Why America’s smash-and-grab policy isn’t entirely objectionable

On the night of January 2, 2026, Nicolás Maduro went to sleep a president—loud, defiant, and wrapped in the illusion of permanence. He woke up in an American jail cell, facing the very brand of justice he had denied to countless Venezuelans.

The audacious operation to extract him was the stuff of Hollywood legend, only this time the consequences were terrifyingly real.