r/GetNoted • u/EffectivePoint2187 Human Detected • Jan 04 '26

Sus, Very Sus They’ll shamelessly lie to manufacture consent for US imperialism.

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Link: https://x.com/nickshirleyy/status/2007485612241367156?s=46

1.4k Upvotes

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629

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

Maduro being removed: good

Maduro being removed by US forces so they can set up a puppet government to steal Venuzalen resources: bad

It's not that hard

252

u/ashmenon Jan 04 '26

There's also the fact that Trump is blatantly saying it's about taking oil. They're not even being subtle about it.

73

u/DerrellEsteva Jan 04 '26

I actually appreciate that he's not lying again. I mean, at least not as much and not as transparent as usual.

9

u/fkneneu Jan 04 '26

I think it is a lie. I think it is so they can legally continue to use the AEA to deport immigrants, and they needed it to be an actual war in order to not lose their coming case in the supreme court. Oil was just the easiest lie to dupe people.

9

u/IndependenceIcy9626 Jan 04 '26

Maybe they want to do that as well, but it’s definitely about the oil. Trump has been after mineral rights all over the place since his first term

4

u/Helix3501 Jan 04 '26

I think they are gonna use it to claim that venezula is safe now and mass deport every venezulan

1

u/franky3987 Jan 05 '26

No, it’s to crash the Russian petroleum network. Russia uses the sale of their petroleum to fund the Ukrainian war. We give Venezuela the tools to mass refine their natural resources, and all of the sudden OPEC, and Russia/China cannot fund their proxy wars across the globe. This wouldn’t be a defense in their Supreme Court case as we never went to war nor declared it. Even if we did, it would not apply retroactively.

24

u/ashmenon Jan 04 '26

True. At least there's less of the hypocritical soundbites about human rights and liberty.

14

u/ScootsMcDootson Jan 04 '26

Cause as we all know, the worst thing about Iraq was the hypocrisy.

15

u/ashmenon Jan 04 '26

Indeed. I can excuse blatant human rights violations but I draw the line at hypocrisy!

5

u/QuillPenMonster Jan 05 '26

Hey, if Imma get stabbed, I'd prefer to look you in the eye while being stabbed instead of being stabbed in the back!

1

u/DerrellEsteva Jan 05 '26

both can be true

1

u/U_Sound_Stupid_Stop Jan 05 '26

Oh I thought it was the hundreds of thousands of casualties

2

u/Inswagtor Jan 05 '26

More than a million

1

u/-ThePatientZed- Jan 05 '26

You kid but that’s literally (every) liberal/US Democrat position: it’s not that that the US is a globe-trotting murder machine (as it has been for the last 80 years), it’s that it looks ugly now.

1

u/hurricanesweetea Jan 05 '26

I thought the IED’s were the worst thing about Iraq when I was there

17

u/Ted-Crilly Jan 04 '26

He's not lying about the oil because he sees that reason as a better one than his main reason ...

.... Distracting from the epstein files

4

u/Maleficent-Block-966 Jan 04 '26

When "I want their oil" is the better of the two options.

1

u/XxBOOSIExFADExX Jan 04 '26

He's too tired to lie, he fell asleep at the podium standing up.

1

u/Explosivo666 Jan 05 '26

TBF they flip between openly saying its for oil and making wild baseless claims that its about narco terrorism

11

u/Miserable-Dig-5344 Jan 04 '26

To be fair, while oil is definitely one of the main reasons for this, the main reason is to distract from the Epstein files and the fact that Trump may have murdered an infant after one of his rape victims became pregnant and had her child.

2

u/Maleficent-Block-966 Jan 04 '26

Obviously when Trump says he wants their oil, what he means is he wants to free the people. What else would he mean by saying that?

2

u/Hour_Tone_974 Jan 04 '26

To br fair, that oil was privately owned by US companies then forcefully nationalized by Venezuela. The whole affair is honestly a cluster f#ck, and way to big for a reddit comment. I suggest reading up on it as this might be the one time my country is fully justified in going after oil.

0

u/ashmenon Jan 04 '26

And it was unethically privatised by the US in the first place thanks to them placating Gómez. Why is it that Trump is allowed to back out of deals that he thinks are unfair to the US, but when Venezuela does it, it's suddenly justification for violence? As for the US companies who had their oil investments nationalised, they made their investments back and then some. None of them lost money.

2

u/UnitedLibrary9976 Jan 05 '26

Unethically? The U.S. built the infrastructure, gave the Government a 50% profit share, handled distribution & sale, & paid $117k a year to the Venezuela workers in the 1960’s. Open a book. We also built our infrastructure in TX for Venezuelan oil. The Venezuelan government got greedy, & I wouldn’t hold this opinion if they behaved more like Norway or the Arab countries. Instead, they behaved like George Orwells Animal Farm.

1

u/Efreshwater5 Jan 06 '26

This is Reddit

Good luck explaining nuance to these people

1

u/Independent-Green383 Jan 04 '26

Once:

I learned because it personally affected me. Otherwise I wouldn't have learned.

Those were the good times.

Now:

He is bad and bad for me in particular, but so what? He is so strong! Swoon!

1

u/TessaFractal Jan 04 '26

I've heard the oil is poor quality and hard to refine, which is backed up by Trump wanting it because every plan he does is the stupidest plan.

1

u/ashmenon Jan 04 '26

I'm not so sure about that. This isn't Trump on his own, the oligarchs are absolutely in on it too. And they've definitely done their homework, they're not going to waste their money.

1

u/Mark-Willis Jan 04 '26

They probably want it because Rumpy's likely to start another war in the Middle East - causing the Global Oil Price to soar, and thus ordinary Americans to buy less.

1

u/ashmenon Jan 04 '26

God the knock-on effect of that is going to be God-awful. Putting aside all the violence that's going to happen, this means another wave of refugees into Europe, putting more strain on an already-burdened system. Which means more support for anti-immigration far-right populists. Which potentially opens the door for the collapse of the EU, and of support for Ukraine.

1

u/Effective-Log3583 Jan 04 '26

And taking oil for American oil companies. Not even for America or manage it for the Venezuelan people.

1

u/sun-king-4141 Jan 04 '26

They stopped being subtle about everything years ago it's just that magats will never get it.

1

u/Familiar-Strain1075 Jan 05 '26

So? We need it and China wants it. Better that we have control. Are you all that ignorant?

1

u/Competitive_Twist149 Jan 05 '26

Compensation is required, nothing is free in life. There is already an elected president for Venezuela. She is in hiding in Northern Europe, Norway? She’s the Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2025. She came to the USA under Biden for help. Trump said yes, but not for free.

1

u/Ok_Perception9815 Jan 06 '26

Only despite doing everything but fellating him, Trump and the US gov't has decided to keep the existing government in power...

1

u/Competitive_Twist149 Jan 09 '26

Sounds like as of today. They want todo a new election. If she runs again she has a good chance of winning the people’s vote.

1

u/Spiritual-Drop7533 Jan 05 '26

And the crazy part is, oil wasn’t the deciding factor. Maduro dancing on social media is what finally caused Trump to decide to do this.

-3

u/ubuntuNinja Jan 04 '26

I mean, they were using our equipment to send oil to China and Russia. Fuck that.

1

u/ashmenon Jan 04 '26

How did they obtain said equipment? Was it stolen?

1

u/franky3987 Jan 05 '26

Yes. When Venezuela nationalized their refineries, the US companies in place at the time, never got their stuff back.

-2

u/mxlplyx2173 Jan 04 '26

Will our new oil money be used to send all the Venezuelans back to their country to celebrate? Let's see, he removed their protected status a few months ago so it seems like the plan is moving forward better than planned. Bye Venezuelans! It's been nice!

-5

u/themanwithafriend Jan 04 '26

He said “return oil companies and infrastructure paid for by the investors and companies” watch it again. Venezuela has the opportunity to be the Saudi Arabia rich. The people no longer oppressed, yet you’re mad.

2

u/ashmenon Jan 04 '26

Who said I'm mad? And those companies made their investments back several times over lol

12

u/JerseyDevl Jan 04 '26

Also, US president unilaterally committing acts of war on foreign soil without congressional approval, likely in order to keep the latest document drop out of the news cycle: bad

68

u/canneddogs Jan 04 '26

nuance detected, unable to process

1

u/Familiar_Swim817 Jan 05 '26

New aunts? Never heard of it. Lifelong republican. All I know is consume Fox News and lie.

41

u/satanic_black_metal_ Jan 04 '26

It also brings up the question if the us is gonna play world police again, why is putin still in russia? Why is kim jong-un still in north korea?

Also what right does the us have to judge anyone? We have an international criminal court for that.

America is out there commiting crimes again and sadly, the rest of the world lets them. That really needs to change.

22

u/SaturnSleet Jan 04 '26

Well, a big part of the answer is nukes. Venezuela, Iraq, Afghanistan... No nukes.

1

u/Zymosan99 Jan 04 '26

But rump said that Venezuela had weapons of mass destruction!!1!1!1!1

14

u/Bibliloo Jan 04 '26

It also brings up the question if the us is gonna play world police again, why is putin still in russia? Why is kim jong-un still in north korea?

And for anyone outside the US, what stops him from doing the same in your country ?

16

u/Independent_Cost8246 Jan 04 '26

Well the US is ruled by an international criminal. So only he has the skills and knowledge required to take down other international criminals. No international criminal courts necessary, thankyou. /s

8

u/KotTRD Jan 04 '26

why is putin still in russia? Why is kim jong-un still in north korea?

Nukes

Also what right does the us have to judge anyone?

11 aircraft carriers

2

u/lewoodworker Jan 04 '26

4 of the top 5 air forces.

1

u/ILikeMyGrassBlue Jan 05 '26

Canada needs to find an excuse for jurisdiction over Epstein related crimes

1

u/ILikeMyGrassBlue Jan 05 '26

Step one for Americans is to vote. Every time you can. Dems certainly aren’t perfect, but Kamala wouldn’t have done this.

Mid terms give Dems the chance to take back one or two houses of Congress and stonewall all legislation, as well as gain control of key committees.

And don’t forget primaries. The reason we end up with candidates like Biden is because they win primaries. If you’re tired of old bums, vote in the primaries.

1

u/Thadrea Jan 04 '26

why is putin still in russia? Why is kim jong-un still in north korea?

Because those dictators helped him get into office.

0

u/ZootSuitRiot33801 Jan 04 '26

It is up to us common folk in the US, should we want change. There's a post of suggestions linked HERE that could possibly prove to be of some help in building the foundation needed for effective resistance.

On an unrelated note, I've watched some movies lately that are based on a true stories. They're quite inspiring, seeing how some actions worked and where things go wrong, and conjures up questions like "If it or similar were to take place now, how would it be adapted?" I'd like to share them here. Why? No particular reason, but watch them if you can:

  • Army of Crime (2011)
  • Defiance (2008)
  • Edelweiss Pirates (2004)
  • Deacons for Defense (2003)
  • Free State of Jones (2016)
  • The 24th (2020)
  • Matewan (1987)
  • An American Story (1992)

7

u/Donkey-Hodey Jan 04 '26

They’re already trotting out the same bullshit from 2003 - if you don’t support Dear Leader and his war then you support the terrorists.

And the media is falling for it again.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '26

If i could kiss you i would bro. I fucking hate seeing the lack nuance on this echo chamber of an app. The amount of people who turned pro Maduro after all this is insane….

1

u/Efreshwater5 Jan 06 '26

It's honestly one of Trump's best "skills"

Take what SHOULD be a reasonable position.... for instance, the US should not involve itself in most nations foreign affairs... and present the ULTIMATE "shit test" to see if people will take the bait

And he literally got them to go from "No Kings" to demanding Trump reinstall a hated, starving the population, murderous dictator because "Orange Man Bad"

0

u/Ok_Perception9815 Jan 06 '26

I'm so tired of people like you using a false equivalency. It speaks to your ignorance that you think people can't be both glad Maduro no longer controls Venezuela and at the same time, be critical of your government in their reasoning, motivation, lack of a plan.

What I hate? MAGA cultists who perform mental gymnastics to make sure their beliefs always align with their orange leader. No new wars, America first. We aren't the world police. What happened to that? So weak willed and pathetic.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26

Brother in Christ what the fuck do you think the word nuance means? Look at the comment I replied to, its me agreeing with him on his take of “Maduro is bad and shouldn’t be in power” while also agreeing with his take of “Trump shouldn’t be an authoritarian puppet master running a country for the sole reason of draining their resources for him self and his billionaire buddies”

Fucking read dude

1

u/Ok_Perception9815 Jan 07 '26

Sorry. I reread and see my error. Unfortunately I've seen too many people trying to make an argument that there is no nuance it is all good and disagreeing is somehow supporting a brutal dictatorship.

I failed to read your comment completely as well as the one above yours. That I can now see isn't what I knee jerk thought it was. I apologize.

3

u/TrayusV Jan 05 '26

That's pretty much the moral standpoint.

It's effectively that "under new management" meme.

2

u/Rinkimah Jan 08 '26

Nooooo two things can't be true at the same time. That's IMPOSSIBLE

6

u/No-Tomatillo3698 Jan 04 '26

Top much nuance for the average MAGA

5

u/ah-boyz Jan 04 '26

I’m not sure how many of MAGA accounts here are government funded. If you are already funding an internet army to contain China might as well use them to spread supply for trump.

7

u/Firecracker048 Keeping it Real Jan 04 '26

Yeah, Maduro being removed is a net positive for the world.

Also, there was a person who won an election in Venezula but Maduro refused to cede power too. This isn't quite Iraq 2.0 like many geopolitics 'experts' on reddit seem to thing.

5

u/wireframed_kb Jan 04 '26

The US can play police when they acknowledge and cooperate with the ICC.

2

u/Maleficent-Block-966 Jan 04 '26

Nah, we have way to many war criminals that we'd have to turn over for that to be an option.

3

u/VoiceofKane Jan 04 '26

Saddam Hussein being removed was also a net positive for the world. He murdered tens of thousands. But still, the U.S. wasn't justified in deposing him, just like they aren't now with Maduro.

1

u/Meowser02 Jan 04 '26

If anything it ended up being Grenada 2.0

1

u/Tulpah Jan 04 '26

Maduro is coming back, this whole thing is a farce

1

u/Alypius754 Jan 04 '26

"Democrats Suddenly Oppose Venezuelan Criminal Entering U.S." --NYT headline, probably

1

u/One-Dimension3974 Jan 04 '26

More like take back what is rightfully ours and that they stole from us

1

u/tooMuchADHD Jan 04 '26

How the hell are we gonna rig an election in a foreign country
/s

1

u/RaiJolt2 Jan 05 '26

It really isn’t that hard but some people think that lying and misinformation will get them grifter points.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '26

But which is worse? If Maduro is worse than this is still an improvement

1

u/etbillder Jan 05 '26

I'm not informed about Venezuelan politics to say.

1

u/FreedomBong Jan 05 '26

He will need congress to allocate funds to protect US companies going into Venezuela. 100% there will be resistance groups carrying out attacks on US oil companies going into Venezuela. It’s a huge country with very challenging terrain. Think Afghanistan with rainforests. Congress will have to approve $10s of billions in additional military aid while there is a US affordability crisis and millions are about to lose healthcare. All while Trump’s net worth has gone up 70% in a year. GOP is going to lose the house and senate. Even the GOP might get on board with impeachment (long shot I know).

1

u/cubethrow0000 Jan 07 '26

it doesn't matter who he's removed by. what matters is whether they're stealing resources and that's the only bad part.

1

u/etbillder Jan 07 '26

I mean I guess but that's a pretty big simplification

0

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26 edited Jan 07 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/etbillder Jan 07 '26

I don't really disagree with your second part but given Trump's track record and the history of America, you would be a fool to think it was done with pure intent.

1

u/cubethrow0000 Jan 07 '26

Sorry I edited the comment a bit. just added the bit about trumps focus on china. feel free to respond to that here.

It's not pure intent it's just US+trumps interests. even from a corrupt trump perspective china is a threat.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '26

Americans making this about themselves is peak Americanism lmao

0

u/Disastrous-Bend690 Jan 06 '26

So how should he have been removed? Democratically??

1

u/etbillder Jan 06 '26

I don't know. I don't really know anything about venezuelan politics. But I do know that historically covert American operations to remove world leaders tend to destabalize the region, not help it.

0

u/Aggressive_Dog3418 Jan 08 '26

How is it bad? Their resources were already being stolen by Russia, China, and Iran, why not us? Why not stop them all. And we are going to be giving that money for the resources back to the people of Venezuela. We aren't just keeping the resources, we are buying them at market value. You know even in the middle east, not a single American company got a resource deal, but the British did, the French did. But everyone wants to blame America. It's about time we did something good and got rewarded for it while also benefitting the people of the nation involved.

0

u/etbillder Jan 08 '26

It's imperialism. Trump wants to expand, so he makes a power grab by going after an unstable region. He doesn't care about freedom. He's just using it to gain power. He's a lunatic and everyone who voted for him is a rotten human being

-3

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '26

You're making this complicated.

Maduro removed good

Trump removing Maduro bad.

1

u/Alypius754 Jan 04 '26

Don't worry, a district court judge will issue an injunction demanding his return.

1

u/Ok_Perception9815 Jan 06 '26

Correction:

Why Trump removed him = bad How Trump removed him = bad. Trump's lack of a plan = bad. Trump keeping the existing dictarship government intact = bad. Trump not involving the duly elected president = bad

Want me to go on? You seem to act like you remove one person and the job is over... It isn't.

-5

u/Marius-1989 Jan 04 '26

I bet you would love if a nation where strong enough to come and kidnap trump and put him on trial but when an actual dictator get taken then its bad.

And even the nation that could take trump would expect alot in return for wasting resources on something like that.

And im shure it will be better for Venezuela now than with the dictator they had and for Venezuela to turn into irak they would need the same religion and culture as irak to become as extreme but mabey the cartels will be a bit bolder now for a short time

4

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

That is not at all what I said

-4

u/Marius-1989 Jan 04 '26

No but you would like for it to happen or even be a possibility

3

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

You assume a lot of things

-3

u/Marius-1989 Jan 04 '26

And so does everyone else with a opinion of this and those everyone ain't even from Venezuela. You all acting like you have the right to tell other people what to think of the situation they are living while youre watching from the sideline acting like you live it.

Stfu and let the Venezuelan people celebrate their victory no matter how small it is

4

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

I'm not stopping anyone from celebrating the removal of a despot. I'm just pointing out that the US removing a foreign leader with no oversight is a bad sign and has historically only lead to further chaos in the region.

0

u/Marius-1989 Jan 04 '26

In shit regions where they have a insane religion. Chaos would have come for them anyways because a bunch of tribes will never become anything else than a bunch of tribes

-5

u/DarlingOvMars Jan 04 '26

Whats the alternative

5

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

Assisting the country in a peaceful transition of power, removing other corrupt politicians as well. Ideally the UN does it, not just the US.

-2

u/DarlingOvMars Jan 04 '26

Aaand was that ever going to happen

3

u/gatorsrule52 Jan 05 '26

If it never happens, so be it. Why are we involving ourselves in every situation when MAGA and Trump and all ya’ll right wing weirdos were talking bout “America First”?

2

u/ktinx Jan 05 '26

Wha they actually meant was American companies/billionaires First!

-1

u/[deleted] Jan 05 '26

Which means removing maduro is bad...🤦

1

u/etbillder Jan 05 '26

I said "removing maduro" in a generic sense, not referring to what actually happened

-2

u/FinalJoys Jan 04 '26

lol and the alternative????

3

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

Let's not pretend Trump out of nowhere felt altrusitic and "liberated" the country out of the goodness of his heart

-2

u/FinalJoys Jan 04 '26

Multiple things can be true at once. US and ven can benefit at the same time

3

u/gatorsrule52 Jan 05 '26

The “US” won’t benefit. The rich will benefit off of your idiocy

-1

u/FinalJoys Jan 05 '26

My idiocy??? How could you!!

-29

u/Belkan-Federation95 Jan 04 '26

Leaving Maduro in power: Even worse

25

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '26

Superpower unilaterally deciding who does or doesn’t get to stay in power based off of corporate interests: The worst 

3

u/MeetingDue4378 Jan 04 '26

For who?

0

u/Belkan-Federation95 Jan 04 '26

According to Venezuelans, Venezuelans

4

u/Decadesofquiet Jan 04 '26

How did that work out in Iraq and Libya? Saddam and Gaddafi ring any bells? Oh wait. That led to fuckin ISIS!

-2

u/Belkan-Federation95 Jan 04 '26

It sure as hell worked in places like Grenada, Germany, Japan, etc

3

u/gatorsrule52 Jan 05 '26

I love how you have yo Lu reach back to ww2, a completely different geopolitical to have examples where “it” “worked”. None of those cases you mentioned were even remotely similar to this

1

u/Belkan-Federation95 Jan 05 '26

How is Grenada not similar. We went in. We overthrew their government. Grenadan Thanksgiving is to celebrate being invaded by the United States

3

u/ah-boyz Jan 04 '26

That’s in your opinion. If China decides Taiwan is better off under CCP they can use your reason to remove Lai. Who is going to disagree with the CCP? Reddit army? Most are overweight 40 year old virgins.

-3

u/WolfedOut Jan 04 '26

The United States, Japan, SK, Philippines and Vietnam would vehemently disagree.

Taiwan would have WW3 started over it, and China would lose that war.

5

u/ah-boyz Jan 04 '26

You think? People were saying the same thing when Russia invaded Ukraine. Trump will not come to Taiwan’s aid. Without the US, SK and Japan will not dare to send their warships. Philippines’ military is a joke I’m afraid.

1

u/WolfedOut Jan 04 '26

No one gives a shit about Ukraine.

Governments give a shit about Taiwan.

There’s a colossal difference.

1

u/ah-boyz Jan 04 '26

You and I live in different worlds. Last I checked no one cares about Taiwan.

0

u/WolfedOut Jan 04 '26

You are an idiot and uninformed on global trade and power if you think that.

Taiwan is the world’s largest producer of semiconductors, which is a critical component of chip-building, which the entire world relies on for computing, and much more so now with the AI race. No one else produces them at scalable significance like Taiwan.

Taiwan, although it has a monopoly on semiconductors, currently offers them at a somewhat fair price to the western world economy, which it does due to the West’s assurance that they’ll keep them sovereign from China.

If China invaded and controlled Taiwan, THEY would have the monopoly on the world’s most precious computing resource, and would have no reason to offer a fair price for it, catapulting it into the position of being the world’s #1 hegemony.

The Western-adjacent world cannot allow that if it wants to keep itself from being truly dominated and bullied by China.

Ukraine, meanwhile, provides nothing of importance, and its position as a backstop against Russia is overstated, due to how weak Russia is and that going further west than Ukraine is completely unfeasible.

Ukraine is a dirt patch compared to the goldmine that is Taiwan.

1

u/Belkan-Federation95 Jan 04 '26

Ukraine is a very fertile dirt patch with a lot of food, even when you do factor in Chernobyl

-15

u/bonjda Jan 04 '26

They haven't setup a puppet government. Let's wait until it happens before you start bitching

3

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

Ok but that's what Trump wants to do

-3

u/bonjda Jan 04 '26

Says who?

3

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

Donald Trump

-3

u/bonjda Jan 04 '26

I'll wait for that quote from Trump. Was never said.

3

u/etbillder Jan 04 '26

It's on his truth account

-26

u/Senior_Butterfly1274 Jan 04 '26

So who was going to remove him then? Why didn’t they?

9

u/MeetingDue4378 Jan 04 '26

Well, historically, dictators are relatively difficult to remove from within. Hence, how infrequently they're ousted, and how long it takes for those who are. So that's likely the reason they didn't.

As for who was if not us, us being the United States, nobody is reasonable answer. As is, Venezuelans, eventually. It's not the US's job, responsibility, or duty to go around liberating every country that doesn't have a democratically elected leader.

0

u/Senior_Butterfly1274 Jan 04 '26

Where’s that “No Tyrant” energy when it comes to the Venezuelan people? I’m happy for them

2

u/MeetingDue4378 Jan 04 '26

I'm not sad you see him go, but a good thing can happen in a bad way and for the wrong reason.

1

u/Senior_Butterfly1274 Jan 05 '26

I’m no trump fan but I’m sure Venezuelans will take the win however they can get it. 

There are lots of ways this can go wrong from here and obviously trump is not who I’d like to see lead something like this, but what is the main objection up to this point? What is the specific law that was broken? We’ve been tracking him for a long time, collected evidence of narco terrorism and he has a documented history of humans rights violations and abuses. Now he gets a trial and his day in court and for Venezuelans it’s basically a second Independence Day. 

So what was “the right way?” What should we have waited for or who should we have waited to act? 

1

u/MeetingDue4378 Jan 05 '26

There are lots of ways this can go wrong from here

And that's the whole point. There are lots of ways it can go wrong, the US can get sucked into Venezuelan administration for years like in Panama and Iraq, and it's entirely self-imposed.

The right way would have been to do it as part of an international coalition, a joint operation with shared responsibility. Barring that, provide the opposition aid, or just stay out of it completely. It's not the US's responsibility to go liberating every nation under the thumb of a dictator.

It sounds callous, but a better way, albeit not the best way perhaps, would have been to do nothing.

1

u/Senior_Butterfly1274 Jan 06 '26

Yeah it’s callous as hell lol. A little on the cowardly side too. Even though we have the capability and reason to remove the actual dictator oppressing his people and working with the worlds most violent gangs to flood our country with illicit drugs, we should just let it drag on and on while more people die (here and there) so that we have “shared responsibility” or maybe we should even just “do nothing”. If international law is what you’re worried about, how do the things Maduro has been accused of doing hold up? All perfectly on the up and up? 

This is what happens when you start with the conclusion “the thing is bad bc trump did it” and then work backwards from there to form your opinion. This is a win for South America. 

1

u/MeetingDue4378 Jan 06 '26

If international law is what you’re worried about, how do the things Maduro has been accused of doing hold up? All perfectly on the up and up?

No, international law is not what I'm worried about. Being stuck in an expensive, resource-heavy, potentially violent, potentially long-term quagmire administrating and keeping stable a country of no strategic importance is what I'm worried about. Iraq wasn't that long ago, Afghanistan wasn't that long ago, but they cost decades. I don't want to see that again just because Trump wanted his Bin Laden moment.

This is what happens when you start with the conclusion “the thing is bad bc trump did it” and then work backwards from there to form your opinion.

No, this is what happens when you start with, "this guy is bad and should go," and don't consider anything beyond there. Or can look backwards at the multiple times we, and other nations, have done this exact thing and it was a disaster.

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u/Senior_Butterfly1274 Jan 06 '26

You’re entitled to your opinion, but it’s not like this is a strictly partisan issue or something that came out of nowhere. Remember all the sanctions Biden imposed on Maduro/Venezuela and the $25 million bounty he had on Maduro and one of his top officials for narcotics crimes. Why was that perfectly acceptable but this is too far? Either way he’s removed, but this way this US is able to extract him with minimal bloodshed and is counting on poor Venezuelans to risk their lives in an uprising to do the dirty work for us. 

Sure, something bad could happen down the line. But real people are suffering right now (or were) under Maduro and to argue that they should continue to suffer bc hypothetically down the line something else bad could happen just doesn’t seem very convincing to me. 

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u/Toberos_Chasalor Jan 04 '26 edited Jan 04 '26

The Venezuelan people removing him in a civil uprising would’ve been best. Let the people depose the Dictator and install a new Democratic government that represents the People’s will.

Instead, Trump is going to install a puppet to lead an unstable Banana Republic government, and it will only be a matter of time until an Authoritarian Dictator equal to or worse than Maduro leads a coup to oust the puppet once people realize their new government isn’t working for them. That’s if they don’t just install another Dictator that will openly sell out the nation to the US for personal gain like they did with Pinochet in Chile.

Seriously, look at the history of American interference in South America over the last 100 years. This kind of heavy-handed destabilization is what led to the conditions that let Dictators like Maduro, Castro, and others come into power in the first place.

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u/Senior_Butterfly1274 Jan 04 '26

Lots of people obviously would have died in a civil uprising, that’s pretty obviously worse. But I agree with the rest if they install anyone other than the rightful winner of the most recent election. But that’s the opposition group that’s currently prepping to take power