American Imperialism and the
Mad Fantasies of Donald
Trump
January 5, 2026
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Trump has said that he intends to “run Venezuela.” That should come as a surprise to the thousands of Venezuelans who have taken to the streets to denounce the American assault on its capital. Regardless of Trump’s fantasies, he can barely run the US, except by driving it further into the abyss.
No matter how US media or American politicians try to spin this, the American Empire is in steep decline. Its tourism industry is collapsing as more people choose not to spend their holiday in a fascist police state. It lost any moral standing it may have once had after enabling the genocide in Gaza. And it no longer possesses the soft power it once had to influence countries to do its bidding. As BRICS rises, the US only has threats, bluster, sentimental patriotism and fire power. But there are limits to this, as every empire throughout history has found out.
As millions of Americans struggle to pay for basic necessities and continue to lack things other industrialized countries take for granted, such as universal healthcare, labour protections and quality education, its ruling elite are living in a bubble of privilege that is ready to burst at any moment. America’s infrastructure is in shambles. And its unhoused population continues to grow exponentially. So, to think that this husk of empire is any way able to rule Venezuela when it can barely rule itself is rather absurd.
This doesn’t mean that the Trump regime cannot cause significant pain. It has, it can, and it will. And it isn’t just him and his cadre of ghouls. We have entered a new phase of imperial conquest as the planet becomes more unstable due to climate change. And Gaza should be an example of how the powerful are fully capable of doing the most heinous things imaginable to human beings to maintain their power. The old imperial houses will continue to carve up the world, rape its resources, and assert control over their “spheres of influence” even as it crumbles under the weight of ecological devastation.
It just points to its glaring incompetence. The Trump regime will not be successful with “running” any territory they conquer with military force. They are incompetent idiots. And they will likely cause enormous chaos and untold misery for millions of people despite this. But having a malignant narcissist as leader is a dangerous gamble for any empire. What happens when that narcissist is losing his mind? When the long shadows of his past transgressions indelibly stain any prestige he thought he had? When his ratings continue to tank and daily life for millions of Americans becomes a struggle for survival?
The attack on Venezuela and other threats of aggression will never translate into tangible benefits for ordinary Americans. They aren’t meant to. This is a resource grab for the ultra rich. For the corporations and war profiteers. And this isn’t a new phenomenon. Every military foray the US has entered into against the Global South has been at the behest of its ruling class and to fill their coffers. But each one has cost the empire more than it has profited it.
What we are seeing isn’t merely about Trump, although I am sure he would like everyone to believe that it is. What this is about is the last chapters of American Empire. That is why the rhetoric is no longer full of flowery platitudes. It has nothing real to offer ordinary people. It can only cling to the image of its imperial power. Of its domination of others through violence or the threat of it. It has also demonstrated that the old order of international law, which really only applied to white, Western nations, is finished for everyone. It is rule by gangsterism, imperial jostling and sheer brutality by any means and without any meaningful opposition from established leaders.
Rome is burning and those who have benefitted the most from its years of glory are now trying to scrape every last coin out of its downfall.
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Trump has said that he intends to “run Venezuela.” That should come as a surprise to the thousands of Venezuelans who have taken to the streets to denounce the American assault on its capital. Regardless of Trump’s fantasies, he can barely run the US, except by driving it further into the abyss.
No matter how US media or American politicians try to spin this, the American Empire is in steep decline. Its tourism industry is collapsing as more people choose not to spend their holiday in a fascist police state. It lost any moral standing it may have once had after enabling the genocide in Gaza. And it no longer possesses the soft power it once had to influence countries to do its bidding. As BRICS rises, the US only has threats, bluster, sentimental patriotism and fire power. But there are limits to this, as every empire throughout history has found out.
As millions of Americans struggle to pay for basic necessities and continue to lack things other industrialized countries take for granted, such as universal healthcare, labour protections and quality education, its ruling elite are living in a bubble of privilege that is ready to burst at any moment. America’s infrastructure is in shambles. And its unhoused population continues to grow exponentially. So, to think that this husk of empire is any way able to rule Venezuela when it can barely rule itself is rather absurd.
This doesn’t mean that the Trump regime cannot cause significant pain. It has, it can, and it will. And it isn’t just him and his cadre of ghouls. We have entered a new phase of imperial conquest as the planet becomes more unstable due to climate change. And Gaza should be an example of how the powerful are fully capable of doing the most heinous things imaginable to human beings to maintain their power. The old imperial houses will continue to carve up the world, rape its resources, and assert control over their “spheres of influence” even as it crumbles under the weight of ecological devastation.
It just points to its glaring incompetence. The Trump regime will not be successful with “running” any territory they conquer with military force. They are incompetent idiots. And they will likely cause enormous chaos and untold misery for millions of people despite this. But having a malignant narcissist as leader is a dangerous gamble for any empire. What happens when that narcissist is losing his mind? When the long shadows of his past transgressions indelibly stain any prestige he thought he had? When his ratings continue to tank and daily life for millions of Americans becomes a struggle for survival?
The attack on Venezuela and other threats of aggression will never translate into tangible benefits for ordinary Americans. They aren’t meant to. This is a resource grab for the ultra rich. For the corporations and war profiteers. And this isn’t a new phenomenon. Every military foray the US has entered into against the Global South has been at the behest of its ruling class and to fill their coffers. But each one has cost the empire more than it has profited it.
What we are seeing isn’t merely about Trump, although I am sure he would like everyone to believe that it is. What this is about is the last chapters of American Empire. That is why the rhetoric is no longer full of flowery platitudes. It has nothing real to offer ordinary people. It can only cling to the image of its imperial power. Of its domination of others through violence or the threat of it. It has also demonstrated that the old order of international law, which really only applied to white, Western nations, is finished for everyone. It is rule by gangsterism, imperial jostling and sheer brutality by any means and without any meaningful opposition from established leaders.
Rome is burning and those who have benefitted the most from its years of glory are now trying to scrape every last coin out of its downfall.
The Maduro Interruption
Donald Trump’s assault on Venezuela and the seizure of its leader, Nicholas Maduro, interrupted the final preparation of an article that describes Trump’s assault on American democracy and his seizure of institutions in the governing apparatus. The assaults are related. Here is another article before presenting the previously prepared article.
Unaware that the world is composed of sovereign nations, not all to the liking of one another, that they cooperate for benefit, and limit interferences according to international law, Trump has disregarded diplomatic norms, and imposed himself as the world leader, shaping nations, including his own, in his image. Argentina receives a $20 billion bribe to elect his favored despot; Iran, already battered by the Trump war machine, receives a threat to not harm a population that has been severely harmed by his sanctions, which amounts to a dictate for regime change; Gaza, destroyed by U.S. military assistance to Israel, will be resurrected in Trump style. South Africa, Somalia. Nigeria, and Honduras, among others, have also received the Trump touch of aiding look-alikes and scolding detractors.
Uncertainty of the accuracy of press coverage of Maduro, leads to uncertainty of who is Maduro. Is he a corrupt despot, an enlightened despot, or a democratically elected leader with a mandate? Compared to Trump, he leans to the middle description.
- Maduro has subdued his adversaries; Trump daily demolishes them ─ Joe Biden has suffered a thousand wounds.
- Maduro may have his inner circle of family and friends; Trump has a magnitude wider inner circle of only family, friends, and sycophants.
- Maduro may have formed support from the Venezuela armed forces; Trump, before the Quantico meeting, told the press, “I’m going to be meeting with generals and with admirals and with leaders, and if I don’t like somebody, I’m gonna fire them right on the spot.”
- Maduro may have violated the Venezuela constitution; Trump has shredded the U.S. constitution.
- Maduro may be guilty of corruption but his life style does not indicate it could be much. According to the New York Times, “Since his return to office, President Trump and his family have engaged in a moneymaking campaign like none in modern American history.”
- Maduro impresses his image on the Venezuelan people; Trump is engraving his persona as “dear leader” on America’s soul.
- Maduro may, at times, have violated “rule of law.” By sending national guard troops into U.S. cities, murdering people at sea, pardoning convicted criminals, and threatening states to obey his command or lose benefits, Trump has replaced “rule of law’ with “Trump only laws.”
Clean seizure of Maduro corpus delecti, victim of the unproven crime of “leader of a narco-terrorist organization,” has an antecedent ─ George H.W. Bush’s reckless and dirty internment of Manuel Antonio Noriega for similar reasons. In both cases, relation of the principles to drug offense is sketchy, the value of the drugs, if they existed, would be small, and in the Noriega case, had no effect on drug usage in the United States. An unanswered question ─ why give attention to persons residing hundreds of miles from America’s shores while insufficient attention is given to the drug dealers who walk the urban streets?
Trump said that watching Maduro’s seizure was watching a movie; a movie in which Maduro is the villain, and therefore Trump is the hero; a movie produced, directed and written by Trump Enterprises. This is not an adventure movie; it is a mystery that still needs an ending. The mystery is the sinking of the alleged drug boats. Why were they sunk with all occupants killed and not detained so occupants could supply information on the “drug cartel” and its operations and testify as witnesses for the prosecution in Maduro’s trial? Why weren’t the boats allowed to proceed and tracked to their destination, where the U.S. infrastructure could be recognized and the dealers incarcerated? Seems that Trump destroyed vital evidence. Something wrong somewhere and why aren’t the CIA, FBI, and all local police agencies concerned? With tongue in cheek, the mystery becomes a Keystone cop comedy. These activities don’t behave as drug busts. they have the appearance of removing competitors from the business and decreasing the supply so the prices can be raised.
A cloudy today and even cloudier tomorrow. Autocrat Maduro and his wife (why his wife?) and his dictates have been transferred from Caracas to New York. The Maduro government or regime remains in place. Will Trump send Yankee officials to oversee the government and troops to enforce the dictates emanating from autocrat Trump in Washington, D.C.? What will change and how will the changes occur? Would expect new elections, although that has not been mentioned. After that, removal of the sanctions, which could be done immediately, will bring prosperity to a nation devastated by the U.S. imposed sanctions. What sanctions?
In August 2017, Trump administration sanctions prohibited Venezuela’s access to U.S. financial markets, and in May 2018, expanded them to block purchase of Venezuelan debt.
In January 2019, economic sanctions targeted companies in the petroleum, gold, mining, and banking industries.
In 2021, the US Government Accountability Office concluded that sanctions “likely contributed to Venezuela’s economic decline.” The report noted that sanctions resulted in Venezuela selling less oil, at higher costs and lower prices.
What about the oil of which Trump knows little, except that he imagines prosperous U.S. can be a relatively few dollars more prosperous by gaining some oil and impoverished Venezuelans won’t mind being more impoverished by making a few Americans richer.
Similar to Iran (1951), Iraq (1972), Saudi Arabia (1970s–1980), Kuwait (1975), Libya (1970–1973), Algeria (1971), United Arab Emirates (1970s), Qatar (1970s), Mexico (1938), Bolivia (1937, 1969, 2006), Ecuador (1972), Argentina (2012), Brazil (1953), Nigeria (1970s), Angola (1976), Gabon (1970s), Republic of the Congo (1970s), Kazakhstan (1990s–2000s), Indonesia (1960s), and Malaysia (1974), Venezuela, way back in 1976, nationalized its oil industry. President Carlos Andres Perez, created the state-owned company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Hugo Chavez (remember him) required PDVSA to maintain majority ownership in all projects. PDVSA has partnered with international firms including Chevron, China National Petroleum Corporation, ENI, Total, and Russia’s Rosneft to unearth and distribute the oil.
Besides singling out Venezuela for nationalizing the oil resources that tens of countries have done, and all sovereign nations own, Trump intends to interfere with companies that have successfully operated with PDBSA, including Chevron. What does he expect to happen? How will a Trump inspired initiative engage with the present arrangement? Nonsense.
My opinion: Stop the sanctions, hold new elections, a Maduro lookalike will gain power, and Venezuela will be a prosperous nation.
Robert Davis
January 4, 2026
The first U.S. military aircraft to carry detained migrants to a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, who U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin called "highly dangerous criminal aliens", is boarded from an unspecified location in the U.S. February 4, 2025 DHS/Handout via REUTERS.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said on Sunday that Venezuelans living in the U.S. with temporary protected status should self-deport following the capture of the country's dictator.
On Saturday morning, the Trump administration sent military forces to Venezuela to detain dictator Nicolás Maduro. Maduro and his wife were then swiftly brought to the U.S., where they will stand trial for narco-terrorism and gun charges. Some legal experts have said the move exceeded Trump's authority as president, and calls for the president to be impeached began to grow following the move.
Tricia McLaughlin, DHS assistant secretary for public affairs, offered a different take during an appearance on Fox News's "The Big Weekend Show" on Sunday. She said Maduro's arrest gives Venezuelans living in the U.S. protected status a reason to "go home."
"I think the great news for people from Venezuela who are here on temporary protected status is that they can now go home with hope for their country that they love," McLaughlin said.
The Trump administration has sought to end temporary protected status for multiple ethnicities during his second administration. However, courts have mostly blocked the administration from ending the status. Most recently, a judge in San Francisco ruled that the administration's efforts to end TPS for people from Honduras, Nepal, and Nicaragua were illegal.
McLaughlin claimed there has been a "loss of integrity" in the program.
Blow to Trump’s Venezuela Plan
after Maduro’s Deputy Contradicts US
President
Donald Trump’s plan to smoothly run Venezuela after attacking the sovereign country and capturing its president with his wife has faced a major setback. This was after the Venezuelan armed forces and Nicolas Maduro’s deputy condemned the US invasion of their country and capturing of their president and the First Lady. Rifat Jawaid digs deeper in Venezuelan history to explore why anti-Americanism has been an integral part of the ideology of the current lot governing Venezuela.
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