For Donald Trump, invading a sovereign nation and kidnapping its leader is like cracking open a can of Pringles: once you pop, you can’t stop! And so, with Venezuela humiliated and Maduro in chains in a New York cell, Trump is casting his eyes about for which country to invade next.
Top of the list is apparently Colombia. On Air Force One, Trump mentioned that Colombia is “very sick too” before issuing an ominous threat to Colombian President Gustavo Petro:
PRESIDENT TRUMP JUST NOW:
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 5, 2026
Trump: "Colombia is run by a sick man, he's not going to be doing it for very long."
Reporter: "So there will be an operation by the US in Colombia?"
Trump: "Sounds good to me." pic.twitter.com/66fQM7cEIY
Trump: “Colombia’s very sick too. Run by a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States, and he’s not going to be doing it for very long lemme tell you.”
Reporter: “What does that mean, “he’s not going to be doing it very long”?”
Trump: “He’s not doing it very long… He has, uh, cocaine mills and cocaine factories. He’s not going to be doing it very long…”
Reporter: “So there will be an operation by the US in Colombia?”
Trump: “Sounds good to me!”
Prognosis: anarchy
What you’re witnessing is the end of rules-based international relations that’s kept the world in (relative) peace since the end of World War II.
Up until now, the United States has at least theoretically been bound by the UN Charter, an instrument of international law. The unspoken reality is that the United States (and China and Russia) could get away with whatever they wanted, as they have too much economic and military power for the UN to censure them. But the idea that there was a rulebook that even superpowers must follow was at least a comfort blanket for smaller nations.
Now, thanks to Trump, the United States is firmly off its leash and roaming the hemisphere looking for territory to snaffle up. As of writing, Trump is the de facto president of Venezuela, all indications are that he’s soon to seize Greenland, and the administration has made threats towards Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia’s leaders.
But simply kidnapping a world leader and subjecting them to show trials will only destabilize Central and South America. If Trump really wants to be a conquering emperor, he needs to take a page out of the Romans’ book and materially improve his new subjects’ quality of life and fully Americanize them. But that requires spending a lot of money on non-white people who can’t vote for him, so… it’s not gonna happen.
What will happen is the complete destabilization of America’s local sphere of influence, which will result in a huge flood of economic migrants across the border, and which some future administration will have to deal with. But by that point, Donald J. Trump will be six feet under, and the chaos he’s wrought won’t be his problem!
