Win, Win, Win! So Much Winning!

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

It's been less than two days since the US military assault on the country of Venezuela and our kidnapping of the country's President and First Lady, but already much of the political mud flung by tha operation has begun to clarify.  Donald Trump, a person who lacks the ability to stay off of social media, quickly laid out the actual rationale for the military assault on the South American nation.

Trump has been yammering on for the past several months about the threat of "narco-terrorism" being spawned in Venezuela, using that as rationale for the US sinking several small boats off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia and murdering the crews of those boats.  But the amount of drugs entering the US which originate or even just pass through Venezuela is almost nil.

Honduras, a nation in Central America, is a different story.  That country has been instrumental in moving large amounts of drugs to the United States, and last year a jury in New York convicted former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez of helping to smuggle more than 400 tons of cocaine into the United States.  He was sentenced to 45 years in prison and was already incarcerated when Donald Trump gave him a full pardon last month.  That convicted drug trafficker is now a free man, and Trump's bizarre hypocrisy is a matter of public record.

Less than a month after freeing a convicted drug trafficker (narco-terrorist) from prison, Trump pivots and snatches the leader of another country, ostensibly for aiding in the trafficking of drugs to the United States.  But when Trump finally began boasting about the military strike on Venezuela, he was no longer focused on drugs.   In explaining the rationale for the attack, the US President was talking business.  America would be "running" Venezuela, he said, and American oil companies would be going to Venezuela to repair and expand the infrastructure of its oil business and increase production.  We would be "partnering" with Venezuela in the oil business.

There it is:  oil, not drugs.  The re-emergence of good, old American Imperialism.  One of the darkest chapters of American history was being dusted off trotted out for a few more laps around the track.  

The Robber Barons were back!

Trump's empire-building will not end with Venezuela.  He has already warned the President of Venezuela's neighbor, the country of Colombia, that he had better "watch its ass," supposely with regard to the manufacture of cocaine in that country, and he also said ominously that "something will have to be done about Mexico."  Trump's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, an American of Cuban descent, said yesterday, "We will be talking about Cuba," before adding "Look, if I lived in Havana and I worked for the government, I'd be concerned."  Forewarned is forearmed, one must suppose.  

Even the spouse of one administration member was rattling her saber.  Shortly after the US assault on Venezuela, Katie Miller, the wife of Trump's most influential adviser, Stephen Miller, posted a sketch of Greenland on "X" showing the immense island colored in red, white, and blue - and a one-word commentary:  "Soon."

Meanwhile, Trump blathered:  "American dominance in the Western hemisphere will never be questioned again."

Trump will expand access for American businesses to resources, labor, and markets, throughout the Western hemisphere, and in return they will have plenty of opportunities to donate to projects near and dear to Trump's heart (ballrooms, arches, a presidential library), and perhaps even invest in some of the businesses being run by Trump's family members.

Win, win, win!  So much winning!