FOREIGN POLICY/MILITARY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/VENEZUELA: “President Trump has finally met a strongman he does not like. After making friends with autocrats around the world, Mr. Trump has drawn a red line with Nicolás Maduro, demanding that the iron-fisted president of Venezuela hand power to his opposition. Mr. Trump’s forceful challenge to Mr. Maduro is the first such intervention in his anti-interventionist presidency, a sharp departure from an ‘America First’ foreign policy aimed at extracting the United States from overseas quagmires and staying out of the internal affairs of other countries. The president’s decision to advocate what amounts to a regime change in Venezuela, encouraged by Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, and other longstanding critics of the leftist leadership in Caracas, is the sort of international assertion that Mr. Trump has disdained in past administrations — and one with enormous risks. As the Venezuelan military stands by Mr. Maduro, the situation could easily descend into further violence, with American diplomats potentially in the cross hairs. Mr. Trump said that ‘all options are on the table,’ suggesting the possibility of military force. But even if it does not come to that, Mr. Trump faces a loss of credibility if Mr. Maduro ultimately defies American pressure and holds onto power.”
–Peter Baker and Edward Wong, “Intervening Against Venezuela’s Strongman, Trump Belies ‘America First’,” The New York Times online, January 24, 2019