Let’s suppose, for a moment, that the Trump administration’s strategy for easing Nicolas Maduro out of power in Venezuela works according to plan.

The president could not be more explicit about his objective: “Let your people go!” he exclaimed at a rally in Miami last week. And the State Department is no doubt working on innumerable fronts to make things happen: “A new day is coming in Latin America,” Trump told his cheering audience of Venezuelan expatriates.