Had we inserted Machado as the president, there would have been a military coup almost immediately. Keeping the current government in place is the best course of action to keep things under control in Venezuela. The fact that we didn't just topple the government indicates to me that this wasn't a "ready-fire-aim" operation.

We've shown that our military has the ability to operate at-will inside Venezuela. Rodriguez will fall in line because she knows she risks getting the same treatment as Maduro if she doesn't.

aTmAg said:

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13B said:

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aTmAg said:

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I saw that he said he hadn't even TALKED TO Machado. Really?

I understand that maybe she may not be tough enough to go Pinochet on the commies, but to not even talk to her? Now Venezuela has appointed their VP as dictator and talk like they are going to continue to ignore Trump. What is his actual plan here?

I'm worrying that his thought process is no more deep than a personal vendetta against Maduro.

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Absolutely not! He has no plan. He never has a plan. Not a single thing he has done has worked out. He repeatedly fails over and over again. He flies by the seat of his pants. He just throws stuff against the wall and sees what sticks. He has no direction. Oh and he is a threat to Democracy with his reckless actions. I am quite certain he never researches whether he is allowed to execute certain functions of his office.

There. Is that what you were looking for? Are you happy now. Did I do it right?

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Read my posts. I am totally onboard with getting rid of Maduro. In fact, I wish we had killed him and spare us a trial. But I was assuming he actually had a plan of sorts.

Now it looks like he doesn't, and you guys aren't aren't giving me any warm fuzzies about me being wrong on that. Just excuses.

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Why does this matter to you? The plan was to remove Maduro. That plan was successful. It's okay for the US to now go into a wait and watch position instead of trying to nation build.

flown-the-coop said:

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Someone received their talking points. Back to "Trump has no plan!!!"

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They figured out showing sympathy for and backing a brutal dictator that trafficked illegal drugs and got arrested has no legs since the Venezuelans are dancing in the street, so now they are focusing their TDS on these new talking points..

Maduro is Mexican for "Mature-o"

She knows she has to fall in line. Her country will be emboldened that the US actually helped them.

There is likely no plan because the US never has a plan when it does things like this, and the assumptions we make about what is going to happen are almost always wrong.

But hey, foreign adventures and nation building are great when my guy does it.

DCPD158 said:

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aTmAg said:

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I saw that he said he hadn't even TALKED TO Machado. Really?

I understand that maybe she may not be tough enough to go Pinochet on the commies, but to not even talk to her? Now Venezuela has appointed their VP as dictator and talk like they are going to continue to ignore Trump. What is his actual plan here?

I'm worrying that his thought process is no more deep than a personal vendetta against Maduro.

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Rubio has talked to her many times, but when he asked her what her plan was if Maduro was gone, she never had an answer. She is a good figurehead, but not a leader, especially someone that can control any of the multiple factions in the country.

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My thought exactly.

Now, IMO, she could be a great leader, but only with our full backing. And by backing, I mean we pick and choose who her top and mid-tier level people are. The choices being those our CIA has given their full blessing on.

Anything less and things would be unstable and make what Trump did pointless, save for holding Maduro accountable for crimes.

So many people on this thread pissed that Trump won't personally brief them on the admin's plans for Venezuela.

pagerman @ work said:

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There is likely no plan because the US never has a plan when it does things like this, and the assumptions we make about what is going to happen are almost always wrong.

But hey, foreign adventures and nation building are great when my guy does it.

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Trump hated what W did with Iraq. Because of that I can see him wanting to be fully successful with Venezuela. He mentioned peace a few times when asked about his plans and I believe him. Yes, me.

This will be a big test, though, because using our military to break things is easy, we've all (those over 50) seen us do it so many times. But rebuilding after we've broken, well, we're not so good at.

So, hopefully Trump has his people working every hour of the day to figure out how this time he'll be successful when others with the same resources weren't.

For the sake of the Venezuelans I hope he is.

Kansas Kid said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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I believe they have a plan. The question is going to be what happens when things don't go according to that plan. We're right at the Mendoza Line in successful nation-building excercises. Let's hope this one is different.

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Since 1950, what are you counting as a success in nation-building? I thought we were still batting 0.000 which is why a lot of people loved when Trump ran in 2016 on stopping the nation building.

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Panama.

Which is I think the obvious corollary everyone is overlooking in this thread. The opening moves are the same plan using that precedent to get Maduro and to prosecute him.

They have diverged by not immediately getting involved in country as we did in Panama likely because VZ is much larger and more complex than Panama, world trade doesn't hinge on VZ like Panama, and we still have the hangover of failed ME policy.

But I'm guessing similar actions we took in Panama are in the batters box if Delcy doesn't work out based on Trumps comments in his public presser. Eg: "phase 2".

Real American men of genius vibes here...

Dr. Nefario said:

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Had we inserted Machado as the president, there would have been a military coup almost immediately. Keeping the current government in place is the best course of action to keep things under control in Venezuela. The fact that we didn't just topple the government indicates to me that this wasn't a "ready-fire-aim" operation.

We've shown that our military has the ability to operate at-will inside Venezuela. Rodriguez will fall in line because she knows she risks getting the same treatment as Maduro if she doesn't.

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THIS

obviously the VP has been in on this from the beginning and must have agreed to what Rubio demanded

hopefully that includes:

cutting off Cuba from oil

kicking out all Iranians

kicking out all Russians

kicking out all Chinese

BigRobSA said:

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Maduro is Mexican for "Mature-o"

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How many countries have we successfully made in our own image after militarily entered? I'll hang up and listen.

Just reread the whole thread and don't see where anyone states that as the goal….. several other goals but not that. Heck, we don't even follow our own blueprint anymore

TexasAggie73 said:

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How many countries have we successfully made in our own image after militarily entered? I'll hang up and listen.

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Irrelevant question.

flown-the-coop said:

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Someone received their talking points. Back to "Trump has no plan!!!"

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He looks like the goblins on Harry Potter that run Gringotts

/revision/latest?cb=20161215062124

They both hide their rolls of money in hidden cavities at their posterior.

Funny. Talk about soulless shark eyes. This guy may have broken the mold.

aTmAg said:

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I saw that he said he hadn't even TALKED TO Machado. Really?

I understand that maybe she may not be tough enough to go Pinochet on the commies, but to not even talk to her? Now Venezuela has appointed their VP as dictator and talk like they are going to continue to ignore Trump. What is his actual plan here?

I'm worrying that his thought process is no more deep than a personal vendetta against Maduro.

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Trump had Maduro in an actual helicopter, and somehow the helicopter didn't experience enough turbulence where Maduro's pink ass didn't accidently fall out of the helicopter.

Trump doesn't even have the guts to go Pinochet on the commies, why would we expect Machado to?

I think that the real answer here is that Machado is simply too much of an ideolog to count on her to work with the U.S. government. She risked her life for the good of her people. She won't likely be a long-term friend to U.S. interests if she rises to power. She would likely be difficult to control.

What would she do if she does rise to power? If she solidified her grip on the Vez government, and won the hearts of the people by bringing in very simple reforms, would she be able to resist the precious Ring of Power? Or would we wind up in a "Two legs good, Four legs bad" type of situation five years from now. The US government openly deposing Machado is not a real option.

Maduro's current regime, though? They obviously want power more than anything else. That should make them easy to manipulate. If it was you, would you like to lead Venezuelan politics, make $billions, and have the protection of the U.S. government at your back? You could do plenty of good for the Venezuelan people and still keep the US interested in protecting your government and you personally.

The reality is that a weak leader in Vez is way better for the US, and likely better for Vez people in the medium to long run.

"Quagmire!", they shouted.

I'm sure the president of the United States knows more than we do.

IT'S MILLER TIME 🚨

Trump is appointing Stephen Miller to oversee Venezuela until the country is stabilized and the it's resources are up & running

I serve the President, I implement his agenda, and I do whatever he asks me to do

We're living in the very best of times folks pic.twitter.com/xEB9BhoLdt

— @Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) January 6, 2026

Squadron7 said:

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"Quagmire!", they shouted.

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Looks like the plan is for Trump to drag his balls all over the new leader:

🚨 Via ABC News: Trump has told Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodriguez that she must meet U.S. demands before being allowed to pump more oil

First, the country must kick out China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba and sever economic ties

Second, Venezuela must agree to partner… pic.twitter.com/UvQR9GVQeU

— Ryan Saavedra (@RyanSaavedra) January 7, 2026

TexasAggie73 said:

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How many countries have we successfully made in our own image after militarily entered? I'll hang up and listen.

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We are not trying to make them in our own image. That was Bush and Cheney. Cheney is dead and Bush is irrelevant now.

TexasAggie73 said:

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How many countries have we successfully made in our own image after militarily entered? I'll hang up and listen.

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Yeah, the goal appears to be for Venezuela to run themselves, at least the day to day stuff, but live under the pressure of the usa threatening that if a leader steps out of line, they will be removed one way or another.

Its actually quite different than hearts and minds and spreading democracy and all the stuff tried in the ME

BusterAg said:

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aTmAg said:

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I saw that he said he hadn't even TALKED TO Machado. Really?

I understand that maybe she may not be tough enough to go Pinochet on the commies, but to not even talk to her? Now Venezuela has appointed their VP as dictator and talk like they are going to continue to ignore Trump. What is his actual plan here?

I'm worrying that his thought process is no more deep than a personal vendetta against Maduro.

---

Trump had Maduro in an actual helicopter, and somehow the helicopter didn't experience enough turbulence where Maduro's pink ass didn't accidently fall out of the helicopter.

Trump doesn't even have the guts to go Pinochet on the commies, why would we expect Machado to?

I think that the real answer here is that Machado is simply too much of an ideolog to count on her to work with the U.S. government. She risked her life for the good of her people. She won't likely be a long-term friend to U.S. interests if she rises to power. She would likely be difficult to control.

What would she do if she does rise to power? If she solidified her grip on the Vez government, and won the hearts of the people by bringing in very simple reforms, would she be able to resist the precious Ring of Power? Or would we wind up in a "Two legs good, Four legs bad" type of situation five years from now. The US government openly deposing Machado is not a real option.

Maduro's current regime, though? They obviously want power more than anything else. That should make them easy to manipulate. If it was you, would you like to lead Venezuelan politics, make $billions, and have the protection of the U.S. government at your back? You could do plenty of good for the Venezuelan people and still keep the US interested in protecting your government and you personally.

The reality is that a weak leader in Vez is way better for the US, and likely better for Vez people in the medium to long run.

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Re machado- that and she couldn't come in a run the country immediately. The risk of a civil war, pr that the Venezuelan military would have attempted to throw her out was too great. And that would have been a entirely differently bag of worms to deal with.

The Don plans everything.

There's no chance he pulled this off without a plan and an end game.

flown-the-coop said:

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Someone received their talking points. Back to "Trump has no plan!!!"

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Was Blumentalmidget informed of any plans prior to the capture of Maduro? No, he wasn't, because he is a walking talking national security risk. Why on earth would this mouth breather be told of any plans President Trump has subsequent to the arrest of Maduro regarding next steps.

The very minute DaNang Dick gets sworn in as POTUS after getting elected he can have the SOCOM commander brief him.

In all seriousness, this is great because we've left the structures for Venezuelan gov't to retain control while gaining the leverage to move to a new government/election without getting any Americans killed/stationed there. Truly remarkable. The exact opposite of Iraq/Afghanistan etc.