U.S. regime change under Trump 2.0: Empire at a crossroads (March 2025)
www.bjreview.com

... Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in 2016 with a platform opposing regime change. After four years, his administration attempted to overthrow the Venezuelan regime by violently appointing an unelected puppet Juan Guaido as the "interim president," covertly continuing President Barack Obama's efforts to overthrow the Syrian Government, and nearly taking the U.S. to war with Iran through the assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. In 2024, Trump was elected again by an even stronger margin on the platform of being a "peacemaker." The question is: Will this be the moment when a U.S. president truly changes the course of American foreign policy away from regime change wars and toward peace?

The U.S. has conducted hundreds of regime change operations since World War II and has been successful in dozens. However, regime change comes with costs. America's shrinking share of global economic influence and its overextended military power has led to a reliance on proxy wars, covert operations, and shock and awe wars of aggression. The result: chronic instability, chaos and economic impoverishment, to which Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine and several other nations can attest. ...

Trump's early foreign policy record indicates a dire need for Americans to understand "regime change" in a deeper way. Yes, regime change means the overthrow of governments, but the overthrow of governments is never without purpose. The purpose is the maintenance and expansion of U.S. imperial domination, and therefore all forms of U.S. interventionism are in a way linked to regime change. While Trump claims not to pursue direct regime change of any particular country, his administration's foreign policy remains committed to upholding U.S. dominance and the political manipulation required to achieve this. ...

Prescient?

Rubio Helped Oust Maduro. Running Venezuela May Prove Trickier.
www.nytimes.com

... It was a warm autumn afternoon in the Oval Office, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio was helping President Trump steer the administration's discussions about Venezuela to a concrete military phase.

The two men sat with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to consider how to go beyond conducting lethal boat strikes in waters near Venezuela to moving harder against Nicols Maduro, the country's leader.

Diplomacy was over, Mr. Trump said. In front of the other men, he called Richard Grenell, a special envoy who had been meeting throughout the year with Mr. Maduro. The president praised Mr. Grenell's efforts but said it was time for military action, according to an official with knowledge of the meeting.

That meeting on Oct. 2 was critical for Mr. Rubio in pushing the administration to reach his yearslong goal of ousting Mr. Maduro. ...