Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / Venezuela is Wait and See
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Early Saturday morning, US forces captured Venezuelan's strong man, Nicholas
- 0:05Speaker 1: Maduro and his wife, acting on orders from President Donald Trump.
- 0:09Speaker 1: Later that day, speaking from mar A Lago, the President
- 0:12Speaker 1: said the United States would run Venezuela by Sunday. That
- 0:16Speaker 1: message changed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US
- 0:20Speaker 1: would instead pursue pressure through an oil blockade, and that
- 0:24Speaker 1: brings us to the only certainty in this entire episode.
- 0:27Speaker 1: We don't know where this is going. Madua is evil,
- 0:31Speaker 1: full stop. His removal is good for Venezuelan's and for
- 0:35Speaker 1: anyone who despises dictatorship at socialism. That part is easy.
- 0:39Speaker 1: The harder question is whether it was America's job to
- 0:43Speaker 1: do this, especially under a presidency built on America First,
- 0:48Speaker 1: Republicans say yes, Democrats say no. Welcome to politics. Republicans
- 0:54Speaker 1: back their president, partly out of belief, partly out of
- 0:57Speaker 1: political survival, and partly because modern politics is tribal. Democrats
- 1:02Speaker 1: were always going to oppose this, especially if it goes
- 1:06Speaker 1: sideways and becomes a campaign issue. That's not a moral judgment,
- 1:11Speaker 1: it's just political reality. Still, real questions remain. Should Congress
- 1:17Speaker 1: have been consulted before acting against a sovereign nation. George
- 1:21Speaker 1: hw Bush set a precedent with Noriega, and Maduro may
- 1:24Speaker 1: be worse. Or is this what happens when Congress keeps
- 1:29Speaker 1: surrendering its constitutional role? Is the administration being fully clear
- 1:33Speaker 1: with the American people? Are we talking regime change, pressure
- 1:37Speaker 1: or something in between? And if Maduro is gone but
- 1:40Speaker 1: his inner circle remains, is that real change or just
- 1:44Speaker 1: rearranging the board? Is this about Venezuela or about sending
- 1:48Speaker 1: a message to China and Russia in our own hemisphere?
- 1:52Speaker 1: And then there's oil. Venezuela seized American assets decades ago,
- 1:57Speaker 1: Exxon was never fully compensated. What' stopped history from repeating itself?
- 2:02Speaker 1: The truth is simple. Anyone claiming certainty right now is
- 2:06Speaker 1: guessing we're in it Where it leads? Nobody knows. Shakespeare
- 2:11Speaker 1: said it best. If you can look into the seeds
- 2:14Speaker 1: of time and say which grain will grow and which
- 2:17Speaker 1: will not speak, then to me no one can. And
- 2:22Speaker 1: anyone who claims otherwise is either foolish or lying