Donald Trump Is a Great Man of History

Townhall 

Most students of history have likely pondered the question: Is it the times that make the man, or is it the man that makes the times? The question, though superficially intriguing, seems to have an easy enough answer: Sometimes it is the times that make the man, and sometimes it is the man that makes the times. Rarest of all is the man who is both summoned and elevated by the times, on the one hand, and who has the courage and conviction to shape the times in return, on the other hand. It is this lattermost group of men who we might refer to as the truly great men of history.

Donald Trump is, on this metric, a great man of history.

In 2016, Trump was first swept into office, just a few months after the Brexit referendum in the UK, amid a broader wave of nationalist backlash to the regnant neoliberal global order. Trump, a lifelong free-trade skeptic with New York City outer-borough sensibilities, was the right man to lead at the right moment. He became the first president since Richard Nixon's fateful trip to visit Chairman Mao in Beijing to begin decoupling the U.S. from its economic bear hug with the Chinese Communist Party. More recently, Trump has overseen a historic securing of America's porous southern border and an equally historic withdrawal from dozens of transnational institutions.

Trump has met the moment and risen to the occasion in numerous foreign theaters besides China and the broader Indo-Pacific as well. He saw decades of American malaise, managed decline and overextended empire, and he has promptly reversed course.

Trump and his administration have repeatedly proven willing and unafraid to criticize America's European allies, nudging our core NATO partners to be better versions of themselves in such areas as military spending and defense self-sufficiency. He has responded to decades of buildup of murderous transnational nonstate cartels and Chinese and Russian entrenchment in our own hemisphere by reasserting the Latin America-centric Monroe Doctrine, as most spectacularly evidenced by January's Operation Absolute Resolve extraction of fugitive Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.

And now there is the unfolding Operation Epic Fury in Iran.

For 47 years, Iran's revolutionary Shiite theocracy has been attempting to kill, and indeed killing, Americans. From the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983 to the Bush-era roadside IEDs in Iraq to the attempted (and indicted) assassination of Trump himself, the mullah regime in Tehran has a long and bloody track record when it comes to American loss of life — more than 1,000 Americans killed in total, according to U.S. Central Command. For decades, presidents kicked the can down the road, appeasing and negotiating with the mullahs as if they were atheistic Soviets and not 72 virgins-aspiring apocalyptic Islamists. The mullahs dissembled and stalled, while racing toward nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles on which to mount them.

And then Trump came along.

Trump campaigned on ending so-called forever wars in the Middle East. His critics, both on the Left and in certain pockets of the impotent Right, have accused Trump of violating that promise with the current campaign. But those critics are wrong. Iran has been at war with us, whether or not we think about it and acknowledge it, since the founding of the revolutionary regime in 1979. The revolutionaries' very first action was to storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran and commence a 444-day hostage crisis. Tehran's "death to America" chants since then have been daily, and its anti-American atrocities have been legion.

With Operation Epic Fury, Trump isn't starting a new forever war — he is ending one.

Time and again, Trump has shown that he is willing to take actions that U.S. presidents of both parties long paid lip service to support but never actually effectuated. The notion that the world's most zealous Islamist regime cannot acquire the world's most dangerous weapons had been spoken so many times by so many different politicians over the decades that it had become old hat. No one actually acted on it until Trump tore up Barack Obama's disastrous nuclear deal in 2018 and bombed key Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer in 2025. Now, with Operation Epic Fury, Trump is attempting to finish the job and permanently ensure that Iran no longer threatens American interests.

God bless him for it.

The polling on Operation Epic Fury is mixed — predictably, it's split largely along partisan lines. But I strongly suspect Trump does not care in the slightest about the polling. Great men of history do not put a finger in the wind before deciding to take a seismic, world-altering action. They don't read the polls; they read the times and allow the rising tides of zeitgeist to elevate them to their better, most dynamic selves. And they have the corresponding vision and determination to shape the times for the better, in return. The American national interest will be improved by seeing the current mission in Iran through. So too will the broader condition of the Middle East — and, for that matter, the whole world.

The skeptics may shriek loudly. Let them do so. Because for Trump, a drastically improved national — and regional and global — outlook is more than justification enough. Just as it is for all great men of history.

Podcast thread for March 6

 

Enjoying the spring weather. :)

Muslim Brotherhood Needs to Be the Next Target After Iran's Mullahs

Muslim Brotherhood Needs to Be the Next Target After Iran's Mullahs

The Muslim Brotherhood is no less dangerous than the Iranian regime. The Muslim Brotherhood and Iran's regime share a deadly hatred of the West, advocate the destruction of Israel, and seek to undermine Arab and Islamic states that are moderate or pro-Western. Fighting this movement involves a multifaceted, long-term approach combining legal designations, financial restrictions, and ideological counter-messaging. Pictured: The logo of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Khaled Abu Toameh for Gatestone Institute

The Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Sunni Islamist organization aiming to institute sharia-based governance, has come out against the US-Israeli military operation targeting the Shiite Iranian regime, despite the Sunni-Shia divide that originated in 632 CE over who should succeed Islam's Prophet Mohammed.

Sunnis, who make up 90% of Muslims, believed leaders should be elected by consensus, chose Abu Bakr as caliph. Shias believed leadership should follow Mohammed's bloodline, specifically via his cousin and son-in-law, Ali.

In a statement published on March 1, Professor Mahmoud Hussein, acting "general guide" of the Muslim Brotherhood, wrote:

"The Muslim Brotherhood affirms that the policy of arrogance and dominance pursued by the U.S. administration, along with the Zionist arrogance seeking to impose a new reality in the region in which the Zionist entity becomes the dominant power, is a rejected policy, and that the peoples will prevent the implementation of this scheme. The group condemns the recent Zionist and American attacks on Iran, which threaten the security of the region and open the door to conflicts among its countries....

"The group stresses the necessity for Arab and Islamic peoples, the peoples of the free world, and all international and regional institutions to assume their role in confronting the increasing Zionist recklessness, declaring rejection of the policy of arrogance pursued by the U.S. administration, and working to spare the region the calamities of war...."

This statement shows that the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime share anti-Western and anti-Israel sentiments.

The Muslim Brotherhood is no less dangerous than the Iranian regime. While banned as a terrorist organization in some Arab countries, it maintains a presence in the Middle East and operates through networks and affiliates in Western countries through various organizations, think tanks and charities that promote its Islamist ideology.

According to the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv:

"The Brotherhood and its activity are divided into three fronts: The London front, led by Salah Abdel-Haq; the Istanbul front, headed by Mahmoud Hussein; and the 'Current of Change' front, led by Mohamed Montasser.

"Its main communication channels are:

"Television channels: Mekameleen, Rabia, Al-Sharq, Misr al-An;

"Websites: Ikhwan Online, Ikhwan Web, Ikhwan Wiki, Ikhwan Search, Ikhwan Book, Rassd;

"Social media accounts on Facebook, Telegram, and other networks operated by individuals and communities identifying with the Muslim Brotherhood;

"Research institutes, including the Egyptian Institute for Political and Strategic Studies, based in Istanbul;

"The Brotherhood's periodical, Majallat al-Da'wa;

"Al-Jazeera TV and Qatari-funded newspapers, including Al-Quds al-Arabiand Al-Arabi al-Jadid, which promote the agendas of the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas."

The Muslim Brotherhood cannot be eliminated through military action. Fighting this movement involves a multifaceted, long-term approach combining legal designations, financial restrictions, and ideological counter-messaging. Key strategies include designating affiliates as terrorist organizations, dismantling financial networks, and limiting their influence in education and religious institutions.

The Muslim Brotherhood and Iran's regime share a deadly hatred of the West, advocate the destruction of Israel, and seek to undermine Arab and Islamic states that are moderate or pro-Western. Both have supported Hamas (the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood) and aim to unify the Muslim world (ummah) under a shared political-religious vision.

Despite the historic Sunni-Shia rivalry, it is hard to ignore the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on the leaders and ideology of the Iranian regime.

The late Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, translated four books of Sayyid Ibrahim Qutb, an Egyptian political theorist who was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and whose writings formed the foundation of modern radical Sunni Islamism.

Qutb's ideology centers on restoring "pure" Islam by replacing jahiliyyah(pre-Islamic "ignorance" or "barbarism") and secularism with strict sharialaw. Qutb saw Islam as a liberation movement requiring active struggle -- including violence -- to overthrow governments that obstruct Allah's law. Qutb proposed a dedicated vanguard of believers to revive Islam and re-establish a true Islamic state, and he advocated violent, offensive jihad.

According to the Australian Army Research Centre:

"Qutb has been one of the most important influences on Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri—the man considered to be the intellectual architect behind much of al-Qa'ida's rhetoric and campaign planning...

"Osama bin Laden also clearly identified with Qutb's Islamist ideology. As mentioned earlier, while a student at King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia, bin Laden was tutored by Qutb's brother, Muhammad... His numerous public announcements since the mid-1990s have continually reflected key Qutbian beliefs, indicating an earnest desire that he and his followers in the al-Qa'ida network are the spearhead of the modern international Islamic movement, committed to restoring Islam to the glory of its medieval days.

"Militarily, the al-Qa'ida leadership has adopted Qutb's understanding of jihad and embraced his overall objective—that is, the destruction of jahiliyya for the creation of 'freedom' defined in an Islamist sense. This view is reflected in al-Qa'ida's rhetorical emphasis on an overall international strategy. By appropriating Qutb's interpretation of the justification for jihad, al-Qa'ida has been able to rationalise war against the United States."

According to Arab writer and political analyst Radwan al-Sayed, the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the Iranian regime is not just a circumstantial alliance, but one that extends to a "documented intellectual connection" that dates back decades.

Al-Sayed recalled a meeting he had with Khamenei:

"He told me that Imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini used to ask us in the 1960s to translate the books of the Muslim Brotherhood into Persian, and my share was to translate the books of Sayyid Qutb. We benefited greatly in the jurisprudence of the state from the Muslim Brotherhood."

The Iranian regime is not the only head of the snake responsible for killing tens of thousands of innocent people, including Christians, Muslims and Jews. The Muslim Brotherhood is the other head of the snake that needs to be cut off. The organization has inspired Iran's mullahs and served as the root from which several Islamist terror groups, such as Hamas, Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaeda have risen and flourished.

The US government recently designated certain chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood (specifically in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon) as foreign terrorist organizations, following US President Donald J. Trump's November 2025 executive order to begin that process. Trump's order and the subsequent designation were good steps in the right direction, but they are hopelessly insufficient. The entire organization should be banned. There is no reason why the Trump administration should not follow the actions of Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, and officially designate the entire Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. It is meaningless to get rid of the Iranian regime while allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to continue serving as an inspiration to Islamist terrorists.

The Muslim Brotherhood's reaction to the US-Israeli attack on the Iranian regime includes an appeal to Muslims to rise against the US and Israel. This call should be treated by the US and the rest of the West as a declaration of war by the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood seriously needs to be the next target after the mullahs of Iran.

Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.

‘Death to America’ Democrats Don’t Belong Here

American Thinker 

It never fails.  President Trump takes decisive action, and leftists everywhere call him “Hitler” and demand that he be removed from office.  

He snatches narco-terrorist dictator Nicolás Maduro from his Caracas compound in the middle of the night, and Democrats clutch their pearls and speak about the inviolability of Venezuelan sovereignty (while conveniently ignoring that over 3% of Venezuela’s population illegally entered the United States during Joe Biden’s puppet-presidency).  He quarantines the waters around communist Cuba, and America’s growing collective of idiotic socialists blame Cuban poverty on American aggression (while conveniently ignoring that communism delivers abject poverty wherever it exists).  He takes out hundreds of Islamic terrorists in Iran, and Hollywood morons run to their social media platforms to defend the sacred honor of Iran’s murderous and misogynistic mullahs.  It’s all just so trite and tiring.

Cuba’s security forces have been destabilizing the Americas for three-quarters of a century.  Hugo Chávez impoverished Venezuela and turned his homeland into a staging area for transporting drugs, slaves, and foreign operatives into the United States.  Iran’s Islamic theocracy transformed a once-modern-looking country into a backwards, thuggish, brutal place that has for five decades remained both a launchpad for international terrorism and the quintessential female-subjugating patriarchy.  

Yet to listen to 2028 presidential aspirant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or Hollywood imbecile Mark Ruffalo or master of horror Stephen King talk about Cuba, Venezuela, or Iran, you’d think that those countries have long been bastions of freedom simply trying to survive in a world plagued by American despotism.  It’s all the more strange that these dimwits and their leftist friends choose to remain in the United States, since it is America’s adversaries that they love and America that they hate.  

Why isn’t AOC running for president in Cuba?  Why isn’t Ruffalo living his best life in Venezuela?  Why isn’t King hanging out with the mullahs in Iran?  Why do they choose to live inside America’s gated community while pretending that the rest of the world’s gated communities have so much more to offer?  Why don’t they just go and live in the places that they praise?

In human societies, there are always people who feel no loyalty to the rest of the group.  Some of those people become criminals.  Some smuggle state secrets to foreign enemies.  Some jump up on soapboxes and do nothing but complain.  

During the Cold War, American communists worked with the Soviet Union to undermine the security of the United States.  During the Vietnam War, leftists spit on American soldiers returning home after risking their lives in combat.  Today, Al Gore, John Kerry, and other wealthy hypocrites who have pushed tax hikes and inflation on Americans through the regulatory framework of a “green new deal” are completely silent when it comes to China’s growing reliance on coal.  

For leftists, in fact, China can do no wrong.  China’s communist government commits genocide, enslaves minorities, threatens Taiwan’s independence, steals America’s trade secrets, sabotages American plants, engages in biowarfare, and denies its citizens basic human rights.  Rather than denouncing the Chinese Communist Party, the Democrat Party in the United States praises China’s ascendancy in the world.  

At some point, a reasonable American has to ask, “With friends like these, who needs enemies?”  

Is it really so hard to understand that the Islamic terrorists who have repressed the people of Iran, wounded and murdered thousands of Americans, and sustained chaos in the Middle East are the bad guys?  Does President Trump really have to break out paper and crayons and draw pictures of what life has been like since Iran’s theocratic tyrants took over the country nearly a half-century ago?  

Iran is a dystopia where child brides are common and women must keep their faces and bodies covered while outside.  Male relatives must accompany women at all times.  Women caught violating these moral codes are often arrested and too often raped as “punishment.”  If they become pregnant, it is they who are stoned to death for their “sin.”  Iran’s “morality police” are the sickos that Hollywood celebrities defend — the same celebrities who used the “Me Too” movement to fight the “patriarchy” in the United States.  If Mia Farrow, John Cusack, Ellen Barkin, Daryl Hannah, Carrie Coon, or Rosie O’Donnell really wanted to destroy the “patriarchy,” they would be celebrating the potential end to Iran’s theocratic regime.  Instead, they defend the monsters that brutalize women in Iran, while ludicrously calling President Trump a “pedophile,” “rapist,” and “madman.” 

I’m not asking for America’s Democrats to approve of everything President Trump does.  I’m not even asking them to support his military campaign against Iran’s Islamic despots.  But, come on, Iran’s oppressive government has not only been the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism for decades but also regularly leads public chants of “Death to America!”  How can any real American support foreigners who both call for the death of Americans and actually kill Americans all too frequently?  

Even if Democrats often sympathize with terrorists, why would they sympathize with Islamic zealots?  In the United States, leftists despise Americans who go to church on Sunday.  Democrats mock Americans who pray for others during tragedies.  Why would atheists stand beside Iranians who murder in the name of religion?  Is their hatred for America so great that they are actually willing to send “thoughts and prayers” to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard?

It’s all just so crazy.  How can we survive as a country when so many people who live inside America’s borders seek its destruction?  I’m not seeking unanimity of opinion.  I like honest public debate.  And I’m not suggesting that we need loyalty oaths either.  Citizens should freely consult God and their own consciences when making choices.  But should Americans who wish Iranian terrorists success against the United States still be considered “American” in anything other than name?  It seems to me that when you throw in your lot with foreign pedophiles, rapists, murderers, and terrorists, you’re forsaking any fellowship with Americans and declaring loyalty to a sick and twisted foreign regime. 

Democrats in the United States love to call President Trump and his voters “Nazis.”  Well, if there’s one country in the world today that resembles Hitler’s Nazi Party in both creed and evil deeds, it is the Islamic Republic of Iran.  The moral midgets in Hollywood and the corporate press who bent over backwards to kiss the ayatollah’s derrière might as well have been puckering up for Adolf, himself.  When leftists praise modern-day Nazis, should they not be denounced as Nazi sympathizers? 

For many years, non-leftists have accused leftists in America of being a dangerous “fifth column” filled with people who sympathize with our enemies and actively work to subvert the United States.  Democrats’ stalwart support for Iran’s oppressive regime lends a great deal of credence to the accusation.  

You don’t have to support President Trump’s economic policies.  You don’t have to agree with his decision to upgrade the White House with a ballroom.  You don’t have to wear a red hat.  You can even roll your eyes when other people talk about “making America great again.”  

But you can’t take sides with foreign nations that kill Americans.  Even if you hate MAGA chants, you can’t support outsiders who chant, “Death to America.”  There’s plenty of space to debate ideas in the United States.  But if you’re working with America’s enemies, we don’t want you.  You don’t belong here.  You need to go.  Because you’re an enemy, too.

UN Enters the War Against US and Israel

UN Enters the War Against US and Israel

David Strom for Hot Air

Henry Nicholls/Pool Photo via AP

The United Nations was a product of American diplomacy. 

When I was growing up, liberals were musing about surrendering US sovereignty to the body to build a world government, and there is still a large contingent of internationalists who are trying to make that, or something similar, a thing. They talk about international law as if it were something ordained by God, and not a set of agreements among allied powers to promote their own interests. 

It is an absurdity on its face, and in recent years it has been exposed as such for everybody but the transnational elite. 

Were it not for the United States' seat on the UN Security Council and its relative dependence on the United States for funding, the organization would be explicitly anti-United States, and even with its dependence on our funding and approval for certain actions, it has adopted the idea that Israel makes a good proxy to attack. 

Over the past 10 years, the UN has adopted almost 100 more resolutions condemning Israel than all the rest of the world combined, so it should come as no surprise that, to the extent it can, it has entered the propaganda war against the Iran war on the side of Iran. 

UN Watch is calling on Secretary-General Guterres to intervene after Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese refused to take down her fake AI-generated image of “165 coffins of schoolgirls,” which she posted to generate support for the regime in Iran.https://t.co/Sg1b4yDt2M

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) March 5, 2026

The UN Human Rights Council is condemning the US-Israel attacks on Iran, because of course it is, despite the fact that it is "investigating" the Iranian murder of tens of thousands of its own citizens who were protesting against the regime. The "Special Rapporteur" on Palestinian issues, Francesca Albanese, has shared AI images to condemn Israel.

DURING the mass murder in which IRGC forces slaughtered innocents on Iran's streets and even in hospitals, Secretary General Guterres congratulated Iran on the anniversary of the revolution, and is now deeply concerned about us violating international law. 

UN secretary general Guterres didn’t come to the UN floor to lecture the IRGC about “international law” and morality when they massacred over 30,000 protesters six weeks ago—but he did congratulate them on the anniversary of the revolution they committed that massacre to protect.

You won’t find a better illustration of how broken and corrupt the international system has become since its slow hijack by Third Worldists—or of why morality always trumps law, particularly “international law.” America and Israel are literally saving the world from wicked clowns and hypocrites like Guterres. Shut it all down.

As the United Nations leadership backs the  Iranian regime, the US, Israel, and almost all the Gulf Arab states are laying the groundwork for the replacement of a brutal and unpopular regime with something better. 

President Trump is completely dismantling not just the internationalist regime being promoted by the Western left to undermine the sovereignty of Western nations, but also the institutions that are supposed to whitewash and implement it. 

No doubt liberals in the West will try to hang on to the veneer of legitimacy that "international law" and the UN provide for their attacks on Western sovereignty, but chances are good that these institutions will not just lose their shine for many people, but actually begin to crumble. 

Our feckless allies are beginning to realize this, at least to some extent. Keir Starmer is backing away from his refusal to aid the United States, under enormous domestic pressure, and even Mark Carney in Canada is flailing around trying to figure out how to navigate the new reality. 

I doubt that Trump will completely withdraw from the United Nations, but there is little doubt that he is systematically stripping it of power and prestige. 

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Hemispheric Boss Level: Epic – Venezuela Edition

Conservative Treehouse 

About a month ago President Donald J Trump bombed Caracas, engaged the U.S. military with a direct firefight against Venezuela military & security forces, then snatched regime dictator Nicholas Maduro out of the country to face criminal charges in the United States.

Yesterday, Maduro’s replacement, President Delcy Rodriquez, stood on the steps to the Venezuela presidential office and publicly thanked Interior Secretary Doug Bergum for the kindness and support of President Donald Trump.

That reality represents a level of hemispheric ‘ultimate boss’ that boggles the mind.  But wait, it gets better. There’s video (prompted):

Before going further to current events, let us remind ourselves of a few details.

Sandwiched between the Venezuela Maduro operation and the recent Operation Epic Fury in Iran, approximately three weeks ago, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth convened a gathering in Washington of all the defense chiefs and senior military officials from 34 Western Hemisphere countries.

As most of you will remember, securing the national security of the entire Western Hemisphere, was outlined in the national defense strategy document [SEE HERE] released by President Trump. In addition to setting the priorities for the United States focus, the report details the Trump administration perspective on the world as broken down into specific regions.  The report is a brutally honest review of the current state of geopolitical benefits, risks and threats as they pertain to vital U.S. interests. The report outlines a critically renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere.

Now, back to Secretary Bergum’s visit.

At the same time as Interior Secretary Bergum is meeting with key government and private sector partners to discuss strategic mineral development (ie. deconflict dependency on China via independent development), oil production for U.S. hemispheric security (Iran output offsets), Venezuela announced the transfer of 1,000 kilos (more than a ton) of gold reserves for sale on the U.S. market {SOURCE}.

Venezuela needs stability.  Hemispheric Boss President Trump wants Venezuela to have stability.  Venezuela needs dollars and both the coordinated sale of Venezuela oil and Venezuela gold (47 tonnes in strategic reserve) will provide those dollars to retain stability and seed economic growth projects.

This coordinated approach secures the economic future of Venezuela and simultaneously secures the energy security of the Western Hemisphere while geopolitical operations continue in other regions, like the confrontation with Iran.

In essence, President Trump is isolating the Western Hemisphere from collateral economic damage that is likely to happen as the U.S. begins to take down the leading sponsors of global conflict.  As things are in flux, the close and controlled partnership with Venezuela can offset/mitigate a lot of chaos.

While the ongoing Iran confrontation happens in the middle east, and in combination with the priority of the National Security Strategy, President Trump then convenes a meeting of hemispheric leaders in Florida this weekend.

The Latin-America meeting in Doral is being called the “Shield of the Americas Summit.”  The Trump administration has made it a priority to assert dominance over the Western Hemisphere, where China previously built influence through massive loans and expansive trade.

Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced President Trump will host heads of state from “Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Trinidad and Tobago, and maybe some others as well.”

So, let’s put it all together.

President Trump proactively secured the border, targeted narcotraffickers, confronted narcoterrorists, targeted Mexican drug cartel leadership, leveraged the DOJ to indict regional actors, pushed China out of control in the Panama Canal, took out Nicholas Maduro, took control of Venezuela oil production – both for the security of the U.S. and benefit of the Venezuelan people, removed the discounted oil benefit for China and reasserted stability in the Western hemisphere.

Then, with all that in place, he turned toward Iran…. but, proactively planned for a ‘Shield of the Americas Summit’ before the Iran operation began and scheduled it while Operation Epic Fury continues.

Jumpin’ ju-ju bones.  That outline and timeline is not supposition; it is what took place.

And, yeah, we just watched “interim” Venezuela President Delcy Rodriquez react to what she is witnessing happening all around her.

Accepting all of this, I would not be in the least surprised to see President Rodriquez in Doral this weekend.

[SOURCE]

This my friends, is a level of strategic boss maneuvering beyond anything we have ever witnessed before.

[…] – “Interior Secretary Doug Burgum landed in Venezuela on Wednesday to begin talks about a potential rare earth minerals partnership, just weeks after the U.S. arrested former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

FOX Business exclusively joined Burgum on the trip. President Donald Trump‘s administration views Venezuela’s untapped resources as a potential alternative to relying on China for critical minerals, FOX Business has learned.

While in Venezuela, Burgum will also help expand the relationship between U.S. oil companies and the Venezuelan government. The secretary will meet with the current Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez to continue the growing relationship between the two countries.

Burgum is the first member of Trump’s Cabinet to leave the country since the U.S. launched Operation Epic Fury against Iran on Saturday.” (read more)

Miller: 'We Are Not Going to Cede an Inch of Territory in This Hemisphere to Our Enemies or Adversaries'

 RedState 

While the Shield of the Americas Summit, hosted by President Donald Trump at the Trump National Doral in Miami, Florida, is set for Saturday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller laid some groundwork for the summit on Thursday. 

Speaking at U.S. Southern Command Headquarters, Doral, Florida, Hegseth and Miller addressed the Americas Counter Cartel Conference, which "brings together regional defense and security leaders from the Caribbean, Central America, and South America to coordinate against cartels and narco-terrorism."

As noted, Miller also addressed the conference — which included defense and security leaders from Argentina, the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Trinidad and Tobago — and, as you might expect, did not mince words.

"We are not going to cede an inch of territory in this hemisphere to our enemies or our adversaries!

"Our national security, our homeland security, the safety and well-being of our people begins at home, begins in our neighborhood, begins in our home region.

"And for too long, we have allowed foreign enemies, foreign adversaries, and enemy terrorist organizations to control territory and spaces in this hemisphere where they can project power, project threats, and directly threaten the lives of your citizens and our citizens.

"And so, under the leadership of President Trump, we are using hard power, military power, lethal force to protect and defend the American homeland.

“Not a single one of your nations should tolerate the existence of a single square mile of territory that is under the control of any entity other than the sovereign governments of your country!

"The idea that we would have in this hemisphere areas that are under the physical control of foreign terrorist organizations, paramilitary organizations, is completely unacceptable!

"The cartels that operate in this hemisphere are the ISIS and the al-Qaida of the Western Hemisphere.”

Miller noted that the cartel problem is not one that can be addressed primarily via criminal justice or law enforcement, but rather via military action. 

"[What] we have learned, after decades of effort, is that there is not a criminal justice solution to the cartel problem.

"There are elements of the problem that require a criminal justice solution, to be sure, but just as we fought al-Qaeda and fought ISIS with the tip of a very lethal spear, the reason why this is a conference with military leadership and not a conference of lawyers is because these organizations can only be defeated with military power.”

“And I see some heads nodding up front because they understand. You’re dealing with a lot of lawyers in your own country, I’m sure. You have my permission NOT to listen to them!

"The key condition of human flourishing, of prosperity, is order and security."

Miller also emphasized that the foremost priority for any country should be to secure its territory.

“There have been centuries of previous history in which ruthless means were used to get rid of the people who were raping and murdering and defying established systems of order and justice. And then, when people could live freely and peaceably — and children and families and women could be safe — then it became possible to pursue all of these higher elements of life.

“So, when people who are coming to countries like yours that have had struggles and difficulties and pains and challenges, and they're telling you anything other than first and foremost, secure your countries and your territory, they’re giving you not only terrible advice, but advice — if someone had come to Europe centuries ago and they had followed that advice, Europe would have never became the Europe that it eventually became.

“And the reason why many Western countries are struggling today is they’ve forgotten the eternal truth and wisdoms they once followed. And that’s why here under President Trump in America, we are returning to those fundamental truths.”

What's clear, from both Hegseth's and Miller's remarks, is that the Trump administration is firmly embracing the Monroe Doctrine (some now call it the "Donroe Doctrine") and focusing on the security needs of the Western Hemisphere.