Opinion | Trump’s US isn’t giving up on extraterritorial power, just the rules

The explosions that rocked Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, in the early hours of January 3, signalled the definitive collapse of the post-war international order. With the announcement that US forces had captured president Nicolas Maduro and his wife under “Operation Absolute Resolve,” the world has been thrust into a chilling new era. This is the era of the “Trump Corollary”, a doctrine that replaces diplomatic norms with raw power and turns the western hemisphere into a private arena for US hegemony.

In the logic of the current administration, foreign policy is no longer a tool for long-term stability; it is a prop for domestic consumption. The arrest of Maduro is the ultimate “geopolitical reality show”. Decades of diplomatic nuance have been reduced to a victory lap on social media, and the capture of a sovereign leader is treated as a season finale for a political base that thrives on the spectacle of “justice” served through sheer force.

Trump has turned the US military into a performative tool for his own political agenda. When the arrest of a president is treated with the same bravado as a high-stakes drug bust, it reflects a leadership style that views the world not as a complex web of allies and rivals, but as a stage where every military strike is a “content drop” for his supporters.

What we are seeing is a violent pivot in American strategy. Its 2025 National Security Strategy formally buried the era of the “global policeman” and replaced it with the predatory Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. This Monroe Doctrine 2.0 asserts that the western hemisphere is not merely America’s neighbourhood, but its proprietary asset.

The transition is stark. The administration no longer pretends to champion democratic ideals for their own sake; it champions “regime change” for the sake of resources. The blatant focus on Venezuelan oil reveals the true nature of this hegemony. It is a “West Hemisphere First” policy that views Latin America as a “backyard” that must be purged of external influence and internal dissent.

Through US military build-up in South America and its trillion-dollar military budget, the administration is sending a message: “Obey, or be removed.” This is not “America first” as a form of restraint; it is “America first” as a form of unchecked regional dominance.