As the world debates the legality of the US’ capture of the Venezuelan President, Donald Trump has used the mission to rename a historical policy after himself. The POTUS has asked everyone to move over from the Monroe Doctrine and embrace the ‘Donroe Doctrine.’
On Saturday morning, Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago to discuss the land strikes on Caracas, which led to the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
Like most of his recent speeches, the President seemed to be blabbering until he mentioned the Monroe Doctrine, a foreign policy enacted by former President James Monroe in 1823.
Trump: “All the way back it dated to the Monroe Doctrines. And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal. But we’ve superseded it by a lot. By a real lot. They now call it the Donroe Document. I don’t know. It’s Monroe Doctrine. We sort of forgot about it.” pic.twitter.com/5YdM2iAS6W
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 3, 2026
The policy aimed to stop European colonization of the two Americas. According to the guideline, any European kingdom’s efforts to exert influence on any American country would be seen as a security threat to the US.
As a result, the US attained influence over the Western Hemisphere. In exchange, the country promised that it would not try to colonize or control European powers.
However, what started as a policy to protect the interests of the Americas soon became the US’s tool to meddle in the governance of Latin American countries.
Trump has credited the policy for the US Army’s attack on Caracas and the abduction of Maduro. However, the President added that the foreign policy should take a new name now that it has superseded the Monroe Doctrine’s terms.
The 79-year-old said, “The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot. By a real lot. They now call it the ‘Donroe Doctrine.’ American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.”
Experts have warned that the aggressive policy and the success of the Venezuelan mission could encourage the government to undertake more such missions in foreign countries, especially in Latin America and Greenland.
“The Donroe Doctrine.” https://t.co/dAaLShhVRp pic.twitter.com/7mhw8CiUC1
— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) January 3, 2026
And while Trump initially claimed that he was targeting Venezuela due to the country’s ties with narcoterrorist gangs, he made it clear during the press conference that he also aimed to control the country’s vast oil resources.
Instead of enabling an instant change of regime in Venezuela, the Trump government has decided to run the country for a while.
Trump said, “We will run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. We can’t take a chance that someone else takes over Venezuela who doesn’t have the interests of Venezuelans in mind.”
The President added that US companies can now start extracting oil in Venezuela and make money, which would not only benefit those companies but also the country’s people. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, estimated to be around 300 billion barrels.
