President Trump and First Lady Captured; Will Face Trial and Justice in Venezuela
JAN 03, 2026
Sometimes, imagining an opposite scenario can bring folly and illegality into relief.
Imagine if Venezuela attacked the U.S. Imagine if President Trump and Melania Trump were seized, and that the Venezuelan attorney general said they would face justice in Venezuela. I’d imagine that nearly all Americans would see this as an act of war, a gross violation of national sovereignty. American vengeance would be swift.
Of course, this is not Opposite Day. It’s the U.S. that has attacked Venezuela, seizing Maduro and his wife, with U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi vowing “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.”
WTF? After kidnapping foreign leaders in an obvious act of war, we’re then going to try them in U.S. courts as if they’re American citizens subjects? When did U.S. courts become international courts of justice? I know—that’s hardly the worst of it.
The conceit here is stunning, as is the exertion of executive privilege. Apparently, Trump didn’t bother to consult with Congress before launching this war. That is unconstitutional and an impeachable offense.
Yesterday, I was reading about how the Maduro government was open to negotiations with the Trump administration. Today, Maduro is apparently in American hands, kidnapped in a military coup.
I know Trump and others have always lusted after Venezuela’s oil and gas reserves, but seriously? Which country are we going to invade next, which leaders will we kidnap next, using the false pretext of fighting a war on drugs? (Speaking of drugs, it seems like half the ads on TV now are for selling “legal” drugs of one sort or another, featuring lots of smiling happy people; are we going to declare war on Big Pharma?)
I’m tempted to write the U.S. has hit a new low on the international stage, but surely we know lower acts are coming. The optimism of the New Year died so quickly, didn’t it?
Bracing Views 
Crazy world never disappoints. Because I’ve been propagandized on the issue, I can no longer default to “It’s the oil, stupid!” as the reason for U.S. aggression. Conspiracies swirl about global election interference coming out of Venezuela, the illegitimacy of Maduro, and long-term disputes with Guyana about ownership of resources just offshore in the Caribbean. I can’t dispute any of it. The only thing I believe with certainty is that gunboat diplomacy on the part of the U.S. is reckless and establishes a precedent that will boomerang on the U.S. at some point in the future.
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[My Substack entry.]
The Christmas break was a necessary respite from the lunacy of the past year, but I knew it couldn’t last long, that we would have to gird ourselves for its resumption quite early. But I was caught off guard by NYT alerts that came in overnight about Venezuela. More head smacking. Today’s Bracing Views headline came as a welcome bit of humorous anodyne, if only true, there’d be revelry in the streets!
A bit more seriously, I’d find some worthwhile expenditure of the grotesque Pentagon budget if some of it were used for an operation, a la SEAL Team 6, to snatch Netanyahu and Gvir, a la ICE, off the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, wherever Israeli surveillance technology says they are at the moment – how delightful the irony – and whisked off to The Hague. Then I’d say the world made some sense.
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Marco Rubio is a Cuban-American and a fanatic about Cuba. Is Cuba next? I think Trump thinks he is Caesar. 3 more years? Can anything be ruled out? Our Constitution is moot, Trump does what he pleases and the Republican Congress complies. I think there will be a wipeout in the midterms but that is still 10 months away.
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I grabbed the follow from Sam Husseini’s substack…the copying didn’t bring through the links.
“…countries the US government has overthrown since World War II — see list by the late William Blum which I set up after his death in 2019:
Iran 1953
Guatemala 1954
British Guiana 1953-64
Iraq 1963
North Vietnam 1945-73
Cambodia 1955-70
Laos 1958, 1959, 1960
Ecuador 1960-63
Congo 1960
Brazil 1962-64
Dominican Republic 1963
Bolivia 1964
Indonesia 1965
Ghana 1966
Chile 1964-73
Greece 1967
Bolivia 1971
Australia 1973-75
Portugal 1974-76
Jamaica 1976-80
Seychelles 1979-81
Chad 1981-82
Grenada 1983
Fiji 1987
Nicaragua 1981-90
Panama 1989
Bulgaria 1990
Albania 1991
Afghanistan 1980s
Yugoslavia 1999-2000
Ecuador 2000
Afghanistan 2001
Venezuela 2002
Iraq 2003
Haiti 2004
Honduras 2009
Libya 2011
Ukraine 2014 “
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GREAT COMMENT MR ASTORE … VARIOUS AMERICAN PRESIDENTS OVER YEARS HAVE MADE LIFE HELL FOR THE PEOPLE OF VENEZUELA’ AND THEIR VARIOUS PRESIDENTS.. AMERICAN CAN’T STAND SOCIALISM, AND VENEZUELA HAS BUILT MANY THOUSANDS OF HOMES FOR ITS PEOPLE.. THEY NATIONALISED THEIR OWN OIL.. AND AMERICA DISLIKED ALL OF THIS…. THEY APPLIED COMPREHENSIFVE SANCTIONS TO CRIPPLIE THE COUNTRY.. YES AMERICA IS A PLAGUE ON THE EARTH – KAY WEIR, NEW ZEALAND I SEE ALFRED DE ZAYAS FOR MORE ON VENEZUELA
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