What heās about to do to Venezuela will be appalling. Venezuela is not squeaky clean, and may even have corruption in its government that is getting close to the level of corruption in the American government. Venezuela has its issues to sort out (donāt we all?) but it is a sovereign nation.
The Trump aggression, piling up the military, likely until something kicks off, surely has to be against international law. But who is able to hold it to account? If you have a huge military and the largest economy, it seems that the law doesnāt matter. Why Venezuela? Itās the oil. Duh. They have the largest proven reserves in the world. It is close enough to Trumpās back yard that he fancies taking it. The made up, or inflated charges are a cover (not a good one as it is so obvious) for exploitation.
If it kicks off, Venezuela may try to put up a fight, but how can they do anything meaningful against such a powerful enemy?
Trump is a malignant narcissist. He is extremely dangerous. Economy. Peace. Rule of law. Domestic. International. Anything you can think of is in danger to the degree itās on his radar. What holds him back a little is his incompetence, vanity, and basic impulses. But now there is an army of capable people who are behind him. They have an agenda, and they are happy to bow to Trump as it serves their interests.
Russell Vought and Stephen Miller seem to me to be the most dangerous. They are ideologues who are clever, capable, and can completely manipulate a grifter like Trump. Trump may or may not know that he is being used, but either way he doesnāt care as he uses his office to enrich himself, having learned how to manipulate the levers of power to keep justice at bay and hollow out the authority of the other supposed co-equal branches of government.
Vance is a wrong āun too, but different. Not a pure idealogue like Vought and Miller, but more of a smarmy chameleon. He will do or say pretty much anything to stay close to the throne in the hope that one day he sits on the throne, but I donāt see him quite carrying the gravitas to unite the various MAGA groups in the way that Trump did.
My hope for things to improve? While also being a cause, there is a sense in which Trump is a symptom of a much more deeply rooted societal and political problem, so I donāt think that Trump leaving office, whether by justice catching up with him, or death, or losing an election, will magically fix everything. That is too much to hope for.
But I do think Trump faces two problems that he wonāt be able to shake off.
Epstein and Trumpās health.
The Epstein estate recently released another 95,000 pictures. I think the things depicted are getting worse and worse, and thereās a drip-drip effect that may result in a such a backlash against Trump that he wonāt be able to escape justice. We are not there yet, and I think there is more, potentially a lot more to come with that story, but it is getting more serious for Trump, hence the Venezuelan and other distraction/s.
Trumpās health is not good either. More and more is being said on this. His color. The naps he takes. The clear signs of dementia. His gait. The hand.
Iām not a doctor but my take from watching it is I think he is getting drugged up with large doses, periodically, to try to slow down the onset of dementia. To the degree he can be āmanagedā they are having him sit behind his desk more to hide the decline, and speak less. If he gets to the end of his term alive, I donāt think he will be compos mentis.
As such there will be lots of scope for factions to rise up to try to take the throne. At the least I see an almighty battle coming between Rubio and Vance, but Iām sure others will enter the fray.
