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How quickly things change. Before President Donald Trump toppled former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, most Americans probably never gave our neighboring country a thought. Now, everyone is an expert with an opinion.

To make sure your opinion is an informed one, here are 10 things to keep in mind:

-- Liberal Democrats and other Trump critics are outraged and stuck on the narrative that the president invaded Venezuela to loot our neighbor of its oil. Plain and simple. Maybe they're right. But where was their outrage when Maduro turned his country into a gas station for Russia and China which plundered it with the blessing of a corrupt dictator?

-- An adjoining narrative recalls the so-called "Pottery Barn rule," which dictates that if you break it, you bought it. Trump feeds that idea when he says that his administration "in charge" and will "run" Venezuela. But with Iranians, Cubans and Hezbollah terrorists roaming free in Venezuela under Maduro, wasn't the country already broken?

-- Venezuelan-Americans are right to be furious and frustrated with Americans for finally discovering Venezuela because doing so gives them another reason to criticize Trump. I wrote a column in 2014 demanding that former President Barack Obama come to the rescue of the Venezuelan people. He didn't. No one did -- until Trump. How long were Venezuelans supposed to live their lives under the boot of a brutal dictator?

--There are dueling notions of legality at play. Trump may well have violated international law by deposing a foreign leader. Yet the expulsion team led by the U.S. military included Justice Department lawyers and FBI agents. U.S. law allows authorities to apprehend on foreign soil someone indicted in the United States. That's the authority that Trump relied on to carry out the mission.

-- Venezuela's new leader, former Vice President Delcey Rodriguez is engaging in political doubletalk. She tells Trump what he wants to hear and promises to cooperate. Then she condemns the "kidnapping'' of Maduro and demands his release. What is she supposed to say if she wants to stay alive and out of jail? There are still plenty of Maduro loyalists in her government.

-- In the United States, Trump has similar problems with his loyalists within MAGA and the Republican Party. For Trump supporters, putting America first did not mean putting America in charge of Venezuela and the welfare of 31 million Venezuelans. Trump backers didn't vote for nation-building or regime change. But that's what their guy is giving them.

-- What MAGA and the GOP do expect from Trump is that he get rid of foreigners. Imagine their surprise when more Venezuelans flee to Florida, where they are likely to encounter a warmer welcome. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said recently that nearly 600,000 Venezuelan migrants who previously had Temporary Protective Status (TPS) can apply for asylum.

-- Any U.S. military action against any country in Latin America will always be viewed against the backdrop of a long history of imperialism. There will always be ugly Americans who look down on neighbors with brown skin, whom they think can be bullied or bribed. Knowing that history, Maduro should have shown less bravado and more brains. Much of what happened next is on him.

-- The U.S. State Department recently posted an ominous message on X: "This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened." This suggests that Trump thinks in terms of spheres of influence. China gets Asia, including Taiwan. Russia gets Europe, including Ukraine. And the United States gets the Western Hemisphere. That's a scary world.

-- Could Cuba or Colombia be the next domino to fall? The Trump Doctrine is might makes right, the big guy makes the rules and the little guy doesn't "have the cards" to change that. We were taught in elementary school that this wasn't how life worked, but Trump must have been absent that day. In the 2026 midterm elections and in the 2028 presidential election, Americans will have their say about what they believe. Does the strongman always win?

Once again, the evidence suggests that Trump is the antithesis of what it means to be an American. He is obviously the president of the wrong country.

I have a remedy: He should resign at once and become the leader of another country. I hear there could soon be an opening down south for which he'd be a perfect fit. There is a lot of chaos. But as we know, that's his specialty.

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To find out more about Ruben Navarrette and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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