A veteran of several Republican administrations who served as America's special envoy to Venezuela and Iran during Donald Trump's first presidency. He attributes Trump's deep aversion to regime change to two factors: the policy failures in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the influence of Henry Kissinger and other cold-war practitioners of realpolitik. In this worldview, rival states are "black boxes" with a leader at the top, and diplomacy means negotiating with whoever has risen to power, regardless of how they got there—a "club of leaders" view that attaches little significance to ordinary citizens' wishes.
In November 2025, as American military pressure on Venezuela intensified, Abrams said he assumed the CIA's role was "to deliver lots of messages to people in the regime and in the military, saying 'Look, Maduro has to go. No reason for you to go down with him'."
After Maduro's capture in January 2026, Abrams argued that only a transition to democracy could provide the stability needed to attract investment to unlock Venezuela's oil reserves.
You know you have a small apartment when Rice Krispies echo.