With Congress out of town, Donald Trump took it upon himself to invade Venezuela and take prisoner the head of that country, Nicolás Maduro. I don’t care if Maduro was democratically elected, or stole the election, or whatever. A dictator or not. His presence was not ours to deal with. Regime change is not the business of the US. And yet now that the US has invaded Venezuela, put boots on the ground there, and removed Maduro, Trump is saying he/we will run that country until there can be a “safe, proper, and judicious transition” of power. (He actually indicated rather obliquely that Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth would be in charge.)
This looks a lot like Trump wanting Venezuelan oil. It looks a lot like him wanting to show what a tough guy he is (especially with Congress out of town and unable to object). And he may even be crazy enough to think somehow that removing Maduro boosts his reputation as the “president of peace” and his chances to win the Nobel Peace Prize. At the very least, it’s a huge distraction from the Epstein files in which, by now, everyone must surely have assumed he is a major player.
Is this what he intended all along instead of simply stopping drug traffickers (by illegally bombing boats and murdering the occupants in international waters)? Maduro has been under indictment in the US on drug and weapons charges since 2020. So why wait until now to take this action?
I am disgusted, so disgusted. Congress should impeach and convict him of usurping powers that, constitutionally, belong to Congress. War powers. Spending powers. Powers he keeps exercising unilaterally without consulting Congress. Just because he can. Just because no one is stopping him. He needs to be gone, along with those in Congress who keep enabling him, if only by ignoring what he’s doing.
I loathe this man. With every fiber of my being.
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Header image: Evan Vucci/AP
I can believe there are people who support him.
I can almost understand the die-hards of Project 2025 being in ride-or-die mode, but it’s alarming to me that so many others still seem to support him, still believe everything he says, still think the things he does are good for the country.
The US political papers aren’t side-stepping the issue, this time, Colorado: they all say that he’s taking the oil and intends to sell it.
I imagine it will go into the Trump family pockets.
Self-aggrandizement is his sole reason for being. Always has been. He and his family have been cashing in big time on his presidency.
every day, every hour is worse
Certainly seems that way.
I think the majority of Americans do not support him. So it’s even more frustrating that he does what he wants. He has the power of the military behind him.
Not to mention having his lackeys running every major department and a majority in Congress. If we can just manage to not implode before the November elections, maybe we can do something about Congress.
I was and am still incredulous that he stood there and talked about how he couldn’t tell Congress for fear of security leaks and all the while Pete “Signalgate” Hegseth was standing right behind him.
Meanwhile, is any country safe if Trump decides he wants something? Cuba? Mexico? Greenland?
I certainly don’t support him or his actions. It is despicable what he has done….an act of war against another country, and he’s talking about going into other countries.
And after this “success,” who or what is going to stop him?