One of the genuine surprises of Donald Trump’s second term has been his recent fixation on foreign policy. He always claimed he would be an “America First” president whose only real interest in a grubby world full of Euro-wimps and “shithole countries” was to make them all leave us alone. He clearly hasn’t changed his dim view of foreigners, but he does crave a legacy as someone who simultaneously ended multiple conflicts and made his country the most powerful military machine in human history. Lest we forget, Trump 2.0 actually, if briefly, went to war with Iran in a step that momentarily disturbed many MAGA followers. But he may be up to something far more dangerous to his reputation as a xenophobic quasi isolationist: an invasion of Venezuela for the purpose of toppling its leftist regime.

If that happens at all, I’m sure the idea behind it would be a quick surgical strike to kill or otherwise disable the leadership of Nicolás Maduro’s regime. Trump probably wants a war like the brief, half-forgotten 1990 invasion of Panama to depose Manuel Noriega or LBJ’s 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic to end alleged Cuban control of its government. Like those “excursions,” an invasion of Venezuela may be rationalized by Trump as a sort of neighborhood cleanup project. But does he risk the unity of a MAGA movement that really does take “America First” seriously? Will they happily go to war with their president?

So........

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