Matt Gaetz lays out a blunt assessment for Steve Bannon, arguing Latin America is entering a full geopolitical realignment and that Trump’s renewed Monroe Doctrine is reshaping the entire hemisphere.
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This clip aired on WarRoom’s evening show on November 14, 2025. Transcript begins below (lightly edited for clarity; may contain minor errors).
MATT GAETZ (GUEST):
As Secretary Hegseth has announced Operation Southern Spear, I can tell you Latin America is totally up for grabs. You have the left wing alliance of Cuba, Venezuela, increasingly Colombia and Honduras. Then you have the populist nationalist division for Latin America led by the president of El Salvador, Bukele. Mele is in that light, Marino in Panama, and also the president of Paraguay. There is a great battle of ideas going on here.My sources tell me the battle over Venezuela may not even have to go kinetic if the United States is able to force Maduro into a number of decisions. Those decisions could divide his coalition and weaken the extent to which military generals rely on him. The Honduran election at the end of this month could be a test case for whether the military in Venezuela turns against the people. We expect a lot of Venezuela’s tactics to be used by the political left in Honduras, where the populist vote would prefer a center right government but a left wing government is currently in power.
STEVE BANNON (HOST):
How would that impact the military? You think that could drive a wedge between the military apparatus and Maduro himself?MATT GAETZ (GUEST):
Yeah. Usually when a regime is under siege like Maduro is, they try to bring their military in closer. They try to centralize whatever control they have over a capital or jurisdiction. But you’re seeing Maduro take a very different tactical stance. He has moved the military out into the country, hoping that if there were strikes on Caracas, he could create chaos and violence in the outer areas of Venezuela.That would give them some place in the hinterlands to control and occupy. As he makes that decision, there are going to be key military leaders and generals who question it, who maybe leave Maduro’s side, and he could be very vulnerable in Caracas. Not to direct kinetic U S military intervention, but to the people there realizing his days may be numbered.
STEVE BANNON (HOST):
What are your sources on Capitol Hill telling you? There have been briefings, not full war powers briefings, but they are talking about kinetic activity. I hear there are a number of plans the Pentagon and Hegseth have laid out as kinetic options for President Trump.MATT GAETZ (GUEST):
That is the job of the Department of War. My understanding is there is very strong support on Capitol Hill for the operations you’re currently seeing to take out narco traffickers on their way to the United States. Similarly, there’s not a lot of love for Maduro. There is no sense that Maduro is never going to be a problem for the United States.You know me. You know I’m not an invade everywhere, invite everyone Republican. But I care a lot more about what’s going on in the Gulf of America than the Black Sea. It is far more consequential to people in our country what is happening in Brazil and Honduras and Venezuela than what’s happening in Bavaria, the Balkans, or the hills of eastern Ukraine.
President Trump has reinvigorated interest in the Monroe Doctrine. That is going to pay dividends for our country for many years to come. And yes, there is historic resentment in Latin America over old U S involvement dating back to the United Fruit days. But this is a different era. With populist nationalist leaders like Bukele rising, this may be an opportunity to defeat the left. That means more countries with strong borders and strong laws, not playgrounds for thugs and bandits. When our neighborhood is stronger, our country is stronger. That is America First.
STEVE BANNON (HOST):
Is this Monroe Doctrine 2.0? Is there resistance to it? What are leaders in Central America saying?MATT GAETZ (GUEST):
They’re excited. For so long, on the Armed Services Committee where I served eight years, everything was about CENTCOM or EUROCOM. Southern Command was always last. Priorities were not funded, cooperation didn’t happen, capabilities were not built.When you back strong leaders like the president in Argentina or Marino in Panama, you avoid circumstances where bandits become MS13 level problems for the United States. There are seventy thousand MS13 members incarcerated just miles from where I am now. They are no trouble to the United States anymore. Strong leadership does that. It doesn’t require spilling American blood or treasure, but it does require being serious about our borders.
And when we get rid of USAID and the NGOs, you get rid of one of the biggest irritants that stand in the way of strong borders and rule of law. Many of those NGO funders are rooting for Maduro now.
STEVE BANNON (HOST):
The president said Maduro is giving us everything. You’re close to Grenell. Is this a show of force, or are they preparing for kinetic action? Is Grenell getting a shot at negotiating a deal?MATT GAETZ (GUEST):
I don’t believe under President Trump that the movement of all this material into the Gulf of America means the die is cast for kinetic conflict. It creates leverage. It creates uncertainty about whether Maduro’s regime survives.In Venezuela, they held an election. Edmundo Gonzalez won by better than two to one. The military destroyed the ballots and announced loyalty to Maduro. If that collapses, there is still civil society and civic infrastructure that can ultimately prevail. I don’t believe Latin America’s future will be guided by Maduro’s ideology. Whether he ends up in Russia, China, or Turkey remains to be seen. But he is feeling more pressure. He is making more decisions. He is weaker. We are stronger. And the populist right alliance in Latin America is stronger.
STEVE BANNON (HOST):
What should people watch for this weekend as the carrier strike group moves into position? Negotiations? A deal? A strike?MATT GAETZ (GUEST):
One of the most likely scenarios is Maduro’s departure. He takes some of the billions he’s stolen, goes to a friendly place, and rotates between great Turkish food and his Ozempic shots.What I’m watching is how Venezuela’s situation influences the political dynamic in Latin America. I do not want to see Central America shift to the leftists who want open borders, wokeism in their societies, and to be open for the Chinese bribers or narco terrorists who want to use the region as a launching ground for unrestricted warfare against the United States.
Colombia is the example of drift in the wrong direction. America put a lot of money into Plan Colombia. It was the shining example of how cooperation with our country could work. Now Colombia is being run by a drug addled fool whose own foreign minister had to resign because the president was coked up for two days in Paris and nobody could find him.
We’re hoping to bring things back to the vision that President Bukele has made so successful in El Salvador.
Follow Matt Gaetz on X @mattgaetz
