Why the World Believed a President Could Be Taken The circulation of an extraordinary allegation—that a sitting U.S. president orchestrated the forced removal of Venezuela’s head of state from the presidential palace in Caracas—has become a revealing moment in global political discourse. Regardless of its factual accuracy, the speed and scale at which this claim gained traction expose a deeper reality about the international system: the boundaries that once defined sovereignty, legitimacy, and restraint are increasingly fragile. In exopolitical terms, the significance of this narrative lies less in whether the event occurred and more in why it appears plausible to so many observers worldwide. Modern sovereignty has long been understood as a foundational principle of international order, shielding states and their leaders from direct external coercion. Yet in recent decades, sovereignty has been progressively conditioned by power dynamics, legal interpretations, and geopolit...