Incredible amounts of U.S. firepower are coalescing in the Caribbean as President Trump plays geopolitical chicken with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
The big picture: U.S. Southern Command, which is executing Trump's strikes and would oversee operations in Venezuela, is now at the heart of the action after decades of Pentagon priority paid to the Middle East and Indo-Pacific.
Driving the news: America's largest warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is steaming toward the region. Observers are tracking its progress via satellite imagery.
- The Ford and its escorts bring with them offensive and defensive punch — such as fighter, transport and early warning aircraft; helicopters; missiles; and jamming-and-spying tools — as well as thousands of troops.
- Vessels already in the region include the Iwo Jima, Gravely and Stockdale. Some are packing Tomahawks. Overhead, bombers are ducking in and out, prodding Caracas.
- The U.S. has thus far killed at least 65 people in 15 strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels off South America. Trump has made clear he's considering land targets in Venezuela next.
The intrigue: The carrier strike group's tasking and eventual arrival is additional evidence of the Trump administration shifting its focus closer to home.
- Stateside, there's the $175 billion Golden Dome project and the dispatch of troops to U.S. cities and the southern border.
- Zooming out, Trump's war on the cartels is poised to expand further — possibly to Mexico.
What they're saying: "SOUTHCOM has traditionally been a backwater," Mark Cancian, a retired colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Axios.
- "Once in a generation something happened, but the administration's focus on homeland and hemispheric security has produced more attention, and we're seeing that being implemented with this military buildup."
Friction point: An overextension of ships and those embarked could have cascading readiness consequences for other theaters.
- The U.S. has 11 carriers. Two or three are typically at sea at any one time.
- "I think there needs to be a complete discussion about how important this is to us," Bradley Martin, a RAND senior policy researcher and former surface warfare officer, told Axios.
- "What resources are we using, what types of things are we forgoing as a result of carrying this action out, and how long do we want to be doing this?" he said. "When do we say we've done enough?"
By the numbers: The Navy's presence around Venezuela — where clandestine CIA operations are underway, according to Trump — is becoming less popular, according to YouGov polls of 2,000-plus U.S. adults.
- The biggest dip, it found, was among Republicans: 58% support the armada now, compared with 68% in September. Disapproval, meanwhile, has grown from 13% to 17%.
What we're hearing: Comparisons, and plenty of them.
- Popular ones include Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti in 1994, the invasions of Grenada and Panama in the 1980s, and even the Cuban missile crisis, in terms of scale and concern. (Reuters described the military buildup as the "largest unrelated to disaster relief" in three decades.)
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