Venezuela: Trump's Latest Crime Scene

Venezuela: Our criminal president’s latest crime scene
A blatantly corrupt, anti-democratic and illegitimate president stages a criminal coup. He's not named Maduro

By Andrew O'Hehir
Executive Editor
Published January 3, 2026 5:20PM (EST)


(Salon) There could be a universe adjacent to this one where it might be appropriate, on this deep, dark day in American history, to make obligatory clucking noises about Nicolás Maduro, the now-forcibly-deposed president of Venezuela. But you know what? Forget it. You won’t get that here.

Maduro was bad news, I suppose, but almost certainly wouldn’t have ranked among the world’s top five most disagreeable despots. Far more to the point, Maduro and his actual or alleged misdeeds are almost entirely irrelevant right now. Any effort to “well, actually” the shameful, shocking and blatantly illegal actions of the U.S. government this weekend should choke on the big lump of obvious hypocrisy caught in its throat.

....(snip)....

The unprovoked American invasion of Venezuela, the apparent decapitation of its government and the abduction or kidnapping (or “arrest,” if we must) of Maduro and his wife are signs of both the Trump regime’s strength and its fatal weakness. That isn’t a contradiction, exactly. It’s more like an existential dilemma, both for our bewildered and benighted country and for the world.

On one hand, Donald Trump is tangibly losing popular support, physical strength and cognitive capacity. His administration and his political movement are almost literally bleeding out, plagued by infighting and faced with likely defeat in the upcoming midterm elections. This reckless violation of international law — specifically, if anyone actually cares, a violation of Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter, which states the basic principle that nation-states must respect each other’s sovereignty — is an act of political desperation, like a drunken gambler going all-in on a bad hand at 3 a.m. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/03/venezuela-our-criminal-presidents-latest-crime-scene/