Friday, January 16, 2026- When President Donald Trump’s administration recently took aggressive actions in Venezuela and has openly threatened to take control of Greenland, commentators and experts have linked those moves to a long‑standing U.S. foreign-policy lineage particularly the Monroe Doctrine and its later expansion under Theodore Roosevelt.
Trump himself referenced the Monroe Doctrine in describing the capture of Venezuela’s leader as a defense of American policy in the Western Hemisphere and even joked about a modern version sometimes dubbed the “Donroe Doctrine.”
Though the Monroe Doctrine dates back to President James Monroe’s 1823 warning to European powers to stay out of the Americas, it was Theodore Roosevelt who significantly reshaped it in the early 1900s.
Roosevelt introduced what became known as the Roosevelt Corollary, arguing that the United States had the right to intervene even militarily in Latin America to preserve stability and order. This was consistent with his “big stick” philosophy: pursue diplomacy where possible but be ready to use force when necessary.
Experts say Trump’s invocation of this tradition is dramatic and unusual in its strength. While Roosevelt emphasized diplomacy first and viewed military force as a last resort, Trump’s approach especially in Venezuela has flipped that priority, with critics arguing he “just used the big stick” without the diplomatic groundwork that Roosevelt believed was essential.
That comparison helps explain why commentators see echoes of Roosevelt’s interventionist policies in Trump’s foreign actions, even as the historical context and methods differ sharply.
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