'Self-defeating': Expert says Trump 'hasn't got a clue what he's doing' in Venezuela

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One on his return from a state visit in Britain, September 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump’s foreign‑policy approach and his handling of the United States’ relationships with key allies have raised eyebrows. In recent months, his administration has stepped up its military campaign against drug cartels in Venezuela — a move that has drawn criticism domestically.

In an article for the Guardian published Sunday, foreign policy commentator Simon Tisdall argued that his threats to attack Venezuela and "dangerous and self defeating."

He added that this policy would benefit China instead of the U.S.

"Trump’s efforts to reprise the role of Latin American neighbourhood policeman, emulating former president Theodore Roosevelt – a big stick-wielding serial interventionist – are regressive, dangerous and self-defeating. Long-term, the big winner will most likely be Beijing, an increasingly influential regional actor, investor and leading member of the Brics group of nations. As the US burns its bridges across the world, Trump is making China great again," Tisdall wrote.

The writer argued that, despite his tough rhetoric, the president doesn't know what he is doing.

"Yet given his hapless blundering on other key foreign issues, the most likely explanation for Trump’s behaviour is that, typically, he hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing – in Venezuela or Latin America as whole. There’s no plan. He throws his weight about, makes impetuous misjudgments, stokes fear of foreigners and bases policy on whether he 'likes' other leaders. In 2019, with Maduro on the ropes, Trump blinked. Today, full-scale military intervention in Venezuela remains unlikely. More probable is an intensified pressure campaign of destabilisation, sanctions, maritime strikes, and air and commando raids," he wrote.

Tisdall further argued that Trump's decision to try and intervene in Brazil's politics backfired.

"Trump’s attempt to use punitive tariffs and sanctions to strong-arm Brazil into pardoning its disgraced former hard-right president Jair Bolsonaro backfired spectacularly last month. Huge crowds took to the streets of Brazilian cities to defend what they rightly saw as an assault on Brazilian sovereignty and rule of law."

He continued: "The popularity of Bolsonaro’s successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, soared. 'We are not, and never again will we be, anyone’s colony,' he declared. Lula told Trump, in effect, to get lost. Then, when they met at the UN general assembly, Trump backed off and played nice. Keir Starmer, please note.'"

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