Retired general hails Trump's 'holistic' crackdown on Venezuelan drug trafficking as showdown escalates

President Donald Trump's ultimatum to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro marks a new flashpoint in his comprehensive crackdown on drug trafficking, one that's garnering praise from a retired U.S. Army general.

Retired General Jack Keane applauded Trump's "holistic approach" to combating drug trafficking on "America's Newsroom," Monday, billing the president as the first to take such a far-reaching, all-fronts tactic.

"We have a president for the first time... who's really taking the narco-trafficking, fentanyl, and obviously cocaine and the rest of the drugs, as a poison that is impacting American citizens... We can argue over the means for sure. But this is the first president that's taken a holistic approach to it," Keane said.

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Trump delivered an ultimatum to Maduro to leave Venezuela immediately before announcing the country's airspace should be closed, Fox News Digital previously reported.

"I think it's pretty evident that the president definitely wants a regime change there, and he's offering Maduro the opportunity to voluntarily do it, or he's likely to take some action," Keane, a Fox News senior strategic analyst, said.

While Keane emphasized that Trump's clampdown drug trafficking is unmatched in its scope, he noted that the president's pursuit of regime change in Venezuela would follow historical precedent.

"In 1989, George H. W. Bush directed a regime change in Panama of Noriega, who was running the country as a result of a fraudulent election, pretty similar [to Maduro]," he said. "And also, he was indicted by federal courts for criminal drug trafficking and human trafficking the year before in the United States."

"We also wanted to protect U.S. citizens, some 35,000 that were there. We put scores of troops in there to make sure that regime change was done quite successfully," he continued.

Keane also went on to explain former President Bill Clinton, directed a regime change in Haiti in the middle of his first term.
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"In 1994, President Clinton directed a regime change in Haiti, where a military dictatorship had taken over from a duly democratically elected president, Aristide, and the mission was to return Aristide to power and let him run the country. The second thing was that there were significant mass migrations taking place to the United States because of the horrific human rights abuses that were taking place as a result of the military dictatorship," he added.

The retired general further explained that neither Bush nor Clinton had authorization from Congress to pursue these regime changes.

"There was limited discussion with the Congress prior to it, certainly, and considerably more discussion with it once the attacks began. But authorization did not take place. Certainly collaboration was taking place at the time," said Keane, highlighting that Trump faces multiple options.

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He went on to explain some of the president's avenues going forward. Trump could, for instance, choose to "continue to demonstrate the status quo, which he's doing right now with military power in the region and issuing threats, or he can do something more significant as our previous presidents did."

"This is a criminal who's shielding his criminal activity by his presidential political power. And you gotta see him for what it is and what its impact is on the United States," Keane said of Maduro.

Though Trump's showdown with Maduro is taking place in the Western hemisphere, the administration's crackdown could have broader implications for America's foes around the globe.

Keane said that "whenever the United States is exercising its power and influence, all of our adversaries clearly pay attention."

"Most graphically was when the United States delivered a decisive blow supporting Israel's attack on Iran and pushed Iran back into a position we haven't seen for 44 years and so weakened that regime. Certainly President Xi's paying attention to that, and so is Putin. They all got aggressive in the intervening years between Trump one and Trump two," he said.