Turning the Monroe Doctrine Into Donroe Is Awful Geopolitics

As of this week, the United States has bombed and sunk 25 boats alleged to be carrying drugs in the waters near Venezuela, killing at least 95 civilians onboard — almost certainly unlawfully. It has also seized a tanker full of Venezuelan oil and said it will blockade others. And with a huge military buildup, it remains ready to strike targets on land, or even to invade Venezuela, as soon as President Donald Trump gives the order.

Trump’s approach to Venezuela is only one example of his attitude toward the Western Hemisphere in general and boils down to this: We do whatever we want because we can. To give this policy a sheen of intellectual respectability, his administration has now proclaimed a “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine. Other pundits have shortened it to the Donroe Doctrine.