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By Frank Bruni

Mr. Bruni is a contributing Opinion writer who was on the staff of The Times for more than 25 years.

No matter what you think about the wisdom of the operation to snatch Nicolás Maduro, it was logistically audacious and technically impressive, an emphatic demonstration of American military prowess. It was President Trump flexing more than he has ever flexed before.

But when, later that morning, he stood before television cameras at Mar-a-Lago to take his victory lap, it was more a victory wobble. He looked spent. He spoke in a mumbling, meandering fashion. He wasn’t President George W. Bush landing on an aircraft carrier in a flight suit in 2003 to deliver a speech prematurely declaring America’s interventions in Iraq a success;........

© The New York Times