An Insecure or the Most Insecure President?

Posted: January 19, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. (Getty Images)

Today is a federal holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, despite the current administration’s efforts. Thanks to Trump’s anti-DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) efforts, you cannot get into a national park today without paying, which we used to be able to do today and as is done on several federal holidays. However, for the first time you can now get in for free on June 14. Although that is Flag Day in the United States — which is not a federal holiday — one can get in for free because it is Trump’s birthday, according to the official website of the National Park Service. Nothing is awarded to anyone without Trump becoming jealous and trying to take it for himself. We have a six year old for a president. I am sorry he is so insecure about how people view him, but his insecurity is ruining our country.

Like most bullies, nothing is ever enough. The primary opposition leader in Venezuela Maria Corina Machado earned the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize that Trump insisted should be his. Last week Ms. Machado presented her Nobel medal to Trump, hoping that he would help her to get rid of the Maduro regime in Venezuela and help to move the country towards democracy. Instead she got a bag of Trump “merch” and a photo op. Trump prefers to work with the murderous Maduro regime — every member of that dictatorship remains in power except for Nicolas Maduro himself — rather than to help the people of Venezuela improve their lives. Taking someone else’s Nobel Peace Prize and pretending it is your own is cringe worthy. I am embarrassed for the man and for our country.

But it gets even more ridiculous and yet serious. It could be the focus of many a psychiatrists’ case study, but this has real world consequences.

Trump sent a text (!) to the Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Store informing him that because Norway did not give him the Peace Prize — as we all know, the government of Norway does not pick the winners, an independent five member committee decides, as it has since 1901 (“life is hard, but it’s harder when you’re stupid”) — he was going to take Greenland, which is a semi-independent territory of Denmark. The text was later put into a demarche, or letter, to other governments and delivered to their Ambassadors. Here is the text (punctuation, grammar and capitalization as in the original):

“Dear Jonas, Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United State of America. Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only a boat that landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT“

Wow. There is so much to unpack there it is hard to know where to begin. Once again, it shows a complete and utter misunderstanding — ignorance? — of how NATO works. We have military access to Greenland and Denmark has been our staunchest ally for over two hundred years. If we want to build more bases, they would allow it. You have heard the arguments before, so, what is really going on?

One explanation might be what always drives Trump. Money. Greenland is rich in natural resources, and probably has vast deposits of rare earth minerals which are crucial to burgeoning industries. But again, through diplomacy and cooperation the U.S. could get access to those minerals.

As the sea ice continues to recede due to climate change, year round passages are beginning to appear in the Arctic region. This opens up new commercial shipping routes and also has military implications. The solution, again, is NATO. Obviously Russia has a long coastline on the Arctic Ocean, but so does Canada, a member of NATO as well as the U.S. and Scandinavian countries.

The Artic map created by U.S. State Department geographers.

In 2023 to prevent a president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO, Senators Kaine (D-VA) and Rubio (R-FL) (hmmm) successfully included a provision in the 2024 National Defense Appropriations Act that requires a two-thirds majority of the Senate or a law passed by the entire Congress in order to withdraw from NATO. Legal experts differ as to the effectiveness of that provision and possible efforts to litigate it in court. Trump claims that as president, he alone has the power to withdraw.

But there is another way. Get kicked out.

This is what Trump’s game plan may be and it is back to Russia, Russia, Russia again. Nothing would please Vladimir Putin more than to see the U.S. withdraw from — or get kicked out of — Europe and Trump always defaults to what Putin wants. If the U.S. leaves NATO, under any circumstance, there will be many “Ukraines” as Putin endeavors to re-create the Russian Empire. In the worst case scenario for most of the world — but the best case for Russia — if the U.S. tries to take Greenland by force, and Denmark invokes Article Five of the treaty which says that an attack on one country is an attack on all, and other former allies respond to the U.S. attack, fighting could break out. The U.S. would be at war with its allies. Unthinkable? Of course. At least until the last few months. Reporting indicates that senior military officials in the Pentagon are pushing back hard on any use of the U.S. military in Greenland or anywhere else protected by NATO. It is not clear whether they will be listened to at all. Numerous NATO countries have already moved military forces to Greenland for “exercises.” Even if no fighting breaks out, irreparable harm has been done to our relationship with Europe. Put simply, we are no longer trustworthy or a reliable ally.

Trump threatened to put tariffs on the nations leading the resistance to his taking Greenland. (Which is an entirely different area of discussion as we await a Supreme Court decision as to the legality of existing tariffs.) Perhaps the European Union (EU) will respond in a way that creates a financial crisis for the U.S. They could impose their own tariffs, or sell U.S. assets or bonds or block U.S. firms from doing business in Europe. If other former, but not NATO, friends and allies do the same our economy will collapse.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that several NATO countries are limiting or stopping their intelligence cooperation with the U.S., especially with respect to Ukraine, because of suspicions that the information may be shared with Russia by U.S. intelligence agencies. We are markedly less secure than we were one year ago.

The lawlessness continues in other areas. Last Friday the Department of Justice (DOJ) told a federal judge that they do not have to follow the law and release the Epstein files because the law has no enforcement mechanism and no entity or person has standing to sue them to force their release. All that I can think is that there must really be something that they want to hide.

Meanwhile, in addition to 3,000 Immigration and Border Patrol agents terrorizing the streets of Minnesota, the Department of Defense (DOD) issued a Warning Order (notification to prepare to deploy) to 1500 paratroopers to move from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage Alaska to Minneapolis. The DOJ also announced that they are pursuing a criminal investigation into Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for allegedly conspiring to obstruct federal immigration enforcement, despite their mostly successful efforts to keep protests peaceful. The Trump regime is clearly trying to provoke a serious incident so that they can take over a major American city as an “example” to the rest of the country to stay in line with their repressive policies.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are in deep trouble.

As our government acts in our name to prop up a murderous dictatorship, attack our allies, suppress our fellow citizens, and break the law, we can try to take a moment on this day meant to honor a great American man of peace and remember his thoughts on peace and justice.

“True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.“

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.“

Dr. Martin Luther King (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968)

Show Me Your Papers!

Posted: January 14, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A 1938 German poster used throughout the country but especially in Austria after the Anschluss or the German annexation of Austria. It translates to “One People, One Nation, One Leader!” Last Saturday the United States Department of Labor posted a video that projected the slogans “One Homeland! One People! One Heritage! Remember Who You Are, American!“

A poster placed on “X” by the Department of Homeland Security. The caption read “Protect. Serve. Deport.” This is one of a series of such posters, all depicting white men in heroic and patriotic settings, as part of their “wartime recruitment” effort.

As events in Minnesota continue to spiral out of control, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Border Patrol (BP) agents are escalating their response to the peaceful demonstrations protesting the occupation of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Rather than de-escalating the situation and attempting to restore calm, they are using ever stronger tactics that are clearly meant to intimidate and abuse American citizens. There are believed to now be more than 3,000 federal agents in the area. That is more than the entire police departments of the two cities combined. Technically, there are two federal operations under way. One is Operation PARRIS (Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening) aimed at eliminating refugee fraud — in other words, directed at the Somali population in the region. (One might ask why there is not an army of accountants deployed to the city vice ICE.) The other is Operation Metro Surge aimed at combatting “illegal immigration and crime.” As a result, many American citizens are increasingly being assaulted (choke holds, knees to the back or neck, cars broken into and the occupants drug across the ground, not to mention the unprovoked killing of Renee Nicole Good). Yesterday, Trump posted on social media at the end of a long screed aimed at the citizens of Minnesota and the denunciation of President Joe Biden, “FEAR NOT, GREAT PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA, THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!” (All caps in the original. Because, of course….) In fact, the post was meant to intimidate American citizens, not to calm their fears.

The 1930’s style posters I displayed above are only a fraction of those in use by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Labor. They have also taken famous paintings by Norman Rockwell, Thomas Kinkade, Morgan Weistling and other artists and used them, without permission, in posters with words and slogans not intended in the originals, despite protests and condemnation by the families and estates of the artists. It is pure propaganda promoting a vision of America that never existed except in the minds of those yearning for something they never experienced. The images and phrases clearly leave no room for the diverse society we now have in the United States. It subtly, or not so subtly, promotes a “pure” nation of white Christian nationalists with men clearly in charge. All “others” are not welcome. The message to those that protest the deportations and thug like tactics of federal agents is that such people are not true Americans and are in fact, enemies to be defeated, humiliated and brutalized — maybe even rounded up and imprisoned. It is no accident that Renee Good was immediately branded a “domestic terrorist.” There will be no investigation into the shooting by the Department of Justice (DOJ), only into the background of Renee Good and her widow who are accused of being part of a vast left-wing conspiracy to create an insurrection. As a result, at least six federal prosecutors in DOJ resigned in protest.

Wake up America! This is no accident or series of accidental events. This is a concerted effort to display the uninhibited power of the federal government to crush dissent. Support Trump and his policies or be trampled. In my view, the events in Minnesota are a dress rehearsal for ever greater repression leading up to the mid-term elections. Trump’s private para-military force on our streets is getting larger and larger everyday as they grow ever less inhibited in trying to intimidate all of us who do not support them. When they say that there will be no investigation of the shooting, when they pardon all of the January 6th insurrectionists, and they repeatedly tell the thugs in tactical gear that the administration “has their back” they are telling those agents that anything goes and that there will be no accountability. That should scare the bejesus out of all of us.

Recall that shortly after his second inauguration Trump posted on social media that “He who serves his Country does not violate any Law.” He also claimed that he would be a dictator, but “only for one day.” Last week in an interview with the New York Times he explained that he is not bound by international law or anything else. The only thing limiting his power is “my own mind.” Trump is asserting that he has unlimited authority which completely rejects the Constitution and our long political and legal traditions.

There is no law that requires U.S. citizens to always have some form of identification on them to prove that they are citizens. However, that is not stopping ICE and BP agents from demanding proof of citizenship. There are increasing numbers of videos and eyewitness accounts documenting that it is happening. If someone does not look “American” they are likely to be detained, questioned and told to provide proof of citizenship. If they do not have it in their possession at the time, they are arrested and taken away. It is happening with increasing frequency.

The “f word” has been overused in recent years — that is fascism. However, there are several examples in history that are eerily similar to what is happening in our country. Fascism is not some theoretical idea that academics debate. It is a specific political movement that prioritizes the nation over the individual and manifests through nationalism, militarism and the suppression of enemies of the state. Those enemies are particular ethnic groups, religious groups or opponents of the ruling regime. Fascism is a governing structure, it is more than just an idea. A self-declared small group of people claims ultimate authority to run the country. It disavows democratic norms and rejects equal rights under the law. Then the powerful leader fuses the power of the state with the power of big businesses and the military to run the country. The virtue of brute strength is idolized. It includes disdain for the role of women in positions of leadership and fears non-traditional sexual identities. By inventing enemies, declaring national emergencies or acting in the name of national security, their power is used to control the population. Elections are rigged and therefore of little meaning. The media is controlled to feed the population only the propaganda that serves those in power. Other “elites” — academics, journalists, opposition political parties, intellectuals and the rest — are used as targets to enrage the population by claiming that the average person has been tricked out of their share of the wealth and power by those elites.

“You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong.” “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” From Trump’s speech to his supporters on 6 January 2021.

I do not think it is inevitable that we will fall into the depths of a fascist society, but the Trump regime is sure trying to get there. Increasingly, everyday people are pushing back. I think that pushback will only grow, but it is not going to be easy to unseat the regime in power. Most importantly, that pushback must be peaceful, calm, but unyielding. The Trump regime is looking for an opportunity to crack down even more and in more areas. As the DHS army grows, more cities will be targeted. Do not be fooled by the propaganda. Thank goodness for cell phones — a statement I did not think I would make — because the videos and pictures are the easiest and best way to counter the propaganda. Stay safe out there.

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” George Orwell in the novel 1984.

Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes

Posted: January 10, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

An “X” post by Katie Miller, White House staffer and wife of Stephen Miller Deputy Chief of Staff, regarding questions about the U.S. taking over Greenland.

The new year is only ten days old and already I am exhausted by all of the shenanigans pulled by the Trump regime. Trump and his advisers are dropping any pretense of trying to persuade us, as citizens, that their actions are in our best interests. From Venezuela to Minnesota we now know that they have only their own best interests guiding them. International, national or local laws are only guidelines. If the law is not convenient to get what they want, then damn the law, they will do it anyway. Am I exaggerating? No. Let Stephen Miller, the power behind Trump’s throne explain the world view of Trump and his advisers. In an interview earlier this week with Jake Tapper of CNN he explained (actually he shouted, as he does in every interview I have seen) how they will act towards Greenland.

“The United States should have Greenland as part of the United States. There’s no need to even think or talk about this in the context that you’re asking, of a military operation. Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.” Then he added more.“We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.”

Will we really invade Greenland? I have no idea. There is no strategic reason to do so, despite the lies coming from the administration. Greenland is a semi-independent Danish territory. The Danes are, perhaps, our strongest and most supportive ally in NATO. There are treaties and agreements that go back to the early 1950’s about the use of Greenland for military activity. If the U.S. wanted to build another base there (we have one already called Pituffik Space Base formerly known as Thule Air Force Base) we could and the Danes and Greenlanders would welcome it. Greenland is on the western flank of the Greenland, Iceland, U.K. Gap (GIUK Gap). That gap is the avenue used by Russian naval forces, especially their ballistic missile submarines, to get from the ice free year-round port in Murmansk to the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. NATO has significant anti-submarine warfare (ASW) assets monitoring the gap. There is no military reason for the U.S. to occupy Greenland or to take it away from Denmark.

There is only one real reason and it is the same as for our incursion into Venezuela. Trump wants it. He wants to dominate the Western Hemisphere and he wants to demonstrate his domination. He also wants to make money off any endeavor that the U.S, undertakes, but that is almost a given after nearly a year of watching his policy decisions from tariffs to oil to the rare earth elements believed to be in large deposits in Greenland. Trump has no desire to be a part of, or abide by any international treaty. Last week he withdrew the U.S. from sixty-six international organizations.

Everything that Trump and his minions said about Venezuela were lies. Many of us knew it at the time, but now the whole world knows it. It was never about drugs, or democracy or giving Venezuelans a better life, it was simply another grab for money in the form of oil. We sent our sons and daughters and husbands and wives into full-fledged combat so that Trump can look tough and steal oil. Does that make our military forces mercenaries? Fighting for money? Of course, as usual, he did not know what he was talking about because either none of his Cabinet members did their homework, or because Trump did not listen, but the truth remains, U.S. oil companies have mostly moved on from Venezuela and have no intention of going back.

As usual, as multiple oil executives explained to him yesterday as to why they were not interested, Trump waved his hand and promised to make the real world problems go away. As one of my favorite sayings goes, “nothing is impossible for the person that doesn’t have to do it.” (I am no geologist or oil industry expert, but even I know that Venezuelan oil is hard to extract, hard to refine, the infrastructure would have to be rebuilt costing at least 100 billion dollars and the government and internal unrest are not conducive to safe operations any time in the near future. Not to mention that the cost of oil right now is low and therefore barely profitable and U.S. producers use a lot of U.S. and Canadian shale oil.)

Here is the real “tell.” At last count we have already seized five “ghost” tankers that are headed to the U.S. worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Trump announced that Venezuela will “give” us the oil now in storage in Venezuela because of the embargo. All together, that oil could be worth several billion dollars. Earlier he announced on Truth Social, “this oil will be sold at its market price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” CNN reports that the money will not go into the U.S. Treasury. Instead it will “utilize a collection of international oil traders and offshore bank accounts to sell the oil and manage the resulting cash.” A billion dollar slush fund for Trump! What could go wrong? Does anyone still doubt what the real purpose of the incursion into Venezuela was all about? Does Congress remember that we have a Constitution? Article I gives control of the purse strings to Congress, but I have little hope of anything coming from them to check his power.

This same lawless exercise of raw power is evident in our domestic policies as well. One example is ignoring the law — not a request, not a subpoena, not a committee hearing — to turn over the Epstein files. They were to be turned over by 19 December and now the Department of Justice (DOJ) is saying that they have released less than one percent of the documents in the file. We should not expect to see any real progress on that front anytime soon, if at all. Stonewall. Deflect. Ignore. We know the routine by now.

More tragically are the efforts to remove immigrants from our country. Many, not all, that are being rounded up and hunted down are here legally, either through the Temporary Protective Status (TPS) program or because they followed the rules and officially applied for asylum. A mere fraction are “the worst of the worst.” As reported in the New Republic, on New Year’s Eve the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency announced a new 100 million dollar recruitment effort that ICE called “a wartime recruitment” strategy that will target people “who have attended UFC fights, listened to patriotic podcasts, or shown an interest in guns and tactical gear.” Starting last summer, they used social media to advertise the hiring of more agents as a chance to “Serve your country! Defend your culture! No undergraduate degree required!” Since then they have reportedly hired 12,000 new agents, more than doubling the size of the agency. I will not speculate on the quality of the hires, or the extremely shortened training they receive, but when it is all put together, there is a troubling theme to the recruitment effort. Think about the term “defend your culture.” Do you honestly believe that they are appealing to Jews, Muslims, Latinos or any other minority group in our country? There is a very specific type of person they are hiring and while the horrific killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis has sparked protests around the country, we can probably expect more killing. Our highest government officials lied about the situation before her body was removed from the scene. The ICE agent that shot her is on tape after he shot her and as she crashed saying “f***ing b*itch.” As if she deserved to get shot in the face three times for trying to help her neighbors. There is a sense for those within this administration that they are untouchable. No one is held accountable. If there was any doubt that a cover-up would ensue, that doubt was erased when the FBI announced that no Minnesota or Minneapolis law enforcement agencies would be included in the investigation of the murder of Renee or be allowed access to evidence.

We need to protest, peacefully but clearly. This is not the America I love and served for twenty eight years. It is important to remain calm but resolute. My gut tells me that Trump is hoping that these various confrontations result in a major escalation of violence so that he can declare martial law and cancel the upcoming elections, or at least severely inhibit them, under the guise of national security, their go to explanation for everything illegal that they do. But, don’t take my word for it. Here is Trump talking to a gathering of Republicans. “You gotta win the midterms ’cause, if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just gonna be – I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me, I’ll get impeached.”

He is weaponizing the government and his supporters. When his administration tells ICE and other instruments of repression that “we’ve got your backs” he is telling them that anything goes. For proof, look no further than pardoning all of those that tried to overthrow our government. Then, last week on 6 January, the fifth anniversary of the coup, an official website of the United States of America went up that repeated every lie ever told about that day. (You can find it here. Be ready to be disgusted.) According to the official government website, “peaceful patriots” were framed that day. The attempted coup was really staged by Democrats with the help of the law enforcement officers at the capitol.

There are no limits. Trump believes that he can do whatever he wants and take whatever he wants. Or as he said in response to a New York Times question about obeying international laws and treaties, “I don’t need international law, I’m not looking to hurt people.” He was asked if there were limits to what he could do and he replied, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

Stay vigilant.

The Pottery Barn Rule

Posted: January 3, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, aboard the USS Iwo Jima after his capture, is seen in this handout image posted by U.S. President Donald Trump on Truth Social Jan. 3, 2026. 

The Pottery Barn Rule is that “if you break it, you own it.” The saying was popularized by then Secretary of State Colin Powell in advising President George W. Bush in 2002 prior to the military invasion of Iraq. It originated, according to Bob Woodward, then with the Washington Post, when the Secretary told the President that, “You are going to be the proud owner of 25 million people. You will own all their hopes, aspirations, and problems. You’ll own it all.”  As of today, we now have the same situation in Venezuela.

Early this morning, U.S. forces “arrested” Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a coordinated joint force operation in Caracas. Technically, the U.S. military was supporting the FBI, also on the raid, who made the actual arrest. Maduro was first indicted in March 2020. A new superseding indictment was unsealed this year. The complicated raid went off very well and the women and men of the U.S. Armed Forces should be congratulated and praised for their professionalism, bravery and ability to pull it off without the loss of personnel or equipment. It was a great tactical success. The Venezuelan president and first lady will be taken to the United States later today and held on drug trafficking and weapons charges.

Unfortunately, a great tactical success may turn out to be a strategic disaster.

Every senior military officer is taught about a “policy-strategy match.” In dealing with Venezuela there was and is a huge policy-strategy mismatch. For months the Trump administration has been arguing that the reason for their attacks on fishing boats is to stop drugs from getting to the U.S. The policy was to stop the flow of drugs. The strategy — blowing up small fishing boats, whether or not drugs were on board — would never stop that flow. It is a complete mismatch. Fifteen thousand uniformed Americans and a carrier strike group were not there to interdict drugs. As we have all come to know, most lethal drugs such as fentanyl come from Mexico. Few drugs are actually created in Venezuela, it is more of a transit station for cocaine headed to Europe. Indeed, Trump pardoned a convicted drug king pin, the former president of Honduras Juan Fernando Hernandez, who was sentenced to forty-five years in prison. It was never about drugs.

Then there were rumblings about “regime change.” From a military perspective, what does that mean? It is way too vague of a concept to build a strategy to accomplish it. Regime change is more than just removing the head of government. The regime consists of countless government officials, military officers and units, police, intelligence services, bank officials and on and on. To carry out regime change means a whole of government response. It includes political and economic forces and officials, not just the military. Today Trump administration officials tried to put the arrest of Maduro in the compartment labeled “narco-terrorism.” It is not about that. (Please do not misunderstand me. Maduro is a bad guy. I have no sympathy for him at all. But there are lots of bad guys around the world. Why this one? Let’s look at the larger implications.)

It is about oil and Trump setting himself up as the king of the Western Hemisphere. That was clear from his “speech” and answers to questions at Mar-A-Lago today. It is about power and riches and our profound “right” to both, even at the expense of the sovereignty of other nations. As he explained today, “All the way back, it dated to the Monroe Doctrines and the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal. But we’ve superseded it by a lot, by a real lot. They now call it the Monroe Doctrine. I don’t know, it’s Don-roe Doctrine. We sort of forgot about it. It was very important, but we forgot about it. We don’t forget about it anymore.”

The first rule of strategic planning is defining the end state. Trump set out vague guidelines today that to put into coherent terms means the U.S. will take Venezuelan oil. That is his desired end state. But as anyone that has planned anything knows, one also needs to think through the steps to get there and do the cost benefit analysis as to whether it is worth it. None of that appears to have been done in this case.

Oh. Oh.

The flawless military plan was fantastic. Now what? What we got today was a vague assurance that “we” — the United States — would “run” Venezuela until we transition to a new government that can take over. That could be a year or more, according to Trump. Meanwhile, when asked specifically who the “we” are and did that mean U.S. military forces would occupy the country, all I could figure out that he said was “maybe.” Clearly, no one — at least no one at the top — has thought much about what comes next. That is dangerous.

Maduro may be gone but his regime remains intact. The paramilitary enforcers remain intact. The drug lords remain intact. The corrupt officials that bankrupted the country remain intact. And so on. The country is 353,841 square miles in size (roughly twice the size of California) with a population of about 30 million people. Most of the population lives north of the Orinoco River and 88 percent live in urban areas. How is the U.S. going to run that with bureaucrats sitting in Washington D.C.? Trump promises the Venezuelans a wonderful new life of prosperity using oil money. How does that work on a day to day basis? Especially since he also said that the oil money would go to the companies that had their oil and land “stolen” in the 1970s. (They did not have it stolen. They never owned it.) Who supplies medical treatment, groceries, sanitation and all the other things we now take for granted in modern cities? There are significant humanitarian needs that must be met when running another country.

From the way Trump talked today, he was only interested in the oil. Perhaps they will put troops into the oil region to guard the workers employed by the American oil companies that he promises will have everything up and running in no time. What about the rest of the country? Even if he is only interested in the oil areas, massive amounts of troops, far more than are in the Caribbean right now, will be needed to provide security. Those troops will need logistical support. That means getting ports and airfields working and moving supplies efficiently which means even more troops.

We learned some hard lessons in the early part of this century in Iraq. We learned some in Afghanistan as well. It is hard to convert a foreign country into a working democracy. We gave up in both Iraq and Afghanistan because it was too hard, but only after we had lost a lot of lives and treasure. Here is another secret from those experiences — civilian planners thought the U.S. military would be welcomed as heroes because they got rid of the dictators. While they were glad that they were gone, they did not want foreigners in their country. Who pays the police and Venezuelan military when things start to fall apart? Will we disarm them? What if they do not want to be disarmed? In Iraq the police and military units were suddenly without any income, but they still had weapons and were mad as hell. That is not a good combination.

Not once today did Trump, or Rubio or Hegseth mention anything about elections and the transition of power except in passing in response to a question. The Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado was not consulted or informed of the pending arrest of Maduro. She would be the logical choice for a new government to coalesce around but today Trump said about her, “I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country. A very nice woman, but she doesn’t have the respect.” Maybe he is just jealous that she won the prize and he did not.

It is also necessary to point out that no one in the House or Senate was notified of the impending raid. They were only told about it afterwards. Once more, the branch of the government responsible for declaring war was left out in the cold.

Equally troubling is the impact that this action had on our friends, allies and adversaries around the world. From many of their viewpoints, the U.S. declared open season to hunt down anyone in any country if they are deemed a criminal. Sovereignty went out the window as the U.S. demonstrated that anything goes. Further, in his remarks, Trump vaguely threatened the presidents of Colombia and Mexico. Apparently, if Trump wants it he will take it. So much for the rule of law.

We now own Venezuela. I have no idea how that will play out. It could be all talk and no action after nabbing Maduro Trump may forget all about taking over and running Venezuela. He does have an extremely short attention span. We will see.

Happy New Year.