The Peace President Lays out his Many Goals for American Conquest
Venezuela is only the centerpiece of a much bigger scheme.
The Peace President acted this weekend like he was so angry over being spurned for the Nobel Peace Prize that he’s determined to show those dirty Norwegian rats that he doesn’t need it or want it. He’ll settle for imperial greatness, instead.
As we all know by now, the Don just started a new war in a country the US has never had a war with by launching the biggest attack the US government has ever made in the past eighty years (taking the president’s word on that) against a small South-American nation. He abducted its illegal president, made emphatically clear that regime change is the order of the day in Venezuela as the nation will, for now, fall under US puppet rule, and promised to pillage their primary national treasure—oil.
Don’t take my word for it; take the president’s own words when he announced the roaring success of his new war in the West:
“Overwhelming American military power, air, land and sea was used to launch a spectacular assault, and it was an assault like people have not seen since World War II,” Trump said…. “This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history…. All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless….
“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition [regime change]…. So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years…. So, we are going to run the country.
As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust—a total bust…. They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping…. We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country. And we are ready to stage a much larger attack if we need to … a second wave if we need to … a much bigger wave actually….”
It will make the people of Venezuela rich, independent and safe….
(from the video below)
Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, added his own little summary of the action:
“Nicolás Maduro had his chance, just like Iran had their chance. Until they didn’t and he didn’t…. He effed around and he found out.” (Zero Hedge)
He found out what happens when he doesn’t take the Don’s shots over the bows and into the hulls of his drug-running boats seriously enough. Now President Trump says Moduro will be tried for his crimes in a US court of law.
Oil wars
Almost all of us have noted at one time or another that the wars fought by neocons are usually over oil. “It’s about the oil.” Therefore, what really stands out in President Trump’s speech was how quickly he went to talking about pillaging Venezuela’s oil. He didn’t describe it as “pillaging,” of course, but we all know that America’s biggest oil companies don’t “spend billions of dollars” in other countries as charitable outreach!
I’m sure they will pay Venezuela something for the oil they take out of the country. Hopefully the Venezuelan’s get a fair price for their oil, since it is THEIR oil. It could be a good deal for both sides, even though it is clearly a forced deal, because Maduro, like many communist dictators, didn’t spend money with good business sense to develop and maintain high-quality derick-to-tanker infrastructure. So, the oil fields need a lot of investment to get up to capacity, and America’s companies have the muscle to do that.
The question is how quickly will these for-profit corporations be willing to dump major investments into Venezuela where, as Trump also noted in part of his speech, they got burned decades back when the communists nationalized the American oil companies? They may be reluctant to invest until it is completely clear that nationalization of whatever they put into this will never happen again.
That is far from clear and would, of course, require a continued military threat on Venezuela to make certain that doesn’t happen; but no one wants to extract oil under fire either, so stability will have to become certain before billions will be invested. And when have South American nations ever just turned over a new leaf and settled easily into new capitalist economies on someone else’s order and new governments. The coups and revolutions usually continue for a century … or just forever. Why would we think this regime change will go any smoother.
Usually neocons are very quiet about their wars being about oil. So, Trump is a new kind of neocon when he announces brashly right up front that the US will be controlling all of Venezuela’s oil, and US companies will be the ones working the wells and refineries. Nevertheless, a neocon to the core he now is because the military-industrial complex and the old deep state thrives on this kind of adventurism.
The usual cover story for oil wars is that it is about spreading democracy to democracy-starved people who will thank us for liberating them. That is the other unusual thing about Trump’s speech: He skipped right over that part; there was little to no mention of democracy, though Trump did say the Venezuelans would be happy to be free of Maduro, and there was some celebrating in Venezuela’s streets to be sure.
American Empire
Trump tipped his hand as to what the war is about by mentioning oil before saying much about drugs, which were always the pretext for Trump’s conflict with Venezuela, even though Venezuela is far from being the biggest drug runner into America. However, he gave a very clear statement about the biggest reason for this war when he justified his so-far short war by referencing historic US expansionist policy:
“The Monroe Doctrine is a big deal, but we’ve superseded it by a lot. They’re now calling it the Donroe Doctrine,” (Zero Hedge)
the president boasted.
At his press conference on Saturday, Trump did not use the word democracy. He did not refer to international law. Instead, he presented a garbled version of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, a policy originally designed to keep foreign imperial powers out of the Americas, calling it something that sounded like the “Donroe Document”: “Under our new National Security Strategy,” he said, reading from prepared remarks, “American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again.” (MSN)
There you get to the real thrust of this weekend’s war: The Monroe Doctrine wasn’t big enough for American expansionism under Trump. This war was not merely about oil but about establishing a regime change that makes it clear to all of the world that America’s dominance over the entire North-to-South-American portion of the Western Hemisphere is never to be questioned.
Toward this end, he said the United States would “run” Venezuela, although he didn’t say who would actually be in charge. Viceroy Marco Rubio? Governor-General Pete Hegseth? Asked about María Corina Machado, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, Trump was dismissive. “She’s a very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect within the country,” he said.
Last summer, María Corina Machada supported the duly elected president of Venezuela, Edmundo González, who received more than two-thirds of the vote in the election as the opposition to Maduro. Maybe Trump just doesn’t like her because she won the Nobel Peace Prize last year when Trump was competing for it. He’s hardly the type to forgive his opponent for winning over him and reward her with the prize of leading her own country when he can get big revenge by taking her country away from her.
Not that that is what this attack was about, because it is clearly about American empire; however, I hardly expect Trump to hand the keys to the country over to this Nobel laureate, even if her party did successfully win the last presidential election over Maduro by a landslide once the fake votes are factored out, and even though her party was kept out of the executive branch only because Maduro refused to leave office when voted out, making him a man who looks like he was inspired by Trump in 2020.
Machado was tough enough that, by challenging Maduro, she risked being assassinated, as some of her supporters, in fact, were. That certainly makes her look like someone with the moxie and sense to run the nation strongly and justly:
Machado was awarded the Nobel Prize for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela” and “her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” (People)
If Trump doesn’t allow Machado or more appropriately (I would think) Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González, to be installed as the elected president of Venezuela, then the cheering in Venezuelan streets over the ejection of crime-boss Maduro, who ran the nation’s economy into the dust and people into poverty like great communist leaders are prone to do … that cheering is likely to turn sour quickly. For now, a big part of the cheering has come because Machado declared,
The HOUR OF LIBERTY has arrived!
As of today, Nicolás Maduro faces international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations. In the face of his refusal to accept a negotiated solution, the government of the United States has fulfilled its promise to uphold the law….
The time has come for Popular Sovereignty and National Sovereignty to prevail in our country. We will restore order, free the political prisoners, build an exceptional nation, and bring our children back home.
We have fought for years, we have given everything, and it has been worth it. What had to happen is now happening.
Is it? I doubt she’ll feel that way, nor will the majority of Venezuelans who voted for her party, if Trump does anything other than uphold the law that makes Gonzales the legitimate president. The people would probably more happily go with Machado as president if Gonzales ceded the presidency to her now that she’s been awarded the Nobel Prize for standing up for them with a push for democracy in this long-communist country—and objective that Trump’s ideology seems to have sidelined for blatant American imperialism.
Right now Trump sounds decidedly like he has no intention of putting either of those two in the position of the man he stripped away. Right now, most of the people cheering the riddance of Maduro are likely the people who voted for Gonzales when he was championed by Machado last summer when she had to flee the nation to save her life from Maduro. She’s taking the high ground:
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, has called for Edmundo González, to be recognized as the rightful leader of the nation. He was widely seen as the legitimate winner of the 2024 presidential election in the country….
She has been an outspoken critic of Maduro’s party, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), since it first won power under founder Hugo Chávez in the presidential election of 1998.
Her full-throated criticisms of Maduro’s authoritarian regime has earned her the moniker “Iron Lady” among her supporters.
Machado has praised President Trump as his administration carries out deadly strikes in the Caribbean Sea against Venezuelan boats he has accused of trafficking drugs.
She dedicated her Nobel Prize to the American president and has repeatedly expressed her support for the United States’ pressure campaign against Maduro, citing crumbling political and economic systems within Venezuela that have forced 20% of its residents to flee the country….
Machado was barred by the Maduro regime from running in the race, but she threw her backing behind fellow opposition member González….
On Saturday, Machado called for Venezuelans to coalesce around González and recognize him as the legitimate president of the beleaguered nation.
“Today we are prepared to enforce our mandate and take power. Let us remain vigilant, active, and organized until the Democratic Transition is finalized. A transition that needs ALL of us.”
Though Machado has dedicated Venezuelan supporters, the former Venezuelan National Assembly legislator has been banned by Maduro’s government from running for office and was forced into hiding until a recent escape — aided by U.S. military veterans — successfully extracted her to Europe. (NPR)
I suspect, as a result of Machado only having been kept out of the race by Maduro, the people likely see González as her closest proxy. He would do well to raise her up to take the US-installed position. Maybe, if she rewards Trump by giving him her trophy outright to put up in Mar-a-Lago, she will attain the presidency. She could inscribe it “To Donald Trump, the undisputed and great winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.” She, however, seems content to eschew personal power for now in order to do the legitimate thing by seeing González take the presidency.
The widening war
To stroke his own record of military prowess, the Peace President compared Moduro’s ouster to Iran’s Soleimani, whom Trump assassinated, and the bunker-busting bombs that he claims denuclearized Iran. This seemed thinly veiled as both a boast and a warning to Iran that regime change like that just seen in Venezuela could be coming their way, too. Trump has already said he would defend Iranian protestors/revolutionaries. America can do it all at once.
As he emphasized the strength and competency of America’s largest assault since WWII (which looked a lot smaller, albeit more surgically effective, than George Bush’s “Shock and Awe in Iraq), Trump was clearly using this quick victory to create fear in the hearts anyone who would challenge his way of making America great again through robust imperialism. Flexing of the imperial muscles was more than obvious:
Marco Rubio focused on US intensions for expansion in the Caribbean:
If I were in power in Cuba, I’d be very worried right now. (Zero Hedge)
Venezuela is a nice Caribbean carveout toward Trump’s other stated goals of taking over Panama, Colombia, Cuba. Add to that renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Then add in his goals for North America of acquiring Canada by laying siege to its trade and taking Greenland away from Denmark, and the imperial map becomes more than evident.
The Trumpean dream appears to be to consolidate all of North America, Central America and the Caribbean and South America into simply “America the Great.” That vast reach is how he envisions making America truly great again. And then he’ll probably rename all of it “Trumplandia” or something like that after he finishes building the Arc de Trump in Washington DC to celebrate his victories ahead of his actual conquests.
Trump even seized the day to warn his Colombian counterpart, based on what just happened, that he should now “watch his ass.” He also implied that the president of Mexico isn’t sitting all that pretty at the moment, saying in this context of war, “something will have to be done with Mexico.”
US President Donald Trump seemed to foreshadow a potential military operation in Colombia, denouncing the nation’s leader as a “sick man” who sells cocaine to Americans….
“Colombia is very sick too. Run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the US, and he’s not gonna be doing it very long,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday evening.
“So there will be an operation by the US in Colombia?” one reporter asked.
“Sounds good to me,” President Trump responded vaguely, offering no further insight to his answer. "(“Donald Trump threatens to remove ‘sick’ Colombia president in second operation”)
As the Don said, Colombia’s leader “better watch his ass.”
General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained that the operation was planned and rehearsed for months, so this was not a sudden escalation of the drug war but a conquest planned over months, which means before the bombing of drug boats even began.
The silver lining
An interesting side to this war effort is its timing with China’s choice to lock all the silver it produces inside of China. I recommend watching a very powerful video below, if you haven’t already seen it, about the impact of what China is doing with this particular rare earth to own the silver market. (A lot of the video appears to be AI produced, but I think the points are powerful and convincing.)
China buys a lot of oil from Venezuela, and China was threatening to break through Trump’s oil embargo on Venezuela. This weekend’s attacks and dethroning of Maduro short-cutted that kind of “missile crisis” in the Caribbean. Right now China and Russia seem relatively silent about Trump’s invasion of Venezuela because what Trump just did to the new Venezuelan hinterland of the United States is exactly what China wants to do to the hinterland of Taiwan and is what Putin is doing to Ukraine, as the hinterland of Russia. Putin even once offered to trade Venezuela in exchange for Ukraine—Russia wouldn’t interfere with whatever the US did with Russia’s longstanding ally, Venezuela, so long as the US didn’t interfere with what Russia was doing in Ukraine.
This latest acquisition of Venezuela as part of Trump’s expanding imperial vision for the US should provide the Peace President with leverage to say to China, “You want to keep buying Venezuelan oil, then open up your silver production to US purchases, and, by the way, when you buy Venezuelan oil, you’ll be paying us.”
Viva la résistance
The problem with the greater American imperium approach to making America great again is that it is not what most in MAGA had in mind. MTG is, again, saying that the war is a betrayal of MAGA because it was clear from the beginning that the majority in MAGA wanted America to end its endless nation-building and regime-change wars, not expand them on steroids and do so all around the homeland, bringing the wars even closer to American soil.
They didn’t vote to expand the military budget as Trump did with Big Beautiful Bill either, and now we see why he needed to do that. In fact, with the various interventions/conquests talked about in the past 24 hours, he’s going to have to increase it a lot more because some of those people and nations are likely to fight back. Venezuela for some reason, yet undisclosed, seemed to stand down (unless the military was somehow remotely shut down as it did little fighting back). Maybe the military stood down because so many people hated Maduro.
After all of Trump’s efforts to conceal the Epstein Files as long as he can drag things out (and this has a bonus effect for Trump of distracting from all of that, as I said many times he needed a good war for distraction), and after his cavorting endlessly with billionaires in mega MAGA deals with the state and building a bodacious new ballroom for them (ostensibly on their dime) by tearing down a third of the White House, and after his endless capitalizing on the presidency to sell his own schemes and memes (his family memecoins), his many adventures into new wars with Iran, drug cartels and now Venezuela directly may be a bridge too far for a few more in MAGA. Bit by bit his supporters are falling away.
Usual political rivals Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez found rare common ground on Saturday – joining forces to slam President Donald Trump’s dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro….
The New York progressive accused Trump of launching the Venezuelan mission as a smokescreen to distract Americans from the ongoing scandal over the Jeffrey Epstein files and ‘skyrocketing healthcare costs….’
In alignment, the Georgia Republican Greene echoed her Democratic counterpart’s concerns, warning that the Trump administration’s Venezuela operation could be just the beginning of aggressive regime change campaigns worldwide.
‘By removing Maduro this is a clear move for control over Venezuelan oil supplies that will ensure stability for the next obvious regime change war in Iran,’ Taylor Greene wrote on X.’
She’s got a point. It does shape up like such a scheme, and Trump made sure it did by directly referencing his other military successes against Iran in the context of this war.
Taylor Green warned that Americans were disgusted with the government’s ‘never ending military aggression’ and funding the Washington ‘military machine.’ ‘This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end,’ she wrote. ‘Boy were we wrong….’
Fellow rogue Republican Rep. Thomas Massie also criticized Trump’s action, warning that it appeared less to be about drug trafficking and more about regime change and oil.
‘Trump announces he’s taken over the country and will run it until he finds someone suitable to replace him,’ Massie wrote. ‘Added bonus: says American oil companies will get to exploit the oil.’ (The Daily Mail)
All in a day’s fun for the man who would be king of the world, I guess.
Enjoy all the headlines for free today where I have posted numerous stories about America’s latest new war (all in boldface below):
Economania (national & global economic collapse plus market news)
Worrying update on mom-and-pop bankruptcies shows recession has begun
President claims job market booming for US.-born. Data doesn’t show it
Trump’s wealth grew in 2025, but his investors took lumps
AI Debt Spree Is Fueling a Bond Trading Frenzy: Credit Weekly
Real-Estate Rubble (housing, commercial & global real-estate bubble trouble)
Condo Market Hasn’t Been This Bad in Over Decade
Americans Are Looking to the Midwest to Find Affordability
Money Matters (monetary policy, metals, cryptos, currency wars & going cashless)
China Silver Exports Halted - License Now Needed to Export 70% of Global Silver
STUNNING! Federal Reserve Pumped $105.993 BILLION into Overnight Repo Last NightBut …
Inflation Factors (too much money chasing too few goods due to weather, sanctions, tariffs, quarantines, etc.)
US health insurance costs to rise by 114% for millions as subsidies expire
Wars & Rumors of War (including cyberwar, civil unrest and revolts)
Rubio takes on most challenging role yet: Viceroy of Venezuela
Marco Rubio issues huge warning to Cuba after Maduro capture: ‘They’re in a lot of trouble’
Donald Trump threatens to remove ‘sick’ Colombia president in second operation
Trump rolls the dice on nation-building with vow to ‘run’ Venezuela
Trump sets sights on Greenland
Trump’s ‘American dominance’ may leave us with nothing
Trump’s plan to seize and revitalize Venezuela’s oil industry faces major hurdles
A group of about 20 US investors is already planning a trip to Venezuela in March
Tulsi Gabbard’s 2019 warning that Venezuela strike would be disastrous goes viral
Trump Risks Totally Blowing Up MAGA With Shock New Invasion
Senate To Vote Next Week To Prevent further Military Action in Venezuela
News organizations held off reporting known Venezuela raid for safety of troops
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Intentionally or not, the US’s capture of Maduro sends threat message to Iran
Iran Says Regime Loyalist Killed as Protests Turn Violent
Iran grinds to standstill as protesters take to the streets, crowds chant ‘Death to Khamenei’
Iranians Have Had Enough (Snapshot view from the intro)
‘We want the mullahs gone’: economic crisis sparks biggest protests in Iran since 2022
Iranian-American journalist offers an inside look at the protests sweeping Iran
Trump and top Iranian officials exchange threats over protests roiling Iran
Israeli military ordered to prepare for war on all fronts amid Iranian protests
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US Reissues Urgent ‘Do Not Travel’ Warning For Russia, As NYT Confirms CIA’s Escalating Involvement
Digital Dominance (AI threats, transhumanism, hacks & cyberattacks, etc.)
Neuralink plans ‘high-volume’ brain implant production by 2026, Musk says
Recovering from AI delusions means learning to chat with humans again
Trump Trade Wars & Turf Wars
Map of Greenland Under US Flag Sparks Danish Ambassador Response
Political Pandemonium & Social Senescence (socio-political issues & events)
Key Epstein Deadline Arrives as Attention Turns to Venezuela
Videos released in Epstein files raise fresh questions about jail footage
Jack Smith’s damning verdict on Trump prosecution finally revealed
Trump humiliated as courts force National Guard retreat from Chicago LA and Portland
GOP lawmakers, frustrated with dysfunctional Congress, head for the exits
Calamity, Catastrophe & Climate Craziness
With CO2 Levels Rising, World’s Drylands Are Turning Green
The Green Side of CO₂: How Rising Carbon Dioxide Fuels a Regreening Planet
‘Striking Global Greening Trend’ Detected Since 1982, New Study Finds
Off-the-Beat News & Just Plain Offbeat News
When Your Mind Goes Blank: Scientists Discover Consciousness May Actually ‘Pause’
15 Scenarios That Could Stun the World in 2026
Doomer Humor
The Babylon Bee Has Obtained A Copy Of Trump‘s New Year’s Resolutions
Incredible breakdown of the transparnecy angle. What gets me is how openly stating "we'll run thecountry and take their oil" actually might be worse PR than the usual democracy-export spin since it leaves zero room for plausible deniability. I remember when every intervention had at least a thin veneer of humanitarian justification, but this brazen approach could alienate way more allies than it convinces.
God Bless