Venezuela is the Iraq of Vietnams
The Easy Part Is Over
So, Delta Force and the Department of Defense did it.
In the small hours of January 3–4, 2026, the finest military in the world followed orders and pulled off the kind of cinematic, chest-out, flag-snapping operation that makes cable news producers reach for the “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” lower-third: U.S. forces captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores and hauled them to the United States to face narco-terrorism / drug-trafficking charges.
And yes, of course, we could do it. I know the MAGA horde wants to think Trump fast-roped down from a Chinook with Delta and personally kicked down the door, but who’s surprised this worked?
No one, that’s who.
It is adorable that anyone thinks a paranoid petro-dictator in a crumbling police state had much of a chance against the United States when Washington decides to reach out and touch someone. If you have the world’s most capable special operators, aviation assets, intelligence services, and logistics, you can grab a man. You can always grab a man.
But here’s the part the MAGA fireworks brigade doesn’t understand:
Snatching the bad guy is the easy part.
The hard part is what happens next: when the cameras leave, when the speeches fade, and when reality shows up with the butcher’s bill.
And this is where the danger starts, because the Trump administration is built to win new cycles, not outcomes.
Regime change doesn’t work if you’re not offering something better. And a nation in Trump’s name and image isn’t selling anything that works.
