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Venezuela, Latin America, and the Future of US Foreign Policy, With Greg Grandin

On the latest American Prestige.

Daniel BessnerDerek Davison and Greg Grandin

January 6, 2026

Nicolás Maduro is seen in handcuffs after landing in Manhattan on January 5, 2026. (XNY / Star Max / GC Images)

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Venezuela, Latin America, and the Future of US Foreign Policy w/ Greg Grandin | American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

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Danny and Derek are joined by historian Greg Grandin to go in depth on the recent U.S. operation in Venezuela. They talk about the removal of Nicolás Maduro while leaving the existing state structure intact, implying America’s preference for coercion over governance; the role of oil in U.S. rhetoric; internal divisions within the Trump administration; comparisons to past interventions in the region; and the weakening of regional resistance to U.S. dominance. The group also looks at Venezuela amid a shifting global order with declining hegemony, rising multipolarity, and limited state capacity for the U.S.

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Danny and Derek are joined by historian and Nation contributor Greg Grandin to go in depth on the recent US operation in Venezuela. They talk about the removal of Nicolás Maduro while leaving the existing state structure intact, implying America’s preference for coercion over governance; the role of oil in US rhetoric; internal divisions within the Trump administration; comparisons to past interventions in the region; and the weakening of regional resistance to US dominance. The group also looks at Venezuela amid a shifting global order with declining hegemony, rising multipolarity, and limited state capacity for the US.

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The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Cold War Liberal Empire w/ Daniel Bessner and Michael Brenes I American Prestige
byThe Nation Magazine

Derek speaks with Danny and Mike Brenes about Cold War liberalism, its shaping of the American empire, and more from their new co-edited volume. They discuss the meaning of “Cold War liberalism,” the book’s essays, the relationship between liberalism and mass democracy, emergency politics, the continuity between New Deal liberalism and Cold War liberalism, military Keynesianism, US empire, neoconservatism, Joe Biden, and the persistence of Cold War liberal ideas in long after the end of the Cold War itself.

Buy the volume Cold War Liberalism: Power in a Time of Emergency and use discount code BESSNER26 

Don’t forget to download our Marx Prestige miniseries. Final episode out today!

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Daniel BessnerTwitterDaniel Bessner is an historian of US foreign relations, and cohost of American Prestige, a podcast on international affairs.


Derek DavisonDerek Davison is a writer and analyst specializing in international affairs and US foreign policy. He is the publisher of the Foreign Exchanges newsletter, cohost of the American Prestige podcast, and former editor of LobeLog.


Greg GrandinTwitterGreg Grandin, a Nation editorial board member, is the Peter V. and C. Vann Woodward Professor of History at Yale University. His book The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. His latest book is America, América: A New History of the New World.


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