Expressions of unbridled power don’t come blunter than abducting a sitting president from his capital in the dead of night.

President Donald Trump has shown in a 74-word social media post that he can act decisively, suddenly and perhaps recklessly, in pursuit of his varied and varying foreign policy goals, with little regard for precedent, consequence or it seems, international law.

The operation to take Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from their heavily guarded location in Caracas to – presumably – face the American court system, does follow a predictable albeit extreme pattern for what the US calls a fugitive, with a $50 million bounty on his head.

But there is a grave exception here: Maduro is a head of state, whose nation is prey to various ongoing US political objectives. Whatever the indictments say, this will always feel political.

Successive White Houses have wanted to remove Venezuela’s left-leaning, yet autocratic and at times violent, regime – whether for fighting drug trafficking, or for their oil, or for regional alignment.

The second Trump term promoted an end to Maduro’s role as kingpin of a vast regional narco-trafficking network as key to its rationale. But they ran into a paradox when suggesting Maduro just leave power: He could not be both the kingpin and a man who could walk out on his role at the drop of a hat.

The evidence that Maduro was top of the regional tree was also not as substantial as the White House would have hoped. Yes, Venezuela undoubtedly permitted drug trafficking from its airspace and shores, with the top, global cocaine producer Colombia just over the border. But Mexico and Colombia’s cartels were bigger players – yet seemed to attract less US military focus.

Deep in the heart of this action lies Washington’s wider ambitions for greater control of its near-abroad, for what they have termed an updated Monroe Doctrine.

A pliant Venezuela is better for US hydrocarbon markets, but most importantly provides a place to which millions of Venezuelans currently seeking refuge in the United States can return.

But as it stands, what comes next is not clear – or whether there is an immediate successor, willing to stomach the same risk of abduction. It also remains to be seen this ignites anti-American fury, or ushers in days of celebration at the end of a dictatorship that has mismanaged Venezuelans’ economy into freefall.

Maduro’s departure is a win for Trump, but chaos or collapse after him would be a cascading loss. The plan for “what next” is more important than the staggering display of US might over Caracas’ skies on early Saturday morning.