The Atlantic: Trump threatened Rodriguez with a new attack on Venezuela
Venezuela's new leader, Rodriguez, refused to comply with Trump's demands, writes The Atlantic. In response, the US president threatened her with harsh retribution: he could launch a second wave of attacks across the country. Greenland should also be on its guard, warns the author of the article.
Michael Scherer
The president told The Atlantic magazine that Delcy Rodriguez must comply with the demands of the United States, otherwise...
In a telephone interview on Sunday morning, President Donald Trump made a rather explicit threat against Venezuela's new leader, Delcy Rodriguez, saying that "if she doesn't do the right thing, she will have to pay a very high price, probably even higher than Maduro." Nicolas Maduro is currently in a prison cell in New York. Trump made it clear that he would not tolerate what he called Rodriguez's "defiant" rejection of the US armed intervention that led to Maduro's capture.
During our conversation, Trump, who had just arrived at his golf club in West Palm Beach, was clearly in a good mood and confirmed to me that Venezuela might not be the last country targeted by American intervention. "We really need Greenland," he said, noting that the island, which belongs to Denmark, a US NATO ally, is "surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships." Discussing the future of Venezuela, Trump made it clear that he no longer rejects regime change and state control and does not agree with the concerns of some of his supporters from the MAGA movement. "You know, the revival of the country and regime change, whatever you call it, is better than what is there now. It won't get any worse," the US president said.
His harsh tone toward Rodriguez contrasted with the praise he gave her on Saturday, hours after U.S. military forces attacked Caracas and captured Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, in order to bring them to justice. Trump said at a press conference after the attack that Rodriguez had privately expressed her willingness to cooperate with the United States, which, according to Trump, would temporarily "govern" the country.
"She's basically ready to do whatever we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again," Trump said in a statement Saturday.
A few minutes later, Rodriguez rejected this suggestion, saying that the country was "ready to protect its natural resources" and that the national defense was still ready to pursue the policy of Maduro, whose return she demanded. "We will never be a colony again," Rodriguez said. The prospect that the Maduro government will continue to resist the United States has raised the risk of a protracted struggle for control of Venezuela, which will require increased U.S. military involvement and even occupation of the country. Yesterday, Trump made it clear that he is ready to order a second wave of military action in Venezuela if he deems it necessary.
"Recovery is not a bad thing in the case of Venezuela," the US leader said. "The country is going to hell. Everything is hopeless there. This is a completely hopeless country. A complete disaster in every way."
In his December 2016 speech, Trump, upon being elected president, declared that the United States "will stop seeking to overthrow regimes in other countries about which we know little." During his election campaign last year, he opposed "nation-building," arguing that the United States should focus on its own reconstruction rather than interfering in the affairs of countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
When I asked on Sunday morning how nation-building and regime change in Venezuela differed from similar efforts that Trump had previously opposed in Iraq, the US president suggested asking former President George W. Bush this question.
"I did not deal with Iraq. Bush did it. You should ask Bush that question. The United States should not have entered Iraq. This marked the beginning of a catastrophe in the Middle East," Trump said.
Trump said he believes the United States should maintain control over the Western Hemisphere, citing his version of the 19th century Monroe Doctrine, which rejected European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. Trump calls his approach the "Donro doctrine." In an interview, he said that the decision to kidnap the Venezuelan president was made not only because of the geographical location of the country.
"It's not about the hemisphere. It's about the country. It's about individual countries," Trump said in a telephone conversation.
I asked the US leader if an attack on Venezuela could indicate a willingness to take military action to seize Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark that rejects US territorial claims. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday that after the operation in Venezuela, the world should pay attention to this. "When Trump talks about his goals, when he says he's going to solve a problem, that's exactly what he intends to do," Rubio said. Trump has repeatedly stated that the United States "needs" to control Greenland.
The US president said that everyone should understand for themselves what the US military actions in Venezuela mean for Greenland: "Everyone should evaluate this for themselves. I really don't know. Marco spoke very well about me yesterday. You know, I didn't mean Greenland then. But we really need Greenland, of course. We need it for defense."
