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# Trump-Era Nationalism: Maduro in Brooklyn Jail, China in the Crosshairs
January 08 2026
Written by Dimitris Eleas.
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MY THOUGHTS - Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been abducted by Delta Force and is already on U.S. soil. Many commentators have rushed to publish articles explaining what happened, or more accurately, how they interpret the latest developments.
What has taken place constitutes a major challenge to the BRICS countries, and above all to China, which unsettled the West –and especially the United States– with [the military parade](https://www.laprogressive.com/foreign-policy/china-steel) it staged last year. What has unfolded in Venezuela also represents a complete collapse of any notion of law and morality. Even for the United States itself, these actions were carried out without congressional approval –as required by the U.S. Constitution– according to an [article published](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/us/politics/trump-venezuela-congress-authorization.html) by The New York Times, and they violate U.S. law in relation to what was done, and ‘continues to be done’, in Venezuela.
In a way, it all began with the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and later Libya—developments that opened the door not only for Putin, but also for Trump. For long time, Trump has accused Maduro of leading a drug-trafficking network, an allegation Maduro himself has vehemently denied. And yet, Trump recently granted a pardon to Juan Hernández, president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022 – despite the fact that Hernández was running a drug operation while he was in office.
Delta Force pulled him out of bed, blindfolded him, and shackled his hands. He then spent the following night in prison in Brooklyn, New York. Yes, of course, Maduro, who began his life as a bus driver, is an unrestrained strongman and a tyrant. But what also took place is unacceptable. French [President Emmanuel Macron](https://www.barrons.com/news/macron-says-venezuela-s-gonzalez-urrutia-should-lead-post-maduro-transition-48660e70?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcEeCnveWsib2fY4SIOsvu39cSG5K9j-uD1C_PIzF54IHoPSI5XLsSCBY_fttk%3D&gaa_ts=6959fd46&gaa_sig=ju9jJAoPBPanl-AMDhBxM-XqXOWQjUmype1Gxt5h8xtakiXOIjmy5aIHCgY-5KrC02GqmW4kvEa5TRqw5Uo7mA%3D%3D) spoke of a “significant development.” The prime minister of Greece said much the same, even adding that this was not the appropriate moment to comment on the legality of the intervention. One is left to wonder: do these two truly grasp what is unfolding?
All of this also reveals Trump’s deeper intentions: he does not want China to emerge as the dominant power in Panama, Venezuela, or the broader region. Trump is an unusual president, one who can now claim, “I removed him from power, and he’s still alive, and he didn’t meet the fate of Saddam Hussein or Muammar Gaddafi.”
China, however, is the clear loser. It has taken a significant hit. Beijing relied on Venezuelan crude oil, extended massive loans, and carried out major infrastructure projects there, only to be confronted with the reality that American power remains unshakable, whether exercised through diplomacy or through the use of force. The United States, of course, also wants to reclaim the assets of major American corporations that were seized by Caracas in the past, and, quite plainly, to turn a profit as well.
America needs Venezuela’s largest proven reserves of oil, as well as its gold and lithium. The United States needs that wealth, right in its own neighborhood, to “flow onto” the New York Stock Exchange, and indirectly, to help reduce the fiscal deficit (when spending exceeds federal revenues, and the national debt continues to grow).
For many Americans, Trump is a great leader; for others, he is not. Perhaps, with Trump in the White House, the world is returning to something like the era of the Roman Empire, with a dash of Cold War. The Monroe Doctrine is in the air as the U.S. returns to Latin America to restore its prestige, the MAGA movement, and the president himself with his enormous ego—“Dr. Ego.” At the same time, international law cannot be overridden in this manner, because doing so harms weaker countries and vulnerable citizens. The next stop for Delta Force and the CIA will be Greenland –again under cover of night– to keep China away from America’s backyard. The United States has no intention of handing the scepter to China for the next hundred years.
China’s power –already dealt a severe blow by what has happened and what is to come in Venezuela– and the effectiveness of Delta Force, the CIA, and the U.S. Armed Forces in an operation involving a fleet of ships and 150 aircraft that left the world in awe, is a sharp jab straight at Beijing’s elite. Why? Because China is the target of “Trumpian nationalism” and the real boss, controlling 25% of the global economy, and Nicolás Maduro is the instrument…
*(Dimitris Eleas is a political scientist, writer and independent researcher living in New York. His e-mail is: .)*
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