Donald Trump the Megathread part II - Mod Warning updated in OP 12/2/26

Is the opposition rallying in streets? Any sign of them trying to overthrow the government. You’d think if that were to happen it would have started by now. Maybe America thought that would happen too.

Maduro was an authoritarian. Does that mean Trump is entitled to invade and take their natural resources?

What if the actual elected government thinks it should have control of its own resources/policies and America says no ,it is in charge of them?

Is this why Trump is not expediting her return to power?

Is he looking for a Quisling and looking to see if she will play ball?

Has he any idea of what he is doing?

Maduro being removed is not a bad thing, and good on America for doing it so relatively painlessly.

But.... few Venezuelans are celebrating this, there are no videos or clips of an street celebrations. Instead, right now, they are all wondering who's on charge, what happens next, when will it stabilise.

Meanwhile Trump is ad hocing his announcement, as usual. Saying we're in charge - They're not - , we're going to decide on next leaders - which a) shows they had no fecking plan for after and b) suggests Venezuelans get no voice, he's also saying we're here for the oil, we might need to attack again, the obvious alternative is not good enough.

No wonder they are not celebrating

A number of months ago he said Ameirca would take over Gaza so I think his ambitions are not always achievable. Unless they have the support of some of the Venezualan military and basically replace one domestic dictator with a foreign one.

Please…please…🤞

The dollar is on the way out. BYD can be successful selling in China alone. The chances that the rest of the world listen to anything the US says anymore is fanciful. The world is moving away from America. They won't be turning back.

I’m guessing Mexico 🇲🇽 s paying (again) ??

Indeed he spent most of the press conference talking about oil, oil, oil. He barely even referenced future governance of Venezuela, apart from saying Machado would not be involved.

So much in that long winded, and rambling news conference this evening.

Trump: "It has to be judicious, because that's what we're all about."

Pretty fascinating watching Trump fans justifying this ****... He could do absolutely and his supporters would praise it. Now we get to watch the likes of Russia or China justifying expansionism...

Putting out there a hypothetical. How would the US respond if some country carried out a similar operation, fly in at the dead of night, bomb numerous Israeli targets, kill Benjamin Netanyahu's henchmen, arrest him and his wife?

It would be OK though, because Trump has demonstrated you can do what you like, and there's an arrest warrant for Netanyahu from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to Trump, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as president and had been in contact with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump said. Rubio added that Congress was not briefed ahead of the operation.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/03/trump-venezuela.html

Maduro is Venezuela’s only president, says VP Delcy Rodriguez

“There is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolas Maduro Moros,” Rodriguez said in a televised address to Venezuelans hours after the U.S. strikes and Maduro’s capture.

President Trump said that Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s new president, but her show of support for Maduro’s presidency appeared to dismiss Trump’s remark. She told citizens that the attack on Venezuela was “barbarity” and demanded the U.S. release Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

https://thehill.com/policy/international/5671446-venezuelan-vice-president-defends-maduro/

Trump's statement aged like milk.

The democratically elected President is Edmondo Gonzalez, who was backed by her.