Trump’s Cleanup Crescendo

In Latin America, in China, in the Middle East, the outline of Donald Trump's plan of action is becoming clear. It is of a scale to take the breath away. 

Clarice Feldman | May 17, 2026

It’s obvious to me that during the four-year hiatus from the White House occasioned by a stolen election, President Trump gave thoughtful consideration to what had to be cleaned up domestically and internationally. It’s equally clear that he mapped out how he planned to do that, and despite media, congressional and judicial intransigence, he plowed ahead. We are at a point now where the blueprint is now obvious, It’s a continuing, ascending trajectory.

Having hoisted Maduro out of Caracas to stand trial here for his crimes, the U.S. made it perfectly obvious that Russian and Chinese security personnel and military equipment were no match for a determined U.S. military. As an impoverished, abandoned Maduro pines away in prison awaiting trial, Cuba is next on the list of places that need fumigation. The U.S. has offered $100 million worth of humanitarian aid for Cubans who are starving in a country which, absent free oil from Venezuela, is in almost perpetual blackout. Raul Castro has rejected such aid because we insist it be distributed through designated private charities, not the government of Cuba, which will use it to sustain itself. This Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited there with a message demanding that Cuba open up its economy and send Russian and Chinese listening posts packing. There are increasing riots in the streets, and on Friday the communist party headquarters in Havana was set on fire. The day after Ratcliffe’s visit, the press reported that Raul Castro was likely to face U.S. criminal indictments. Jeff Childers explains the administration’s Latin American policy 

Another way you could look at it is that the Trump Administration is deploying Democrat-style lawfare against communists all over the American hemisphere. The historic nature of what we’re doing cannot be understated. Rather than using classic tools of diplomacy, international aid, covert ops, and the military, the Trump Administration is doing something new: using domestic criminal laws and simply exercising jurisdiction over the whole hemisphere as though it belonged to us. The “criminal indictment” playbook resembles a classic decapitation strike, but without the war part. After January’s Maduro operation, Latin American countries are learning that the US can reach into their countries whenever we want and pluck out the violent strongmen who have always confidently believed they can send drugs and terrorists through our formerly porous borders, co-opt our local politicians and judges, and set up shop here -- without any consequences.Advertisement if (window.publir_show_ads) { document.write(''); } Well… fool around and find out. But it’s bigger than that. These “small stories” are an expression of a new hemispheric policy. We’re not just cracking down on domestic crime at home, we are policing the whole hemisphere. When you combine that with the President’s approach to Russia and China, you begin to see something immense emerging. Trump has been very firm with Beijing and Moscow in our part of the world. He’s rudely evicted them from South and Central America, the Panama Canal, and the Caribbean. But at the same time, he is also softening our positions on Ukraine and Taiwan, retreating from NATO expansionism in Europe, seeking trade deals with them, and courting both Putin and Xi with high-profile diplomatic outreach.Advertisement if (publir_show_ads) { googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener("slotRenderEnded", function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == "div-hre-Americanthinker---New-3028") { googletag.display("div-hre-Americanthinker---New-3028"); } }); }); } Wait -- this is where it gets really good. Every bit of all that geopolitical reorganization is happening completely outside the United Nations’ “rules-based international order.”

Another way you could look at it is that the Trump Administration is deploying Democrat-style lawfare against communists all over the American hemisphere. The historic nature of what we’re doing cannot be understated. Rather than using classic tools of diplomacy, international aid, covert ops, and the military, the Trump Administration is doing something new: using domestic criminal laws and simply exercising jurisdiction over the whole hemisphere as though it belonged to us.

The “criminal indictment”........

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