Thanks To Trump, America Is Finally Acting Like a Superpower Again

I’ve always leaned libertarian on foreign policy. Skeptical of foreign entanglements, strictly against pointless regime change, and against sacrificing American lives for vague ideals half a world away. That’s been the bipartisan tragedy of US action for decades: president after president send our boys and girls into endless wars, leave shattered countries behind, take in waves of refugees, and all we ever get in return is chaos…while well-connected contractors and fat cats get richer off the blood of small-town America.

We never walked away with the resources we were accused of wanting. No oil. No minerals. Just bodies and debt. And I’ve opposed that every time.

But this feels different.

What’s unfolding in Venezuela isn’t more of that same wasteful forever-war. The Trump administration’s operation captured Nicolás Maduro -a brutal, illegitimate strongman who starved his own people and outsourced his nation’s wealth to enemies- and Trump is now asserting American leverage over Venezuela’s oil and resources in a way we’ve never seen before. 

It is not another nation-building project. It’s a decisive action that says: if you arm narco-cartels, cozy up to adversaries, and starve your citizens while controlling the world’s most coveted resources, you’re not going to get away with it. America isn’t backing down and we’re not going to bleed for it either.

Libertarians will whine about “illegitimate intervention,” and neocons will cheer “regime change” as though this were business as usual. But for once the policy actually lives up to an America-First logic: no forever wars, no nation-building at our expense, no endless casualty counts. Instead, a swift operation, a clear message, and access to resources that can lower energy costs here at home.

I still struggle with supporting any military action. But this move breaks from the hellscape of Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan. No decade-long war where we die for nothing. This is America asserting its interests, and actually getting something in return. It’s the policy I voted for! Lower energy costs, no endless wars, and an America that gets shit done.

This is what America First looks like.