Trump Official’s Warning Resurfaces
A warning delivered in 2019 by Tulsi Gabbard about U.S. military involvement in Venezuela is resurfacing after the recent arrest of longtime Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, reigniting debate over the risks and consequences of American-led regime-change efforts.
In the widely shared video, Gabbard — now serving as Director of National Intelligence — cautioned that any U.S. military action in Venezuela would likely produce devastating consequences. She warned that intervention would bring widespread suffering to civilians, destabilize the region, and ultimately undermine U.S. national security interests.
“The United States should not be in the business of intervening in Venezuela or choosing who should lead the country,” Gabbard said at the time. “And we certainly should not be threatening military action.”
Gabbard argued that Venezuela’s future should be decided by its own people, not dictated by foreign governments or Washington policymakers. She emphasized that history offers repeated examples of U.S.-led efforts to remove foreign leaders ending in disorder rather than stability.
According to Gabbard, past regime-change campaigns often result in prolonged conflict, weakened institutions, and long-term regional instability — outcomes that rarely align with America’s stated goals of peace and democracy.
During the 2019 Venezuelan crisis, she specifically warned that military involvement could ignite a civil war and lead to years of bloodshed. She criticized what she described as Washington’s tendency to pursue costly and ineffective foreign interventions under the label of humanitarian concern.
Her remarks were made as the United States openly supported opposition figure Juan Guaidó in an effort to pressure Maduro out of power. A combat veteran of the Iraq War, Gabbard has frequently cited lessons from the Middle East as reasons to oppose further foreign entanglements that place American interests and lives at risk.
The comments are drawing renewed attention following Maduro’s arrest and transfer to the United States, where he is expected to face serious charges related to narcotics trafficking and terrorism.
Reaction online has been divided. Some critics argue that recent developments weaken Gabbard’s position, while others say unfolding events reinforce her long-standing concern that forcibly removing authoritarian leaders often produces unintended and destabilizing consequences.
As Venezuela’s political future remains uncertain, the resurfacing of Gabbard’s warning has reopened a broader question for Americans: has U.S. foreign policy truly learned from decades of intervention abroad, or does Washington continue to repeat the same costly mistakes?
