One thing we all learned in elementary school as kids, when you are in some kind of trouble, find someone else to pick on or blame. One thing every politician knows as well, war makes for good poll numbers. We are seeing both of these play out in real time right now and trump decided to illegally invade Venezuela, kill 40 people, and abduct Venezuela’s corrupt president and his wife.
donald trump is, unsurprisingly, horrible at his job. The government is beyond dysfunctional as it is being run by people who frankly have no idea what they are doing other than cause mayhem and harm. And they seem to enjoy it. So, what do you do when you have ZERO good ideas and Jeffrey Epstein will not go away? You invade another country!
Nicolas Maduro has long been a terrible human being and is illegally occupying his office because he stole the election. Hmmm, makes me wonder why trump didn’t actually like the guy. No, out of the blue, trump instead invaded Venezuela and kidnapped Maduro and his wife and brought them to New York to face multiple charges in our court system. Having Maduro in the United States means we now have two presidents in our country who have held on to power through illegality and oppression. The only question up for debate is who is worse?
Of course, abducting Maduro violates a boatload of federal and international laws. But when you are the most powerful country in the world those rules do not apply. When you are donald trump, no rules apply. And just as expected, Republicans in the House and Senate are applauding trump’s illegal move while Democrats are mutedly objecting to being shut out of the plans. Republicans are just happy they will get a couple of news cycles they don’t have to defend the way this administration is mishandling the economy, conducting state-sponsored terror, or covering up trump’s sick connections with Jeffrey Epstein.
War makes for good poll numbers and good profits for war profiteers.
But now the United States will have to run Venezuela and make no mistake, Maduro was not the only bad guy in the Venezuelan government. Just like our illegal and stupidly-run invasion of Iraq, oppressive governments are not constructed from just one bad person. There are numerous people in powerful positions in Venezuela who helped steer the repressive infrastructure that caused thousands upon thousands to flee that country. Do you also fly them to New York to stand trial? And if you do, aren’t you doing the one thing you have pledged to not do for your administration – not allow into the United States more nonwhite criminals?
And if you leave them in Venezuela, do you move them out of power and start over entirely with new people? Hmmm, if only we had an example to follow per this exact conundrum. We do! We faced a very similar situation in Iraq when we illegally and stupidly invaded that country to remove Sadam Hussein under the made-up auspices that removing him would bring peace to that part of the world and to the United States. George W. Bush was wrong then and he and his administration did an absolutely horrible job of managing that war. Does anyone think this current buffoon will do any better?
Further, I know trump has no capacity to think ahead, or to just think for that matter, but what kind of signal is this guy sending the rest of the world? He has made ridiculous statements about invading numerous other countries and now they literally have to take this guy seriously. This has done absolutely nothing to create peace. It has done the exact opposite.
The truth is that while war makes for good poll numbers and good profits for a few, the way of peace is actually the only way to build prosperous and just societies. I am always drawn to the two visions in Isaiah and Micah. Here is what prophesied in Micah:
In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s temple shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised up above the hills. Peoples shall stream to it, and many nations shall come and say: ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that God may teach us God’s ways and that we may walk in God’s paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. God shall judge between many peoples and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
War, especially when you spend $1 trillion a year on weapons and defense contractors, is easy and profitable for a few. The way of peace is challenging and difficult but so much more profitable for everyone. The way of peace requires that we acknowledge that we are unable to settle our disputes through force; it requires humility. The way of peace demands that we actively participate in the transformation of our national war economies into solidarity economies as we will beat out swords into plowshares. But the result will be that everyone will live in a space where their needs are taken care of and shalom will be known by all people.
There is no doubt in my mind that this administration is not interested in peace at all. The way of peace is never achieved through illegal and violent means and that describes everything this administration does. But make no doubt, trump will see some good poll numbers out of this for a short time. And that was the whole reason.
