In terms of a military operation, the capture of Maduro - essentially a kidnapping - was nearly flawless. Of course, it helps when you have CIA operatives on the ground paying off Venezuela’s military to stand down, allowing special forces in helicopters to swoop in without resistance, land, do their dirty work and escape without incident. It was like having the LA Rams play a high school team that was paid to miss tackles and not rush the quarterback. No contest. Easy money.

The rationale behind the Venezuelan operation came down to a number of variable the U.S. wished to control: kicking China out of the region, taking control of the flow of oil out of the country, and starving neighboring Cuba, which was receiving most of its oil from the Venezuelans. On those accounts, the U.S. gets a grade A, though future operations remain somewhat questionable.

In the aftermath of the operation, President Trump boldly announced that he would be “running” the country. Thus far, that’s proved to be patently untrue. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez took over after Maduro’s hasty departure, and she has not exactly followed the U.S. playbook and, in fact, has expressed opposition to U.S. endeavors.

The U.S. has, however, for all intents and purposes, taken control of the country’s oil output. Some of it is going to refineries in the Gulf states, bolstering American production and revenue. How much of the money is going back to the citizens of Venezuela is unclear. It’s probably close to nothing, as, from the looks of things, what the U.S. has achieved is just plain resource theft.

Shortly after successfully landing Maduro in New York to face a kangaroo court on trumped-up charges, including, almost humorously, owning machine guns, Trump assembled a gaggle of the largest oil and gas operators in the U.S., seeking investments to improve aging infrastructure in Venezuela to increase the flow of crude. Proving that the administration had no real plan beyond getting Maduro, the oil executives balked, expressing to the president the realities of the energy business. None were excited about investing without guarantees on safety and long term viability. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods said Venezuela was “uninvestable” and the rest of the oil execs seemed to agree. Trump’s response was a promise to cut Exxon Mobil out of the “deal.”

As usual, Trump played the carrot and stick bully, but this time he appears to have eaten the carrot after impaling himself on the stick. At the end of the day, Trump and his megalomaniacal plans boil down to stealing roughly 750,000 barrels of heavy crude a day and choking off Cuba. Nice job.

As far as his ambitions toward obtaining the entirety of the island of Greenland are concerned, he seems to have run into roadblocks at the WEF in Davos, as European nations stood firmly in opposition to his plan to “buy” Greenland. After threatening additional tariffs and causing a one day decline in U.S. stock markets, Trump turned tail, backed off in his usual TACO style, relented on using force and came back from Switzerland empty-handed, though not without declaring victory, with a “framework of a deal” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has no authority in the situation.

So, for now, Trump has no leverage on Greenland and no deal. His foray into the fascist role of dictator and world dominion has been nothing short of complete failure and a near total waste of time. In the long run, Greenland offers little in terms of strategic defense and probably even less in regard to mineral or oil exploration and resource expropriation.

The president seems intent on throwing his considerable political weight around, though for no apparent good reason. Many of his now-former MAGA supporters are questioning his ambitions, wondering how foreign entanglements, piracy, bullying allies, and general thuggery on the world stage fit into the “America First” theme.

I’m one of those who are dissatisfied with President Trump’s approach. To me, putting America first would more involve itself with making the lives of Americans better, battling inflation just a little bit, strengthening the nation’s infrastructure, farmers and small businesses, and maybe addressing the deep divisions that plague our society. Up to this point, he’s done little, if anything, on those fronts. He long ago lost my support - about the time he dismissed Elon Musk and the aspirational DOGE spending cuts.

Before and since then, he’s surrounded himself with billionaires, gone off on wild fishing expeditions, used the military to advance his aims, his wealth, and that of his closest supporters. What he has accomplished, in spades, is spread distrust of government operations and weaken the dollar, leaving American citizens, and, especially, entrepreneurs, flying blind in a snowstorm of shifting priorities, unsound policies, and uncertain prospects.

As an American, and one who voted for him three times, I’m deeply disappointed, to the point at which I’m generally opposed to most of his projects, policies, and plans. He’s done a 360, which I did not see coming and I cannot, in good conscience, support anything he does.

It’s not the first time I’ve been opposed to U.S. policy and probably won’t be the last. I just hope the country survives the next few years of Emperor Trump’s monarchy.

Fearless Rick

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