James Carville thinks that the operation in Venezuela is more distraction from the Epstein files. He’s most likely on to something. Rachel Maddow theorizes that this operation paves the way to use some normally judiciously-used federal statute to deport U.S. citizens of Venezuelan descent, and perhaps from other places as well. She’s most likely on to something, too. Jon Stewart posits that the recent action in Venezuela is just the latest shot across the bow from a President who plans on using the military as he pleases, as if it is his own personal army.
Whatever just unfolded in Venezuela, under the pretense of removing an illegitimate leader and drug kingpin, is perhaps all these things, and more—a thirst for oil, a distraction from a scandal that seems unlikely to go away, and an excuse for deporting more dark-skinned people.
So this is what America First looks like– a Stephen Miller wet dream come to fruition, an ill-advised, American-backed coup, with the “assurance” that we will run Venezuela for the time being.
In what universe does this kind of thinking fly?
Trump just says stuff, most likely at the behest of somebody, and then leaves it to people like Miller, Rubio and… Hegseth? to work things out. I think Mr. Carville, Mr. Stewart, and Ms. Maddow are all barking up the right tree—all of this is a continued effort to shift attention away from the lowering boom of Epstein files and Jack Smith’s investigation, along with groundwork for ethnic cleansing and authoritarian aspirations. Imagine that.
And one more thing: the highly praised special forces success in extracting Maduro and his wife might be likened to walking into a daughter’s bedroom and stealing a couple figures out of a doll house. The whole scene reeks of someone bringing a nuclear bomb to a 5th-grade shoving match. Definitely not anything to be proud of, or impressed by, as if the efficiency of the operation is the only takeaway here. We’re looking at a military apparently ready to do a rogue leader’s bidding, warming up for further “acquisitions.”
And they probably already have some deal worked out with Maduro to make it look like he’s in big trouble. Maybe he and his wife will enjoy a little R&R with Ms. Maxwell. Or they’ll find a place for Nicolas in Trump’s Cabinet. Ooh, how about the FDA?
3 Cents' 