Office Hours: Why the hell is Trump going to war with Venezuela and possibly other Latin American countries?
Friends,
On Monday night, the U.S. military attacked three more boats alleged to have been smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing eight people and bringing the total of known killings to 95.
Why? “We have thousands of troops and our largest aircraft carrier in the Caribbean — but zero, zero explanation for what Trump is trying to accomplish,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said yesterday.
Yesterday, Trump ordered a “complete blockade” on sanctioned oil tankers going to and from Venezuela. “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump wrote on social media. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
Trump is also threatening land strikes. “By land is a lot easier, and that’s going to start happening,” he told reporters Friday in the Oval Office.
This would represent a major escalation of Trump’s trumped-up war. Nor is he ruling out attacks on Latin American countries beyond Venezuela. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be in Venezuela,” Trump added.
So today’s Office Hours question: Why is the U.S. preparing for — or already at — war with Venezuela and perhaps other nations in Latin America? What’s Trump’s real goal?
I’ve heard several different explanations:
