Anyone watching Trump talk about invading Venezuela?

[mumofoneAloneandwell]

wow

no words

@saltinesandcoffeecups you don't seem to grasp that it's possible to think Maduro is bad AND that Trump is wrong to have acted in this way.

Trump couldn't care less about democracy for the Venezuelan people. There are plenty of corrupt regimes around the world where people are suffering. But they aren't oil rich countries so Trump doesn't give a flying fuck about them.

It's all about the oil. Trump has ordered actiins that fly in the face of international law because he wants to control the oil.

If he was that concerned about the plight of the Venezuelan people he would have gone to the UN to seek a mandate to act.

What are you hoping to get out of being so passive aggressive?

Exactly this.

I guess we’ll see in the coming weeks. There is precedent (Panama/Noriega, et al) so he’s not blazing new ground here.

@saltinesandcoffeecups you don't seem to grasp that it's possible to think Maduro is bad AND that Trump is wrong to have acted in this way

Quite.

For her (and others) to stop and think about actions she’s condemning.

I’m not even going to dignify the UN comment… that was a joke right? The UN has been valiantly writing reports for decades. I’m sure in a couple of more decades (and millions of lives lost) they would have totally been effective.

The difference between all of those other nations is that they aren’t a current interest to the US right now. Venezuela is… because of the drugs, the illegal immigration, and the oil. Oh and it’s usually unwise to have a crazy dictator so close to one’s country. Or are we saying now Ukraine doesn’t have a point?

Exactly why do you think Maduro should have been left in power? Please be specific?

I’ll bite. Because of sovereignty. The US, all by its lonesome, should not get to unilaterally decide to violate the sovereignty of other countries. Please see my previous post which includes all the necessary statistics that if Trump actually cared about drugs or people overdosing, he chose the wrong country. He needs to worry about Mexico and China providing fentanyl, Mexico and intra-US sources providing meth, and to a lesser extent, Colombia supplying cocaine. But he doesn’t dare actually stand up to China, just threaten tariffs that will never happen, or take into custody the leader of Mexico.

You cannot just invade a country because you don’t like their leader and use drugs as a cover. He’s blatantly SAID he’s there for the oil. Pathetic.

You should absolutely be complaining that one country violated another’s sovereignty. I mean, after all, when the Sacklers were flooding the whole fucking world with OxyContin and ruining America, maybe the EU should have invaded, taken the American president into custody, and said they’d get everything running smoothly again. That could have saved thousands upon thousands of lives all over the world, if done before generic versions of these drugs were made. Too late now.

Do you understand at all how international diplomacy works? Trump gave not even the slightest warning to any of our allies and the US’ indiscriminate bombing has probably killed foreign nationals and civilians. I hope this ends up in the International Court of Justice, not that Trump would listen to it.

My friend is currently trapped in Venezuela. Do you know what he was doing there? Trying to support student scientists and make sure they had a future. He has a son who adores him in Switzerland. He coaches Little League! He’s not a fucking narco-terrorist. If he dies, I will get out there in my wheelchair with a sign protesting Trump’s lies, even if I’m the only one there. But I don’t think I will be. We none of us live alone in a bubble, and I doubt I’m the only person in the UK who loves someone in Venezuela. I should probably start a separate thread for those of us who care and are worried, to share news, since this one had devolved to a bun fight, thanks to users like you.

"cabbage patch Satan" So apt! I am stealing that from now on.

Oh dear… well good luck with the signs.

I hope your friend in Venezuela has more help in the coming months and years . It truly was a great country before Maduro and his ilk ran it into the ground. I hope all scientists there have a great future without being murdered or disappearing. I hope that Venezuela once again prospers selling its oil to the US and the EU so that it’s not beholden to their communist allies.

Good luck with the other thread. It’s probably a good idea since this one looked like a dumpster fire from the get go. I won’t follow you to a new one.

saltinesandcoffeecups you don't seem to grasp that it's possible to think Maduro is bad AND that Trump is wrong to have acted in this way

Absolutely right, but no one reads saltines posts for political nuance.

Venezuela just became their 51st state. Orderly transition to a new govt my arse. He won't give it back. Years from now they will be a vassal state.

Maduro might be everything Trump claims he is but its not for Trump to go in with domestic forces and kidnap Maduro and his wife and drag them off to NY.

The President of USA has made a decision without the support of Congress. We have a man who has a hard core support enough in his inner circle for an invasion into another country. An invasion!!!! My mind boggles as to the ignorance of what is happening here.

As to the comparison to Steir (who I did not vote for but would equally apply to whoever would be in charge currently) it is actually laughable that people think he even has anywhere near as much power as Donald and his cronies have. And even if he did, why should he have the power to just invade a other country and then decide he would rule over it, it's resources and government? Regardless of how abhorrent that government is? Where does that thing stop? It doesn't, it's called invasion and that becomes war. And that is why there are ans should be checks and balances for world leaders.

It's a Zeitgeist for Trump given the amount of replies on here that believe it seems to be some sort of protectionism against imported drugs and also the plight of the people long suffering under the regime. His comms, press and propaganda team literally pick and choose causes and videos and social to further his strategy, comment on, etc. to promote this info Money is no object.

The man is a lunatic and provable so, but he's the man in charge now and as a PP pointed out has had Biden's term to strategize and learn his pit falls. Before, his mistakes were covered by COVID, his persona, removing media from the white house, etc. Now we see his vision and more importantly of the last 4 years he knows how to deliver them.

He keeps going on about a 3rd term (against the constitution) what better way than to secure that as a symptom of this?

So many things have been swept away from him, this man told the world to drink bleach to kill COVID bacteria in our very recent past!! A president that has DNAs all over the place but who can forget the locker talk?, I name bit a few, but he is literally one of the most powerful people in the world.

His whole platform is about taking care of your own and making it great again. He is not known for, and I respect this as his "political branding" although I don't agree with it for solving other nations issues. He is all about solving it for Americans, hence why I find it very hard to believe the humanity aspect presented here.

You don’t need a decision from congress most presidents have taken action on foreign soil without it, there hasn’t been a ground invasion.

I dislike Trump as much as the next guy but I’m not seeing a lot of miserable Venezuelans. I don’t know what this obsession is with caring either. Why do you have to “care” for something to be useful or stabilising? I think people put too much weight on things like “caring” and “moral authority”. The reality is that the only reason anyone ever considered america to be the worlds policeman is because it can really fuck other countries up. Thats it. No other reason. I don’t particularly “care” for a lot of countries, but I can think for example that the destruction of Hezbollah would be a stabilising for Lebanon, Shria, Iraq etc etc. I don’t have to have deep feelings of care for any of those countries to recognise that.

I didn't see many miserable Iranians or Afghanistan's when the "interventions" were made. Fast forward and then we see a different story?

It's like watching some dark american cartoon

I have seen many clips of Venezuelans celebrating. My understanding was millions have fled Venezuela due to this dictators regime and Venuzuela used to be a prosperous country.

I was also sent a clip of a Venezuelan man being nterviewed, he said:

’Those who say that the U.S. is only interested in our oil, I ask you: What do you think the Russians and the Chinese wanted here? The recipe for arepas?"

Many venezuelans seem happy about what has happened.

Ha, ha,ha, said Putin.

https://x.com/ryangerritsen/status/2007483901057605863/mediaViewer?currentTweet=2007483901057605863&currentTweetUser=ryangerritsen

I believe this is a Sky News clip that was shared on TikTok - I was sent it on X

https://news.sky.com/story/venezuela-has-already-been-invaded-says-nobel-peace-prize-winner-machado-when-asked-about-trump-intervention-13482086

Link to Sky News website discussing the interview.

It states - Venezuela's Nobel Peace Prize winning opposition leader has said her country has "has already been invaded", when asked whether she would support a US invasion.
Speaking at a news conference in Oslo after being awarded the famous prize, Maria Corina Machado replied: "Look, some people talk about invasion in Venezuela and the threat of an invasion in Venezuela and I answered Venezuela has been already invaded.

We have the Russian agents, we have the Iranian agents. We have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, operating freely in accordance with the regime.
"We have the Colombian guerrilla, the drug cartels that have taken over 60% of our populations and not only involved in drug trafficking, but in human trafficking in networks of prostitution. This has turned Venezuela into the criminal hub of the Americas."
The 58-year-old engineer continued: "Where do those funds come from? Well, from drug trafficking, from the black market of oil, from arms trafficking, and from human trafficking. We need to cut those flows."

Admittedly she is the opposition leader so she’s biased but it doesnt sound like it was a great regime. I haven’t seen any interviews from her today.

Ah yes, but Trump already said Machado “doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country,” despite the fact that she had a 72% approval rating in March 2025. So he’ll be putting in power whoever Putin tells him to. I have never seen a bigger or more blatant liar in my life than Trump. Here’s some lovely fact-checking that shows almost everything he’s saying about Venezuela is a lie.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/4/fact-checking-trump-following-us-capture-of-venezuelas-maduro

He’s sending American oil magnates straight to the oil fields to start making money. He said this. Thats why he invaded, imo.

No I was actually curious about your assessment of Biden.

More communist propaganda on MN 😂the Venezuelan people have been celebrating all night. Of course hate for Trump and middle aged middle class lefties on here are far more important than a whole nation celebrating the removal of a dictator 🙄

So putting aside whether Trump was right or not to do what he did.

now it’s done and the regime has been toppled/kidnapped, do you think it’s right that Trump has said that Washington will now run Venezuela and send oil companies in to run the oil production/distribution/selling? Even if people want to argue that he’s just trying to be helpful to ensure stability (not sure why he’d need to be involved in the oil for this though) how long do you think such “help” would be acceptable for? Especially when Edmundo González is sitting in Spain and there’s a big argument that he could go back to Venezuela and be President. Or Maria Machado. I can see an argument for an election but then the USA needs to butt out.