President Donald Trump’s vision of U.S. foreign policy has been treated as something of a puzzle ever since he entered the political fray in 2015. But over the weekend, it became abundantly, startlingly clear.
Assessments of Trump as an isolationist or an opponent of overseas entanglements abruptly ended with his middle-of-the-night capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The assertion by Trump that the U.S. will now “run” the Latin American country, in a press conference that also included a lot of attention to Venezuela’s oil industry, gave observers an even clearer perspective. Add to that picture the administration’s National Security Strategy released in December, which declares a “Trump Corollary” ― or what Trump is calling the “Donroe Doctrine” ― to “reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.”
This vision, which comes into focus, is one of unbridled imperialism in pursuit of resource extraction and hemispheric domination. And it would bring the world back to the late-19th century’s “spheres of influence” where the great powers, now with the U.S. in a leading role, divide the world up for conquest and extraction.
The administration is extremely clear about this. Touting the operation to capture Maduro, the administration posted images on social media proclaiming: “This Is Our Hemisphere.”
