;^)
Posted on 01/05/2026 12:57:38 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
“Freedom-loving people everywhere can celebrate the downfall of dictator Nicolás Maduro and the possibility of Venezuela’s return to democracy, even if there are serious concerns about the constitutionality or legality of President Trump’s unilateral use of military force and its broader foreign policy implications.”
“Trump stated that Machado does not have the support or respect of the Venezuelan people, so it would be difficult for her to govern. Nothing could be further from the truth. She is like the Lech Walesa of Venezuela. The United States would be wise to work with Machado and her team on a swift transition to democracy and allow Venezuelans to rebuild their country.”
“We still have no answers to what ‘run Venezuela’ means, nor any clarity about who will be doing it, what it will cost, when it will end, or how it will be paid for.”
“If the Trump administration overrides its own grounding principles, such as ‘predisposition to nonintervention,’ in favor of the impulses of the moment, America First will quickly result in America Last strategically.”
“The administration claims it’s fighting ‘narcoterrorists’ who smuggle vast quantities of fentanyl to the US, but the facts do not support this. Fentanyl does not originate from Venezuela, and even the US government’s own intelligence agencies confirm this. Drug smugglers aren’t terrorists, and suggesting that military action in Venezuela will ‘save hundreds of thousands of lives’ is pure fantasy detached from any serious policy analysis.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cato.org ...
Did the ‘cato’ institute compare it to Panama and Manuel Noriega in the 1980’s?
It’s been done before.
Oh for pete’s ake just stop. None of the clown experts said a word when Obama the destroyer vaporized a US citizen with literally no due process, congress or the courts involved, not they want to cry a river over this, a literal dictator that overturned an election, has torture cells and duns drugs to kills US citizens
PACK SAND
Is this an editorial written by Rand Paul or Thomas Massie?
It’s the right of libtards all over America— that includes Cato — to spew their libtard nonsense in between taking bong hits. The First Amendment guarantees it!
And it’s the right of President Trump and his capable administration to ignore their scolding and simply wait until they have eaten their fill of chee-tos and, munchies satisfied, fall asleep.
Suddenly everyone is concerned about the Constitution.
That’s nice.
But US Presidents have been “managing” affairs in South American, and particularly central-American countries since the 1840s.
Are Democrats going to suddenly become strict Constitutionalists because of Trump?
The CIA has spoken.
We enforced an old indictment and are now going to enforce existing oil sanctions.
The degree of cooperation from the existing Venezuelan government will determine the degree of lethality in that enforcement.
Cato is a CIA run Politico Organization.
No, by the CIA.
Although not specifically stated, low IQ is also, indirectly, a Constitutional right.
Fortunately for these Cato people.
It could be AI.
The article sounded like random rantings of college sophomores.
Venezuela has some cheap, recently vacated by Cubans.
Cato would be very comfortable there.
;^)
Wasn’t Maduro sending boat after boat of drugs to the US ? Would be a drug dealer
Excellent analysis.
There's no judicial review of military operations outside the US, either before or afterwards.
If the President has acted inappropriately, it's a political decision for Congress to make regarding either impeachment or cutting the military budget.
You break U.S. laws and we can arrest you. And, if you have a nation’s military and Cubans and Chinese protecting you, we will take them out while arresting you.
As far as we’re concerned, being a President of a foreign country doesn’t mean you can deal drugs or, for that matter, engage in human trafficking, counterfeit our money, or kidnap our girls. You’re a criminal, and we can arrest you.
While I’m on the subject, we didn’t recognize Maduro to be President, nor his b*tch to be Vice President. But, that’s neither here nor there. We didn’t invade Venezuela to fix their election. In fact, we didn’t invade Venezuela at all. He arrested a criminal.
Ortega should be on the “next” list.
Only US has no serious interests there.
Brutal horrible dictator so bad even former Sandinistas hate him.
Part of my family is Nicaraguan, been there a number of times working with orphans, street kids and folks that live in the dump.....
PACK SAND
And what about Bin Laden? Obama invaded Pakistan without Paki or Congressional consent, and killed Bin Laden without due process. Sure, Bin Laden is responsible for the death of 3,000 Americans, but I suspect that Maduro's drug war has killed many more people than Bin Laden.
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