We’ve got you surrounded
Donald Trump has ordered Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro to come out with his hands up. More or less. In one of his Truth Social posts, Trump boasts, “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America.”
It’s a wonder he bothered to qualify it with the words following armada. For the short-fingered vulgarian, everything is about size.
Trump added his signature like-nobody’s-ever-seen verbiage: “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.” That last bit about “Land,” etc. appears completely delusional.
The Associated Press reports:
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy.
Trump’s escalation comes after U.S. forces last week seized an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.
The White House is in damage-control mode over 1) the Pentagon’s Sept. 2 double-tap strike on two defenseless survivors of its (illegal?) missile attack on an alleged drug boat (26 such strikes to-date), 2) Trump’s Truth Social post about Rob Reiner’s murder (a “combination of preposterous grandiosity, obsessive self-regard and gratuitous spite,” per conservative columnist Bret Stephens), 3) the too-revealing Susie Wiles interview with Vanity Fair, and 1) in preparation for the by-law deadline on Friday for the administration to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. And still the peace-prize-envious, “no more stupid wars” president finds time when not watching TV or issuing noxious posts to prepare for a war of choice in South America.
The prospect must make Pete Hegseth’s bikini shorts moist. Hegseth is already under fire from Republican senators for refusing to release the full Sept. 2 follow-up video.
The New York Times has an update this morning:
Where Things Stand
- Blockade: President Trump announced that the United States would impose a blockade on all “sanctioned oil tankers” going to and from Venezuela, in an escalation of the administration’s monthslong pressure campaign against Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela. The move could lead to a drop in revenues that the Venezuelan government and its state-owned oil company get from oil exports. But the announcement left much unclear, including how many oil tankers would be affected. Read more ›
- Boat strikes: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to share video of a heavily scrutinized Sept. 2 military strike on a suspected drug boat during briefings with Congress on Tuesday. Mr. Hegseth faced calls to share unedited video of the attack, in which a follow-up strike killed two survivors, but said he would play it only for the House and Senate Armed Services committees. Mr. Hegseth added that it would not be made public. Read more ›
- Travel ban: President Trump expanded his broad travel restrictions to 20 more countries on Tuesday, limiting travel from several African nations and fully blocking travel from Syria and four other countries, as well for people with travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority. Earlier this month, officials blocked immigration applications for people from the 19 initial travel ban countries, causing panic and canceling citizenship ceremonies.
Tonight is the fourth night of Hanukkah.
Happy Hollandaise everyone