TRUMP IS NORTH AMERICA’S PUTIN: The Illegal Invasion of Venezuela

By Robbie Blue

An Autocrat’s Playbook: Bombs First, Constitution Never

Let me be crystal clear from the start: Nicolás Maduro is a thug. He rigged elections, starved his people, trafficked narcotics, and turned Venezuela into a narco-state. He deserves to face justice. I’m not shedding tears for a dictator.

But here’s what should terrify every American: Donald Trump just became the very thing he claims to oppose—a lawless strongman who bombs sovereign nations without legal authority, without congressional approval, and without regard for the Constitution he swore to uphold.

This isn’t law enforcement. This is regime change wrapped in the American flag, and it makes Trump no different from Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine.

The “Operation” Was Flatly Illegal

Senator Tim Kaine stated it plainly: “I think these strikes are clearly illegal. They have not been authorized by Congress. And the Constitution is clear that the U.S. doesn’t engage in military action or war without a vote of Congress except in cases of imminent self-defense” NPR.

Let that sink in. Trump ordered 150 jets to strike Venezuela from 20 airbases, bombed Caracas, killed Venezuelan civilians and military personnel, and kidnapped a sitting head of state—all without asking Congress for permission.

Former Mexican President López Obrador called it what it is: “a kidnapping.” He said the United States acted as a “global tyrant” and attacked “the will of the Venezuelan people when it targeted their nation and removed their president” NBC News.

Even international law experts are horrified. Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, asked: “If you detain someone unlawfully, if you take someone into your custody, and you do not have the legal right to do that, then what else would you call it?” She noted that “The United Nations Charter makes it very clear that there are very few times when a country has the right to carry out military force on the territory of another country” NBC News.

Congress? Who Needs It When You’re a Dictator

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for Congress to be briefed immediately and noted that Trump “has not sought congressional authorization for the use of military force and has failed to properly notify Congress in advance.” Jeffries pointed out that “the framers gave Congress the sole power to declare war as the branch of government closest to the American people” Al Jazeera.

But Trump doesn’t care about the Constitution. When asked about congressional notification, Trump said dismissively: “Congress has a tendency to leak” NPR. Translation: I don’t trust democracy, so I’ll just do whatever I want.

Representative Betty McCollum was blunt: “The actions taken today by the Trump administration are blatantly illegal. Venezuela poses no imminent national security threat to the United States and Congress has not voted to authorize any use of force in the region” Al Jazeera.

Even some Republicans are uncomfortable. Representative Thomas Massie questioned the constitutionality, asking: “If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn’t be tweeting that they’ve arrested the President of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. firearm law” CNBC.

It’s Not About Drugs—It’s About Oil

Trump and his lackeys claim this is about stopping narcotics. Bullshit.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cut through the propaganda: “It’s not about drugs. If it was, Trump wouldn’t have pardoned one of the largest narco traffickers in the world last month. It’s about oil and regime change” The Hill.

She’s absolutely right. Trump literally announced his plan to steal Venezuela’s oil. At his Mar-a-Lago press conference, Trump revealed his plans to “fix” Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of oil to other countries, saying the wealth would “go back to the people” of Venezuela as well as to the U.S. He claimed the operation “won’t cost us a penny” because the U.S. would be reimbursed from “the money coming out of the ground” CBC News PBS.

Maduro has long accused Washington of wanting to control Venezuela’s oil reserves—the largest in the world Al Jazeera. Turns out he was right.

Venezuela has the planet’s largest proven oil reserves. Trump sees that black gold and doesn’t care about international law, sovereignty, or the thousands of Venezuelan lives his bombs destroyed. The Venezuelan opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado, has publicly called for U.S. intervention and “pointed to the oil reserves that US firms could tap more easily with a new dispensation in power in Caracas” Al Jazeera.

Or Maybe It’s Just…Epstein

AOC added another uncomfortable truth: “And they need a trial now to pretend that it isn’t. Especially to distract from Epstein + skyrocketing healthcare costs” The Hill.

Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein continue to haunt him. New documents, new testimonies, new questions about what he knew and when. What better distraction than playing general? Bomb a foreign country, wave the flag, pose with soldiers—suddenly nobody’s talking about your relationship with a child sex trafficker.

**The Strongman’s

Favorite Move: Illegal War**

This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. When your domestic troubles pile up—scandals, failed policies, angry constituents—start a war. Project strength. Wrap yourself in nationalism. Dare anyone to question you.

This marks “Washington’s most direct intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama,” and multiple legal experts note the operation violates the Constitution, federal war powers statutes, and the rule of law CNN Reason Magazine.

Sound familiar? It’s exactly what Putin did when he invaded Ukraine—claiming he was “liberating” people from a “narco-regime,” justifying military aggression as a righteous crusade.

The hypocrisy is staggering. Trump spent years calling for “America First,” promising to end wars, attacking Biden for foreign interventions. Now? Former Vice President Kamala Harris pointed out: “We’ve seen this movie before. Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price” CBS News.

Senator Adam Schiff said Trump’s action “doesn’t just continue Donald Trump’s trampling of the Constitution, it further erodes America’s standing on the world stage and risks our adversaries mirroring this brazen illegal escalation” The Hill.

Think about that. Trump just gave China permission to invade Taiwan. He gave Russia justification for Ukraine. He told every dictator on Earth: sovereignty doesn’t matter, international law is optional, might makes right.

“We’re Going to Run Venezuela”

Perhaps most chilling of all: Trump announced at Mar-a-Lago that the U.S. will “run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition” The Hill.

We’re going to RUN another country.

Not “support democracy.” Not “help the Venezuelan people.” We’re going to RUN VENEZUELA like it’s a Trump casino. Install our people, take their oil, and dare the world to stop us.

Michael Schmitt, a former Air Force lawyer and professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College, was unequivocal: “There is no other way to characterize what has happened other than as a state of war between the United States and Venezuela. As a matter of law, we are now at war with Venezuela” PBS.

I Don’t Care If Maduro Suffers—I Care That We Became Criminals

Yes, Maduro is a monster. Yes, he deserves to answer for his crimes. Yes, the Venezuelan people deserve freedom.

But the ends don’t justify the means. Not when those means include bombing civilians, violating sovereignty, ignoring the Constitution, and installing ourselves as colonial overlords.

Notre Dame Law School professor Jimmy Gurule called it “clearly a blatant, illegal and criminal act” PBS. Not “questionable.” Not “controversial.” Illegal and criminal.

We don’t get to lecture the world about democracy and rule of law while we bomb countries without congressional approval and kidnap leaders we don’t like. We don’t get to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while we invade Venezuela for oil.

Trump Is the Real Criminal

Here’s the bottom line: Maduro might be a narco-terrorist, but Trump is a war criminal.

He violated:

The U.S. Constitution (Article I gives Congress war powers)
The War Powers Resolution (requires congressional authorization except for imminent threats)
International law (UN Charter prohibits military force against sovereign nations)
Every principle America claims to stand for

Senator Tim Kaine promised to call for a vote on his bipartisan resolution barring intervention in Venezuela without congressional approval, stating: “We can’t, with a straight face, make the argument that we support the sovereignty of nations if we’re willing to engage in a unilateral, presidentially declared war against Venezuela” NPR.

As one analysis put it: “By failing to get authorization from Congress, Trump has ceded America’s moral high ground, further eroded our democracy, and made the world a more dangerous place” Reason Magazine.

This Is What Autocracy Looks Like

Trump is North America’s Putin. He bombs sovereign nations, kidnaps leaders, steals resources, and wraps it all in patriotic rhetoric while his followers cheer. He ignores laws, bypasses Congress, and acts like an emperor who answers to no one.

I don’t care how happy anyone is to see Maduro in chains. I care that we became the bad guys to do it.

I care that Trump turned America into a rogue state that invades countries for oil and calls it justice.

I care that he’s normalized lawlessness, shredded the Constitution, and taught the world that might makes right.

Yes, Maduro is a criminal. But Trump is the one who just committed an act of war without legal authority. Trump is the one who ordered bombs dropped on Caracas. Trump is the one who kidnapped a head of state in violation of international law.

Trump is the one who belongs in a courtroom answering for crimes against the Constitution.

Maduro’s guilt doesn’t excuse Trump’s. Two wrongs don’t make a right. And if we let this stand—if we accept that presidents can wage war whenever they want, against whoever they want, for whatever reason they want—then we are no longer a democracy.

We’re just another strongman regime with better PR.

The author is outraged.