Every American president is tasked with the sacred obligation to protect and defend the interests of the United States and the American people from enemies and threats of any and every kind.  That obligation is exercised through a president’s constitutional authority as Commander in Chief.  Based upon this authority, I believe President Trump acted in a completely constitutional manner when he had Venezuelan dictator, Nicolas Maduro, captured and brought to the U.S. to stand trial.  (Let’s not forget that the Biden Administration itself had a $25 million bounty on the head of Maduro).

The reason Trump captured and removed Maduro is because illegal drugs flood America killing approximately 400,000 Americans annually from drug overdoses, to say nothing of the grave social harm from lifelong addiction and other societal destruction caused by the drug epidemic.

This avalanche of drugs is no less an attack on the U.S. and the American people than if an enemy army came over our southern border.  We must recall that we have been in a figurative “war on drugs” since at least the Reagan Administration and Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” to drugs campaign.  That effort never fully succeeded.  There are as many or more illegal drugs in America than there ever have been.  Trump has now declared a literal war on drugs.

So, the capture of Maduro was a law enforcement function to arrest an indicted drug trafficker.  While it wouldn’t matter if he were a duly elected president once he began threatening the U.S., Maduro was not.  He was the illegitimate and corrupt leader of a regime that facilitated the efforts of Venezuelan drug cartels to pump their poison into the U.S.

However, the ouster of Maduro was not based upon the drug (and illegal gangs) invasion of America alone.  There is also an important strategic reason for Trump to have done what he did.  Maduro needed to go because America, as a matter of national security, simply cannot allow in our hemisphere—in our “neighborhood”—a country and government that serves as a base for America’s greatest enemies.  Maduro had allowed Iran-Hezbollah, China, and Russia to establish a foothold in Venezuela.  That simply cannot be tolerated.

This view of American security is based upon the Monroe Doctrine which is a cornerstone of early U.S. foreign policy that aimed to keep Europeans out of the Western Hemisphere. U.S. President James Monroe described the idea in 1823, and it became an enduring strategy that rejects any foreign interference by faraway nations and confidently asserts U.S. authority in the Western Hemisphere.

Let’s not be misled by arguments that President Trump did not have the right to seize Maduro because Congress had not formally declared war on Venezuela.

There is a long-standing practice of U.S. presidents to use military force abroad without a formal declaration of war.  Pres. Obama ordered drone strikes. Pres. Clinton ordered military action in Haiti, Bosnia, and Kosovo.  Bush I handled Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and Pres. Reagan ordered military action in Grenada and Libya.

As Law Professor Jonathan Turley has stated “Trump does not need congressional approval for this type of operation. Presidents, including Democratic presidents, have launched lethal attacks regularly against individuals.  President Barack Obama killed an American citizen under this “kill list” policy. If Obama can vaporize an American citizen without even a criminal charge, Trump can capture a foreign citizen with a pending criminal indictment without prior congressional approval.” (Fox News, Jan 3. 2026)

This capture and removal of Maduro is a matter of national security, pure and simple.  It has the additional benefit of offering the long-suffering Venezuelan people—who saw their once prosperous nation become a dictatorship, throwing the country into abject poverty—a real chance at a better life.  It also has the salutary effect of putting America’s enemies on notice.  U.S. deterrence is back after its neglect during the Biden and Obama presidencies.  That is reassuring to Americans and has a calming effect on the world and makes crystal clear to Russia and China that America will defend its own hemisphere.

I’ll close by noting that ‘Democrats spent years howling that Maduro was a ruthless tyrant who had to be delegitimized, pressured, and removed. But the instant President Trump succeeds where they failed, they erupt in furious hypocrisy — prioritizing their unhinged hatred of President Trump over American interests and national security.’  What hypocrisy.

All the while, Trump soldiers on.