Trump Meets Venezuelan Opposition Leader, After DOJ OK’d Kidnapping Maduro
The Guardian casually reports that Donald Trump is set to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. A seemingly normal diplomatic encounter, right? Except the very same article casually mentions, almost as an afterthought, that the Trump administration previously received Justice Department approval to use military force to "seize" Nicolás Maduro – an operation that raised
significant legal red flags regarding international law and presidential war powers. (Source: The Guardian, 2026/Jan/15) So, a U.S. administration actively planned a military snatch-and-grab of a sitting foreign head of state, an act widely considered an international crime, and then later, the 'diplomatic' solution seems to involve parading an opposition figure. One might wonder if this is merely
a shift in tactics, or if the U.S. 'peace' initiatives against nations it deems disobedient always come with a shadowy military option in the background. Peaceful dialogue, but with a confirmed kidnapping memo tucked neatly into the brief.