Though Donald Trump campaigned on pledges to end America’s endless wars and regime change campaigns, the White House has now assembled a list of potential military attacks on Venezuela, with the president and senior officials evaluating the associated risks of each option, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Those options include the seizure of oil fields or a targeted ousting of President Nicolás Maduro. 

In a parallel undertaking, the Department of Justice is evaluating legal rationales for the various options, with an eye on justifying unilateral action by the president without congressional authorization for the use of military force. According to the Times‘ sources, those rationales would likely center on the allegation that Maduro and top officials are working for Cartel de los Soles, which the administration has imaginatively designated a “narcoterrorist” group. Under that pretext, the DOJ would say Maduro is a fair military target, negating various US prohibitions on assassinations of foreign heads of state.   

Unsurprisingly, one of the leading champions of aggressive action is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a long-time hawk whose selection by Trump caused widespread unease among the president’s non-interventionist supporters. Along with Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller, Marco is pushing for nothing less than Maduro’s ouster, the Times reported. 

Over the past two months, the United States has engaged in 16 airstrikes on boats off Venezuela that the White House claimed were transporting drugs to America. Critics including Sen. Rand Paul say the boats lacked the range to do that. Sixty-seven people have reportedly been killed in the strikes. According to the Times, the range of new military options under consideration include: 

• Airstrikes against military facilities to sap Maduro’s support from the country’s armed forces. Opponents argue that such strikes may instead galvanize the military’s bond with Maduro.   
• Using elite units like Delta Force or SEAL Team 6 to seize or kill Maduro himself
• Tasking counterterrorism forces with seizing oil fields and related infrastructure, along with air fields

🇺🇸🇻🇪 US Senator Rand Paul speaks an unpleasant truth about the US military’s fight against Venezuelan drug trafficking: pic.twitter.com/EOz7qrkp2c

— Маrina Wolf (@volkova_ma57183) November 3, 2025

Trump himself is said to be less gung ho about escalation, with his hesitancy reportedly springing from two concerns: Worries about putting US service-members in peril, and fear of a humiliating failure. His rhetoric about Venezuela has veered back and forth over recent weeks — from hinting in mid-October that US military engagement might advance from blowing up alleged drug traffickers in boats to hitting targets on land, to telling 60 Minutes this week that he doubts the US is on a path to war with Venezuela. “I doubt it,” he told Norah O’Donnell. “I don’t think so, but they’ve been treating us very badly, not only on drugs — they’ve dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country that we didn’t want.” 

Last weekend, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was amassing forces in the southern Caribbean, comprising 10,000 soldiers and Marines and 6,000 sailors, along with eight Navy ships, a special ops vessel, and an attack submarine. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is en route, along with three more ships. The Marines conducted landing drills on Puerto Rico over the weekend, and engineers are rehabilitating the old Roosevelt Roads naval base there.  

Ready for rapid response: U.S. Marines with the @22nd_MEU conduct training operations in Puerto Rico. U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of the #SOUTHCOM mission, @DeptofWar-directed operations, and @POTUS‘ priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking… pic.twitter.com/cxClR61U3X

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) November 1, 2025

Russia has said it’s closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela, which holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves and is more than twice the size of Iraq. Maduro has reportedly requested military assistance from Moscow. It’s unknown whether Russia — which already has its and full with the war in Ukraine — intends to bolster Venezuela’s defenses. Arming a country within the US sphere of influence could be a fitting counter to the West’s engagement in Ukraine. 

Meanwhile, as the Trump White House contemplates America’s newest regime-change campaign, we’re reminded of what Tom Woods famously said: “No matter who you vote for, you get John McCain.”