Conquest

With Secretary of State Marco Rubio, it's often difficult to determine whether he is grossly dishonest or equally naive. Among the interesting remarks he made at the Mar-a-Lago news conference called so that President Trump could congratulate himself and the US military for its raid on Venezuela was "Remember, at the end of day, at its core, this was an arrest of two indicted fugitives of American justice and the Department of War supported the Department of Justice in that job. Now there are broader policy implications here...."

Similarly, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has the ounce of integrity House Speaker Mike Johnson lacks

said in a statement that he had spoken with Rubio as well and argued Trump's actions wre undertaken as part of "the execution of a valid Department of Justice warrant."

"President Trump's decisive action to disrupt the unacceptable status quo and apprehend Madur. through the exectuion of a valid Department of Justice warrant, is an important first step to bring him to justice for the drug crimes for which he has been indicted in the United States," Thune said.

The kidnapping/arrest- of Nicolas Maduro may be the first step to bring the Venezuelan strongman to justice, but it is only the means to an end. And the Trump Administration is far more concerned with its goal of conquest than it is in prosecuting a drug kingpin.

The President didn't directly say that. The admission- or in his case, the brag- was clear. Donald remarked 

As everyone knows, Venezuela’s oil industry has collapsed for years. Production fell to almost nothing compared to what it should have been. We will bring in our largest U.S. oil companies – the biggest in the world – to invest billions of dollars and repair the severely damaged oil infrastructure....

We will restore production so the nation can generate real revenue again. And we are ready, if necessary, to launch a second and much larger operation. We were prepared for a second wave and expected it might be required.

The President did contend, as noted here, that "oil companies will pay directly for the cost of rebuilding Venezuela's crude infrastructure. But be prepared to be shocked: he added "They will be reimbursed for what they're doing."

Of course, they will. However, that promise is no promise and is not binding. Nonetheless, show Donald that they appreciate the armed forces being activated on their behalf, they may be fully reimbursed. Show Trump personally some love, and it will benefit them- and him. A win-win.  After Trump v. United States, none dare call it bribery.

Over two weeks ago, the extremely conservative Kentucky Republican, Thomas Massie, made more than one good point:

Thomas Massie is going NUCLEAR on Trump’s regime change war in Venezuela.

“How did it work out in Cuba, Libya, Iraq, or Syria?”

“Do we want another Afghanistan in the Western Hemisphere?”

“This is about oil and regime change.”

“Previous presidents told us to go to war over… pic.twitter.com/XzwsC1uPpU

— Holden Culotta (@Holden_Culotta) January 3, 2026

"Venezuela also seized and sold American oil assets, costing us billions," maintained the President, which at least has the virtue of being closer to the truth than most of what he says, an extremely low bar. The nation's President now commingles the interests of Chevron and the USA, a dangerous coupling in any circumstance. And with that President being the King of Graft, what could possibly go wrong?

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