Trump Never Stops At One

Trump’s Caracas grab wasn’t strategy; it was appetite, precedent, and permission—signaling a world where power takes what it wants and calls escalation leadership.

Guest article by Michael Cohen. Remember to follow him on Substack for more by clicking here. Michael just hit 500,000 subscribers on YouTube! Subscribe today for free here and let’s keep the momentum going!

Let’s dispense with the comforting lies, because democracies rarely collapse in flames; they decay quietly while everyone pretends this is normal. If the events of this weekend made you anxious, nervous, or uneasy, good. That feeling in the pit of your stomach? That’s not paranoia. That’s pattern recognition.

Mission accomplished.

Donald Trump doesn’t do restraint. He doesn’t do “one and done.” He does Lays Potato Chips; one of his favorite snacks on Air Force One. “You can’t stop with just one.” Not one wife. Not one golf course. Not one building. Not one award. Not one raid. And now, not one foreign head of state dragged out of his own country by American military force like a late-night perp walk.

This weekend, the United States conducted a brazen military operation inside Caracas and seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. Read that again slowly. A sitting head of state was grabbed. No international tribunal. No multilateral coalition. No careful choreography meant to preserve norms. Just force, speed, and the implicit message: we can.

If your first thought was, Who’s next? Congratulations. You’re ahead of the curve.

Trump certainly didn’t wait long to answer it himself.

Less than 48 hours later, somewhere between the Diet Coke and the grievance buffet aboard Air Force One, Trump began handing out geopolitical threats like party favors. Cuba is about to fall. Colombia is run by a “sick man.” Greenland? Still very much on the shopping list. The tone wasn’t cautious. It wasn’t conflicted. It was promotional. Like a bad Saturday morning infomercial: But wait… there’s more.

“Cuba looks like it’s ready to fall,” Trump said, confidently predicting the collapse of a government that has survived American embargoes, the fall of the Soviet Union, and decades of wishful thinking from U.S. presidents who swore this time was different. Trump waved off the idea of American forces being used there, while simultaneously explaining that Cuba only survives because of Venezuela, which he now considers handled.

Then came the line that should have set off sirens everywhere: “Don’t ask me about who’s in charge [of Venezuela] because it will be controversial,” Trump said. “We’re in charge.”

That’s not foreign policy. That’s a hostile takeover announcement.

Trump says the U.S. plans to rebuild Venezuela, especially its oil infrastructure, before holding elections. Democracy, apparently, now comes after renovations. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick eagerly suggested that Venezuelan steel and aluminum could be revived for American benefit. Funny how “freedom” always seems to arrive with a balance sheet and a preferred vendor list.

For now, Trump says he’s willing to work with Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president and the acting president. For now. Because if the new Venezuelan leadership “doesn’t behave,” Trump warned, there will be a “second strike.”

That’s not diplomacy. That’s a protection racket, with an American flag stitched on it.

The administration insists the raid was about stopping the drug trade. It always is. And on cue, Trump pivoted to Colombia, threatening President Gustavo Petro for criticizing the operation. Colombia, Trump declared, is “very sick,” run by a man who “likes making cocaine and sending it to the United States”—a not-so-subtle suggestion that Petro’s days are numbered.

I’ve heard that tone before. It’s the voice Trump uses right before someone is deemed no longer useful, no longer protected, no longer safe. Only now it’s being aimed at sovereign nations instead of contractors, journalists, prosecutors, or critics.

And just in case Europe thought it was merely an observer, Trump once again revived his fixation on Greenland. Hours after the Danish prime minister publicly rebuked him, Trump insisted the United States “needs” the autonomous territory for national security, and that the EU needs America to have it.

Needs. Not negotiates. Not partners. Needs.

Here’s the part that should genuinely alarm anyone who understands precedent: once the United States normalizes the grabbing of foreign leaders, it hands every strongman on earth a permission slip. You think Vladimir Putin didn’t notice? Xi Jinping? Kim Jong Un? The lesson isn’t subtle: if you’re powerful enough, the rules bend. Or disappear.

This isn’t strength. It’s escalation addiction.

Trump doesn’t see countries; he sees properties. He doesn’t see leaders; he sees leverage. Everything is transactional. Everything is dominance. Everything must end with him declaring victory—preferably on camera, preferably while someone else absorbs the fallout.

So yes, if you’re uneasy, good. That discomfort is awareness doing its job. This isn’t just about Maduro. It’s about momentum. About permission. About how easily “law and order” mutates into lawlessness when wrapped in patriotism and sold as necessity.

One raid becomes two. One country becomes three. One continent becomes a checklist.

And like those Lays chips, once the bag is open, Trump doesn’t stop. He never has—until it’s finished.

The only real question left isn’t whether there’s more coming.

It’s who’s next.

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