If you’ve paid attention to what President Donald Trump has said on the heels of the U.S. arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, you probably have heard him mention the Monroe Doctrine. You might be hearing commentators throw this term around, even if most Americans probably aren’t familiar with the foreign policy approach. 

The Monroe Doctrine refers to the policy pioneered by James Monroe, our fifth president. His rendition proclaimed that European powers no longer colonize or exert influence within the Western Hemisphere, asserting U.S. preeminence over the entire continent.

The Trump corollary takes a similar stance: that any powers outside the Western Hemisphere must not be allowed to exert influence within the Americas, namely China, Russia and Iran. Trump’s approach to policing this doctrine has been hawkish, seen most recently with his arrest of Maduro and threats against Cuba, as well as Mexican cartels. 

A revival of the Monroe Doctrine is welcome news for America and just another example of Trump’s competence in foreign policy. 

For the sake of my case here, I am going to set aside the legal questions of Trump’s actions against Venezuela because, though it matters, it isn’t relevant to the merits of the foreign policy approach. 

Trump has, in jest, referred to his own rendition of the policy as the "Donroe Doctrine," in which the United States asserts preeminence in our hemisphere and blocks external threats from exerting their influence here. 

In........

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