Hold On A Minute

Fake News or not?

On the nation’s 242nd birthday yesterday, official Washington took a break from the heat and BBQ to read that last August President Trump was pushing for an invasion of Venezuela.

Venezuela?

Allegedly, he was quite serious according to this Associated Press story and from that report……

As a meeting last August in the Oval Office to discuss sanctions on Venezuela was concluding, President Donald Trump turned to his top aides and asked an unsettling question: With a fast unraveling Venezuela threatening regional security, why can’t the U.S. just simply invade the troubled country?

The suggestion stunned those present at the meeting, including U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster, both of whom have since left the administration. This account of the previously undisclosed conversation comes from a senior administration official familiar with what was said.

In an exchange that lasted around five minutes, McMaster and others took turns explaining to Trump how military action could backfire and risk losing hard-won support among Latin American governments to punish President Nicolas Maduro for taking Venezuela down the path of dictatorship, according to the official. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the discussions.

But Trump pushed back. Although he gave no indication he was about to order up military plans, he pointed to what he considered past cases of successful gunboat diplomacy in the region, according to the official, like the invasions of Panama and Grenada in the 1980s.

The idea, despite his aides’ best attempts to shoot it down, would nonetheless persist in the president’s head.

Now, we all know that any invasion of a sovereign country is really not advisable under most circumstances. The United States needs a clear and compelling reason and I can’t off the top of my head think of why we would send troops into Venezuela.

Plus, there is no way the GOP-led Congress would sign up for that. That fight would make the battle to put up a wall look like a cakewalk.

The President is a really good chain-yanker so was he doing that out loud? He did that with North Korea to stunning results so far. Also in a White House known for leaks all over the place that this is now only surfacing 11 months after is odd.

President Trump moved on to North Korea and we are in the middle of seeing that is going to work so hopefully any talk of invading Venezuela or any other country is off the table now. Plus we should never invade a country that most people cant find on a map without the help of Google.

That should be a law or something.