This is an adapted excerpt from the Nov. 17 episode of “The Weeknight.”
On Monday, Donald Trump said he would not rule out sending troops into Venezuela, as the U.S. continues to build up its military presence in the region.
“I don’t rule out anything,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We just have to take care of Venezuela.”
Trump’s threat to put boots on the ground comes as the U.S. continues to carry out attacks against alleged narco-terrorists in the Caribbean. In the past two months, the administration has conducted at least 21 strikes on boats, killing more than 80 people who it alleges were trafficking drugs. However, the administration has yet to detail any evidence to support those claims.
You may be asking, “Why is the president so focused on Venezuela?” Getting into Trump’s mind is always complicated, but it’s important to note that this isn’t the only country he has threatened to go to war with.
We started off this administration talking about Trump’s plans to invade Greenland. He’s also threatened to send troops into Mexico and Nigeria. This doesn’t appear to be about any specific country. This is about Trump’s desire to show the world that he is a strongman who can make people bend to his will.
For years, the president has been threatening fire and fury — and now, with an administration full of sycophants and yes-men, there’s no one to tell him “no.”
In addition to bolstering Trump’s strongman bona fides, such aggressive rhetoric is also a perfect vehicle for the president to drive the news cycle and to distract the American people. It feels like a decades-old cliche to talk about wagging the dog, but certainly, an attack on Venezuela would wag the dog. But Trump’s distraction campaign could have huge consequences: Venezuela is not a small country — it has a large population and a massive landmass. This is not without risk. Trump is walking the U.S. right up to the line. It doesn’t matter if it’s Venezuela, Mexico or Nigeria, our so-called America First president appears to be itching for a conflict. On the one hand, Trump wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize. On the other, he wants to go in with guns a-blazing. Allison Detzel contributed.
Charlie Sykes is an MSNBC contributor and the author of the newsletter "To the Contrary."
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