In 1823, in his annual statement to Congress, President James Monroe announced what became a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy, which became known as the Monroe Doctrine.  The Doctrine served notice that, because the Old World and the New World had different systems, they must remain in their distinct spheres.

President Monroe made four basic points: (1) the United States would not interfere in the internal affairs of or the wars between European powers; (2) the United States recognized and would not interfere with existing colonies and dependencies in the Western Hemisphere; (3) the Western Hemisphere was closed to future colonization; and (4) any attempt by a European power to oppress or control any nation in the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act against the United States.

In 1848, President Polk reiterated Monroe’s principles, warning Britain and Spain not to establish footholds in Oregon, California, or Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.  Polk reinterpreted the doctrine in terms of the prevailing spirit of Manifest Destiny. Whereas Monroe had said only that the Western Hemisphere was no longer open to European colonialism, Polk now stated that European nations should not interfere with projected territorial expansion by the United States.

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.  This Corollary stated that in cases of flagrant and chronic wrongdoing by a Latin American country, the United States could intervene in that country’s internal affairs.

For more than 100 years, the U.S. tried to exploit our distance from Europe to avoid entanglements in wars on that continent.  We remained basically isolationist.  It was only when our rights were invaded or seriously menaced that we intervened for our own defense.

Before we entered World War I, Woodrow Wilson fully intended to stay out of the conflict.  It took German Uboats sinking U.S. shipping, and the German Ambassador trying to entice Mexico to attack us to get him to declare war.  Up until the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the U.S. had a policy of neutrality which greatly hampered FDR’s efforts to aid Great Britain.

With regard to threats native to Central and South America, the U.S. hasn’t been shy about exerting its influence under the Roosevelt Corollary.  U.S. Marines spent most of the 1920’s and 1930’s pacifying Haiti, Nicaragua, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

We toppled the Guatemalan government in 1954.  We invaded the Dominican Republic in 1965.  We intervened in Nicaragua in 1979, El Salvador in 1980, Grenada in 1983, and Panama in 1989.

Last weekend, President Trump treated us to an exercise of what’s being called the Donroe Doctrine.  In 2020, Venezuela’s poser President Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, were indicted for federal crimes.  In 2022, Corrupt Demented Imbecile Joe Biden put a $25 million reward on Maduro’s head.  Trump increased the bounty to $50 million.  Sunday morning, Maduro and wife were seized by Delta Force operators, and flown back to the U.S. to face justice.

Democrats had lambasted Trump for failing to seize Maduro in his first term.  The detestable Chuck Schumer denounced Trump’s Venezuela policy because he hadn’t removed Maduro.  Democrats openly called for regime change in Venezuela.  There was good reason for them to do so.

Venezuela sits on the largest oil reserves in the world.  Before the country was taken over by Communists Hugo Chavez and Maduro, Venezuela was one of the richest nations on Earth.  The Communists did to Venezuela what they do wherever they seize power.  They bankrupted the country, and turned the citizens into starving slaves.

In the Socialist Worker’s Paradise of Venezuela, one-third of the population fled the country.  Those who remained were reduced to eating pets and zoo animals.  Yes, that really happened.  In place of the oil economy that had made Venezuela rich, Maduro made his nation a narco-terrorist State.  Maduro is accused of running the narcotics distribution enterprise himself.

U.S. oil companies found the oil under Venezuela, and built the infrastructure necessary to refine their heavy, dirty crude oil.  The Communists expelled our companies and seized their assets.  What remains of the Venezuelan oil industry was being run by, and for the benefit of the Chinese, the Russians, and the Iranians.

Venezuelan oil has been subjected to sanctions, sanctions that went unenforced until Trump’s reelection.  In addition to destroying the Venezuelan drug boats, Trump began seizing oil tankers carrying sanctioned oil to China.

The Delta Force raid involved 150 aircraft, fixed wing and helicopters.  Our forces neutralized Venezuelan air defenses.  They invaded the army base where the Maduros were living, under the protection of Cuban Army troops.  The Cubans have admitted that 32 of their “combatant” officers were killed.  Delta Force breached the defenses, got the Maduros out within one hour and exfiltrated without casualties.

Given all the Democrat bitching about want to remove Maduro, they should be very happy now, right?  Wrong!  Now, they want to impeach Trump (again) for doing now what they blasted him for not doing earlier.  No surprise there.  If Democrats didn’t stand for hypocrisy, they would stand for nothing at all.

Like their Socialist comrades in the leftists governments of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Spain, many elected Democrats are denouncing the Maduro operation as illegal.  Scamola, sorry Scamala, Harris was sober enough to condemn the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan dictator Maduro and his wife, as both “unlawful” and “unwise.”  Right.  Have another drink Scamala.

The usual leftist suspects like Dan Goldman, Chris Van Hollen, Adam Schiff (for brains) , and Chris Murphy are calling the operation an unconstitutional incursion aimed at giving Venezuela’s oil to Trump’s billionaire friends.  They’re muttering about the War Powers Act, and complaining about Trump not seeking their consent.

Of course, we’re not at war, he doesn’t need their consent, and please, make my day.  Invoke the War Powers Act, so the Supreme Court can strike it down once and for all.  The decrepit Nancy Pelosi admitted the real reason Democrats are denouncing the operation. “Venezuela is ruled by an illegitimate regime, but the Administration has not made the case that an urgent threat to America’s national security existed to justify the use of U.S. military force … Congress must be fully and immediately briefed.”  Translation –  “We’re against it only because Trump did it.”

The operation to seize Maduro was done for the purpose of arresting a wanted fugitive, to be sure.  That clothed the operation in legal authority.  But arresting the Maduros wasn’t the only purpose.  Several days before the raid, the Chinese announced to the world that they were not going to recognize any U.S. right to protect its own hemisphere.  They announced they were going to send in tankers to take out all the oil they wanted.

The Chinese spit on the Monroe Doctrine.  Donald Trump took note.  The Maduro operation served notice on the Chinese, the Russians, the Cubans, the Iranians, and others that the Monroe Doctrine remains in full effect.  Maybe we should call it the Trump FAFO Doctrine.  Whatever we call it, the message was received.  How it will end will depend on whether Venezuela gets to have a real, fair election.  Stay tuned.