Tag: Monroe Doctrine

Oh, Donald, what have you done?

Last week I wrote a blog post for today. As a result of what Trump did on Saturday, though, it no longer seemed appropriate to use it. I’ll save it for another day, because it is about one of the stories in my new book, Traveling Through History: A Collection of Historical Short Stories.

I have mentioned or alluded to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro before.

Flag of Venezuela
Photo by aboodi vesakaran on Unsplash

On August 28, 2025 in my blog, Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, I wrote that Trump was quietly stationing U.S. Navy Aegis guided-missile destroyers and other military ships and planes off the coast of Venezuela. I wrote, “The official White House explanation is that it is an anti-illegal drug operation, but it is no secret that Trump wants to overthrow the Maduro regime.”

On December 10, 2025, in my blog, Trump’s National Security Strategy – The Western Hemisphere, I gave some details of Trump’s November 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) and the “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine. Among other things, it talked about our use of lethal force and how American businesses would benefit. The NSS went so far as to state that any U.S. Government employee who interacts with countries in the Western Hemisphere must understand that it is “part of their job to help American companies compete and succeed.”

Now that Trump claims the U.S. will “run Venezuela” and we will “take back our oil,” I guess Trump and U.S. oil companies will be the beneficiaries of Saturday’s military action.

On December 31, 2025 in my A look back at 2025 blog post, I listed a few of  the things Trump did last year. One of my paragraphs read as follows: “He thinks he has the right to oust the dictator in a South American nation because that country sits on a lot of oil. He claims Venezuelans are bringing massive amounts of illegal drugs to the U.S. in those tiny boats. In his mind, though, it is easier to claim they’re transporting drugs and obliterate all the evidence along with the people in the boats.”

What Trump did in the wee hours on Saturday morning gives Putin the greenlight to take Ukraine and other European countries. It gives Xi the greenlight to take Taiwan.

Trump has left the United States without a moral leg to stand on when any other dictator in the world decides to go off half-cocked and overthrow a government or a leader they don’t like.

Trump says Maduro is a “bad person.” Just because a country has a “bad person” in charge does not give the United States or any other country the right to overthrow that person and their regime. After all, most of us think Donald Trump is a “bad person.”

The United States has overthrown foreign leaders before. It has never gone well. It goes against the Constitution of the United States of America. It overrides the authority of the U.S. Congress when a U.S. President launches a military attack on another country.

This is not rocket science; it’s just political science. It is the very foundation of our nation. It is not difficult to understand for those of us who have lived here for seven decades. We learned the tenets of American democracy from birth in our homes and at school in our formative years. We have continued to learn it throughout our lives just by having the privilege of being American citizens.

It is beyond unfortunate that we now have a U.S. President who was either never taught those things or has chosen to ignore them. He thumbs his nose at the law and those of us who love America. He believes he is above the law, and those of us who obey the law are “losers.”

And that, my friends, is how we arrived at Saturday morning, January 3, 2026.

Maduro and his wife are now being held in a prison in New York City. It is said that they will be charged with running illegal drugs to the United States.

This is all smoke and mirrors by the U.S. President, for just a few weeks ago he pardoned the former leader of Honduras for his running of drugs to the United States. So why spend an estimated $1 billion in U.S. taxpayer money to overthrow Maduro? And he is just getting started. The hard work comes after the overthrow, especially when you have no plan and the American people are not behind you.

In Trump World, it all depends on who you are and what Trump can get out of you.

The American people don’t want to run Venezuela. We don’t want to make Canada our 51st state. We don’t want to steal Greenland from Denmark. We don’t want a $400 million ballroom at the White House. We don’t want Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. We don’t want a massive arch in Washington, DC. We don’t want masked federal officers snatching people off the streets. We don’t want Trump’s face on our money or our national park passes. We don’t want Trump’s name on anything.

Americans want affordable healthcare and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) we can trust. We want our food inspected by a reliable U.S. Department of Agriculture. We want people to make a fair wage that will enable them to reach the American Dream of home ownership. We want religion left out of our public schools. We want university professors free to teach without government interference. We want our national parks preserved and not destroyed for the sake of gas and oil exploration. We want endangered species protected from extinction. We want a country where citizens are encouraged to vote without intimidation. We want a country where we are all just Americans and minorities are not labeled “other.”

We want a U.S. Congress with the guts to stop Trump’s power grab and overreach.

We want a U.S. Supreme Court that admits the error of their ways when they ruled that a sitting U.S. President cannot be held guilty of breaking a law.

We want a President who speaks and acts from a place of intelligence and empathy – not a gutter-mouth bully. Is it too much to ask that we have a President who speaks in complete sentences? Is it too much to ask for a President who honors the U.S. Constitution? Is it too much to ask for a President who does not call our citizens vicious names?

Janet

P.S. Don’t forget the brave people of Ukraine.

Trump’s National Security Strategy – The Western Hemisphere

What we have here in the United States is obviously a Wizard of Oz situation.

The White House quietly released the November 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) and posted it on the White House website. Since it is the announcement of the official U.S. foreign policy, there is usually a bit of fanfare with its release, but not this year.

Most Americans will never hear about it, much less read it.

It begins with a letter signed by Trump but obviously written by someone else. Probably Stephen Miller. Why do I say that? Simple. It is written in complete sentences.

The letter

That letter is enlightening because it does list the “eight raging conflicts” Trump claims to have put an end to in “just eight months” this year. In case you’re having trouble keeping up with the wars Trump has ended, here’s the list as found in this letter: Cambodia & Thailand, Kosovo & Serbia, the Democratic Republic of Congo & Rwanda, Pakistan & India, Israel & Iran, Egypt & Ethiopia, Armenia & Azerbaijan, and Israel & Gaza, although Israel is not named in the letter. (He wouldn’t want to show the government of Israel in a bad light, would he?)

The letter is full of bluster and boasts of all the amazing things Trump has done and all the “weakness, extremism, and deadly failures” of the Biden Administration. As only Trump can boast, the letter states, “Over the past nine months, we have brought our nation — and the world – back from the brink of catastrophe and disaster.”

The NSS document

The NSS document itself contains 29 pages of details of what the United States wants and what the United States wants from the world.

Some of the introductory remarks would be laughable if they weren’t so sad. For instance, “We want to maintain the United States’ unrivaled ‘soft power’ through which we exercise positive influence throughout the world that furthers our interests” rings hollow considering the Trump Administration obliterated USAID.

The sudden obliteration of USAID not only resulted in the starvation of hundreds of thousands of children but also their preventable deaths by the withholding of medical treatments – not to mention how the cessation of the food aid programs hurt the American farmer terribly.

The paragraph that really made me gag, though, was this one:

“Finally, we want the restoration and reinvigoration of American spiritual and cultural health, without which long-term security is impossible. We want an America that cherishes its past glories and its heroes, and that looks forward to a new golden age. We want a people who are proud, happy, and optimistic that they will leave their country to the next generation better than they found it. We want a gainfully employed citizenry – with no one sitting on the sidelines – who take satisfaction from knowing that their work is essential to the prosperity of our nation and to the well-being of individuals and families. This cannot be accomplished without growing numbers of strong, traditional families that raise healthy children.” (Notice the subtle reference to “traditional families.”)

Dear Leader Kim Jong Un of North Korea couldn’t have written that paragraph better! Delete the words “American spiritual” and I would swear I was reading a translation of a statement by Kim or Xi.

A paragraph that sent chills down my spine, though, was this one: “We want to ensure that the Western Hemisphere remains reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States; …we want …; we want … ; and we want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations. In other words, we will assert and enforce a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine;….”

It was “Trump Corollary” that got to me. Why does his name have to go on every cotton-picking thing?

The document goes on to delineate U.S. policy by region: The Western Hemisphere, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Introductory remarks that preface the regional details include, “The United States is by every measure the most generous nation in history – yet we cannot afford to be equally attentive to every region and every problem in the world.”

The Western Hemisphere

Photo of an Old World drawing of the western hemisphere
Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash

The so-called “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine involves making new partners and reconsidering our military presence in the Western Hemisphere. This seems to involve beefing up our Coast Guard and Navy presence “to control se lanes, to thwart illegal and other unwanted migration, to reduce human and drug trafficking, and to control key transit routes in a crisis.” It also includes “targeted deployments to secure the border and defeat cartels, including where necessary the use of lethal force to replace the failed law enforcement-only strategy of the last several decades.”

Also, “…as we prioritize commercial diplomacy, we will work to strengthen our security partnerships – from weapons sales to intelligence sharing to joint exercises.” This is in response to non-Western Hemisphere nations’ incursions of influence in recent years.

But the National Security Strategy goes on from there and seems to concentrate on the economy and what’s in it for United States companies. As a student of political science, it reads to me as a complete overhaul of the U.S. State Department and the responsibilities of our diplomats and State Department employees out in the field. This makes me cringe.

The U.S. “will reform our own system to expedite approvals and licensing – again, to make ourselves the partner of first choice. The choice all countries should face is whether they want to live in an American-led world of sovereign countries and free economies or in a parallel one in which they are influenced by countries on the other side of the world….

“All our embassies must be aware of major business opportunities in their country, especially major government contracts. Every U.S. Government official that interacts with these countries should understand that part of their job is to help American companies compete and succeed.

“The U.S. Government will identify strategic acquisition and investment opportunities for American companies in the region and present these opportunities for assessment by every U.S. Government financing program, including but not limited to those within the Departments of State, War, and Energy; the Small Business Administration; the International Development Finance Corporation; the Export-Import Bank; and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

“We should also partner with regional governments and businesses to build scalable and resilient energy infrastructure, invest in critical mineral access, and harden existing and future cyber communications networks that take full advantage of American encryption and security potential.

“The aforementioned U.S. Government entities should be used to finance some of the costs of purchasing U.S. goods abroad. The United States must also resist and reverse measures such as targeted taxation, unfair regulation, and expropriation that disadvantage U.S. businesses. The terms of our agreements, especially with those countries that depend on us most and therefore over which we have the most leverage, must be sole-source contracts for our companies. At the same time, we should make every effort to push out foreign companies that build infrastructure in the region.”

The part about U.S. State Department – or any other U.S. Government employee – who interacts with countries in the Western Hemisphere to understand that it is “part of their job to help American companies compete and succeed” is a 180-degree change in the purpose U.S. Government employees. It is not part of the job of a State Department employee to promote American companies! At least, it wasn’t part of their job until last Friday. That is absolutely not the job of the U.S. diplomatic corps!

I suppose this being put in writing by the Trump Administration should come as no surprise. After all, the U.S. State Department no longer makes “peace agreements;” it makes “deals” because Trump has an overwhelming lack of understanding or appreciation for the traditional functions of government in a democracy.

Western Hemisphere Command

It was not a coincidence that we learned on Thursday or Friday that two U.S. military command centers will be moving to Fort Bragg here in North Carolina over the next year as a new “Western Hemisphere Command” has been announced.

Possible blog post tomorrow

If I can recover from reading the Western Hemisphere portion of the National Security Strategy, I will blog tomorrow about how it addresses Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

I invite and encourage you to read the complete NSS document for yourself and not to take my word for it at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf.

Janet

#OnThisDay: James Monroe’s Birthday, 1758

When I have an #OnThisDay topic to blog about, I try to tie it in with a current event. Sometimes that’s easier than other times.

When I created my 2025 editorial calendar for my blog months ago, I wondered what I could do with Jame Monroe’s birthday for my April 28, 2025, blog post. How could I make James Monroe’s 267th birthday interesting?

Then, the Trump Administration came along and US-international relations were disrupted like eggs in a turned over basket rolling in all directions and breaking.

Monroe Doctrine! US and Western Hemisphere relations! Bingo!

But what about James Monroe’s Birthday and early years?

Born in Virginia, he had to withdraw from the Campbelltown Academy at the age of 16 when his parent died. He was needed to manage the family farm and take care of his three younger brothers. One of his maternal uncles stepped in as sort of a surrogate father. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, so he took Monroe to Williamsburg and enrolled him in the College of William and Mary in June 1774.

About 18 months later, Monroe dropped out of college to join the Continental Army. He suffered a severed artery in the Battle of Trenton and nearly died.

After the Revolutionary War, he resumed his law studies under Thomas Jefferson until 1783.

Monroe served in the US Senate, but he left the Senate in 1794 to be George Washington’s Ambassador to France. He later served as Ambassador to Britain.

He was elected Governor of Virginia in 1799. As President Jefferson’s special envoy, he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. He served as President James Madison’s Secretary of State beginning in 1811. During the War of 1812, he served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War.

He was what one might call an “over achiever.” And I haven’t even mentioned that he was elected US President in 1816 and was reelected for a second term in 1820.

And what about the Monroe Doctrine?

Are they still teaching school children about the Monroe Doctrine. I hope so, but it’s hard for me to keep up since I don’t have a close family member in grade school now.

In his annual speech before the US Congress in 1823, Monroe outlined his plans for a new American foreign policy.

Why did the Monroe Doctrine came about?

The US and Britain were both concerned that Spain was going to gain more control in Latin America, and the US was concerned about Russia’s territorial ambitions along the northwest coast of North America.

George Canning, British Foreign Minister, wanted a joint US-Britain agreement, but US Secretary of State John Quincy Adams argued against that and won. Hence, the Monroe Doctrine was officially just a US policy.

The four main points of the Monroe Doctrine, which made the US the protectorate of the Western Hemisphere:

  1. The US would not interfere in the internal affairs or wars between European countries;
  2. The US would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies in the Western Hemisphere;
  3. There would be no further colonization in the Western Hemisphere; and
  4. The US would consider further European colonization, military intervention, or other interference in the Western Hemisphere as a potentially hostile act.

Jump forward 200 years

In 1962, US President John F. Kennedy invoked the Monroe Doctrine during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy ordered a naval and air quarantine of Cuba after the Soviet Union started building missile-launching sites there.

President Ronald Reagan used the Monroe Doctrine as policy principle in the 1980s to justify US intervention in El Salvador and Nicaragua.

President George H.W. Bush invoked the Monroe Doctrine to justify a US invasion of Panama to oust Manuel Noriega.

After the Cold War and as the 21st century approached, US involvement in Latin America decreased, but there was a growing resentment in some countries over the US thinking it could call the shots.

Then comes the illicit drug trade.

Then comes a flood of immigrants trying to enter the United States legally and illegal.

Then comes Donald Trump.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. 202 years later!

US President Trump in 2025 took it upon himself to rename the Gulf of Mexico “the Gulf of America,” but only Republicans are calling it that.

In 2025, the US President has cozied up with the President/Dictator of El Salvador to the point that we’re helping to finance the most notorious prison in the world. Trump is threatening to steal the Panama Canal from Panama even though the two-fold Torrijos-Carter Treaties in 1977 transferred the canal to Panama as of December 31, 1999. Trump repeatedly says President Jimmy Carter sold the canal for one dollar, but the Torrijos-Carter Treaties were not a financial transaction. The Panama Canal Treaty gave Panama control of the canal over a 20-year period. The Treaty of Permanent Neutrality guaranteed the Panama Canal will remain open to international shipping.

President Trump claims he can make Canada the 51st state. Too bad for Puerto Rico. It’s been waiting to become the 51st state for decades.

President Trump threatens to steal Greenland from Denmark “any way we have to.”

Come to think of it… Trump claims he can make Canada, Greenland, Denmark, and Europe jump at his command, but he said he has no power to make El Salvador return to the US a man his Homeland Security people mistakenly kidnapped and shipped to the CECOT Prison. Who knew El Salvador was more powerful than the US? Well, we know now.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised Guyana that we’ll protect it if Venezuela invades it.

Just wait until Trump learns the names of some other Central and South American countries. He’ll want to take them, too, or maybe bow the knee to them like he has El Salvador.

Geography is not Trump’s strong point. Has he figured out what or where the Republic of the Congo is yet?

Incidentally, what has become of James Monroe’s house? OR… Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth

In February, 2025, the owners of Oak Hill in Loudoun County, Virginia, offered to give the estate to the State of Virginia so the home and 1,200 acres could be turned into a State Park. It turns out that the State doesn’t want it!

The property owners were reportedly offered $55 million for the house and estate, but they were willing to take a fraction of that amount if the State of Virginia would make it a State Park.

The last I read about it the State hasn’t budged.

Hurricane Helene Update

As of Friday, 58 roads in North Carolina were still closed due to Hurricane Helene. That count included five US highways, three state highways, and 50 state roads. That’s an incredible improvement over the 105 roads that were still closed a week earlier. Good weather has surely helped.

Although technically “open” now, I-40 in Haywood County at the Tennessee line is still open for just one lane in both directions with a 35 mile-per-hour speed limit.

There are still no estimates of when all the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina will reopen. I encourage you to watch the 18-minute early April video at https://www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/helene-impacts-and-recovery.htm. Scroll down below “Common Questions” to get to the video. This is a wonderful recent update on the progress being made and the monumental task that lies ahead to get 157 more miles of the parkway open. Below the video is a map showing where the parkway is open and where it is still closed.

Until my next blog post tomorrow

Keep reading good books.

Remember the people of Ukraine, Myanmar, and western North Carolina.

Janet