The Case for Trump’s Venezuela Plan

Foreign Policy Live

Foreign Policy

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.1 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What comes next after U.S. President Donald Trump’s shocking capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro? Does Trump have a day-after plan? Most experts say no. But FP columnist Matthew Kroenig disagrees, arguing in a recent piece for Foreign Policy that a plan is coming into focus. He shares his take with Ravi Agrawal. Plus Ravi’s One Thing on the nationwide protests in Iran. Alireza Nader and Nik Kowsar: Iran’s Currency Crisis Could Be the Regime’s Downfall Matthew Kroenig: Trump Has a Strategy for Venezuela Matthew Kroenig: Two Cheers for the National Security Strategy Matthew Kroenig: Trump Should Oust Maduro Vasabjit Banerjee and Maria I. Puerta Riera: Venezuela’s Military Won’t Surrender Its Privileges Easily David Ignatius: Trump Might Have His Hubris Checked in Venezuela Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:01.6	Hi, I'm Ravi Agrawal, Foreign Policies Editor-in-Chief.
1:06.4	This is FP Live.
1:09.2	So by now, you've heard my take on the White House raid in Caracas,
1:14.3	and you've probably heard many other critiques of Trump's Venezuela plan as well. The short version
1:20.1	is that it was illegal, it snubbed the Democratic opposition, and it left intact most of
1:26.5	Nicolas Maduro's regime. So what was the point?
1:30.5	Well, I thought I'd bring you a different take today, a point of view that argues Trump got it right.
	...

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