In accordance with my recommendations, Trump has gone down to Venezuela, seized Maduro and his wife, and brought them back to the US to face charges. I heard my article found some fans in the administration, and although it is highly unlikely that this made the difference, I am happy in the knowledge that there is at least a very small chance that by its marginal influence my piece led to his fall. This was about as clean of an overthrow as one can imagine. As The Economist notes: "A military operation that began in the middle of the night and concluded by sunrise had resulted in an extraordinary act of regime change."
This certainly complicates my relationship with the Trump administration. I have pointed to the appointment of RFK to lead HHS and previously unthinkable tariff levels to explain my disillusionment. But Trump does a lot of wild things, and this makes him a high variance president. He gave anti-vaxxers control over the public health establishment, and also removed a socialist dictator. No other president would've done either of these things, and the first is a threat to the future of medicine, while the second is a great act of heroism. I have chosen to live with the complexity rather than lie to myself in either direction.
