They have been calling it a ‘law enforcement operation’ in the Congress, to justify the military action in Venezuela. And in the couple of days following the capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife on charges of drug trafficking and racketeering, Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized as much, deflecting against other objectives (leadership change, oil, etc). But his boss, President Trump, has been persistent and clear that the US (actually Trump himself, until he assigned the day to day to Rubio and Hegseth), would “run” the country for the foreseeable future, threatening boots on the ground if the Venezuelans don’t heel.

Trump the strategist has named it after himself (as all things he touches must be named) – the Donroe Doctrine. It is intended to be the latest corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (established in the 1820s by President James Monroe) to declare the US supremacy over the Americas. (Ironically, the link that describes the Monroe Doctrine that this administration relies on to justify its actions, is from educational materials on the Secretary of State’s website). But unlike the Monroe Doctrine, that was intended to support the independence of Latin American countries against European colonialism, this latest version asserts supremacy over countries and their resources under threat of force. At least that’s what it claims to do.

But the facts on the ground differ from the rhetoric. There are no US troops present in Venezuela. And the regime that ran the country before, with its troops and illegitimate Socialist government, is still in power. In fact, one of the US indicted drug traffickers, Diosdado Cabello (leader of Venezuela’s security forces and militias) was left behind, in power, with further resolve to stay in power. This explains the violent government crackdown on dissent following the US raids. And instead of installing the government that is universally viewed to have won the last election in a landslide, the President has rejected the leader of that party, Maria Carina Machado, likely because she won the Nobel Peace Prize he coveted. This is clearly not what the President meant by “running” the country.

What he did mean was absconding with the nation’s oil. The President claims possession of 30 – 50 million barrels, with proceeds shared between PDVSA (the government owned oil company) and the US (that could be a bit over $1B to the US). If they increase production, after a taxpayer funded investment of $20B or more, the US might still only net $8B – trivial to US oil companies that had annual sales of $500B last year. It’s not even clear that US companies would choose to make the investment required to repair and update the Venezuelan oil industry infrastructure, if given the opportunity. Piracy of another nation’s resources is not without its own costs, as the US has seen over the past century in Chile, Brazil, and Venezuela (where US firms were largely kicked out). And it sets a standard for other large powers like China and Russia, who would also be happy to enforce their own version of Donroe on their spheres of fear. Would the US trade a few barrels of oil for China commandeering the market dominance of Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), which makes 71% of the world’s semiconductors? How about Russia commandeering Ukraine with its rare earth minerals (that the US just made a development agreement to control half) or their grains that supply 50% of Europe’s demand and 10% of global supply?

But the piracy objectives of the Trump Administration reach farther than Venezuela. They started their administration with disrespectful pokes at Canada as the 51st state. They have increased their rhetoric about taking over Greenland to pirate their rare earth minerals (either through purchase or by force – against a NATO ally!). And have recently added Columbia and Cuba to the mix (maybe Trump has a hankering for cocaine or cigars!). It would look like colonialism if the administration had any intention of making these countries part of the US empire – but all Trump desires are the resources of these countries.

And that is where the Congress may come in. The Senate this past week passed a measure to restrict the war powers of the President in Venezuela – with 5 Republicans in the majority, and the ones in the minority saying that its wasn’t necessary because Trump would never use our military to overthrow another government. Wouldn’t he?

And the national disgrace continues…