# Multimedia 

Multimedia 

---

- [Podcasts](/podcasts)
- [Cato Video](/multimedia/cato-video)
- [Video Series](/search/category/video-series)
- [Events](/multimedia/events)

[ 

Download Episode 

](https://feeds.acast.com/public/streams/5e28e0d8963f166217546493/episodes/695e886d24334d0234418cfc.mp3)Subscribe:

[ 

Apple Podcasts 

](http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/cato-daily-podcast/id158961219) [ 

Spotify 

](https://open.spotify.com/show/4dHRhKEljj8zcLdl3Gvsv7) 

Cato Weekly Podcast • January 8, 2026 

# When Presidents Decide to Go to War Alone: Venezuela Edition 

The arrest of Nicolás Maduro raises hard questions about presidential power, congressional authority, and the legal boundaries of military force. Cato’s Brandan P. Buck and Clark Neily analyze the operation’s status under U.S. and international law, its implications for future conflicts, and why ambiguity has become the executive branch’s most dangerous tool.

#### Show Notes 

[![venezuela](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-01/venezuela%20freedom%20.jpg?itok=0FIi_ddY)](https://www.cato.org/blog/indictments-invasions-constitutions-crumbling-guardrails) 

blog 

### [Venezuela—Indictments, Invasions, and the Constitution’s Crumbling Guardrails](/blog/indictments-invasions-constitutions-crumbling-guardrails) 

By [Clark Neily](https://www.cato.org/people/clark-neily) 

There’s a constitutional process for toppling foreign dictators, and we should follow it.

[![trump](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2025-09/donald%20trump%20.jpg?itok=BJ-jogIr)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/dont-do-it-mr-president) 

Commentary 

### [Don’t Do It, Mr. President](/commentary/dont-do-it-mr-president) 

By [Justin Logan](https://www.cato.org/people/justin-logan) and [Brandan P. Buck](https://www.cato.org/people/brandan-p-buck) 

U.S.-led regime change in Venezuela would worsen the problems President Trump promised to fix.

[![Trump news conference on Maduro](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/content_teaser/public/2026-01/202601_venezuela_trump.jpg?itok=7cq4EguW)](https://www.cato.org/commentary/will-venezuela-define-second-trump-administration) 

Commentary 

### [Will Venezuela Define the Second Trump Administration?](/commentary/will-venezuela-define-second-trump-administration) 

By [Justin Logan](https://www.cato.org/people/justin-logan) 

There’s little clarity and much risk in the near future in Venezuela.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### Featuring 

[![Clark Neily](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Clark%20Neily.jpg?itok=kOJs7hwY)](/people/clark-neily) 

##### [Clark Neily](/people/clark-neily)

Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/conlawwarrior) [ 

](mailto:cneily@cato.org) 

[![Brandan P. Buck - cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-11/brandon-buck-cropped.jpg?itok=Lt1PZyoy)](/people/brandan-p-buck) 

##### [Brandan P. Buck](/people/brandan-p-buck)

Research Fellow, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/Brandan_Buck) [ 

](mailto:bbuck@cato.org)