WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hasn’t minced words about the larger message he’s trying to send the world with the U.S. military raid to capture Nicolás Maduro and spirit the deposed Venezuelan leader and his wife to the United States to face federal drug trafficking charges.

“American dominance in the Western Hemisphere,” Trump declared following Maduro’s capture, “will never be questioned again.”

In the days since the audacious raid, Trump and his team have doubled down on the notion that the new focus on American preeminence in the hemisphere is here to stay. He also held up Maduro’s capture to make the case to neighbors to get in line or potentially face consequences.

Trump’s rhetoric harkens back to the muscular talk of the late 19th and early 20th centuries when American presidents deployed the military for territorial and resource conquests, including to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, Mexico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

“There’s been periods, Vietnam and Iraq, which have evoked questions about a return to American imperialism, but the U.S. leaders’ messages in those periods were cloaked in talk of democracy. The way Trump is talking about it is something we haven’t seen in a very long time.” said Edward Frantz, a historian at the University of Indianapolis.

In the aftermath of the operation, Trump’s tough talk has been been directed at titular allies in Greenland — where he renewed calls for the U.S. to take over the Danish territory for national security reasons — and Mexico. Trump says America’s southern neighbor needs to “get their act together” fighting drug cartels.

Trump has also warned that longtime adversary Cuba is “going down” now that Maduro, who has provided deeply discounted oil to the economically isolated government in Havana, has been deposed. And the president has heightened anxiety with Venezuela’s neighbor, telling reporters that a military operation in Colombia — the epicenter of global cocaine production — “sounds good to me.”

The Republican president has also said his administration will “run” Venezuela policy and threatened the country’s new leader, interim President Delcy Rodríguez, with an outcome worse than Maduro’s if she does not “do what’s right.” He’s made plain that he expects Caracas to open its vast oil reserves to U.S. energy companies, further igniting speculation about American overreach.

“We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure — the oil infrastructure — and start making money for the country,” Trump said over the weekend.

The Venezuela incursion has split Latin America, with Trump‑aligned leaders mostly from the right applauding the ouster, and non‑aligned leaders condemning it on sovereignty grounds. It’s sharpened concerns that Trump might actually be serious about his desire to annex Greenland as well.

Leaning on Monroe Doctrine, Trump puts neighbors on edge

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned Monday that Trump would mark the undoing of the transatlantic military alliance, NATO, if he attempts to follow through on his assertion that the U.S. “absolutely” needs to take over Greenland for national security reasons. The alliance, which includes the U.S. and Denmark, has been a linchpin of post-World War II security.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2.

In the early part of the 20th century, American leaders repeatedly turned to the Monroe Doctrine, a foundational U.S. foreign policy document authored by the nation’s fifth president, which had been aimed at opposing European meddling in the Western Hemisphere.

Now, Trump too is leaning on the doctrine to justify U.S. intervention in Venezuela and threaten action around the hemisphere in the name of protecting the safety and welfare of Americans.

“Trump’s rhetoric conjures up images of Teddy Roosevelt and gunboat diplomacy. The rhetoric is a return to a pre-Great War era,” Frantz said, referring to the 26th president’s intercessions in unstable Caribbean and Central American economies as well as his backing of Panama’s secession from Colombia in the name of the U.S. national interest.

Just weeks before the ouster of Maduro, Trump rolled out a long-awaited National Security Strategy that had some disparate elements that seemed to be at odds with each other.

On one hand, Trump, who has long eschewed America’s role in foreign wars, asserted that the administration would have a “predisposition to non-interventionism.” But the strategy document also made clear that the administration would push “to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.”

With the ouster of Maduro, the administration has clearly doubled down on the latter.

“This is the Western Hemisphere,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “This is where we live — and we’re not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors and rivals of the United States.”

Anger at U.N. Security Council

The capture of Maduro and Trump’s rhetoric could certainly be a level-setting moment for global leaders as they consider what may lay ahead in the final three years of Trump’s second term.

At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Monday, Colombian Ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres said the raid in Venezuela was reminiscent of “the worst interference in our area in the past.”

“Democracy cannot be defended or promoted through violence and coercion, and it cannot be superseded, either, by economic interests,” said Zalabata Torres, whose country requested the meeting.

At the same time, Democrats are questioning whether Trump’s actions have created a permission structure for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has designs of capturing further territory from neighboring Ukraine, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has vowed to annex the self-ruled island of Taiwan.

“What the president’s done in this case has essentially given Putin and Xi Jinping a hall pass,” said Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, in an appearance on CNN.

The Russians, for their part, have condemned Trump’s action in Venezuela. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, the country’s U.N. envoy, said the world body “cannot allow the United States to proclaim itself as some kind of a supreme judge” to the world.

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AP writers Jennifer Peltz and Farnoush Amiri at the United Nations contributed to this report.

After apparent months of planning, the U.S. strike that resulted in the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro unfolded swiftly over the weekend, with American forces converging on Caracas to arrest Maduro and his wife.

In subsequent days, Maduro would be spirited from a U.S. warship to a plane and ultimately a downtown Manhattan courthouse, where he would enter a not guilty plea on narco-terrorism charges.

Trump and U.S. military leaders gave details of the operation, and Venezuelan officials spoke out against it. Global leaders considered the situation in venues including the United Nations, and Venezuelans living in the U.S. celebrated the news of Maduro’s capture.

This is how the operation unfolded:

Jan. 2, 2026

10:46 p.m. EST: Trump gives go-ahead for U.S. strikes in Venezuela.

Jan. 3, 2026

1:01 a.m. EST: U.S. forces arrive at Maduro compound in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.

3:29 a.m. EST: U.S. forces are “over the water” — meaning beyond the coastline — on their way from Venezuela back to American ships stationed in the Caribbean Sea.

4:21 a.m. EST: Trump announces on Truth Social that the U.S. has carried out a “large scale strike” against Venezuela and captured Maduro. The U.S. president says he will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. EST.

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Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said, “We do not know the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.”

She added, “We demand proof of life.” ————————- U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro and his wife will face criminal charges after an indictment in New York, vowing in a social media post that the couple will “soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” —————————— In South Florida, Venezuelans celebrated the news of Maduro’s capture at a rally held outside a South American eatery. —————— Trump told Fox News that the couple were aboard the U.S. warship Iwo Jima and headed to New York, where they would face prosecution. ————————— The Justice Department released a new indictment accusing Maduro and his wife for their alleged roles in a narco-terrorism conspiracy. ———————— Trump posted a photo on social media showing Maduro wearing a sweatsuit and a blindfold with the caption “Nicolas Maduro on board the USS Iwo Jima.” —————————- Accompanying Trump at a press conference — which got underway nearly 40 minutes after its scheduled 11 a.m. EST start time — were Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Stephen Miller, a top White House aide overseeing homeland security matters. ——————— Trump said the U.S. was “ going to run” Venezuela until a “judicious” transition of power. At that moment, there were no visible signs the U.S. was controlling the country. ———————— In a televised address to the nation lasting less than 15 minutes, Rodríguez left open the door for dialogue with the U.S. while also seeking to calm ruling party supporters.

“Here, we have a government with clarity, and I repeat and repeat again … we are willing to have respectful relations,” she said, referring to the Trump administration. “It is the only thing we will accept for a type of relationship after having attacked (Venezuela).”

Venezuela’s high court ordered Rodriguez to assume the role of interim president, and the leader was backed by Venezuela’s military. ——————- A plane carrying Maduro arrived in New York following his capture by the U.S., an AP source said.

Jan. 4, 2026

In a statement read on Cuban state TV, the Cuban government announced that the American military strikes in Venezuela had killed 32 Cuban military and police officers who had been on a mission at the request of Venezuela’s government.

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In comments aboard Air Force One flying from Florida to Washington, Trump said Venezuela was sick and needed U.S. support, adding: “Colombia’s very sick, too. Run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. And he’s not going to be doing it very long.”

Asked if that might mean a U.S. operation that could target Colombia President Gustavo Petro, Trump responded, “Sounds good to me.”

Saying he had repeatedly offered U.S. troops to Mexico, which he said “has to get their act together” on drug trafficking, Trump said President Claudia Sheinbaum is “concerned, she’s a little afraid.”

Questioned about U.S. military force in Cuba, however, Trump said: “I think it’s just going to fall. … I don’t think we need any action.”

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Jan. 5, 2026

Maduro arrives at the federal courthouse in New York City. ————— The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting, where both allies and adversaries of the United States voiced opposition to the U.S. raid.

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Maduro’s son appeared in Venezuela’s National Assembly, where the country’s lawmakers elected in parliamentary elections last May were set to be sworn in. Maduro Guerra, also known as “Nicolásito,” demanded that his parents be returned by American authorities and called on international support.

———————— Maduro made his first appearance in a U.S. courtroom following his capture. —————————- Maduro pleaded not guilty in a U.S. court, telling a judge, “I am a decent man, the president of my country.”

Maduro’s next court date is set for March 17.

President Donald Trump’s military intervention in Venezuela has emerged as a flash point in the closely watched Republican primary campaign between Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a long-running Trump antagonist, and retired Navy SEAL officer Ed Gallrein, who has the president’s backing.

Massie, showing his non-interventionist leanings, fired off a series of social media posts criticizing the military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and removed him from the South American country.

“Wake up MAGA,” Massie wrote. “VENEZUELA is not about drugs; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This is not what we voted for.”

The congressman claimed that Trump wrongly circumvented Congress when ordering the attack.

“In the Constitution, the Founders vested war making power in Congress, not the Executive branch,” he wrote.

Gallrein responded that Massie had “shown his true colors” by criticizing the military operation.

“This operation sends a clear message: the United States will not allow rogue regimes to enable criminal networks or use oil and other resources to fuel our global adversaries,” Gallrein said on social media. “Holding bad actors accountable is how we restore law and order, deter aggression, and protect American families.”

Gallrein added that American intervention “opens the door to a new chapter for the people of Venezuela — one defined not by decades of oppression, but by the possibility of peace and prosperity.”

He is Trump’s choice to challenge Massie, a maverick who has had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. The primary election in May will test Trump’s hold over Republican politics. The sudden emergence of Venezuela as an issue will test the president’s ability to hold together his coalition during a challenging election year for Republicans that could be defined by domestic concerns like health care and affordability.

The libertarian-leaning Massie has won reelection by lopsided margins since entering Congress in 2012 — even when he incurred Trump’s wrath.

The military action in Venezuela is the latest example of Massie standing up to Trump.

The congressman opposed the massive tax breaks and spending cuts package last year that Trump calls “beautiful” but Massie says will grow the national debt and hurt the economy. Massie said the president lacked authority to attack Iran’s nuclear sites without congressional approval. And Massie was at the forefront of efforts to force the public release of case files on the sex trafficking probe into the late Jeffrey Epstein.

In his bid to unseat the congressman, Gallrein has the president’s vaunted political operation on his side, and a super PAC launched by Trump aides has run ads attacking Massie. But he will confront an entrenched, well-funded incumbent in Massie.

Trump on Monday reiterated his support for Gallrein on his social media platform and urged other Republicans to stay out of the May primary.

“I have heard that there are other Candidates exploring a run for this seat, but I am asking all MAGA Warriors to rally behind Captain Ed Gallrein, the Candidate who is, far and away, best positioned to DEFEAT Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the beautiful Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Trump said.

So far, at least two Democrats have filed to run for the congressional seat stretching across northern Kentucky, along with a third Republican besides Massie and Gallrein. The eventual Republican nominee will be heavily favored in a district last represented by a Democrat two decades ago.