Donald Trump has yet to justify how it will improve our lives as millions of Americans see rising health care costs and persistently high food prices.
President Trump details US raid that captured Maduro in Venezuela
At a press conference, President Donald Trump detailed the U.S. military operation that detained President Nicolas Maduro and his wife overnight in Caracas.
President Donald Trump did not seek permission from Congress to take military action against Venezuela and bring the South American country’s president to stand trial in the United States.
Also, importantly, he didn’t ask for your permission. There was no effort to garner or evaluate public support for this likely illegal endeavor. You and I and all American citizens have simply been told, as President Trump said on January 3, that the United States is going to govern Venezuela for a while.
In response to the attack, President Trump said, “We will continue to run our country until we can have a safe, proper and wise transition of power.”
Well, that’s really great. I didn’t ask for this. I’ve never heard anyone request this. In fact, I doubt that many, if any, Americans voted for Trump because they wanted regime change in a country that is hard to spot on a map.
People are worried about food and health insurance, not Venezuela
The president just stood up and did it, but he still hasn’t provided a solid justification for how it will improve our lives at a time when millions of Americans are seeing rising health care costs and persistently high food prices.
Looking at Trump’s recent poll numbers, few people are satisfied with the way he is running the country. And now you think he can handle other things a little bit? please.
Sure, no one will shed a tear for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – he’s a bad guy. But my understanding of the last US presidential election was that people re-elected Trump because he said on the first day that he would lower food prices. People voted for him because he said he would lead America into a new “Golden Age.”
“My proudest legacy will be as a peacebuilder and unifier,” President Trump said in his inaugural address.
Oops.
Do you think oil can pay for President Trump’s Venezuela debacle? Ha!
The president has not delivered on any of his promises and now appears to be marching America into foreign occupation at great expense while suggesting that Venezuelan oil will help pay for everything.
“There’s so much money coming out of the ground that it’s not costing us anything,” Trump said at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. There, President Trump oversaw the attack on Venezuela, along with other big-name cabinet members, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
That echo you’re hearing is from the Iraq war.
I’m trying to think of a time in the past when the administration assured the American people that a country’s oil would cover the costs of occupying that country.
Oh yeah, in 2002, Richard Perle, chairman of the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, had this to say about the Iraq war: “The expected economic impact would be relatively small. . . . In any likely scenario, the negative impacts would be significantly smaller than the economic benefits.”
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld also said of Iraq in 2003: “When it comes to reconstruction, we will first look to the resources of the Iraqi government and the international community before relying on American taxpayers.”
And in 2003, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz said the following about Iraq: “We’re talking about countries that can actually, and relatively soon, provide funding to rebuild themselves.”
Cool, cool, cool.
President Trump’s attack on Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs
And what about Trump’s explanation that he attacked Venezuela to stop the flow of drugs into the United States? According to the New York Times Editorial Board,
“In this case, this claim is especially absurd given that Venezuela is not a significant producer of fentanyl and other drugs that have dominated the recent overdose epidemic in the United States, and that the cocaine it produces goes primarily to Europe. While Trump has been attacking Venezuelan ships, he has also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, who ran a large-scale drug trafficking operation while president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022.” ”
We did not ask for this invasion. No ordinary person asked the United States to intervene in Venezuela. The main concerns people have right now are putting food on the table, ensuring their jobs aren’t lost to artificial intelligence, and paying for their health insurance.
The Trump administration never advocated attacking Venezuela.
So I want Trump administration officials to make sure the American people understand the cost of the quagmire they may have dragged this country into. I want to know who really wanted this pointless military action, what the administration’s plan is going forward, and how this is helping average Americans.
I’m sure I’m not the only one looking for answers, as 2026 is less than a week old and a new imperialist bloody war for oil has already begun.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.
