This sort of thinking was always true in history and geopolitics, as consequences come from those who enforce them. These other countries could try but they might have their own leader snatched soon enough if that's the case.
> no casualties
40 people died
> Moreover these countries already hate US, so shouldn’t they logically hate the US actions as well?
It doesn't matter if they hate the US or not. That is not the point. The point is that it makes this sort of actions completely legitimate.
It sounds like you're assuming the goal is moral coherence. It isn't; Trump and MAGA have always been completely philosophically untethered. The goal here is demonstrating that Trump is exempt from the rules he enforces on others. The more obviously hypocritical it is, the clearer the message: "We're strong enough that we don't need to be consistent." It's posturing and dominance signaling, nothing more.
American exceptionalism, not a new concept
It's actually worse than staying silent.
Von der Leyen has basically said "good job, now let's figure out the regime change". [0]
Kaja Kallas has parroted the made up drug trafficking lies. [1]
> besides Spain who came out saying that they would not recognize whoever ends up taking Maduro's place as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
Spain at the very least had the decency of co-signing the joint Latin American statement condemning the act. [2]
[0] https://xcancel.com/vonderleyen/status/2007440364135674172 [1] https://xcancel.com/kajakallas/status/2007902058876448897 [2] https://www.euronews.com/2026/01/04/spain-and-5-latin-americ...
You can be 100% sure that the only thing they are thinking about is that it can happen to them, and this is what they will be thinking about during many nights ahead.
Every petty tyrant or so called leader in Africa, Middle east, Asia and who knows where else now know that going to another country, snatching the leader and kidnapping them can be done without much consequences at any time so long as they go in guns blazing.
The EU who usually likes to parade around by giving lessons of democracy to everyone is basically completely silent on the whole affair besides Spain who came out saying that they would not recognize whoever ends up taking Maduro's place as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
And to top it all off you have numerous people who believe that if you have a problem with what the US did then you must be some sort of closeted commie supporter.
I can't wait to see the mental gymnastics that these people will do if and when the PRC decides to do the same thing to the leaders of Taiwan in the future. Will they be so quick to agree that this isn't such a big deal? I think not.