Sidney Blumenthal on Trump's Venezuela Power Grab: Greed, Oil, and Crony Deals

Trump's Venezuela Operation: Motives and Actions

• 🎯 Trump's primary motives for intervening in Venezuela are stated as seeking money and oil, with a desire to award deals to cronies, possibly including himself.
• 🚫 The word democracy has been conspicuously absent from Trump's stated goals or justifications for the operation.
• ⚠️ The capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife has drawn international condemnation, with Democratic lawmakers in the US citing violations of international law and lack of Congressional approval.

The Reality of Control in Venezuela

• 🎭 The intervention is described as a decapitation as spectacle and theater rather than substantive regime change, lacking actual control over Venezuela.
• 🏛️ Trump has no control over the military and has left the existing state instruments in place, including Cuban operatives and the administration led by the former vice president and head of the national assembly.
• ❓ There are significant questions about whether the operation involved an internal coup and the true nature of the charges against Maduro, as fentanyl was not mentioned in the executive order.

Trump's Endgame and Domestic Implications

• 📉 Trump's endgame appears to be focused on money and deals, having dismissed opposition leader María Corina Machado.
• 🏠 Domestically, this intervention is predicted to backfire, being seen as a distraction from economic problems and a betrayal of the America First agenda.
• 🐶 The situation could lead to Trump being criticized for "wagging the dog", using foreign aggression to shore up domestic support.

International Law and Precedents

• ⚖️ The operation is contrasted with George HW Bush's Operation Just Cause in Panama, which was popular and had clear justification, unlike the current partisan divide over Trump's actions.
• 🌍 Trump's disregard for international law removes a crucial tool for criticizing actions by other nations like Russia in Ukraine or China regarding Taiwan.
• 🗺️ The intervention signals a reckless and irresponsible approach, with potential implications for NATO allies (e.g., Greenland) and future negotiations.