"We're not afraid of boots on the ground."

President Donald Trump delivers remarks at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, following Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela leading to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Saturday, January 3, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)

President Donald Trump’s recent action to take Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro into U.S. custody took the world by storm.

And surprise.

But really, Trump’s actions in Venezuela over the weekend shouldn’t have been a surprise to anybody. Donald Trump has been clearly telegraphing his intentions towards Maduro for months.

And not all the messages have been intended for Maduro. On the contrary. Trump’s bold decision to move on Maduro now was intended as a message as much as anything else.

It is a message for one person: Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio came the closest to admitting the truth outright:

“Nicolas Maduro had multiple opportunities to avoid this,” Sec. Rubio told the press during a conference on Saturday. “He was provided multiple very, very, very generous offers and chose instead to act like a wild man, chose instead to play around. And the result is what we saw tonight.”

“The other message here is the following: You have a guy like many people around the world. They like to play games. You have a guy who decides he’s going to invite Iran into his country, is going to, you know, do the confiscation of American oil companies, is going to flood our country with gang members, is going to take Americans prisoner and try to hold them for hostage and trade them like he was able to do with the Biden administration. Basically likes to play games all this time and thinks nothing’s going to happen.”

“The 47th president of the United States is not a game player,” warned Rubio. “When he tells you that he’s going to do something, when he tells you he’s going to address a problem, he means it. He actions it. I can tell you, I’ve watched this process now for 14, 15 years, been around it. Everybody talks. I’m going to do this. I’m going to do that. When I get there, we’re going to do this.”

“This is a president of action,” Rubio said. “Like, I don’t understand yet how they haven’t figured this out. And now if you don’t know, now you know, because this is the way it’s going to play out. And I think people need to understand that this is not a president that just talks and does letters and press conferences. And, you know, if he says he’s serious about something, he means it. And this is something that was a direct threat to the national interest of the United States.”

And by “people need to understand” who could Rubio have meant?

The rulers of Iran are under no illusions about the Trump administration. North Korea isn’t much of a threat to U.S. interests at the moment.

But Vladimir Putin is currently engaged in a war of aggression against one of Russia’s neighbors. One of the reasons Putin has been able to act with such reckless impunity is his calculation that U.S. leaders have no appetite for a wider war and that American boots on the ground in Ukraine are completely out of the question.

Before Venezuela and the summary removal of Putin-ally Nicholas Maduro, most political analysts worldwide would have made the same calculation.

Now, the math has changed.

American boots on the ground in Ukraine out of the question, you say?

Are they?

Dismissing Ukraine’s allies as paper tigers, providing money and some weapons but no manpower support, is the reason Putin has been able to drag the conflict out as long as he has.

And there is another Russia-related reason President Trump was right to move on Maduro.

Whether we like it or not, the United States is currently locked deep in a new Cold War with Russia. The main reason Putin invaded Ukraine in the first place was his disinclination to have a U.N. foothold so close to the soviet fatherland.

The United States needs to be equally concerned about our own backyard and hemisphere.

The Venezuelan dictator was entirely too close to Vladimir Putin. And with a base in Venezuela, Russia would have a much easier time attacking the United States.

Arresting Nicholas Maduro solved that problem, for now. It also sent an extremely strongly-worded message to Russia’s ambitious president.

The U.S. isn’t going to shy away from military actions and operations. Having no appetite for war isn’t the same thing as being unwilling to fight.

“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” Trump said plainly during a press conference.

Vladimir Putin is definitely listening.

(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)