The actual problem people see is that this was made into a military operation at all, setting a dangerous precedent. Plus, the stated goal of fighting Venezuelan drug cartels is most likely a lie - the real reason seems to be the US wish to control Venezuela's oil.
Pretty much. Trump's attack on the "drug boat" was a show of force that has little to do with drugs and everything to do with trying to cow Venezuela (and by implication other LA countries) into staying aligned (or realigning) with the US.
The US sees Venezuela as its "back yard" in much the same way Russia sees Ukraine as its back yard. Ukraine convinced Trump that the US is no longer able to wage and sustain foreign interventions thousands of miles from home.
Back in 2016, Trump decided on a policy of "strategic isolationism". He just didn't really know how to go about it at the time.
Eight years later, he has settled on a plan and is attempting to put it into action, partly based on his own vision of how to "MAGA" and partly due to his new-found understanding of the reality of peer competitors (Russia, China, India) able to stand their ground against US threats.
In this context, for Trump's strategic isolationism to have any chance of forestalling a drastic collapse of American global power, he must focus on America's '
near abroad': countries that the US has at least a reasonable chance of bringing to heel (by various means available to them) due to their geographic proximity.
