The political takeover of Venezuela does not appear to be going according to plan, if there ever was a plan. A day after the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, President Donald Trump used the phrase 'run the country.' A day later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio watered it down to 'running policy' and made the next phase sound more like a series of strong suggestions. Trump also publicly suggested that Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez might cooperate with the United States. But then Rodriguez gave a televised address saying Venezuela 'will never return to being the colony of another empire.' Trump followed that up with a threat, delivered through an interview with The Atlantic: 'If she doesn't do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.' Unlike the precise military operation that whisked Maduro out of Venezuela, the political follow-up seems like improvisation and chaos, but maybe chaos is the point. In this...
learn more
