Venezuela reveals what Donald Trump covets most

OF ALL the ways to understand US President Donald Trump's belligerence toward Venezuela as a campaign against "narco-terrorists", a play for its oil reserves, a desire to control the Western Hemisphere the most overlooked is the outcome he covets more than all those things combined: greatness.

- THEODORE R JOHNSON

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

(The Washington Post)

For Trump, Venezuela is not just a geopolitical question. It is an opportunity to lead in war, a hallmark of presidents considered the nation's best.

No one runs for the White House to be pedestrian. Every president has a theory of greatness.

For some, it's decisiveness in transformative moments the mix of judgment, personality and courage brought to bear in times of profound uncertainty. For others, it's reflected in how much the nation bends, or bows, to the presidency. And for a few, it's more formulaic: Create a list of presidential to-dos and simply check the boxes.

Being considered among the greats remains one of Trump's deepest interests. He declared at a joint session of Congress in March that the first month of his second administration was "the most successful in the history of our nation", before adding, "You know who No 2 is? George Washington."

Last year, he told a convening of black journalists: "I have been the best president for the black population since Abraham Lincoln."