Trump seized Maduro - and turned that single act into a permanent liability for the United States that there's no coming back from. Right, so Donald Trump has removed a sitting head of state by force and, in doing so, has locked the United States into a problem it cannot resolve, cannot disclaim, and cannot walk away from. Venezuela hasn’t collapsed, the government hasn’t vanished, and authority hasn’t transferred, which leaves Washington owning the mess it created and managing consequences that don’t end with a photo op or a court date. That’s the part that is still being missed. So this isn’t just about yesterday’s operation or today’s headlines. This follows a pattern the US keeps insisting is exceptional while quietly turning it into precedent, where force replaces process and legality is expected to catch up later. Trump talks about running Venezuela because removal didn’t finish the job, and once control has to be discussed, the cost is already climbing. Allies are cautious, institutions strain, and every future claim to restraint weakens. One act, permanent liability, rising bill. Right, so Donald Trump has publicly confirmed that United States forces carried out a military operation inside Venezuela that resulted in Nicolás Maduro being removed from office and transferred into US custody, and in the same breath he has spoken as if Washington will now “run” the country, which places this act immediately outside any recognisable category of arrest, extradition, or diplomatic enforcement and fixes it instead as an exercise of raw power with consequences that do not stop at the moment of removal. The first thing that has to be nailed down is what was actually done. This was not an extradition request processed through Venezuelan courts, it was not a transfer authorised by an international tribunal, and it was not an arrest executed under a multilateral warrant.