{"id":2529599,"date":"2026-01-04T14:46:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T19:46:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-says-new-venezuelan-leader-will-pay-bigger-price-if-she-resists-demands\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T14:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T19:47:13","slug":"trump-says-new-venezuelan-leader-will-pay-bigger-price-if-she-resists-demands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-says-new-venezuelan-leader-will-pay-bigger-price-if-she-resists-demands\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says new Venezuelan leader will pay &#8216;bigger&#8217; price if she resists demands"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-says-new-venezuelan-leader-will-pay-bigger-price-if-she-resists-demands%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2529599&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>President Donald Trump warned Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez that she would &#8220;pay a very big price,probably bigger then Maduro&#8221; if she resisted U.S. demands, remarking that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mislead-dodge-or-circle-back-the-day-one-strategies-of-jen-psaki\/\" title=\"Mislead, Dodge, Or Circle Back: The \u2018Day One\u2019 Strategies Of Jen Psaki\">regime change<\/a> or rebuilding Venezuela would be preferable to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-vowed-to-elect-more-women-they-did-just-that\/\" title=\"Republicans Vowed To Elect More Women...They Did Just That\">current state<\/a>. Rodr\u00edguez responded defiantly, calling maduro&#8217;s abduction &#8220;barbaric,&#8221; insisting Venezuela would never be a U.S. &#8220;colony,&#8221; and asserting Maduro remained the country&#8217;s leader. The exchange followed Trump&#8217;s earlier suggestion that Rodr\u00edguez was &#8220;essentially willing to do what we think is necessary,&#8221; prompting speculation about a backchannel deal; analysts say her public rebuke may have been meant to placate Venezuela&#8217;s military and security forces. Rodr\u00edguez is portrayed as a respected figure who stabilized Venezuela&#8217;s oil sector, and commentators warn she must balance any cooperation with the security establishment&#8217;s power. In the same interview, Trump also floated interventionist ideas regarding other territories, mentioning interest in Greenland.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump says new Venezuelan leader will pay &lsquo;bigger&rsquo; price than Maduro if she resists US<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2462359\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> issued a major threat to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/venezuela\/\">Venezuelan<\/a> Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, saying she would pay a &ldquo;bigger&rdquo; price than Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro if she resisted the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez struck a defiant tone on Saturday after Trump suggested she would do the United States&rsquo;s bidding, calling the abduction of Maduro &ldquo;barbaric&rdquo; and saying the country would never become a &ldquo;colony&rdquo; of the U.S. Trump didn&rsquo;t take kindly to the comments, issuing a threat that implied assassination if she resisted U.S. demands.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4379341\/trump-more-progressive-biden-economically-one-year\/\">After one year, Trump is on his way to &#8216;out-progressive-ing&#8217; Biden on the economy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4399895\/unheralded-aides-keeping-trump-white-house-running\/\">Get to know the unheralded aides who help keep Trump&#8217;s White House running<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4400827\/venezuela-new-president-cooperating-with-trump-after-maduros-capture\/\">Who is Delcy Rodriguez? Venezuela&#8217;s new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/who-is-delcy-rodriguez-the-venezuelan-vp-in-talks-with-trump\/\" title=\"Who is ..., the Venezuelan VP in talks with Trump?\">president cooperating<\/a> with Trump after Maduro&#8217;s capture<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign-policy\/4406128\/rubio-run-venezuela-policy-maduro\/\">RUBIO INSISTS US WOULD BE RUNNING VENEZUELAN &lsquo;POLICY,&rsquo; SAYS HE&rsquo;S &lsquo;VERY INVOLVED&rsquo;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If she doesn&rsquo;t do what&rsquo;s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,&rdquo; Trump told the <em>Atlantic<\/em> in an interview, referring to Rodriguez.<\/p>\n<p>He then <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4400674\/us-to-run-venezuela-until-transition-can-take-place\/\">flirted with the prospect of regime change<\/a>, arguing the situation was so bad that any change would be welcome.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You know, rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can&rsquo;t get any worse,&rdquo; Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>His comments were a complete reversal from his comments the day before, when he suggested that Rodriguez was &ldquo;essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela&nbsp;great again.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;She said, &lsquo;We&rsquo;ll do whatever you need,&rsquo;&rdquo; Trump said of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-to-make-clear-hes-still-in-charge-of-republican-party-at-cpac-report\/\" title=\"Trump To Make Clear He\u2019s \u2018Still In Charge\u2019 Of Republican Party At CPAC: Report\">de facto head<\/a> of Venezuela. &ldquo;I think she was quite gracious. But she really doesn&rsquo;t have a choice.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/national-security\/4400669\/what-is-delta-force-military-unit-behind-the-venezuela-raid\/\">WHAT IS THE DELTA FORCE? THE US MILITARY UNIT BEHIND THE VENEZUELA RAID TOPPLING MADURO<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez is a rare figure in the Venezuelan government with widespread respect, having stabilized the country&rsquo;s oil industry during its unparalleled economic crisis. Washington&rsquo;s comments implied that she would serve as a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >de facto puppet ruler<\/a>, but even if she&rsquo;s sympathetic to such an arrangement, she must tread carefully so as not to anger the security establishment, which controls most levers of power.<\/p>\n<p>The original contrast between Trump&rsquo;s suggestion that she would serve as a de facto puppet ruler and Rodriguez&rsquo;s own comments led some analysts to believe a backdoor deal had been cut and her harsh Saturday comments were a means to placate the military and security establishment. Trump&rsquo;s Sunday comments indicate that that wasn&rsquo;t the case.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;If there is something the Venezuelan people will never be again, it is slaves, or the colony of an empire,&rdquo; Rodriguez said on Saturday, declaring that Maduro was still the leader and demanding his release.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign-policy\/4406128\/rubio-run-venezuela-policy-maduro\/\"><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4400241\/maduro-abduction-coincides-anniversary-noriega-raid\/\">MADURO ABDUCTION COINCIDES WITH ANNIVERSARY OF NORIEGA RAID IN PANAMA<\/a><\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the <em>Atlantic<\/em> interview, Trump hinted at possible interventions elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We do need <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/greenland\/\">Greenland<\/a>, absolutely,&rdquo; he said, adding that it was &ldquo;surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump warns Rodriguez will face harsher fate than Maduro<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2529600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-collage-bug8ztex4-1767550527785-e1767553948140.jpg?1767535952&amp;w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[32319,36408,70076],"class_list":["post-2529599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-donald-trump","tag-us-foreign-policy","tag-venezuelan-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-collage-bug8ztex4-1767550527785-e1767553948140.jpg?1767535952&amp;w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2529599"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2529603,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2529599\/revisions\/2529603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2529600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2529599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2529599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2529599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}