Trump's Bragging and the "Donroe Doctrine"

Image - Jorge Campos

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In the 2015 film “the Big Short”, two mortgage brokers discuss their willingness to defraud people with loans that they couldn’t pay off. One of the main characters asks the other why they are confessing, to which the other replies, “they aren’t confessing, they’re bragging.”

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Last week, I wrote the 2025 US end-of-year editorial, believing that “2026 will be as action-packed and noteworthy as [2025] has been”. It appears the monkey’s paw curled so hard and fast it exploded, showering us with splinters as 2026's biggest story (so far) took place. The US military most certainly brought an action-packed scene of explosions and violence to downtown Caracas in the early hours of the 3rd of January as it swooped in to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

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Donald Trump’s speech in the aftermath of Maduro’s abduction demonstrates his fascinating ability to overcome that pesky line between truth and lies. While he is a proven liar, making over 30,000 false or misleading claims in his first term, he is also a braggard. When it is necessary, bragging will always outshine the need for secrecy. Like those mortgage brokers, he doesn’t confess, he brags.

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Trump started in a relatively pedestrian, almost-neocon fashion, claiming that “[w]e will run the country until such a time that we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition”. He made appeals to the threat posed by gangs, Maduro’s supposed connections to Cartel de los Soles, and dangers for the US and its population. It is the perfect set piece; Trump can merge foreign and domestic policy, foreign enemies back domestic threats, actions taken internationally benefit the US’ internal affairs. His base will cheer him along and have a visible figure on which to put blame.

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However, the façade of a noble battle against gangs and dictators didn’t last long. Trump went further, stating that, “the oil business has been a total bust” and that “we’re gonna have our very large oil companies […] go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure […] and start making money for the country. [sic]” Trump simply couldn’t help himself; he had to brag about the economic advantages of toppling Maduro. Whether deliberate or not, the last part about benefitting “the country” leaves a nifty piece of plausible deniability. Which country will benefit?

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While the Bush administration was able to restrain itself and publicly focus on the humanitarian and national security elements of its invasion of Iraq, it has taken Trump only a matter of hours to forego the pretence of liberal foreign policy, prioritising democratisation, and embrace an imperialistic approach towards foreign countries’ resources.

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Complementing his braggard nature, he is a man desperate to be immortalised. US foreign policy, like his casinos and hotels, must also bear the Trump brand. It appears he’s found his foreign policy soundbite: the “Donroe Doctrine [sic]”, a policy built on US dominance in the western hemisphere. Its name is chiselled out of the carcass of the Monroe Doctrine, a policy of limiting foreign powers in the western hemisphere. China and any other powers hostile to US interests are the new Spanish or Portuguese Empires who need to be kicked out and make way for those deemed acceptable by the US.

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With this action in Venezuela and the ever growing fear of the US annexing Greenland, it seems that Trump is determined to limit any potential threats to resource access and further empower his new doctrine. How the US’ allies and enemies approach this new reality, especially Denmark and Cuba, will impact global politics for years to come. Fortunately for them, Trump will probably brag about what he plans to do.