While many on the left side of the aisle will decry this action as “Presidential overreach” or “an unauthorized use of Presidential Power,” how soon we forget that the President of the United States’ primary and constitutionally mandated duty is to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
This duty is explicitly stated in the presidential oath of office, found in Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution. The fulfillment of this oath entails several broad powers and responsibilities related to the protection and security of the nation and its people:
1) Commander-in-Chief: The President serves as the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. armed forces, with the authority to deploy military forces to protect the nation against attack and maintain national security.
2) Enforcing Laws: The President has the duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”. This includes ensuring that the laws passed by Congress for the safety and security of the public are enforced.
An eerily similar operation was conducted primarily by our Tiered Special Operations Forces in recent memory which has achieved lasting results.If Madura was a student of history should have seen this coming and that our strikes against his narco “go fast” boats was merely a precursor of what was to come unless he backed down.
How soon we forget that the United States invaded Panama in mid-December 1989 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. The purpose of the invasion was to depose the de facto ruler of Panama, General Manuel Noriega, who was wanted by U.S. authorities for racketeering and drug trafficking.
The operation, codenamed Operation Just Cause, concluded in late January 1990 with the surrender of Noriega. The Panama Defense Forces (PDF) were dissolved, and President-elect Guillermo Endara was sworn into office and the rest is history.
History may not repeat itself but it sure rhymes …
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From my colleague Dr. Lani Kass:
“Most Americans have short memories, but the record is clear. In 2019, during Venezuela’s brutal political crackdown, NBC aired footage of tanks crushing anti-Maduro protesters—pure tyranny broadcast live. The Biden campaign, along with top Dems, condemned the atrocities as “unacceptable” and urged accountability.
in 2020, the Department of Justice indicted Maduro for narcoterrorism and conspiracy. The indictment was bipartisan. Biden, then running for office, didn’t call for the charges to be dropped. Quite the opposite, his team supported the idea that Maduro was a dangerous criminal.
When the Trump administration put a bounty on Maduro’s head, it was treated as a necessary national security move. The $15 M offer was in place when Biden took office. Biden never lifted the indictments or rescinded the reward. He didn’t recognize Maduro as a legitimate leader. The Dems treated him as a fugitive.
Fast forward to 2026. Maduro is captured, thanks to a decisive military and intelligence operation. Instead of celebrating, the media smear Trump as reckless and provocative.
It is a breathtaking reversal. The same people who condemned Maduro, now sound like apologists for him, simply because Trump was the one who finally got the job done.”
Remember those 2024 Republican campaign ads: Trump for Peace, Kamala for War? Remember those?
Here’s the record so far.
Trump in a single gaggle on Air Force One just threatened:
— a second strike against Venezuela
— Cuba
— Mexico
— Colombia
— Iran
— Greenland (which in turn would be an attack on the EU and Denmark)
In his first year in office, Trump has bombed eight countries:
Iran
Iraq
Syria
Gaza
Venezuela
Somalia
Yemen
Nigeria
Trump is a shoo-in for the Nobel Peace Prize — probably one a year for the next three years at least.
The globalist democrat socialist that want to be led by China are fuming.
They first have to be against The American President because he went after Venezuelan immigrants criminals in the United States, then because he amassed our military off their shores and attacked the drug smuggling (which the Anti American Democrats want), then he removed their precious socialist, then he has taken control of the oil from Venezuela to Russia and China.
Our American President, President Trump is the Boss Man and he leaves Anti American Democrats wetting themselves.
Perhaps a little John Wayne style.
Hey Dems,
He’ll tell you when you had enough, until then
America First
MAGA 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Kiss Ukraine goodbye.
Did Fiona Hill warn us of a Russian deal involving Ukraine and Venezuela?
Yes. “During her 2019 testimony to the U.S. Congress, former National Security Council official Fiona Hill stated that Russia was “signaling very strongly that they wanted to somehow make some very strange swap arrangement between Venezuela and Ukraine”.
Hill, a top Russia expert, explained that Russia was implicitly offering to end its support for the Venezuelan regime in exchange for the United States’ acquiescence to Russian dominance in Ukraine. The underlying message from Moscow was essentially: “You have your Monroe doctrine; you want us out of your backyard. Well, we have our own version of this. You’re in our backyard in Ukraine”.
This suggested an attempt by Russia to negotiate spheres of influence, viewing conflicts as proxy wars where a distant foothold (Venezuela) could be traded for control over a neighboring country considered part of its “near abroad” (Ukraine). The issue gained renewed attention in light of later developments in both Venezuela and Ukraine.
Gas prices drop below $1.00 a gallon by summer thanks to the flood of Venezuelan oil.
Or maybe not.
https://clearandpresentdanger.blog/lets-get-that-venezuelan-oil-not-so-fast/
It’s probably just coincidence but Trump invaded Venezuela the day before the deadline expired for DOJ to explain why they still have a million or more items in the Epstein files that have not been released.
Well — isn’t this special. Exxon is the only US oil company doing business in Venezuela. Friday — before the US attack on Saturday — unusual stock option purchases in Chevron on Friday, day before the invasion. . . .
Stinks to high heaven. Looks like the highest open interest is for Jan 16 $155 and 160 calls.
Over $273k+ in single-leg, OTM calls were bought on Friday as $CVX rallied more than $3 or 2.2% intraday.
Chevron is the only U.S. oil company still operating in Venezuela.
Save Venezuela from a dictator and stop the flow of drugs my ass.
You didn’t mention the Polymarket action.
https://x.com/quiverquant/status/2007481899875242240
Celebrate if you wish . . . which is what you want to do . . . however . . .
Quotes from Trump at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago.
“We are going to take over and run Venezuela.”
“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.”
So – should I believe that by mid-summer 2026 Venezuelan oil will be flooding our refineries driving the price of gas to under $1.00 per gallon; drugs will no longer be flooding our streets; and we all will be living on the Big Rock Candy Mountain?
Of course, there’s another possible outcome: This is not a corporate take-over where you buy the company, fire the CEO and a few underlings (give them golden parachutes), and profits go through the roof.
Let’s see how this has worked out.
IRAQ. General Eric Shinseki, then Army Chief of Staff, famously testified in February 2003 that stabilizing post-war Iraq would require “several hundred thousand” troops and a minimum of ten years, more like 20 years. He was publicly contradicted and rebuked by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who called it “wildly off the mark”. Rumsfeld proceeded to announce Shinseki’s replacement, Shinseki retired. And then . . .
LIBYA. In 2011, the U.S., France, and the UK led a NATO-authorized military intervention (Operation Unified Protector) in response to the Gaddafi regime’s violent crackdown on the “Arab Spring” uprising. The U.S. and its allies did not have a plan for the post-Gaddafi stability of Libya, assuming the opposition would establish a stable government on its own. This “light-touch” approach contributed to a power vacuum and a failed state, which led to the ongoing Libyan Crisis, a second civil war (2014-2020), and the rise of various armed militias and terrorist groups like ISIS within the country.
VIETNAM. We all know how that turned out (although we were winning when I left for the second time) .
AFGHANISTAN. Trump himself turned the place over to the Taliban in summer 2020 when the SECSTATE met with Taliban leaders in Qatar – without the Afghan present – and told them, if they would simply leave us alone, we would be out of there in six months.
Iraq – We should have kept the oil
Libya – We should have kept the oil
Venezuela – We will keep the oil and finally make one of these invasions worth the effort
“. . . this war against the Venezuelan drug cartel king last 3 hours and we lost not men or equipment. ”
It’s not over until it’s over.
Good! Knocking off these narco-state leaders is long overdue as is direct military intervention /destruction of these narco supply chains that kill a HUNDRED THOUSAND Americans a year. There are a couple of more that need to go, and I stand by my previous statements that we should invade Mexico, go in a few miles, and militarize the border.
A discussion of Federal court rulings on General Noriega’s unsuccessful challenge to the legality of his prosecution can be found at https://jonathanturley.org (“The United States Captures Nicolas Madero and his Wife”, January 3, 2026).
How soon we forget WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam – all under democrat administrations. These holier than thou democrats conveniently forget every aspect of their past when it comes to war. By the way, this war against the Venezuelan drug cartel king last 3 hours and we lost not men or equipment.
As noted by my SPECOPS Shipmate Eddie Garcia:
1. China has an estimated $19–20 billion in outstanding loans to Venezuela, secured by “oil-for-loan” deals. A new pro-U.S. government is likely to declare these debts illegitimate, incurred by a dictatorship against the interests of the people and refuse to repay them. China faces the immediate prospect of a total write-off of these billions.
2. Venezuela was China’s most reliable partner in the region for military cooperation and energy access. The U.S. capture of Maduro signals that Washington is willing to use hard power to enforce the Trump Doctrine to strengthen control of the economy in Latin America. This will likely chill other Latin American nations from deepening security ties with Beijing, fearing similar repercussions.
3. China has relied on cheap Venezuelan heavy crude for its refineries. The U.S. naval blockade and subsequent regime change mean that future Venezuelan oil production will likely be directed toward Western markets (specifically the U.S. Gulf Coast) to pay for reconstruction, cutting China out of its privileged access.
When should I expect gas to go under $1.00 a gallon?
Ros
Please quit making sense it hurts Mr. Fixit’s head.
John :):):)