Trump in the Atlantic yesterday
"In a telephone interview this morning, President Donald Trump issued a not-so-veiled threat against the new Venezuelan leader, Delcy Rodríguez, saying that “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” referring to Nicolás Maduro, now residing in a New York City jail cell. Trump made clear that he would not stand for Rodríguez’s defiant rejection of the armed U.S. intervention that resulted in Maduro’s capture.""pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,”So death, maybe?"When I asked this morning why nation building and regime change in Venezuela would be different from similar efforts he previously opposed in Iraq, Trump suggested posing the question to former President George W. Bush.“I didn’t do Iraq. That was Bush. You’ll have to ask Bush that question, because we should have never gone into Iraq. That started the Middle East disaster,” Trump said.""Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that the world should take notice after the Venezuela operation. “When he tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it,” Rubio said. Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. “needs” to control Greenland.Trump said it was up to others to decide what U.S.-military action in Venezuela means for Greenland. “They are going to have to view it themselves. I really don’t know. He was very generous to me, Marco, yesterday,” Trump said. “You know, I wasn’t referring to Greenland at that time. But we do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense.”"https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/01/trump-venezuela-maduro-delcy-rodriguez/685497/"After the raid, a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller, posted an illustrated map of Greenland in the colours of the US stars and stripes with the caption: "SOON." (Sky News 4/1)(Ms Miller is married to Mr Trump's influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller)."On Sunday, Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president and close ally of Vladimir Putin, said the attacks on Venezuela were unlawful but consistent because Mr Trump was defending US interests.“It must be acknowledged that, despite the obvious unlawfulness of Trump’s behaviour, one cannot deny a certain consistency in his actions. He and his team defend their country’s national interests quite harshly,” he told state news."So what sort of lesson is it for Russia and China then?
David Ainsworth ● 306d50 Comments ● 303d