Tulsi Gabbard Said US ‘Cycle Of Regime Change’ Was Over – Just 2 Months Before Maduro Arrest

Photo by Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto via AP

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told a crowd in October that the “counterproductive and endless cycle of regime change or nation-building” was over– a little over a month before President Donald Trump’s military actions in Venezuela.

After news broke on Saturday of the Trump administration’s capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, social media was quick to unearth Gabbard’s previous warnings against Venezuelan intervention.

In 2019, as a Democratic candidate for president, Gabbard slammed the first Trump administration for “increased saber rattling and tensions” with Venezuela.

“Pushing for this civil war, pushing for the use of military force, will only end up with more suffering and death and disaster for the Venezuelan people,” she said on Fox News that year.

But DNI Gabbard also spoke out against this type of intervention much more recently, while working within Trump’s second administration.

Speaking at conference in Bahrain on Oct. 31, Gabbard praised Trump for “building peace through diplomacy” while claiming that the days of foreign intervention were over.

“The old Washington way of thinking is something we hope is in the rear-view mirror and something that has held us back for too long,” said Gabbard. “For decades, our foreign policy has been trapped in a counterproductive and endless cycle of regime change or nation-building. It was a one-size-fits-all approach of toppling regimes, trying to impose our system of governance on others, intervening in conflicts that were barely understood, and walking away with more enemies than allies.”

The president claimed on Saturday that the U.S. would “run” Venezuela for the time being, a direct admission that his administration would take a direct role in rebuilding the nation of Venezuela.

Videos of Gabbard’s speech began making the rounds after Maduro’s arrest. The moment seemed to echo previous instances where DNI Gabbard appeared to be out of the loop on administration actions.

“Incredible. Tulsi Gabbard on October 31, 2025 claimed Trump was putting an end to Washington’s endless cycle of ‘regime change’ & ‘nation-building,'” wrote independent journalist Michael Tracey. “Meanwhile a full-scale regime change op is underway in Venezuela, and Trump has explicitly imposed US-led ‘nation-building’ in Gaza.”

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