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So what the hell’s going on with Venezuela and Trump? It’s a question that people all around the world would like to know.
Well, the situation definitely seems complicated. Nicolas Maduro, I think It’s safe to say, was a very undemocratic authoritarian corrupt president. He and his people grabbed control over much of the Venezuelan government and its institutions while also suppressing opposition. Many believe that in the 2024 election, the opposition candidate likely won by a landslide, yet Maduro stayed in power. He and his people almost certainly committed massive fraud related to the election so that he could keep the office of president. So frankly, Maduro is not a nice guy.
As to illegal drugs, in particular cocaine and fentanyl, Venezuela does not appear to be a major player in the big picture. As a country, the largest producer of cocaine is Colombia, and when it comes to fentanyl coming in from outside the US, Mexico is the site of most production. Venezuela does likely serve as a transit point for some illegal drugs such as cocaine, but many experts feel that a significant amount of the cocaine coming out of Colombia uses other routes to get into the United States. So while Venezuela is playing a role in the world of illegal drug smuggling, many feel that it’s not one of the primary players.
So this begs the question: why is Trump so hell-bent on Venezuela? What is going on? Like I said, Maduro is not a nice guy. He’s clearly been corrupt and very authoritarian, but let’s be honest, there are a lot of corrupt authoritarian governments around the world, and the United States does not go after them. So why Venezuela? I’m not going to claim to have all the answers. I’m not in Trump’s head. But it’s obvious that he’s had a bee in his bonnet about Venezuela. We’ve seen how he’s been aggressively going after Venezuelan migrants in this country. We watched on television as he had the US military attack Venezuelan boats that were supposedly carrying drugs. And now, we’ve seen how he ordered US forces to grab Maduro out of Venezuela to stand trial in the United States. Seems to me that Trump has gotten quite obsessed with Venezuela.
I think there are multiple factors which could be coming into play here. Personally, I don’t think Trump is overly concerned about Venezuelan democracy. So far, even though Maduro has been captured, his government is still intact. His vice president, Delcy Rodriguez has assumed the office of President of Venezuela, and Maduro’s people still control much of Venezuela’s government institutions. One thing that may be happening with regards to why Trump is doing all this is that he may be trying to placate his base will also attempting to divert people’s attention away from things which are not going well in this country. The economy is floundering with inflation still being a problem, his tariffs are unpopular, he and Republicans are allowing health care premiums to skyrocket on many Americans, and the Epstein file scandal still plagues him. In addition to that, I think he’s very narcissistic to the point where he may sometimes believe his own BS and also seems to be trying to gain as much authoritarian type power as he can get away with. On top of all this, there’s Venezuelan oil. Trump may be trying to get his hands on that oil. It’s my view that a combination of factors like this are coming into play with regards to his apparent obsession with Venezuela.
And now, there are serious concerns that things may not stop here. He’s stepped up threats against other leaders such as the government of Colombia and is making more overt threats about wanting Greenland despite the fact that Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory under the sovereignty of Denmark, an ally and fellow member of NATO. Behavior such as this is alienating our allies, who are understandably more and more distrustful of the United States. This in turn isolates the US which worsens the national security of ourselves as well as of our allies.
Whatever people’s political persuasions, I think it’s quite clear that we should all demand accountability from the Trump administration. What and why are these things happening? What is the endgame strategy with regards to Venezuela? And we also need to make it clear that the United States must improve its relations with our allies. We need to regain our allies’ trust. These threats against Greenland for example need to stop. And we also need to demand that Congress and the Supreme Court step up and do their jobs in holding the Trump administration accountable and to reestablish a proper balance of power between the three branches of government: the legislative, the judicial, and the executive.
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