GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY, TRUMP-STYLE: ‘Decapitate and Delegate’: Trump Tests New Model of U.S.-Led Regime Change.

This century, America sank into two of its longest wars—in Afghanistan and Iraq—following lightning strikes that removed governments deemed threats to U.S. national security. Those quagmires helped fuel the MAGA movement, which rallied around Trump’s promises of avoiding overseas military entanglements.
Now, Trump is putting his pledges and American firepower to the test.

With an ethos that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth summed up as “We’re not dumb about it,” Trump has committed the country to a war that he has said will last only weeks, following the success of a military raid that was done in one night.

In both Iran and Venezuela, Trump has said the target country’s fate is ultimately up to its citizens—even as he floats preferred successors and the U.S. exerts military pressure from above. The goal is to extract tangible wins for the U.S.—access to oil, reduced migration and decreased drug flows, a weakened adversary—without the risks of deploying large ground forces.

Trump’s approach reflects both his desire to avoid repeating this century’s wars and his disdain for what he has called the “failed policy of nation building.” His preference is to work with friendlier governments that can provide tangible benefits to be sold as “America First” triumphs.

Trump’s new strategy, a State Department official quipped, can be summed up as “decapitate and delegate.”

It’s working well enough so far in Venezuela.