Venezuela After Maduro: Can Trump Control Caracas From Afar?

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

Society & Culture

4.2 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, on Saturday, sent shockwaves across the globe. And although the targeted military operation was a success, the repercussions of ousting the authoritarian leader will be long-lasting and hard to predict. To make sense of the new world order ushered in by President Trump’s “Donroe Doctrine,” we convened a panel of experts: an oil industry specialist, a national security journalist, and an historian of Venezuela. Luisa Palacios is the managing director of energy transition finance at the Center on Global Energy Policy and the former chairwoman of the Citgo Petroleum Corporation. David Sanger is the White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. He’s played central roles on three teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, and he’s the author of four books, including his latest, “New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion and America’s Struggle to Defend the West.” Alejandro Velasco is a historian, a professor at New York University, the former executive editor of the NACLA Report on the Americas, and the author of “Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela.” Together, they unpack the Trump administration’s competing rationales for deposing Maduro; the feasibility of controlling Venezuela without American boots on the ground; how a “regime change” that doesn't change will affect the Venezuelan people; and the global implications for America’s credibility. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's on.
0:02.0	Hi, everyone from New York Magazine in the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:14.0	This is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher.
0:17.0	In the wake of the Trump administration's military operation in Venezuela and the arrest of its
0:22.6	authoritarian leader, Nicholas Maduro, the world is trying to make sense of this new reality.
0:28.8	It raises questions like, who's going to rule Caracas? Is the U.S. on the cusp of entering
0:33.9	another forever war? And is this the opening salvo in a new era of gunboat diplomacy
0:39.8	throughout the Western Hemisphere? I myself am confused, and I'm a pretty good newsreader.
0:46.2	So to answer these questions that I have, and many do, we brought together a panel of true
0:50.8	experts, an oil industry specialist, a national security journalist, and a historian
0:55.7	of Venezuela. Luisa Palacios is the managing director of energy transition finance at the
1:01.8	Center on Global Energy Policy and the former chairwoman of the Citgo Petroleum Corporation.
1:08.2	David Sanger is the White House and National Security correspondent for the New York
1:13.0	Times. He's played central roles on three teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, and he's the author
1:17.5	of four books, including his latest, New Cold Wars, China's rise, Russia's invasion, and America's
1:23.6	struggle to save the West. Alejandro Velasco is a historian, a professor at New York University, the former executive
1:30.7	editor of NACLA report on the Americas and the author of Barrio Rising, Urban Popular Politics,
1:38.8	and the Making of Modern Venezuela.
1:41.1	This conversation is smart and substantive, and a little hard as it should be because
1:45.1	it's very complex. So stick around. Why do growing businesses love working in Slack? Let's
1:58.4	ask Christia Ari bikes. Running things in Slack saves me so much time. AI summaries save 97 minutes per week. What say you? Rocks from Gosney. Slack helps us build community. It helps us build connection. Your partners, vendors and customers all in one place. Take us on home, Ashley from Carraway. If we did have Slack tomorrow, I would explode.
2:18.8	Well, let's not let that happen.
	...

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