"The Administration’s goals are aspirational at best. And aspirations are not enough when the stakes involve war and the futures of millions of people. Mr. President, one of the first lessons I learned as an Army officer is that ‘hope’ is not a plan. Over my career – both in uniform and in Congress – I have seen the United States hope that its military interventions abroad would succeed. I have seen regime changes, nation-building efforts, and elaborate reconstruction schemes launched with confident predictions of success, only to collapse when encountered with reality on the ground. And the reality is this: when we rely on the United States military as our primary tool of foreign engagement, we set ourselves up for failure. We have persistently misunderstood and misjudged the cultures, histories, and politics of the nations in which we have intervened, because we assume military might is enough. We imagine outcomes that align with our military and economic objectives, but are surprised when those outcomes fail. We consistently fail to plan for the “day after.” Unless the Trump Administration gets serious, Venezuela will be no exception."