhole.
“However . . .” (JT)
You seem to see a contradiction where one does not exist.
Everything before the “however” states the legal and moral justification for removing Maduro. Everything after the “however” addresses the issue: Now that Maduro’s been removed, what’s next.
Those are two different contexts; two different sets of facts. And thus there is no contradiction.
Noted that prior to the end of his administration, Joe Biden (and Kamala Harris) placed a $25 million bounty on Maduro’s head. Barack Obama allowed Hilary Clinton to attempt Nation Building in Libya and that turned out poorly. Obama authorized over 500 drone strikes killing approximately 3700 people.
Not a peep from the left side.
There seems no argument that Maduro was a drug runner and narco terrorist and had sent his gangland buddies to the US and Mexico to wreck havoc. Other intel suggests that Maduro’s drug money also financed the cartels in much of Mexico that has caused much death and destruction there and in the US, and other intel has been advanced that China has started to use Venezuela to dump fentanyl precursors.
So, once again tell me what was wrong with snatching a man who had indictments from 2020 and 2025 in the US when he had already turned down every off-ramp offered to him to leave. Just like Saddam Husain.
I think the Venezuelan people can make the choice, hopefully in a short time, to decide their future.
This is also a warning to the former narcoterrorist who is the elected president of Columbia and also to President Sheinbaum of Mexico to clean up and stop the narco-terrorists. Patience is wearing thin.
We have lost enough people to this scourge.
Here are the 10 kingdoms that Trump is pushing for as every hotspot in the world needs to be brought under submission to the globalists to form their 10 kingdoms:
https://image1.slideserve.com/1712404/1973-club-of-rome-regions-l.jpg
This has all been prophesied 1000s of years ago with America as the harlot riding her UN~beast!:
https://sumofthyword.com/2021/01/07/mystery-babylon-the-great-and-her-beast/
Btg is all fault, religious organizations that have gotten components of the beast to prosecute God’s people. Daniel 2:19-44 is the final act of imperfect humans! This 100 % accurate prophecy of a line of world powers: Babylon;Medo-Persia;Greece;Rome;& the final one before God’s kingdom destroyis it is described as divided rule (prez/congress), with the population that is disunited! God’s kingdom is not in heaven, it is from heaven & will destroy all human governments.
Well said GEB. The Democrats now have a new issue for the upcoming 2026 midterms besides their old “tax the rich” mantra. Greg
All good points, GEB!
What about the former President of Honduras who was convicted of drug offenses and given a pardon. Maybe Maduro should flatter Trump, name a building after him and give him some sort of bribe and then he will be free as are all of the other crooks Trump has pardoned. If you believe Trump I have bridge I would like to sell you in Brooklyn.
What about him? He was duly convicted and sentenced, and if Trump felt like pardoning him that was his right. Maybe one day he’ll pardon Maduro too, but I doubt it. It’s irrelevant.
“The devil is in the details. Venezuelans must decide who has their best interests in mind, not the United States.”
Some stability is necessary to support free elections. Frankly, I wouldn’t care if every socialist candidate was disqualified at gunpoint, but I doubt it will come to that.
This will be yet another example of how much the libs hate America. Some Obama/Biden appointed judge will declare that the capture of Mr and Mrs Maduro was illegal (where is the arrest warrant) and they must be freed and sent back to Venezuela. Wait for it. . . .
The indictment was in the SDNY. That’s enough to justify the arrest.
Also, foreigners when they are outside the USA have no constitutional rights whatsoever. The constitution doesn’t care if we boil them in oil.
Die Einsetzung von Rodríguez als Interimspräsidentin begrüßte Trump jetzt: „Wir haben gerade ein Gespräch mit ihr geführt, und sie ist im Grunde bereit, das zu tun, was wir für notwendig halten, um Venezuela wieder groß zu machen, ganz einfach“, so der US-Präsident bei einer Pressekonferenz.
I guess time will tell. It was bold, regardless, but I agree nation building is not our place and the wrong angle. Hoo boy. Thank you for the excellent analysis.
If it wasn’t wrong for a Republican president to do this, then
it wasn’t wrong for a Democrat president to do this, either.
Libya was done by Obama, Panama was done by Bush. Cuba was done by Kennedy, DR was done by Eisenhower, Vietnam was done by LBJ. What is your point?