by José Niño – The Libertarian Institue.org Jan 26, 2026

Donald Trump presented himself as someone who would end America’s perpetual conflicts and chart a fresh course in global affairs. Supporters routinely placed him alongside noninterventionist figures such as Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul, insisting he would deliver prudence and realism to the nation’s capital. Reality paints an entirely different picture. Across Venezuela, Somalia, Iran, and Yemen, Trump’s tenure has featured military expansion, financial coercion, and overseas operations that mirror his predecessors in both breadth and destructiveness.

Hard data confirms this assessment. Information from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project reveals that Trump authorized roughly the same number of airstrikes during merely the opening five months of his second administration as President Joe Biden greenlit throughout his complete four-year tenure. During 2025 by itself, American forces struck seven nations on Trump’s authority, marking an unparalleled extension of Washington’s military footprint globally.

Trump’s Venezuela strategy epitomizes his administration’s hawkish disposition. The maximum pressure initiative intensified sharply beginning in 2017, cutting off Caracas from American financial systems and targeting the state petroleum enterprise PDVSA. Venezuela’s petroleum export earnings plummeted from $4.8 billion in 2018 to merely $477 million in 2020.

Trump’s present administration enacted secondary tariffs, punishing any nation buying Venezuelan petroleum and raised the bounty on Nicolás Maduro to $50 million. Subsequently, a Christmas Eve assault and accounts of a CIA drone strike toward the end of 2025 added more fuel to the first. Trump kicked off 2026 on an escalatory note with his successful abduction of President Maduro on January 3 in clear violation of international law.

Past Venezuela, Trump’s Caribbean and Eastern Pacific assault initiative stands as among the most legally questionable military campaigns in contemporary American history. Commencing September 2, the administration began executing strikes against vessels it alleged transported narcotics. Based on figures disclosed by the Trump administration, thirty strikes total have been executed, with over one hundred individuals killed in what amount to summary executions plainly violating American and global statutes. During this entire assault initiative, the Pentagon has furnished zero proof supporting its allegations and has conceded ignorance regarding the identities of numerous victims.

Somalia witnessed extraordinary intensification under Trump during 2025. The administration executed no fewer than 127 airstrikes, exceeding twofold the prior yearly maximum of American bombardments there, a benchmark Trump personally established at sixty-three during his initial presidency. Per New America, the airstrikes executed in 2025 surpass those performed in Somalia throughout the Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush administrations when totaled together.

Accounts exist of non-combatants being slain in American airstrikes and campaigns executed by American-supported units. Conditions remain challenging to verify since practically zero American press attention addresses the aerial campaign notwithstanding the extraordinary expansion.

President Trump authorized the initial documented American missile bombardments in Nigeria on Christmas Day, launched by an American vessel in the Gulf of Guinea. Nigerian authorities identified the objective as “two major Islamic State terrorist enclaves” within a zone not recognized as a significant center for ISIS-linked combatants, provoking doubts concerning the objective choice. American projectiles additionally struck two villages beyond the designated objective, leading to the destruction of numerous dwellings.

Yemen endured especially catastrophic outcomes from Trump’s military campaigns in 2025. The administration initiated an intensive bombardment operation commencing March 15 responding to the Houthis reinstating their maritime embargo against Israeli commerce. The American operation, termed “Operation Rough Rider,” eliminated over 250 non-combatants, per Air Wars. Bombardments encompassed the April 17 destruction of the Ras Issa Fuel Port, killing eighty-four individuals, entirely civilians. Subsequently, American forces struck a migrant detention installation in Sadaa, killing sixty-eight African migrants.

American forces have executed airstrikes across Iraq and Syria this year while deploying thousands of personnel in both territories. On December 19, Washington initiated substantial bombardments throughout Syria allegedly targeting ISIS following a December 13 assault killing two American National Guard personnel and one American civilian translator. Yet the assault originated from a Syrian governmental security apparatus member without any ISIS attribution.

Trump’s Iran strategy constitutes arguably his sharpest divergence from moderation. Following American withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal during May 2018, he initiated the maximum pressure sanctions offensive. He characterized the agreement as “the worst deal ever,” asserting it “enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malign behavior, while at best delaying its ability to pursue nuclear weapons.”

During October 2019, Trump penalized Iran’s construction sector, connecting it to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he had labeled a foreign terrorist entity during April that year. Trump boasted, “If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism. This designation will be the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as an FTO.”

The most explosive incident arrived during January 2020, when Trump greenlit the drone bombardment eliminating Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad. Trump contended Soleimani had been “plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel,” an action propelling Washington and Tehran toward the precipice of direct warfare.

Following this volatile incident, Trump persisted in raising tensions. Approaching the conclusion of his initial presidency, he explored martial alternatives for assaulting Iran’s atomic infrastructure. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley resisted strenuously, cautioning, “If you do this, you’re gonna have a fucking war.”

Trump discreetly authorized preliminary measures for striking Iranian objectives. Per The Wall Street Journal, Trump communicated to advisors that he “approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran will abandon its nuclear program.”

During June 2025, Trump commanded direct bombardments against three Iranian atomic installations utilizing B-2 stealth aircraft and bunker-penetrating munitions. Trump proclaimed Iran’s atomic capabilities were “completely and totally obliterated,” notwithstanding assessments from the Defense Intelligence Agency and International Atomic Energy Agency indicating the bombardments failed neutralizing Iran’s subterranean infrastructure. Rafael Grossi declared Iran could restart uranium enrichment “within a matter of months.”

Trump became the inaugural American president to bomb Iran directly. Washington additionally supported extensive Israeli bombardments throughout Iran, which eliminated over 1,000 individuals across twelve days of combat. Trump recently stated he would endorse an Israeli assault should Iran “continues” its missile development or reconstructs its compromised atomic installations.

Notwithstanding pledges transforming the foreign policy establishment, Trump selected conventional politicians who undermined his commitments toward improved Russian relations. Throughout Trump’s tenure, Washington abandoned the Open Skies Treaty and INF Treaty, furnished deadly weaponry to Ukraine, and assaulted Russian military personnel in Syria. Trump endorsed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, the harshest penalties enacted against Russia.

Throughout his opening term, Trump relaxed engagement protocols for military leadership, producing a sharp surge in airstrikes. Regarding clandestine counterterrorism campaigns, Trump sanctioned roughly 375 to 450 bombardments throughout his opening term. Comparing merely the opening two years, Trump initiated 238 bombardments versus Obama’s 186 bombardments, constituting a 28 percent elevation. Throughout every theater, American forces released roughly 67,206 munitions throughout 2017 through 2020, averaging 16,802 munitions yearly, a 46 percent elevation versus Obama’s average.

Trump additionally rescinded Obama era disclosure mandates during March 2019 requiring yearly documentation of drone bombardments and non-combatant fatalities, rendering campaigns more clandestine and abolishing formal transparency.

The trajectory proves undeniable. From Somalia through Syria, Venezuela through Iran, Trump has overseen an enlargement of American military campaigns rendering his antiwar rhetoric farcical. He resembles neither Pat Buchanan cautioning against foreign entanglements nor Ron Paul advocating for modest foreign engagement. He constitutes a traditional interventionist demonstrating readiness deploying military power globally with diminished restrictions and reduced accountability than his forerunners. Those believing Donald Trump would deliver restraint to American foreign policy have been thoroughly deceived.

Source