As Epstein Scandal Boils Over, Trump Deploys Massive Naval Force for Possible War With Venezuela ‘Within Days’

As Republicans try to stamp out the political wildfire sparked by the Jeffrey Epstein files, President Donald Trump is throwing Washington’s focus somewhere else entirely — toward a looming conflict in America’s backyard. And he’s doing it with the biggest naval flex the region has seen in years.

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rolled out a new label for the U.S. military’s rapidly expanding campaign in the Caribbean: “Operation Southern Spear.” The rebrand isn’t cosmetic. It signals a mission that has suddenly grown into a full-scale, long-term military effort, one that now leans heavily toward Venezuela’s front door.

U.S. forces have already carried out at least 20 strikes on vessels in South American waters, killing at least 76 people, according to officials. What began as an anti-drug push has ballooned into something far more ominous.

The centerpiece of this escalation is the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the most advanced aircraft carrier on earth. Its sudden repositioning into the Caribbean has set off what one defense expert bluntly calls a strategic “shot clock” for the Trump administration — a countdown to either act militarily against Venezuela or blink in front of the whole region.

Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies put it plainly: “There’s no strategic rationale for sending the Ford to the region unless it’s intended for use against Venezuela. The shot clock is now running—this carrier can’t just sit idle. They’ll either need to act or redeploy it, and pulling back would amount to backing off.”

He didn’t stop there. “The Ford is too powerful a capability to just sit in the Caribbean and do nothing. They’ll probably run some exercises, but it won’t be able to sit there week after week.”

The Pentagon insists its mission is to “detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors.” But carriers do not typically patrol drug routes — and everyone watching knows it.

Nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and Marines are now in position.

The timing isn’t subtle. CBS News reported that Trump received updated military options this week, including possible land strikes inside Venezuela. Senior defense officials — including Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine — briefed him on scenarios for the “coming days.”

That alone is enough to make the region hold its breath. As Elizabeth Dickinson of the International Crisis Group told the Associated Press, “This is the anchor of what it means to have U.S. military power once again in Latin America. And it has raised a lot of anxieties in Venezuela but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath to see just how willing the U.S. is to really use military force.”

She added what many analysts have been whispering: “There’s nothing that an aircraft carrier brings that is useful for combating the drug trade. I think it’s clearly a message that is much more geared toward pressuring Caracas.”

Hegseth: “President Trump ordered action”

Hegseth has been aggressively framing the mission as a righteous struggle against “narco-terrorists,” even as critics warn the administration is edging the United States toward a major foreign intervention.

On X, he wrote: “President Trump ordered action — and the Department of War is delivering. Today, I’m announcing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR. Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and U.S. Southern Command, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio — long one of the loudest voices pushing regime change in Caracas — backed him up, saying Trump is targeting “organized criminal narcoterrorists.” He accused Maduro’s government of acting as a “transshipment organization” for drug traffickers.

Washington still refuses to recognize Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, citing last year’s election fraud allegations. Maduro, meanwhile, has dismissed U.S. accusations of drug cooperation as a political pretext for toppling him.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López isn’t taking chances. On Tuesday, he announced that troops, militia members, police, and ruling-party loyalists will be mobilized for an air-defense exercise. His message — broadcast beside a surface-to-air missile system in Caracas — was unmistakable, even if no drills were observed elsewhere in the capital.

Domestic reaction in the U.S. is far from unified. Critics warn that Trump may be dragging the country toward a new conflict to distract from the Epstein scandal erupting at home, and the deployment itself only adds fuel to that suspicion.