Althouse: "President Donald Trump on Monday pleaded with Venezuela’s military to support opposition leader Juan Guaido..."

February 18, 2019

"President Donald Trump on Monday pleaded with Venezuela’s military to support opposition leader Juan Guaido..."

"... and issued a dire warning if they continue to stand with President Nicolas Maduro’s government. 'You will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You will lose everything... We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open.'... In remarks broadcast on state television, Maduro accused the U.S. president of speaking in an 'almost Nazi style' and lashed out at Trump for thinking he can deliver orders to Venezuela’s military. 'Who is the commander of the armed forces, Donald Trump from Miami?' Maduro said. 'They think they’re the owners of the country.'... Trump said that 'socialism has so completely ravaged' Venezuela 'that even the world’s largest reserves of oil are not enough to keep the lights on... This will never happen to us.... Socialism promises prosperity, but it delivers poverty.... Socialism is dying and liberty, prosperity and democracy are being reborn' throughout the hemisphere, Trump said, expressing hope that soon, 'This will become the first free hemisphere in all of human history.'"

AP reports. I watched the speech live. Here's the video:

I was surprised that on the channel I was watching — Fox News — the analysis after the speech was about the 2020 presidential campaign. This was a political speech, the panelists informed us, and Trump was setting up his anti-socialism theme which he hoped would serve him well seeking reelection.

I thought that analysis was in extremely poor taste. People in Venezuela are suffering. They're starving. We need to help. I thought Trump was trying to get something done, but the news folk rush to talk about the damned campaign, as if that's what sophisticated, savvy people do. I found it offensive.

Even if it's true Trump doesn't really give a damn about anything except his own political fortunes, he pretended he did. Couldn't they at least pretend for the first 5 minutes to care about the people of Venezuela?

77 comments:

Big Mike said...: I am with you on this, Althouse. Socialism may be, but then again might not be, an issue in November 2020, but the people of Venezuela are suffering NOW.; 2/18/19, 7:54 PM
JackWayne said...: What I think is happening is that Trump is pressuring Latin American presidents to do what needs to be done. I hope they respond. The way to become an adult nation is to BE an adult when tough choices need to be made. But my hope is low. The countries around Venezuela continue to accept their refugees without protest.; 2/18/19, 7:59 PM
stevew said...: I've been convinced by his actions of the last couple of years that he does care about these things for their own sake, without regard to the electoral impact. MAGA, Venezuela, the border, all of it.; 2/18/19, 8:00 PM
tcrosse said...: Presumably, Trump addressing the humanitarian crisis in and around Venezuela is a vanity project.; 2/18/19, 8:00 PM
Danno said...: The Venezuelan economy has been going down for most of the last 10 years, with the decline accelerating after the oil price crash in 2014-2015. It was declining before that since the nationalized Venezuelan oil company has been producing less every year since the technical petroleum managers were replaced by cronies. I believe there was some coverage saying the average Venezuelan lost 19 pounds in 2017. The medical facilities have not had most medicines for a very long time.; 2/18/19, 8:03 PM
n.n said...: He could wait, but there is a pressing need to confront climate change in Venezuela, and enact emigration reform, notably security on the ground, to limit a refugee crisis in progress.; 2/18/19, 8:04 PM
buwaya said...: The world really does exist, but it is generally irrelevant or only tangentially so, to US politics.

That is because the most pressing question in the US is who is to be master.
Thats how it is in a state of conflict, of total all-but-war, which has been building for years.

PS, check out Lara Logan interview, from Friday, with Mike Ritland, hosted on Breitbart and elsewhere. Long interview, and this business comes up - notably the lack of interest in the withrawal from Iraq in 2011-13. She really burns her bridges here.

Brave woman, vivacious, quick witted and beautiful. I never noticed especially, but so she is, remarkably so at age 47. And she requires no coconut milk.; 2/18/19, 8:04 PM
Seeing Red said...: He feels their pain.; 2/18/19, 8:04 PM
Ken B said...: To steal a phrase, this is what they do, this is who they are.; 2/18/19, 8:06 PM
Josephbleau said...: I can’t understand why democrats still support Maduro. They should cut and run now. When they want to re-establish communisim later somewhere else they can just say it was not implemented properly in Venezuela. It just shows how smart the people in Honduras were to resist the Obama Hillary attempt to establish a dictatorship.; 2/18/19, 8:11 PM
MBunge said...: I want the U.S. to stay FAAAAAAAAAR away from any kind of intervention in Venezuela. It's depressing, however, to see leftists like Glenn Greenwald work themselves into a frenzy about the U.S. toppling the Venezuelan government after literally years of them not giving a damn about the suffering of the Venezuelan people.

Mike; 2/18/19, 8:11 PM
Maillard Reactionary said...: "Couldn't they at least pretend for the first 5 minutes to care about the people of Venezuela?"

No.

Forget it Ann, it's the news media.; 2/18/19, 8:12 PM
narciso said...: Ditto buwaya, since CBS blacklisted her, remember who ran their news division, she also contracted Ebola when she was back in central africa.; 2/18/19, 8:14 PM
Inga...Allie Oop said...: “Even if it's true Trump doesn't really give a damn about anything except his own political fortunes, he pretended he did. Couldn't they at least pretend for the first 5 minutes to care about the people of Venezuela?”

No. Are you surprised?; 2/18/19, 8:16 PM
narciso said...: The revolution will not be televised when it's a real peoples revolution, when it its Islamist it is give the 4 star treatment; 2/18/19, 8:16 PM
Paul said...: Newspapers and TV news go by the old 'if it bleeds, it leads' shtick. Sensationalism gets people to read and watch. If they read & watch the sponsors are happy. Sponsors happy the news people GET PAID. Yes yellowdog journalism is alive and well.. a bit more sophisticated but still it's the same as it was 100 years ago.

Plus there is all the Trump hate.; 2/18/19, 8:17 PM
BamaBadgOR said...: A Reaganesque speech received better by the audience than anyone else, including all media.; 2/18/19, 8:19 PM
narciso said...: There were 150-350 dead in the student protests about two years ago, directed by maduros goon squad the faes, they have been attributed to the collectivos, Tillerson couldn't even be bother to give it lipservics; 2/18/19, 8:21 PM
buwaya said...: True Narciso, consider vis-a-vis the treatment of Egypt in 2011.

The US government backed that, and the media swooned over the whole thing.
Thats why Lara Logan was also, famously, dispatched on the spot.

In Venezuela you have local and Colombian stringers (on the border, lately).; 2/18/19, 8:21 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @buwaya

I started watching, but it's almost 4 hours long!

I didn't think Mike Ritland was doing a good job interviewing and Logan was just chattering away as if she were trying to help. Ritland turned bright red and I thought it was with embarrassment. I had to turn it off.

I do see the sound bite you mentioned in news articles. Might blog that tomorrow, from text and clips. No way can I do 3+ hours of that.; 2/18/19, 8:25 PM
LYNNDH said...: Yes the later part of the speech was a campaign speech. He again said that the US would not become socialist will be a campaign theme. It in no way takes away from his strong stance on Maduro and his military support. Trump signaled to Venezuela, Cuba and Honduras how his admin. feels about them. It was also a call to those countries immigrants in the US to support him. Many are now citizens and he wants their votes. Nothing wrong with that.; 2/18/19, 8:28 PM
narciso said...: Ah Joseph because they might quibble about the means but not the ends free healthcare free education, universal employment (the last was an extraordinary lie, it's not a coincidence that bill Ayers spent a considerable time in Venezuela, that FCC zampolit mark lloyd celebrated how they had muzzled private media to keep that 'wonderful democratic revolution's alive. The receiver for globo Raul gorrin has been sanctioned.; 2/18/19, 8:29 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I can’t understand why democrats still support Maduro."

Do they?

Pelosi and Schumer don't. Who does?; 2/18/19, 8:29 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Socialism is dying

Comma

...and liberty, prosperity and democracy are being reborn' throughout the hemisphere, Trump said,; 2/18/19, 8:29 PM
buwaya said...: It is very long.

Try from @2 hours in. Does a good job on Iraq, and goes on to the media.
Ritland isn't really an interviewer. He does dogs mostly.

I find this pairing curious. There's a story here. Ritland acts very deferential, as if he is dealing with something and someone way beyond his ambit. And he is of course. He has fallen in with media royalty, in exile I suppose, but so she is.; 2/18/19, 8:32 PM
narciso said...: I'm not convinced it's a sincere sentiment on their part, but the writing is too clearly on the wall now for them to duck it, as much the son in law of Fidel's fmr spymaster who writes for Bezos tries to cover if with a pillow; 2/18/19, 8:33 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: SteveW 8:00.
Agreed.

The left care about power only, and opposition and revenge for no other purpose.
The left do not care who they hurt or trample, as long as their Hillary-lost revenge is satisfied.; 2/18/19, 8:34 PM
rehajm said...: The humanitarian crisis is socialism. It’s on our doorstep. It’s fair and right to point that out.; 2/18/19, 8:35 PM
D. said...: Trump should troll the clowns and declare Venezuela a national emergency!; 2/18/19, 8:35 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: The hack press - selfish inbreeds.; 2/18/19, 8:36 PM
rehajm said...: It’s like when Detroit is spoken about as is it was hit by a natural disaster. No, politicians caused the suffering.; 2/18/19, 8:39 PM
narciso said...: Gazprom has basically cut their losses, on Venezuela, the provisional govt has made some important steps but it's more important to chase fake Russian snipes and cover for the Virginia trifecta of evil speak nothing but evil and hear no evil; 2/18/19, 8:40 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: @ buyawa - I agree that world events and populations are only counters on the board in DC - but I would very much direct that at Democrats more. Bush actually did help Africa. Reagan actually did help Eastern Europe. There is false compassion directed at a hundred peoples - yet you don't see any personal, costly help.; 2/18/19, 8:41 PM
narciso said...: Oh speaking of naturally exacerbated disaster there was a no name storm that killed some 50,000 people in 2000, of course Chavez was on an off shore island and couldn't be bithered.; 2/18/19, 8:42 PM
wwww said...: Pelosi and Schumer don't. Who does?

Haven't heard of any.

As for the TV talking about 2020, I am very sick of it. Everything is election election election. It's early to know the nominee & way too early to start the election race. I like the 6 week system. You call an election & you got 6 weeks to fight it out. Then it's over!

Last night twitter talked about linens & towels. I can get behind that discussion:

"hello fellow adults. my gf and i have a question... what is the correct amount of towels to own? i said 10 and she looked at me like i was crazy. we have zero frame of reference on the appropriate amount of towels in a household of two."

Answer that started a twitter firestorm:

As a couple you should own a minimum of the following

10 Bath Sheets
10 Bath Towels
10 Hand Towels
20 Wash Cloths

Preferably more; 2/18/19, 8:44 PM
Sebastian said...: "I thought that analysis was in extremely poor taste . . . I found it offensive."

That's very nice of you. But they'll keep at it until the Althouses of the world decide that they have had enough of their scorching of the culture, their delegitimization of the elected president, and the constant progressive power play.; 2/18/19, 8:48 PM
buwaya said...: I think we have 50 towels. Just throwing the number out there, it is just my impression. They may be breeding. Whatever cloth bits my wife keeps in her dresser drawers certainly are breeding, but I don't dare investigate.; 2/18/19, 8:48 PM
effinayright said...: "Even if it's true Trump doesn't really give a damn about anything except his own political fortunes, he pretended he did."

There you go again, Althouse, treating Trump as if he's a career politician.; 2/18/19, 8:49 PM
bgates said...: In remarks broadcast on state television, Maduro accused the U.S. president of speaking in an 'almost Nazi style' and lashed out at Trump

Clever. When he's forced into exile, he'll be able to sneak onto Capitol Hill and blend in with the House majority.; 2/18/19, 8:49 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: I wonder if old Bernie the socialist, is embarrassed? He should be. I wonder if he cares? I doubt it.
Old Bernie - the socialist who owns multiple homes and is worth millions of dollars after years sucking off the tax payer tit.; 2/18/19, 8:51 PM
iowan2 said...: Even if it's true Trump doesn't really give a damn about anything except his own political fortunes, he pretended he did.

I know it's just the standard politics as usual assumption.

But could someone point out anytime President has sacrificed his goals for political expediency, or gain? I submit President Trump is the least politically driven President in modern times.; 2/18/19, 8:56 PM
narciso said...: Wrap your head around that figure, the failure of any real relief was in large part what led to the attempt to right things in 2002, but the keystone camarillo was not ruthless enough and Chavez sought his revengem; 2/18/19, 8:56 PM
narciso said...: I was off by a bit:

https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2001/ofr-01-0144/; 2/18/19, 8:59 PM
Oso Negro said...: Anyone who feels so compelled, is welcome to send their armed children or their relief dollars to Venezuela to help out. As for me, I want NO DEPLOYMENT of U.S. troops and NO SPENDING of U.S. government funds. The Venezuelans did this to themselves, let them sort it out.; 2/18/19, 9:09 PM
Narayanan said...: MAGA is Trump's Holy Grail and he knows socialism needs to be fought.
He is thereby also giving CPR to any non-socialist Democrat (if they still exist).

The interesting dynamic will be Uniparty and Media sabotaging Trump's project and the country fending them off .; 2/18/19, 9:11 PM
narciso said...: Yes point taken, just like the ones who voted for Obama or who will vote in the future for Harris or Booker do that to themselves, but there are consequences for every body else, like the hundreds of al queda and Hezbollah operatives who were sold Venezuelan passports; 2/18/19, 9:17 PM
buwaya said...: Venezuela is going to need cash and food, especially when the whole thing falls apart post-Maduro. Its not clear that the opposition has the means to control the military even if they abandon Maduro, or control, or continue oil production. This place is already on the edge of mass starvation as I understand it.

The risk of a Somalia type situation is also there, with military or pramilitary regional factions making off with international food aid.

The alternative to Maduro could easily be chaos. The downstream of that could be deadly across the region.; 2/18/19, 9:19 PM
narciso said...: Its likely as with the likes of said barres vadt retinue which includes miss Omar's whole family, the degringolade was bleeding over into Brazil and Colombia, hence this hail Mary pass.; 2/18/19, 9:22 PM
wwww said...: I learned a bath sheet was different from a bath towel last night. Turns out my favourite towels are bath sheets.; 2/18/19, 9:40 PM
Gretchen said...: If all of the Americans are prosperous we are even more successful, it is in the interest of the US to not have unrest to our south.; 2/18/19, 9:42 PM
rhhardin said...: I worked Venezuela yesterday in a ham contest, so they're not all starving.; 2/18/19, 9:43 PM
Narayanan said...: Thanks Iowan2.

I would add further that there may be many among Trump supporters to whom these words resonate ...
we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

US Constitution prohibits attainder but from all I have seen half the country have attaindered him and his family.

His political fortune is also life and freedom for his progeny.; 2/18/19, 9:48 PM
Seeing Red said...: Have the UN’s Toyota Landcruisers been sighted yet?; 2/18/19, 9:55 PM
Narayanan said...: Buwaya...
Do we know how Venezuelan military is trained? Cuba, China or Russia style?
How many are Chavez proteges?

Egyptian style solution will need Saud style back up.

Muslim Brotherhood is socialism in flavor of Islam; 2/18/19, 10:03 PM
cubanbob said...: Chavez and Maduro have done something I thought was impossible. They took a country with the world's largest oil reserves plus considerable other natural resources and made it worse off than Cuba. Truly amazing.

" Inga...Allie Oop said...
“Even if it's true Trump doesn't really give a damn about anything except his own political fortunes, he pretended he did. Couldn't they at least pretend for the first 5 minutes to care about the people of Venezuela?”

No. Are you surprised?"

Do you?

"Blogger Dickin'Bimbos@Home said...
I wonder if old Bernie the socialist, is embarrassed? He should be. I wonder if he cares? I doubt it.
Old Bernie - the socialist who owns multiple homes and is worth millions of dollars after years sucking off the tax payer tit."

He's the Vanguard Of The Proletariat. They are entitled for all of their hard work on behalf of the proletariat. He isn't in the least bit embarrassed.; 2/18/19, 10:11 PM
readering said...: Althouse says Fox News comments focus on US politics, not Venezuelan humanitarian tragedy. Of course, so do the vast majority of the comments to her post. Trump knows what he's doing.; 2/18/19, 10:13 PM
Oso Negro said...: Blogger Gretchen said...
If all of the Americans are prosperous we are even more successful, it is in the interest of the US to not have unrest to our south.

Sure, Gretchen - and imagine how much more self-esteem they will have if they do it for themselves.; 2/18/19, 10:14 PM
iowan2 said...: Tank said...
As a former prosecutor, you would think that thinking on her feet would be a skill that she had mastered.

I'm guessing she does OK thinking on her feet, about something she knows and is passionate about.
But politicians are always parsing their own words so as to not offend, or suck up to some voting block.

That's why President Trump is so good on his feet. He speaks about what he believes, and let the people come to his ideas, rather than to him.; 2/18/19, 10:22 PM
Molly said...: (eaglebeak)

The Democrats who support Maduro in Venezuela presumably are the socialists--Alexandria O-C, Bernie Sanders (who isn't a Democrat juridically but plays one in Presidential campaign years), DNC chair Tom Perez, who asserts one can be a democratic socialist and a capitalist simultaneously, and all the other Dems who are flirting with aspects of socialism in anticipation of 2020--which seems like a lot of them.

Then there's the Hollywood Dem/SOC crowd, like Sean Penn and Danny Glover and Oliver Stone, who have supported first Chavez and then Maduro every inch of the way.

Then there's guys like Glenn Greenwald--some of his work is good but his general worldview is nuts. The idea that a U.S. intervention is more danger to starving and dying Venezuelans than Maduro's tyranny is bonkers.; 2/18/19, 10:27 PM
mockturtle said...: "I can’t understand why democrats still support Maduro."

Do they?

Pelosi and Schumer don't. Who does?

AOC for one: Ocasio-Cortez sticks up for Maduro; 2/18/19, 10:46 PM
mockturtle said...: Buwaya theorizes: I think we have 50 towels. Just throwing the number out there, it is just my impression. They may be breeding.

I wish mine did. Perhaps they lack the right environment. I've had coat hangers breed, though. Asexually, like amoebae.; 2/18/19, 10:53 PM
eddie willers said...: Ritland turned bright red and I thought it was with embarrassment. I had to turn it off.

I do see the sound bite you mentioned in news articles. Might blog that tomorrow, from text and clips.

I had never seen her before and clicked on a clip Drudge had put up.

I tried to listen but, my goodness, what magnificent 47 year old breasts! No surprise the interviewer got red in the face.; 2/18/19, 10:58 PM
Quaestor said...: If all of the Americans are prosperous we are even more successful, it is in the interest of the US to not have unrest to our south.

Is the status quo in Venezuela not unrest? I assume that hunger, poverty, and 1,000,000% inflation constitutes prima facie unrest.; 2/18/19, 11:02 PM
Quaestor said...: ...Asexually, like amoebae.

Mine are definitely sexual. I discover them entangled in compromising positions every time I open a closet.; 2/18/19, 11:06 PM
Unknown said...: I had dinner in Panama in November with Venezuelan refugees (The husband was a building contractor and his wife, I believe a pharmacist, but they were working lesser paying jobs in Panama to get by) and when asked what they hoped happened, they wanted "Trump to invade". I said that was probably unlikely, but who knows now? Venezuela should be among the best places to live in Latin America and yet, somehow (cough, socialism, cough) it's not quite as nice as it should be.; 2/18/19, 11:18 PM
readering said...: I have a case against the Maduro regime. My co-counsel in Caracas loves Trump. He regularly leaves the country for medical supplies. My Venezuelan expert in Miami regularly flies to Columbia or Venezuela to deliver medical supplies.; 2/18/19, 11:58 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Some country is going to have to step forward and invite Maduro to take up an offer of exile. It will be painful for the anti-Maduro Venezuelans to accept him living out the rest of his life in luxury, but it needs to be done. I fear, though, that it will end in massive bloodshed as Maduro resorts to crushing the opposition- this is the reason, by the way, for Trump's encouraging the military to abandon Maduro, to stop that outcome. Or maybe someone close to Maduro just puts a bullet in his head- that would work, too.; 2/19/19, 1:04 AM
Fen said...: "...NO DEPLOYMENT of U.S. troops and NO SPENDING of U.S. government funds. The Venezuelans did this to themselves, let them sort it out."

Agreed. We were making significant progress in Iraq. But the American people, tbrough their elected representatives, simply lacked the patience to see it through.

Their fickle entertainment news habit was making us replay Vietnam - taking cities and key terrain we had already taken and then given up due to their intransigence.

And we had Democrats back home deliberately trying to undermine our efforts. To gain political traction. Fuckers.

The same people opening their heart for Venezuela today will be "weary" of it all tomorrow. And NOT the kind of weariness from sleeping in the dirt and manning a checkpoint in Kandahar for two tours. No, American "weariness" is gauged by how much their newsfeed harshes the post-modernist decaf moca latte vibe they are bogarting.

So no. Not falling for that one again. You want us to help Venezuela? Buy a plane ticket, dig a well, build them a filtration system. Might want to pick up a rifle first day in country too.

Because you'll be getting firsthand experience on what Robert Cook calls "parasitic peacetime operations", just like my jaunt in Baderra Somalia with Bravo Company, 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.

Advise you leave the girls at home. You don't want that nightmare.; 2/19/19, 2:46 AM
exhelodrvr1 said...: Does providing assistance in these situations help in the long run, or just prolong the misery?; 2/19/19, 4:02 AM
Paco Wové said...: A link to parts of the Logan interview mentioned several times above.; 2/19/19, 6:53 AM
Paco Wové said...: Whoops. Meant to include the excerpt below with the link above.

The discussion continued with Logan trashing news reports based on single, anonymous government sources, calling it an abandonment of journalistic standards.

“That’s not journalism, that’s horseshit,” Logan said. “Responsibility for fake news begins with us. We bear some responsibility for that, and we’re not taking ownership of that and addressing it. We just want to blame it all on somebody else.”; 2/19/19, 6:54 AM
AllenS said...: For those who think that because the people are starving in Venezuela, we (Trump) should send food to the people, I guarantee you that Maduro won't let that happen. The best thing for the starving people of Venezuela to do is kill Maduro and all of the Socialists who support him. Not remove them, but kill them.; 2/19/19, 6:56 AM
Hagar said...: cubanbob said...
Chavez and Maduro have done something I thought was impossible. They took a country with the world's largest oil reserves plus considerable other natural resources and made it worse off than Cuba. Truly amazing.

True that.
And socialism schmocialism. This is way beyond that. It's a second in the world (I think) after Zimbabwe achievement of totally incompetent dictatorship, or caudillism.

What is also amazing in the MSM commentary is their either ignoring or lightly springing over that the background for backing Guaido is that the Venezuelan parliament has renounced Maduro and declared Guaido their president.

But the U.S. does not want the screech owls to get another opportunity to howl about U.S. "imperialism." The other OAS states need to step up and take care of this themselves.; 2/19/19, 7:02 AM
Robert Cook said...: Why is it our business what goes on in Venezuela? More to the point, who are we to urge Venezuela to oust Maduro? It's just part of our long-time interference in Venezuela in particular and South America in general.; 2/19/19, 7:14 AM
Hagar said...: Cookie, Venezuela, represented by its elected parliament, did oust Maduro. He just refuses to leave.; 2/19/19, 8:21 AM
Robert Cook said...: "Cookie, Venezuela, represented by its elected parliament, did oust Maduro. He just refuses to leave."

I don't know if that's true or if it is U.S. propaganda, but even if true, so what? That's their internal business, not ours.; 2/19/19, 9:33 AM
mockturtle said...: I guess Cookie wants tens of thousands of Venezuelans to cross our border looking for asylum.; 2/19/19, 1:49 PM