Neocon Don

Trump’s largely consequence-free projection of military power in Iran and elsewhere laid the groundwork for last weekend’s shocking action in Venezuela—and validated a new framework for MAGA-style interventionism. But what happens when Xi starts playing by the same rules?

Time and time again on the world stage, Trump has learned the same lessons he learned in New York real estate, while dealing with New York tabloids, and then enmeshed in the world of U.S. domestic politics: that intimidation works. That your opponents will wilt quickly if you throw the first punch—and threaten more. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Julia Ioffe

January 5, 2026

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On January 3, on orders from President Donald Trump, the U.S. military carried out a secret, surgical strike to remove a foreign leader. No, this wasn’t last weekend’s early morning raid in Caracas in which U.S. special forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The year was 2020, and the leader was Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the country’s notorious Quds Force, who was sitting in a car near Baghdad when an American missile took him out.