How Do Trump’s Actions In Venezuela Square With MAGA And ‘America First’?

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, News, Daily News

4.5 • 24.9K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump campaigned on promises to put “America First,” and to oppose regime change and nation building. We discuss whether those promises align with the United States’ military actions in Venezuela over the weekend.

This episode: senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson, and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro.

This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.

Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.
0:11.5	On the web at theshmit.org.
0:14.6	Hi, this is A.J. and Lorium, Michigan, where we have just received our 100th inch of snow for the year.
0:20.7	Today's show was recorded at...
0:22.6	107 p.m. on Monday, January 5th.
0:26.3	Things may have changed by the time that you hear this,
0:28.6	but I'll still be out here shoveling snow
0:30.2	for the next five months.
0:33.0	Here's the show.
0:37.5	It's good for you.
0:39.7	My,
0:40.2	my blood does not allow for that kind of weather.
0:44.2	You've got mid-Atlantic blood?
0:45.9	No, he's got Southern European blood.
0:48.3	Southern Italian.
0:49.7	We don't like this weather.
0:50.9	It's too cold.
0:53.1	Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith. I cover the White House.
0:58.3	I'm Domenico Montanaro, senior political editor and correspondent. And I'm Mara Liason, senior national political correspondent.
1:03.7	And today on the show, the political implications of President Trump's decision to send American military forces into Venezuela to arrest
1:12.1	its president, Nicholas Maduro.
1:14.6	Maduro and his wife were arraigned today in New York on charges of narco-terrorism.
	...

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