We’ve been here before; but this is worse
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There’s no room for being a pollyanna about US involvement in Latin America. It’s a tale of exploitation, manipulation, overthrows of democratically elected representatives, oppression, disappearances, and too many other forms of interference that have had catastrophic results for the people of any given country that we’ve targeted. But this shit?
This is off the charts the worst thing the United States has ever done. Why it’s as bad as what we did in Iraq. Oh, wait. No, it’s worse. It’s worse by a margin because the Regime didn’t even make the merest attempt to make its case before Congress. These assholes didn’t even pretend to to go through the motions.
That this is about oil is obvious; it was obvious in Iraq, as well, but there’s an additional detail here. It’s also about staying out of jail and creating a distraction from those pesky Epstein files that just won’t go away. You think I’m kidding? The Epstein files are key - the key - to Trump’s machinations. One suspects that there are other names of people currently in office and serving on boards who were close to, if not in on, the action. And by action, yes, I mean the sexual assault and abuse of young girls. Or as we should call it, rape of underage children where applicable. But while thinking about the Felon in Chief being a main party to this, it’s also about an entire network of powerful men who were in on this, who had their pick of children and who no doubt were beholden to Epstein for something else; confidentiality that could probably be used for blackmail should the situation call for it.
So is it distraction from the files more than the oil in Venezuela? Given the flagrant corruption and flaunting legal and ethical standards, it’s equally both, I’m inclined to say. Which is worse? Robbing young girls of their youths, their mental health, and visiting trauma on - is it hundreds? Is it thousands? - of someone’s daughters, someone’s sisters - ranks as far more viscerally repugnant, but make no mistake that the invasion and equally flagrant bombing of a sovereign country that was not targeting the U.S., that was not sending fentanyl to our land as a “weapon of mass destruction” is a different type of morally bereft and ethically absent abuse. Jesus F. Christ. Did I ever envision that I would be a citizen of the worst country of the 21st century? Yeah. I said it. The Worst.
Here’s why. Not once, but twice now, we’ve invaded a country under bullshit pretense. This time, though, we elected for the second time, the worst human being of the 21st century. Not Putin, not Xi, not Kim Jong-il. Not Maduro. Twice. Let that sink in. This stupid fucking country didn’t learn jack shit from the first time, so it decided to repeat the experience and this time with no guardrails.
We live in a dictatorship. Not an authoritarian state in the making; we are in a dictatorship. There is a dictator in power, we are in a dictatorship. War and then regime change happened in a matter of hours without Congressional oversight and fully against international law.
Oh, but John, you’re just being melodramatic for emphasis, right? No, I am not. I’m tired of the domestic shit show being glossed over as a few bad apples disappearing foreign nationals when they’re disappearing American citizens. I’m tired of watching the mechanisms for keeping us safe from national disasters dismantled and for preserving public health dissolved. I’m tired of listening pundits frankly lie about all of this. Oh, but John, they’re not lying, they have to choose their words wisely so that they don’t misrepresent the facts. Oh, fuck you.
Here’s the deal; we are living under a dictator who supports white supremacy, hates women, weaponizes law enforcement against his enemies and is surrounded with a politburo that may be worse once he’s dead. The targeting of boats in the Caribbean was just a test. Public outcry but no movement or censure from Congress. How could there be? Democrat leadership is toothless and the Republicans stand to benefit. Will this sway voters at the mid-terms? What in the ever-loving fuck makes you think there will be mid-term elections? And if they happen and the results don’t go the Republican way, do you think there won’t be backlash or frankly a dismissal of those results?
And what of Venezuela? As of this afternoon, Der Führer states: “We are going to run it, essentially.” As reported by NPR, Trump says that “we have superseded [the Monroe Doctrine] … a lot they now call the Donroe Doctrine.” You know what’s scary? People are going to eat this shit up. They’re going to forget for a minute that they can’t afford healthcare, can’t afford rent, can’t afford groceries, but by God,they’re going to support America’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
Venezuela’s oil reserves are the fifth largest in the world and once again, instead of investing in renewable energy resources and protecting the environment, the U.S. is making a land grab and openly saying that “we’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, going to spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.” Or so Trump says. He doesn’t specify which country, though, does he?
As for Congress? “The White House briefed congressional leadership only after the operation, according to a source familiar with the matter who is not authorized to talk publicly.” So yeah, “we did it, we don’t care what you say or think, and presto! Regime change!”
The White House seems to be treating this primarily like some kind of Miami Vice drug bust that just happens to involve and entire country. The penalty is that the U.S. will take “the money coming out of the ground.” This will pay for us running the country and one assumes will line the pockets of everyone involved in Washington.
Who is happy about this? Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado who has been a Trump supporter since he began these incursions into her country’s sovereignty. How she’s going to deal with the installation of a leader chosen by the Trump Regime instead of Edmundo Gonzalez is anyone’s guess. But I’m sure she’ll find out. Go ahead, make a deal with Trump; see how that works out for you.
Now, is Maduro a great guy? Why no, no he is not. Is he recognized for international crimes? Why yes, yes he is. Should the U.S. or any nation act unilaterally to depose a leader, even if not democratically elected? Nope. At least, the Bush administration ginned up a “coalition of the willing.” Dictators around the world are rejoicing, of course, because the Regime just legitimized the use of force to achieve their ends.
Interestingly, as recently as Thursday (January 1), Maduro was open working with the US to combat drug trafficking. So even if he was lying, and just buying time, what is the legitimate need for invasion? Oh, right, Maduro and his wife are indicted on narco-terrorism charges. From Al-Jazeera, “The Trump administration has repeatedly used claims of “narco-terrorism” to justify its militaristic approach to drugs. The position states that criminal drug organisations are driven not by profit, but by ambitions to destabilse the US.”
But what about Trump’s pardoning of Honduras’s former leader Juan Orlando Hernandez? He was facing a 45 year long sentence for working with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel which arguably - more inarguably - traffics more drugs into the states than Venezuela by far. Oh, and especially the Regime’s bugbear fentanyl.
Also, what’s with the EU playing quiet about what the Regime just did? As one person pointed out, when Russia invades Ukraine - and let’s stress oil and natural resources there, shall we - it’s called aggression. When the U.S. invades Venezuela, “it’s complicated.” No, guys, it’s wrong.
Would I have been satisfied or less bitchy if Trump had had buy-in from other countries in the region to remove Maduro? If I’m being honest, maybe. But this is absolutely not about moving drugs into the U.S. to destabilize us or subvert the American Way. It’s about OIL. And about giving Trump a win so that he can a) profit from all this and b) move the discussion away from raping and trafficking girls for sex.
What do I think is going to happen soon? Not a goddamned thing. Congress will reconvene after the break; Democrats will rightfully bring up the illegitimacy of the invasion while the GOP tars the Democrats as un-American and that will make its way across the polity via Fox and CBS. The Dems will take a hit but the Republicans will likely see an uptick in support. How significant will either be? I really don’t think very much unless the population is stupid enough to think that this “regime change” in a country that did not have much clout here or much impact on the drug trade here is legitimate or necessary.
Oh. Wait. I best rethink this. The population voted for the dictator twice. Never mind; this could be critical. In which case, the Dems might be well-served to make a few statements decrying the invasion but then get back to pointing out what a shitshow the economy is in, how many American citizens ICE is disappearing, how disaster relief is ruined, how Trump is weaponizing law enforcement and the DOJ, and so on. Oh, and how the whole administration is covering up the Epstein files and defying the law by not releasing them in unreacted (except where it protects the victims) form.
Oh #2. So how much fentanyl does Venezuela manufacture and ship? None. Cocaine? Well, this is interesting. 90% of the cocaine sold in the U.S. is sourced from Colombia. The remaining 10% is pretty much divided by Venezuela and the Caribbean. This isn’t to say that Venezuela isn’t a trafficking hub, but if you’re going to target a drug that is ravaging a country, wouldn’t you go to the source?
Who am I kidding? This isn’t about drugs. It’s about oil and giving Kaiser Donny a win to cover and possibly bury his involvement in a different kind of trafficking.
I expect we’ll hear plenty in the coming days and weeks, and maybe months; a lot. I’m putting a filter on the noise as best I can and while I’ve got other stuff to write up, you better believe I’ll keep my eyes on this.
Sources
Kahn, Carrie and Scott Neuman. ‘We are going to run the country,' Trump says after strike on Venezuela. NPR.com. https://www.npr.org/2026/01/03/g-s1-104329/explosions-caracas-venezuela. January 3, 2026.
Quicken, Stephen and Nils Adler. “Live: Trump says US will run Venezuela after Maduro’s ‘capture’. Al-Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2026/1/3/live-loud-noises-heard-in-venezuelas-capital-amid-us-tensions?update=4212166. January 3, 2026.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. World Drug Report 2025 - Key Findings. UNODC. Vienna. https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/WDR_2025/WDR25_B1_Key_findings.pdf. June 2025.
Verdad, Misíon. “UN and EU Confirm Venezuela Far From Being a Narco-Country”. Orinoco Tribune. https://orinocotribune.com/un-and-eu-confirm-venezuela-far-from-being-a-narco-country/.
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