With Venezuela, Trump has achieved his dream of making his own 80s action movie

"The box office barnstormer of 2026 arrived early this year. A sleazy banana-republic dictator flooding the American streets with blow. The over-the-border Delta Force extraction squad sent to pluck this schmo out of his impregnable fortress. The bronzed tough-talker who's firing an RPG up the tailpipe of the international rules-based order but who gets the job done. Call it: Caracas Thunder."

"Sounds like a bit of a throwback, you might be thinking. But, judging by his press conference after the US military's abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, Donald Trump seemed to have finally achieved his dream of directing his own 80s action movie. An incredible, fantastic movie' Jean-Claude Van Damme and Bolo Yeung in Bloodsport. Photograph: FlixPix/Alamy Trump packed in the important tropes."

"It had been dark and deadly out there in the field but American kickassery prevailed easily. Why settle for just one staple 80s action bogeymen the tinpot authoritarian (Commando; Missing in Action) or the cartel kingpin (Lethal Weapon; Cobra) when Maduro, now perp-walking for global audiences, could double up as both? And we never knew it, but it turns out Operation Absolute Resolve is part of a franchise brought to you by Donald J Trump Productions:"

Donald Trump presented the US military's abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro as a triumphant, 1980s-style action spectacle. The framing combined classic action tropes: a sleazy banana-republic dictator flooding American streets with drugs, an over-the-border Delta Force extraction, and a bronzed tough-talker who gets the job done. Operation Absolute Resolve was portrayed as part of a Trump-led franchise, likened to previous strikes on Soleimani, al‑Baghdadi, and Iranian nuclear sites. The rhetoric emphasized macho, cinematic victory while borrowing nostalgia from 1980s films that rebuffed national trauma by restoring American toughness. The tone mixed bombast, populist bravado, and militarized fantasy.

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