U.S. Seizes Venezuelan Tanker. The Trump Doctrine Is Working.

The United States has seized a very large oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast.

President Trump confirmed that the United States had pursued the seizure. According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, it was headed to Cuba.

There’s been talk about establishing a no-fly zone around Venezuela. All of this is external pressure, presumably designed to force the possibility of a regime change in Venezuela without any serious threat to American troops going in on the ground.

In a video, you can see an American helicopter hovering over a gigantic oil tanker as soldiers begin rappelling down onto the deck. The soldiers, with guns drawn, move toward the control booth, presumably to stop the tanker from moving toward its target.

The United States military is unparalleled at what it does and does not play around.

KNOCKOUT.

If you threaten our nation, or break the law, there is no place on land or sea where we won’t find you.

Thank you to the brave service members from @USCG, @ICEGOV, @FBI, @DeptofWar, and @TheJusticeDept. pic.twitter.com/KUCRjES267

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) December 11, 2025

President Trump has always been clear in his belief that if the United States is engaged in armed conflict somewhere, we should keep the spoils that we reap. He said that about the Iraq War, suggesting that if you’re going to go to war, then you may as well take the oil as some form of compensation.

When it comes to the Venezuelan government shipping oil over to Iran in violation of sanctions or allowing the Iranians to combine their oil with Venezuelan oil and ship that elsewhere and ship the money back to Iran, keeping the spoils would be worthwhile.

If it turns out that the United States is now prepared to interdict all oil that may or may not be headed for Iran or from Iran, then this could absolutely cripple the Venezuelan economy even more than it has suffered before.

Venezuela’s economy is highly dependent on oil, mainly through its impact on exports and government revenue. Oil accounts for over 80 to 90% of all total export earnings in recent years. So if that were to shut down, whatever is left of the Venezuelan economy would basically collapse. That seems to be something that the United States is pursuing at this point.

Trump has also made clear he is going to put pressure on Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, which has historically been a relatively conservative state. But Petro, a far-left socialist, is more oriented toward China and Iran.

President Trump was asked about Petro describing the seizure as “barbarian.”

“He’s been fairly hostile to the United States. I haven’t given him a lot of thought,” Trump replied. “And he’s going to have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up. Columbia is producing a lot of drugs. … He better wise up or he’ll be next.”

The United States could put pressure on the Petro regime in Colombia. The next scheduled election for president in Colombia happens in May of 2026. So there’s every possibility that Petro could be in trouble as well.

All of this seems to be part of a broader national security strategy pursued by the White House. According to the new national security document, the foreign influence of China, Iran, or Russia in the Western hemisphere has to stop.

The national security strategy of the United States is very much a muscular Monroe Doctrine, suggesting that the Western hemisphere be cleared of outside influence.

It’s about time.