"Police Action" came the terse reply. "We don't talk about that one."

Course by then I'd already signed on the dotted, so...

Last year I went to Grenada, which we invaded in the 80s. They love us for it and have statues of Reagan on the island. Without us, they probably would have suffered the same fate as Cuba.

Where would South Korea be without our intervention? Etc.

learning something new every day…

We definitely accomplished our objective in Grenada, which we invaded. I’d call it winning a war. There were boots on the ground who did what we sent them to do.

Korea was definitely a war and the ostensible purpose was to repel North Korea, which we and our allies did. If that’s not winning a war, what is it?

Also are they in favor to replacing this dictator with another pro-Trump one?

Current US president have a weak spot for every dictator and authoritarian leader in the world: El Salvador, Russia, Hungary, etc.

Might be not the best candidate to deal with dictators...

When your options are being poor, starved to death or dissapeared during the last 25 years, you take any chance for a change

Usually people who end up in power are ones best at shooting others invluding shooting civil politicians.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi

That did not quite go according to plan either. Definitely not a dictatorship but not exactly clean and the end result is not so far off from where they started. Venezuela could easily end up worse than it is today.

Maybe we could write on a legal pad and hold it up in the rear window as we pass them on the highway.

Not always about the right issues, but at least they have the spirit

Are they? Where does that come from?

It's unfair given the reality and importance of the French resistance, but, that's where it comes from.

2. Turn back the clock two decades ago, I'm sure plenty of ex-pat Iraqis wanted Saddam out, but half a million dead and a ten-year civil war and also fucking ISIS may have been a bit above what they were willing to pay. If I were living in a country ruled by a deranged autocrat (...), I too would like to see him removed, but that doesn't mean I'd invite war over it. (And the knives-out-nightly-disappearance repression that will inevitably follow.)

3. Given who Trump sucks up to and appoints, I'm sure he'll find his own monster to replace Maduro with. (The US track record with this in the Americas has been incredibly awful, but I've no doubt that he can set a new lowest bar.) He sure as shit won't be putting some lady who won a peace prize in charge.

Yes, I suppose you have successfully provided a counter-argument to my point, and I have to concede it - there are people with more skin in the game than the average MAGA who want to stick their former neighbours' hands in the fire, to check if it is hot.

Political expats and exiles do tend to favor invasions of their countries more than the people who live in them do, and I've not considered their viewpoints in this.

Over 77 million people voted against Trump.

About 73 million were not old enough to vote.

With the exception of people who have religious beliefs prohibiting voting, it’s saying that you don’t feel strongly enough about the differences between the two candidates to pick one. There are some people who can plead various hardships, but most people don’t have that excuse: it really did come down to thinking their life would be fine either way.

I strongly support national electoral vote reform but it’s important to remember that every election really does matter.

Why did Venezuela become what it is today? Every citizen is responsible for what their country turned into.

Ofcourse I do not expect anyone in the Venezuelan diaspora do any kind of introspection or soul-searching.

Venezuela was a beautiful South American Switzerland and it is all the fault of the evil Cubans.

I'm not saying the rest of the world is in the clear though. I think many countries are headed in a similar direction. Hopefully this is the wakeup call we all need to step up and arrest this slide into authoritarianism that's happening everywhere.

Do you know why?

We don't even elect Presidents based on getting a majority (or even plurality) of all voters who actually vote, though the method actually used usually (but not always) also happens to elect the person who does that.

That Trump is even near the reigns of power is obviously an indictment of many facets of American culture and politics, but it doesn't really wash out to every individual American bearing responsibility the way you're suggesting here.

And its hard to see the nuance from the outside when all you hear are threats of economic turmoil, death, destruction and war. Every action of the american government regarding my country has been hostile so far, so forgive me for loosing my patience with the american public. All that talk about "land of the free, home of the brave", but as soon as their government threatens the "free world" americans fold over like lawnchairs. Its incredibly dissapointing.

We're all stuck with some shared ownership for what our country does even if we detest it.

Many of his ardent supporters are confused as to what we’re doing in Venezuela right now and feel it’s the opposite of what they voted for.

You certainly don’t expect this level of surprises from someone’s second term, but the unprecedented path of his political career has certainly made it much different.

In America one guy can start wars.

I mean, evidently not.

Thanks

The whole "oh yes, our military is active, but we aren't at war, and yes, the president tweeted about that" spiel is just untenable and ridiculous.

That is why this administration is leaning heavily into calling the drug traffickers "narco-terrorists" and calling fentanyl their "weapon of mass destruction". They're covering their ass legally so they can invade another country without congressional approval.

This is what they're using, the legal theory is basically tren de aragua cartel and their drugs is an "invasion" of the USA and is "sufficiently connected" to the Venezuelan government to trigger the act's wartime powers.