Trump Rebrands Monroe Doctrine the ‘Don-roe Doctrine’ Following Venezuelan Regime Change

President Donald Trump rebranded the Monroe Doctrine during a Saturday midday press conference at Mar-a-Lago, delivering the remarks hours after a sudden regime change in Venezuela that resulted in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro late Friday evening into early Saturday morning.

Trump addressed reporters shortly after returning to Florida, framing the developments in Venezuela as an urgent national security matter and casting the Maduro government as a direct threat to the United States. The president said the now-deposed Venezuelan leader had deepened ties with foreign adversaries while pursuing advanced weaponry capable of harming Americans.

“Furthermore, under the now deposed dictator Maduro, Venezuela was increasingly hosting foreign adversaries in our region and acquiring menacing, offensive weapons that could threaten U.S. interests and lives,” Trump said. “And they use those weapons. Last night. They used those weapons last night, potentially in league with the cartels operating along our border.”

Trump did not offer evidence to support the claim that weapons were used or explain how Venezuela may have coordinated with cartels operating near the U.S. border. He also declined to answer questions about whether U.S. forces or intelligence agencies played any role in the events that led to Maduro’s capture.

The president went on to argue that the Maduro government’s actions violated foundational principles of American foreign policy dating back more than two centuries.

“All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy, dating back more than two centuries,” Trump said. “And not anymore.”

Trump then invoked the Monroe Doctrine, the 1823 policy warning European powers against interference in the Western Hemisphere, before announcing what he portrayed as an updated version under his administration.

“All the way back, it dated to the Monroe doctrines and the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal,” Trump said. “But we’ve superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the Monroe Doctrine. I don’t know, it’s Don-roe Doctrine.”

“We sort of forgot about it,” he added. “It was very important, but we forgot about it. We don’t forget about it anymore.”

The White House has not released additional details about the situation in Venezuela, specifically Trump’s revelation that the US will “now run” Venezuela until a free and fair election can be held. The State Department said it is “monitoring developments closely” and will provide updates as more information becomes available.

Watch above via CNN.

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