Of all the ways to understand President Donald Trump’s belligerence toward Venezuela — as a campaign against “narcoterrorists,” a play for its oil reserves, a desire to control the Western Hemisphere — the most overlooked is the outcome he covets more than all those things combined: greatness. For Trump, Venezuela is not just a geopolitical question. It is an opportunity to lead in war, a hallmark of presidents considered the nation’s best.
No one runs for the White House to be pedestrian. Every president has a theory of greatness. For some, it’s decisiveness in transformative moments — the mix of judgment, personality and courage brought to bear in times of profound uncertainty. For others, it’s reflected in how much the nation bends — or bows — to the presidency. And for a few, it’s more formulaic: Create a list of presidential to-dos and simply check the boxes.
Being considered among the greats remains one of Trump’s deepest interests. He declared at a joint session of Congress in March that the first month of his second administration was “the most successful in the history of our nation,” before adding, “you know who No. 2 is? George Washington.” Last year, he told a convening of Black journalists, “I have been the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.” He recently posted to social media that his proposed 50-year mortgage policy makes him a great American president like Franklin D. Roosevelt. His open lobbying for the Nobel Peace Prize, describing every policy action in superlatives, and even the construction of a White House ballroom point to a preoccupation with glory.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon’s posture has transformed the Caribbean into a theater of war. For months, the military has struck private vessels in international waters that it alleges are running drugs destined for the United States. (An order to kill stranded mariners in those operations has become its own national story.) Trump declared the airspace over Venezuela closed, effectively establishing a commercial no-fly zone. The largest U.S. flotilla the Caribbean has seen since the Cold War sits within striking distance, part of a force of about 15,000. And he’s taken the highly unusual step of announcing ongoing covert operations in Venezuela. These are telltale actions of a nation preparing for battle.
Historians and political scientists have long reported that bravery and competence in war is the best predictor of presidential greatness. Some earned the distinction in uniform and others in a wartime White House, but it’s the most common attribute of those presidents consistently ranked in the top 10. There is, however, fine print: Scholars have found higher scores for presidents who govern during deadlier conflicts, and also that war itself is more likely to harm a president’s reputation than to make one special. The path to war is no shortcut to greatness.
The tell of those hunting glory is the contradictions that emerge in its pursuit. In his bid for the Nobel, Trump has boasted about ending eight wars but looks ready to start one unnecessarily. His “America First” policy agenda says nothing about forays into foreign lands. He portrays his interest in Venezuela as a war on drugs but pardoned the former president of Honduras who was convicted in U.S. courts of running a state-sponsored drug operation. And as proof of Trump’s strength, he is offering the military’s overwhelming force to face an overmatched opponent, employing authoritarian tactics to justify removing an authoritarian, all in the name of democracy.
Even if curtailing the drug trade, securing national resources, or preventing a foothold for Russia and China were truly the administration’s only goals, war with Venezuela is the worst way to achieve those ends. Similarly, if the thought is that conflict will distract the country from Trump’s sinking approval ratings, an unpopular deportation campaign, Republican election losses or the saga around Jeffrey Epstein, any temporary “rally ’round the flag” effect will be permanently undone by the ugliness of war. And if the idea is conflict will help further centralize power in the presidency, then Trump hasn’t understood that there’s nothing to be gained in war that he hasn’t already been granted by pliant congressional leadership. A military victory over Venezuela may be perceived as a sure thing, but it holds no value.
This is a lesson on war that many presidents have learned the hard way, and Trump seems primed to join that club. For presidents in search of glory, all the world’s a stage in need of great men. But if becoming heroic was as simple as checking off a list, then there’d be no shortage of heroes, and no glory in the designation, either. Public respect cannot be manufactured. Trump is sure to learn that along with another tough lesson: The true cost of greatness is probably too high for anyone who covets the crown.
The post In Venezuela, Trump sees a battle for glory appeared first on Washington Post.
