As all of the stackers (and everyone on the planet by now) already know, America slid right into Venezuela, and walked out with Maduro in handcuffs, in direct violation of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, or was it? Let’s check out the Trump defense and see just how legal it was.
Love him, or hate him, I will say this about Trump. He is absolutely limit testing the entire system, It seems like not a day goes by where he doesn’t pull some sort of legal loophole out of his ass, and move forward with some seemingly illegal action, and just sort of gets away with it, at least in the short term. We will see how the Supreme Court rules on tariffs, but I have a suspicion that no matter how they rule, the administration will still figure out a way to keep them going.
Anyhow, on to Maduro. How did the administration make this “legal”? Easy, the department of justice indicted him of Narco-Terrorism. They explicitly link Maduro to the FARC(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and the ELN(National Liberation Army) , both of which are designated terror groups.
The indictment also states that the Venezuelan government is run by the “Cartel de Los Soles” so in essence, they are saying the government IS the cartel, and that the diplomatic immunity was just a cover for trafficking. Maduro is accused of selling diplomatic passports to drug traffickers and using diplomatic immunity to fly drug planes.
So, legally speaking (according to the administration) this technically was a law enforcement action to capture a fugitive, not a war against a nation.
I guess the take away is that if the US government can figure out a way to indict you of an offence that warrants arrest, they can come into your country and take you away regardless of your station in government.
Trump is limit testing for sure, but i will say this, if a government wants to get someone for something, they find a way to do it. What makes this a bit next level is it's a literal swoop on a president, and basically the same thing Putin wanted to do to Zelensky and failed miserably at.
i was thinking he was blowing smoke about Iran, but now im not so sure, although i must admit, i would also like the Ayotollah to get arrested or assinated
Trump is such a wild card that other countries have to take him seriously. If they don't yet, they will now. These are wild times we live in.
Greenland must be feeling the heat lol
The question I'm wrestling with is how much it matters whether these claims are true or not.
I think my biggest issue with Trump is how far he will take everything. He very obviously doesn't care about the spirit of the law, just the verbiage, and how much he can bend everything until it breaks.
He is (probably) unintentionally giving all the presidents that follow him way more power, because he constantly pushes thst line.
I think it's more accurate to say he's taking advantage of the power congress has granted the presidency. People have been warning about this for decades.
Best case scenario, this is a wake up call and congress pulls back some of these powers.
They would need a bipartisan effort right now to have a super majority, but this all could be handled pretty quickly if politics wasn't such a team sport. I've definitely seen and heard people complain about power creep in the executive branch over time, but this is the first time in my life that I've seen it leveraged to it's absolute limit.
It makes sense, with Trump having at most four years to do whatever it is he's trying to do and no clear succession plan. Also needing to do things that can't be easily undone.
Move fast and break things, ask for forgiveness not permission, etc.
I don't think anyone who is being intellectually honest will be able to accuse him of not getting things done.
This has been my response to people that keep losing their minds about him over the now decade of his political career. If this system is so amazing why does he exist and do these things. It's given a few friends pause to think.
I'm not a Trump fan but it seems to temporarily break them out of the derangement and get them thinking a bit.
He absolutely is working within the system, it's almost crazy how he figures out how to find loopholes and dance through them.
Just wanna put this out there. There hasn't been a declared war by the US since Korea. What that should teach us is that this system is mostly BS. It's really more of what can politicians get away with. Lawers can bend words to justify about anything.
I looked into it yesterday and there's been undeclared wars all the way back to the 1800's. This isn't new. It's my personal opinion that congress doesn't actually care, they just like that we can go to war and blame the president on the campaign trail. It allows them to keep their hands clean.
Its on Congress and the people really. Those that claim to believe in the systems at least. You are right. They havent cared for a very long time.
I have reached the I don't have the energy to care anymore stage. All the wars are illegal and I'm tired of political party based outrage and selective memory.
My current view is one criminal organization boss took our another. It's what they do.
Look, I am by no means a Trump fan, but I don't see this as even close to the most outrageous thing he's done. And the democrats whining about this are hypocrites. Obama murdered with impunity, including a US citizen. The Noriega mess set the precedent for this action. Both parties have been expanding executive power for decades. The difference is Trump is not a born politician. In that sense his acts are more open and honest. How many regime changes has the CIA orchestrated in the last 50 years? How about Iraq, Libya, Vietnam, Clinton blowing up a Sudan factory, Bosnia? Gaza genocide? Again, I'm no fan of Trump, but the whole system is rotten to the core.
I'm pretty ambivalent about him to be honest. It gets really hard to separate facts from propaganda these days, and people only really care about thr kayfabe aspects of politics rather than what's actually happening.
If anything, I give him some credit. He has an agenda, and he's going after it regardless of the roadblocks. I do absolutely agree though, the executive branch has been getting more powerful for a very long time, and maybe this will open people's eyes a little.
I think this is nothing new and not a surprise. The strongest and those with the most weapons have always dictated the rules and regulations; it's always been that way. On the other hand, although drug trafficking exists, this goes beyond that; it's a matter of geopolitics and strategic warfare. The Venezuelan government had the Russians manufacturing weapons in what could be considered the US's backyard. Venezuela is much closer to the US than Russia itself. The Venezuelan government was also allowing the Iranians to manufacture weapons in the same backyard as the Russians, not to mention the rare earth business, which is almost entirely controlled by China (minerals that are extremely necessary for manufacturing modern weapons technology). The Chinese were extracting rare earths from Venezuela and smuggling them out through Brazil and Colombia. So, without even mentioning the drugs and the fact that he's a dictator to his people, the Maduro government represents a direct threat to US interests. While they have intervened in other countries in the past on other issues, perhaps minor ones, it cannot be denied that this issue with Venezuela is far too complex and important. And obviously, Trump will seek and find the necessary conditions to act and neutralize that situation. And if, along the way, Venezuelans free themselves from the 26 years of Socialism that have impoverished them, then obviously this action against the Maduro regime should be supported. IMO
In 1989, the US basically did same thing in Panama to Noriega (same pretext, "dictator importing drugs"). Moreover the military occupation was a thing, it involved thousands of troops, wasn't just a snatch-n-grab.
But did you notice nobody that is talking about the Epstein files lately?
If you know something the 10,000 lawyers in Washington don't, file it.
Otherwise it's just a virtue signal
What's a virtue signal? I summed up the DoJ indictment and explained what laws they used to arrest Maduro.
You started with the pretense it was illegal, added later on "gets away with it"
Even acknowledging the TDS cope talking point is in itself a virtue signal
I started with the premise that it's a direct violation of the 1973 War Powers Resolution l, or was it? I then explained what the administration did to circumvent the 1973 War Powers Resolution act in order to make it legal. If stating facts seems like an attack on Donald Trump to you, then maybe you should evaluate whether or not you actually agree with what he did.
Calling it "war" is blatant dishonesty, dishonesty you adopted to engage in cope.
Perhaps you missed my other commentary on this subject, tldr it's theater, the controversy was invited ... Scripted years in advance, what we see were meant to see. If it was simply about removing Maduro the CIA would have just made it look like an internal assassination.
I think you are projecting an opinion on me that I don't have. I wrote a factual article, so I'm just going to agree to disagree with you. Have a good one.
Yet the internationatially indicted fugitive Putin can walk on red carpet in Alaska.
The real amazing line is your last one, “they can come into your country and take you away”
Still amazed by Bin Laden raid and now this one!