Empires seem to deploy their powers to the maximum, desisting only when they no longer have the wherewithal. We may soon be reminded that it was American decline that put Mr. Trump in a position to set American foreign policy in the first place.
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Yeah. As someone who hates this move, among others, even I don't see it as weakness. I personally find it scummy, evil, and not our business or in our interests...but it's not weak. It was very technically impressive (even if we likely had a bunch of help from Venezuelan traitors; I believe Maduro was almost certainly handed over), and does probably strengthen America's position. It was quite the coup, pun intended.
Sadly, even if I supported such expansionist actions, I don't think the benefits will trickle down to Americans, so it's still not America First. But it's not weak, either.
If the move allows America, and by extension Americans, to benefit from the stealing and selling of a commodity how is it not America First. If I'm following along correctly this seems to be the crux of most good faith arguers of both side. I believe that is what Caldwell is getting at here. Is this MAGA or not?
Ahahaha...I wish. That would at least be something. But I don't think that will be what happens.
And, as I said, I still see this going badly. Not to mention that we have our eyes set on Iran, Columbia, Cuba, Greenland, and even Canada potentially down the line.
Even if our involvement in Venezuela doesn't go to shit, we're massively pushing our luck here, even if you put the moral issue aside.
I assume you're Devil's Advocating this, because you don't use euphemisms.
So here's a question: do you put your own family first? Of course you do. Now, would you kill your neighbor and pillage and loot his home, even if you could get away with it? There are many places in your country where you can get away with it.
If America wants to be Genghis Khan, that's fine. It also means that the entire world will balance against you.
Depending on the circumstances I would kill innocent people to protect my own.
Most people would. But you're not saying that you would loot and pillage your neighbor in order to further enrich yourself. So are you then not Family First? And if you are, why would America First imply that you have to rob and pillage others because it 'benefits America' (assuming that it does)?
The misconception here is that the US action in Venezuela was simply a manifestation of American expansionism and not a response to expansionism by America's enemies. Venezuela was not just a self-contained hermit kingdom destroying itself with communism and not bothering anyone else. It was a CCP client state in America's backyard, being used as a base from which to coordinate Chinese interference in the US itself. Everything Trump does internationally is about curtailing Chinese interests. Yes, he did then decide that Venezuela's oil is his now, which is kinda shitty, but even that might end up enriching Venezuelans, considering how badly they were managing that resource before.
Highly doubt. Paul Singer owns Venezuela now. Even if quality of life for Venezuelans go up, I said from the beginning - before the coup - that they will have lost their country.
My argument is that they already had lost their country. Whether their government is being run by a Chinese cartel or a cartel made up of American billionaires, it's not theirs. They voted Maduro out and he simply nullified the election and announced he was staying, all the while continuing to sell his country's resources to the CCP in exchange for also indebting his country to the CCP.
You said that 'might makes right', so what possible objection can you have to this?
Absolutely based.