TEHRAN – American commentators trying to understand President Donald Trump’s governing style say he is either not mentally intact or has an unstable personality that is easily swayed by the last person he speaks to.
They said this when President Trump declared he wanted Greenland, when he began targeting both friend and foe with harsh tariff policies, and when, in June, he launched a very dangerous war against Iran alongside Israel. Now, the president’s mental state and character are once again being debated as he reveals his preparations to launch an invasion of Venezuela.
President Trump has been building up military forces in the Caribbean for weeks. The U.S. military also killed about 80 people on a boat it said was smuggling drugs from Venezuela to U.S. coasts. The Trump administration has not provided any evidence for these claims. In fact, President Trump’s army chief, known for his drinking problem and lack of discipline in his previous job, probably doesn’t even know the identities of the people he ordered killed. Some legal analysts have warned that Pete Hegseth is already committing a war crime by authorizing the boat attack.
In his recent remarks about Venezuela, President Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Airlines, pilots, drug traffickers, and human traffickers, please consider that all airspace over and around Venezuela will be closed.”
The post followed reports that Trump spoke by phone with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month. Other reports said he told Maduro he would refrain from attacks if Maduro stepped down and would allow the Venezuelan president and his family to leave the country safely.
President Maduro appears to have rejected this proposal. He appeared at a public event on Sunday and declared Venezuela “indestructible, invincible and invincible.”
This intimidation tactic that President Trump used against President Maduro was also used during the war against Iran. On June 13, when the war began with the assassination of an Iranian general in a raid on a house in Tehran, many Iranian politicians received phone calls asking them to leave Iran. Otherwise, they too will be assassinated. The Iranians, like the Venezuelans, did not heed the threats. After 12 days of Iranian attacks on occupied territory, the United States and Israel called for a ceasefire, which Iran accepted.
President Maduro sent a letter to OPEC declaring that the United States’ true intention was to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves, the world’s largest, by force. The American opposition leader, who is reportedly in an uproar and planning to replace Maduro, has said multiple times that helping her become the new Venezuelan leader would allow the Americans to tap into Venezuela’s oil reserves.
American commentators who oppose Washington’s foreign policy, whose number has grown in recent years, seem to view President Trump as an isolated example in the history of American presidents. “He is a disgrace and is not what we as Americans represent,” the former U.S. Marine said on a podcast where he is an occasional guest.
But in other parts of the world, such as West Asia and South America, Mr. Trump’s methods and actions are nothing new to people. It’s just that Americans have always behaved that way.
If President Trump were to overthrow the Venezuelan government, it would be the 41st such move by Washington in South America. President Trump is doing what every American president has done: bullying other sovereign nations. First there are sanctions, then there are threats, then there are wars. Trump is not as skilled as someone like Barack Obama, who managed to appear flamboyant and altruistic while killing millions in West Asia during his presidency. After the blatant US-backed slaughter of Israelis in Gaza over the past two years has been recorded and witnessed extensively by the world, it is now difficult for Americans to justify their own killings under the banner of “human rights.” When the United States killed people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya, social media was less effective and more accessible.
Today, Venezuela, like Iran, is determined to resist US bullying. Islamic Revolution leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech last week that Iran would not be swayed by “noise” made by its enemies.
That “noise” had previously crystallized through the June 13 telephone conversation, but is now evident in continued threats from the United States and Israel against a new wave of potential aggression, and continually renewed sanctions. But the only way to get rid of bullies is to stand up to them. Bullies will continue to abuse as long as they believe they are vulnerable. And that has been the American style for as long as the world can remember.