I had an hour drive ahead of me last Saturday morning, so I tuned my radio to CNN on Sirius, thinking I would catch up on the mind-boggling news of the previous night, when it was announced we’d invaded Venezuela, captured its president, Nicolás Maduro (and his wife), and spirited them off to the United States to face American criminal charges. Welcome to regime-change, 2026 edition.
After months of murdering Venezuelans in small boats in international waters, it was apparently time to make somebody face prosecution. Why not the dictator whose country holds 17 percent of the world’s oil?
As I started the car, CNN was announcing the start of a press conference on the Venezuela situation. Donald Trump began, obviously following a tight script at first, then, as is inevitable these days, he began repeating his talking points over and over and “weaving” into digressive free-style ramblings and hyperbole. It went on. And on. Thirty minutes later, he introduced “Secretary of War” Pistol Pete Hegseth, who, in his best Fox News voice lavishly and glibly praised Trump and the amazing never-to-be-equalled American “warriors” who pulled off the most amazing kidnapping ever.
Hegseth, in turn, introduced General Dan “Raizin” Caine (yes, that’s how they spell it), the former venture capitalist now serving as the 22nd chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Ol’ Raizin went on to minutely detail the operation’s particulars — the kinds of planes and helicopters, the ships, the fighting “men” from all four military branches and the FBI who pulled off the greatest military maneuver ever. “Like nothing ever seen in history before,” according to Trump.
And on it went some more. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was next, and when a reporter asked him about Cuba and whether that country should also be “worried” about an invasion from the U.S., Rubio said Cuba was run by “senile old men” and that they should indeed be worried. As he said this, the senile old man standing directly behind him was swaying dreamily with his eyes closed.
What the hell, people? Where does this stop? Less than 24 hours after the Venezuelan incursion, Trump was telling reporters, “We need Greenland,” and that we would “think about it in 20 days.” Greenland is a peaceful, legitimate democracy and part of NATO. There’s no dictator, no drug-running boats, no legitimate reason whatsoever for the United States to try to assume control of another peaceful sovereign nation. Trump is Putin in an Uncle Sam suit. Or a toddler in a toy store.
Every day there’s a new outrage. Tear down the East Wing, rename the Kennedy Center, ignore the emoluments clause, use federal troops against American citizens, ignore the Constitutional mandate that Congress must approve the use of military force. None of it garners any meaningful opposition. There are no longer any institutional guardrails. The Supreme Court is compromised. Congress is toothless. The people are scrolling social media.
The “Gang of Eight,” the bipartisan group of congressional leaders that is supposed to be consulted in advance on military actions such as those that took place in Venezuela, was reduced to a “Gang of Tom Cotton,” the GOP senator who was apparently the only lawmaker apprised of the raid in advance.
None of this imperialist play-acting ends well. Trump says we will “run Venezuela,” and that he’s “not afraid of boots on the ground.” Well, of course he’s not. Why should he be? Such a concern would involve empathy for the men and women in uniform who’ll be sent to guard the faraway oil fields of Exxon, Mobil, and Shell and patrol the streets of Caracas. Or Havana. Or New Orleans. Or wherever Trump’s demented military fantasies lead him next.
International laws are being broken. Crimes are being committed by American troops under the direction of a lunatic and his enablers. It’s quite an irony that the strongest and most outspoken Trump critic in Congress is now Marjorie Taylor Greene. No one else there seems to realize that we are well past the point of civil debate, of furrowed-brow “concerns” from our leaders. Noise must be made. Congressional lawsuits must be filed. Courage must be found beyond trolling Trump with glib memes from Gavin Newsom. We are standing on the precipice of losing our country. We’ve blown a gasket. Our democracy is leaking oil.