Trump Mocks European Leaders
Trump Threatens Maduro, Calls European Leaders “Weak” in Combative Politico Interview
Amid European opposition to the peace plan he proposed between Russia and Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump launched an attack on European leaders. He also refused to rule out a ground operation in Venezuela and clarified that he is considering attacks on additional targets
President Donald Trump gave a fiery interview to Politico in which he ridiculed European leaders as “weak” and “politically correct,” claimed Europe is “falling apart,” and refused to rule out a U.S. ground invasion of Venezuela to remove Nicolás Maduro.
Key quotes from the interview:
On European leaders opposing his Russia-Ukraine peace outline:
“I think they’re weak… they’re trying so hard to be politically correct. I think they don’t know what to do. Europe doesn’t know what to do.
On Maduro’s future:
When asked how far he would go to oust the Venezuelan president, Trump replied, “His days are numbered.”
On possible military action:
Trump explicitly declined to take a ground operation off the table and said he is also weighing strikes against drug-cartel targets in Mexico and Colombia.
The interview comes one day after the U.S. deployed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group to the Caribbean, a move that prompted Venezuela to declare a heightened military alert on Sunday.
At the same time, the New York Post reported that the Trump administration has quietly floated a diplomatic off-ramp: Maduro could go into exile in a Gulf state (reportedly Qatar is the leading candidate). Sources say Trump personally raised the idea in a recent phone call with Maduro, who responded with a list of conditions he would require before considering the offer.
The Venezuelan crisis has rapidly re-emerged as a top Trump foreign-policy priority in his second term, with the White House linking the Caracas regime to both regional drug trafficking and support for Iran-backed networks.