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When the United States invaded Iraq in March of 2003, in a campaign to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein, President George W. Bush<\/strong> monitored the offensive from Camp David. He returned to Washington a few days later, telling reporters that despite \u201cpockets of resistance,\u201d the US was \u201cmaking significant progress.\u201d<\/p>\n President Donald Trump<\/strong> has never made much use of the secluded presidential retreat. Instead, he watched the operation to strike Venezuela<\/a> and arrest President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/strong> in the early hours of Saturday morning from Mar-a-Lago, his private golf club in Palm Beach, Florida. \u201cI watched it literally like I was watching a television show,\u201d Trump told Fox News in an interview hours after the attack.<\/p>\n Speaking from Mar-a-Lago\u2019s \u201cTea Room\u201d soon after, Trump announced a plan<\/a> staggering in its ambition and eerily reminiscent of the foreign policy of his Republican forebear. The United States, Trump said, would \u201ctake over\u201d and \u201crun\u201d Venezuela in order to replace Maduro\u2019s regime with one chosen by the United States.<\/p>\n “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition,” Trump said.<\/p>\n Venezuelan citizens living in Spain watch Donald Trump’s press conference from Puerta del Sol Square.<\/p>\n <\/span>PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n The president, who is 79, appeared exhausted. His voice was subdued and hoarse, and later in the press conference, as Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine<\/strong> briefed the press on the operation, he seemed to struggle<\/a> to stay awake. As Trump read from a stack of papers on a podium, he deviated from the script a few times, including for one lengthy aside about crime in Washington DC, where he promised \u201cthe restaurants are open, they\u2019re happy,\u201d and in Los Angeles, which he complained he \u201cgot no credit for\u201d improving the fortunes of. As Trump rambled, Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/strong> stood behind him, stony faced, looking at the floor.<\/p>\n Trump eventually handed off to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth<\/strong>. \u201cHe effed around, and he found out,\u201d Hegseth said of Maduro in his own short remarks. Rubio spoke next, maintaining that Maduro was \u201cnot the legitimate president\u201d of Venezuela and noting he was indicted on drug trafficking and corruption charges in the Southern District of New York in 2020. On Saturday, the Justice Department announced new charges<\/a> against Maduro and his wife, who was also captured.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n