Maria Corina Machado’s appearance on CBS’ Face The Nation all but confirmed what many Americans have suspected as President Trump escalates pressure on Venezuela: regime change, not narcotics enforcement, is the true objective. While the administration continues to frame its military buildup and aggressive posture as a necessary response to so-called “narco-terrorists,” Machado’s own words exposed that justification as little more than political cover.
#BREAKING: 🔥Margaret's $1 million question: "Would that include U.S. peacekeeping troops or other troops on the ground?"😳 pic.twitter.com/Q6e2ptR2eW
For months, President Trump has insisted that his actions toward Venezuela are narrowly focused on combating drug trafficking networks that he claims threaten U.S. national security. The administration’s repeated use of the term “narco-terrorism” is meant to evoke urgency and legitimacy, suggesting a defensive posture rather than an interventionist one. Yet this explanation has always strained credulity, particularly given Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and strategic importance. Those realities have inevitably fueled skepticism that Washington’s true aim is to remove Nicolás Maduro and install a government far more amenable to U.S. economic and geopolitical interests.
That skepticism has only grown sharper because Trump himself campaigned aggressively in 2024 on a “no regime change” platform. It was a message designed to reassure a war-weary electorate and an America First base deeply suspicious of foreign entanglements. Many of those same supporters are now openly questioning how a military buildup, veiled threats, and constant escalation toward Caracas square with the promises they were sold. The administration’s narco-terrorism rationale has functioned as a convenient way to bridge that contradiction—until Machado spoke plainly.
During her interview with Margaret Brennan, Machado did not merely criticize Maduro or call for international pressure. She openly discussed preparations for governance after his removal. In doing so, she revealed that plans are already in place for what comes once Maduro is toppled. That single admission dismantled the White House’s stated rationale. You do not develop detailed post-Maduro contingencies unless regime change is not only desired, but anticipated and actively pursued.
Brennan never had to explicitly ask whether the Trump administration is seeking regime change because Machado answered the question unprompted. She spoke about how a future Venezuelan government would manage destabilization efforts by foreign powers such as Russia and China—an extraordinary acknowledgment that she views Maduro’s fall not as hypothetical, but as imminent. That kind of forward-looking strategizing does not occur in a vacuum. It only makes sense if Washington has signaled, implicitly or explicitly, that removing the current regime is the goal.
Machado’s remarks effectively stripped away the last fig leaf of the narco-terrorism argument. If the mission were truly limited to drug interdiction, the discussion would center on law enforcement cooperation, intelligence sharing, and regional partnerships. Instead, what emerged was a clear blueprint for political transition. Her interview made it obvious that the Trump administration’s posture toward Venezuela has never been about drugs alone, and certainly not about restraint.
As this saga unfolds, the political consequences may prove just as significant as the geopolitical ones. Republicans who loudly embraced the “no regime change” mantra in 2024 will soon face voters again in the 2026 midterms. Machado’s candid interview has made it far harder for them to reconcile their past rhetoric with present reality. What was once denied outright is now being openly discussed by the very opposition leader the U.S. appears poised to empower.
In the end, Face The Nation did more than host an interview—it pulled back the curtain. And what was revealed leaves little room for doubt: regime change in Venezuela is not a byproduct of Trump’s policy. It is the policy.
Interesting report on CNN News Central says (06/17/24) says that after weeks of treading carefully around the subject of former President Trump’s recent felony convictions, Team Biden has finally decided to take the gloves off, and make the convictions a key part of their 2024 campaign message.
Some, including Yours Truly, will translate this CNN report thus: “Team Biden has finally decided it wants to win the 2024 presidential election.” Make no mistake about it, this is Team Biden’s strongest message from now until the November election day, which will effectively boil down to a fight for independent voters.
CNN’s Sara Sidner(0:22): “Today, the Biden campaign escalating its attacks against Donald Trump with a new $50 million ad push rolling out in battleground states, taking on the former President’s character and felony convictions.”
Part of the ad says: “In the courtroom, we see Donald Trump for who he is. He’s been convicted of 34 felonies, found liable for sexual assault, and he committed financial fraud. Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s been working…”
CNN’s Arlette Saenz(1:10): “This new ad is significant, as it marks the first time the Biden campaign is using former President Donald Trump’s legal woes in television advertisements…In this ad, they [Team Biden] are trying to frame this election as a choice between a convicted criminal who is looking out for himself, with President Biden who in his words, ‘works for the American people.’ This ad will run as part of a $50 million ad push in key battleground states…”
Bottom line folks, this is the best move Team Biden has made thus far, regarding the upcoming November 2024 presidential election. Simply put, if they preach this message steadily–the other guy is a convicted felon–Biden wins reelection easily, thanks in large part to the independent vote. It’s really that simple.
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Turns out, per bombshell segment on CNN‘s NewNight Show (01/30/24) that political action committees (PACs) supporting former President Donald Trump are using the $50 million they have raised, to offset Trump’s personal legal bills. As NewsNight host Abby Phillips hastily points out, as shady as this may appear to the general public, it is apparently totally legal.
One would understand why the public would struggle with the legality of this action by Trump’s PACs, given the myriad news stories out there, of people being criminally prosecuted for starting GoFundMe campaigns to ostensibly raise funds for medical bills, only to turn around and use those funds for personal items like new vehicles, rent, jewellery, etc. If that is illegal, then why should it be perfectly legal for a PAC, which ostensibly raises money for Trump’s campaign for the presidency in 2024, to turn around and use the raised funds to offset his personal legal bills?
Host Abby Phillip (0:15): “Sources tell CNN that $50 million, is how much the PACs supporting Trump, have raised and then donated to the cause of keeping Trump out of jail. Now, mind you, this is all legal, but a spokesman for one of those PACs insists tonight to the New York Times, that every dollar being raised by MAGA Inc is going directly to defeating Joe Biden in November. But at least some of those dollars and cents are as of this moment, being siphoned off for courtroom costs.”
Bottom line folks, reasonable people will agree that there is no difference between the financial fraud that GoFundMe scammers are rightly criminally prosecuted for, and what these Trump PACs are engaged in. Simply put, rather than just throwing up our hands in the air and accepting this cheating by Trump’s PACs as “totally legal”, maybe some legal eagle should embark on a novel federal lawsuit arguing that Trump’s PACs are defrauding their donors, and are in essence, no different than the criminal GoFundMe scammers. While this may not fix the issue during this 2024 election cycle, maybe, just maybe, it may spur members of Congress to come up with a legislative fix for these and other PAC loopholes, for future elections.
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The 2022 midterm election will not only go down in history as one which produced the most unlikely outcome for the party in power, but also, one where the pollsters got it totally wrong. As a matter of fact, the pollsters got it so wrong, that the public is convinced, they were deliberately misled with the “red wave/tsunami” predictions. It’s therefore only fair that the mainstream media journalists who got sucked into the red wave mass hysteria be named and shamed, and their actions memorialized for future reference–sort of a handy list, if you will.
MSNBC did an interesting, and quite frankly, hilarious mashup of the “red wave” mass hysteria that appeared to suck up even some well respected journalists from reputable networks. This shows how these faulty/fake polls can affect mainstream media coverage of elections, which can then have negative consequences, up to and including depressing voter turnout. This is therefore an issue that needs to be addressed head on as we approach the 2024 general elections.
Politicians are known to exaggerate, so they are not the subject of this naming and shaming. Our interest here is only on journalists, who ought to know better.
Fox News’ Steve Doocey(1:39): “You know, your predictions of a red wave are accurate.”
Unidentified Fox News Reporter(1:42):”…a red wave is coming.”
Fox News star Anchor Laura Ingraham(1:44): “Red Wave Rising.” This is the title of a whole segment Ingraham dedicated on the “red wave” on 10/18/22. Not a good look, Laura, not a good look.
Unidentified Reporter on NewsMax(1:51): “Sleepy Joe just guaranteed a red wave in Pennsylvania.”
Fox News’ Dana Perino(2:01): “Democrats are bracing for the worst case scenario, a red Tsunami.”
Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld(2:04): “We are officially on a red Tsunami watch.” He was apparently referring to an Axios piece by Josh Kraushaar titled “RED TSUNAMI WATCH.” Not a good look Josh, not a good look.
Fox News’ Clay Travis(2:09): “Red Tsunami grows…that means red Tsunami.”
Fox News’ Stephen Miller(2:16): “Poverty, joblessness, critical race theory, crazy gender ideology in our schools, we are going to see a red Tsunami.”
Unidentified host of Fox News’ The Five show(2:34): “Up next, Elon Musk ready to ride the big red wave.”
Fox News’ Steve Doocey(2:37): “Elon Musk tweeted massive red wave.” For the record, Musk did indeed tweet about a red wave. Other Fox News personalities who used this Elon Musk tweet to proclaim a “red wave” were Tucker Carlson(biggest star on Fox), Maria Bartiromo, among others. Not a good look, Elon, not a good look.
Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(2:43): “You’re about to see a red wave, that makes ‘Day After Tomorrow’ [the popular movie] look like nothing.”
Leading Podcaster Joe Rogan(2:47): “That’s going to be responsible for the red wave. I think the red wave that’s coming is going to be like the elevator doors opening up in ‘The Shining'[popular 80’s movie]”
Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(2:55): “Rogan said that the red wave is going to look like the elevator doors opening, and the blood pouring out of the elevator in ‘The Shining’, that is correct, except it’s not going to be an elevator, it’s going to look more like ‘Deep Impact ‘[popular movie], the tsunami at the end, but colored red.” Good Lord have mercy!!
Fox News Contributor Dan Bongino(3:10): “Remember that Teo Leone ‘Deep Impact’ disaster movie? That’s the red wave tsunami that will come ashore.”
Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro(3:17): “It’s going to be a brutal week for the Democrats beginning on Tuesday.”
Fox News’ Clay Travis(3:21): “Frankly, I’ve already DVR-ed CNN and MSNBC for election night, not because I’m going to watch, but just because I want to enjoy the tears post-red tsumami.” Hope you’re enjoying those DVRs, Clay.
Fox News’ Jesse Watters(0:05): “It’s going to be a wave election, and you [Democrats] gonna lose the Senate, I’ll bet you $1,000 now.”
Fox News’ Lisa Boothe(0:12): “Democrats are going to be crushed on November 8th because a red wave is coming.”
Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld(0:16): “Betting that Joy will learn two new words on Tuesday, red wave.”
Unidentified Fox Business host(0:21): “How big could that looming red wave get?”
Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo(0:23): “We begin this Sunday morning with expectations of a red wave this Tuesday.”
Fox News Contributor Marc Thiessen(0:39): “We’ve been hearing, ‘is it going to be a red wave?’, ‘is it going to be a red tsunami?’, I think it’s going to be a red hurricane.”
Fox News’ Pete Hegseth(0:43): “When the red wave comes, and it is coming, Joe Biden’s political utility is over.”
Fox News’ John Roberts(0:48): “Are we in for a red wind here, or a red wave?”
Fox News’ Martha MacCallum(0:51): “Red wave or red tsunami, what are you feeling today?”
Fox News’ Jesse Watters(0:54): “And don’t listen to the lies they are spewing, that this could take days…to know who won. This is total bs. A wave like this, we should know that night, basically, who won the Senate and the House, and even if it happens Wednesday into Thursday, it’s gravy.”
Unidentified Fox News Reporter reporting on an actual tropical storm approaching Florida(1:09): “Right out the back door, I’ve got a tropical storm brewing right now. I think they’re saying it could be a category one by the end of the day. However, let me tell you what is the storm, that red wave…” Oh boy!!
There’s also this clip from MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber which shows even journalists from CNN sucked into the “red wave” mass hysteria. Not a good look, CNN, not a good look.
CNN & ABC’s Alyssa Farah Griffin(7:28): “A red wave is coming. Republicans are going to win the midterms…”
New York Post’s Karol Markowicz(7:32): “Forget red wave, I’m rooting for a red tsunami. “
CNN’s Jake Tapper(7:34): “Politicos with whom I spoke today all agree, as of now, a modest red wave at the very least, seems to be building.”
Fox News’ Dana Perino(7:49): “Signs of a red wave are kind of getting bigger than ever, but not everybody in the media wants to hear that.” Dana is a former White House Press Secretary.
Fox News’ Jesse Watters(7:55): “It wasn’t looking like a red wave earlier in August, and now it looks like a tsunami.”
As MSNBC host Ari Melber aptly summarized it (8:00): “The point there is not that multiple news channels over there echo Fox and sound similar, as they make those predictions that have been proven false…It’s bigger than the media or polls. This is a larger effort to hack your mind, and the discourse, and shape the ultimate turnout for the results in our democracy itself…It is legal to be sure, but it’s also misleading with real consequences…If you really have a huge bankable lead, you don’t need to hype it. You just turn your voters out and win, but so many Republican leaders know their slate of MAGA candidates lately, is very weak…So Republicans concluded they needed to inflate their perceived support in the hopes that that might then create more support than they have actually have…”
Bottom line folks, this stuff is serious. New York Governor Kathy Hochul also addressed this fake poll issue, which featured prominently in her race. What Gov Hochul said about this serious issue lines up with the assessment by MSNBC’s Ari Melber.
Voters have a right to know which polling firms are credible, and those with a history of manipulating polls to aid campaigns. This will prevent reputable news channels from getting sucked into these “wave” hoaxes, as they report on elections.
For the record, Yours Truly never fell for the “red wave/tsunami” mass hysteria for one minute.
Can’t wait for doom & gloom MSMers with their “polls” next week.I know my Dems will kick @GOP’s a$$, especially in Senate races
Trumpers Trevian Kutti and Garrison Douglas pressuring election worker Ruby Freeman to confess to a bogus election fraud scheme at a Georgia police station(Jan 4, 2021)
A troubling segment on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show (12/22/21) revealed that three Trump campaign officials were directly involved in the harassment of an elderly Georgia election worker, Ruby Freeman, who they tried to extort into confessing to a bogus election fraud claim pushed by then President Trump. The officials in question are Harrison Floyd, a Black Voices for Trump Executive Director, who until November 2020, was a paid Trump campaign staffer, Trevian Kutti, a publicist for Trump’s Rapper buddy Kanye West(now Ye), and Garrison Douglas, another Black Voices for Trump member who apparently, was also working for the Georgia Republican Party at the time of this harassment scheme.
Trevian Kutti is the woman in the dark outfit, seen in the video pressuring election worker Ruby Freeman to confess in 48 hours, if she wants to avoid getting arrested, and as a condition for her getting “protection”. The man sitting on the right of Trevian Kutti as she issues her threats, is Garrison Douglas, who at the time, was working for the Georgia Republican Party, and is also a member of the Black Voices For Trump. The “high-profile individual” who Trevian Kutti got on the phone with, who was supposedly going to “protect” Ruby Freeman, and keep her out of jail if she confessed in 48 hours, is Harrison Floyd, the Executive Director of Black Voices for Trump. Harrison Floyd was until November 2020, a paid Trump campaign staffer. There’s no question that this shameful harassment scheme was a full blown Trump operation geared towards stopping the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory, scheduled for January 6th.
Maddow said: “Just step back here for a moment, just appreciate what we now know happened here. This is in the midst of what at this point, is already a weeks-long pressure campaign by President Trump and his allies in Georgia. Everybody from President Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and everybody on down, is hyping this wackadoodle conspiracy theory about a random Atlanta election worker, and her being like the mastermind of the crime. They are doing that in order to justify getting Republican officials in Georgia to overturn the election results and say that Trump won. That election worker is getting threatened like you cannot believe. She is in fear for her life under an onslaught of harassment and threats, and in the midst of that, three people involved with the Trump campaign, one of whom until recently had been a high profile Trump campaign employee, another who works for the Republican Party, they arrange to show up at this woman’s house and try to get her to admit to election fraud because then they can protect her. And the deadline they gave her was very specific–48 hours….Why was it so important that they get to her before that 48 hours was up? Well, at the end of that 48 hours, remember that conversation happened on January 4th, 48 hours after that was the certification of Joe Biden’s win in Congress, the thing Trump and his allies were trying to stop at all costs.”
Maddow went on to add that on January 6th, as the insurrection was playing out in real time, a bunch of Trumpers surrounded Ruby Freeman’s house in Atlanta, and shouted at her through a bullhorn. Any reasonable person presented with Maddow’s account of this incident would conclude that Ruby Freeman’s harassers were not just some random Trump supporters arbitrarily going out of their way to inflict pain on her, but rather that they were part of an elaborate scheme to force a bogus confession out of her, which they could then use to overturn the Georgia election results, and stop the scheduled January 6th certification in Congress. Simply put, these were conspirators to a crime.
Bottom line folks, the January 6th Committee definitely needs to look into who was giving orders to these three Trumpers in this very elaborate scheme to (1) overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results and (2) to put a stop to the scheduled January 6th Congressional certification of Biden’s electoral college win. The public deserves to know who else was working with these three shady characters, as they terrorized an innocent, and elderly election worker. That’s the least the January 6th Committee can do for poor Ruby Freeman’s tormented family.
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A bombshell report on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos (11/14/21) reveals that among the documents former President Trump is fighting tooth and nail to keep away from the January 6th Committee, is a memo from Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis, which reportedly laid out in elaborate detail, exactly how they were going to overturn the election on January 6th to keep Trump in the White House. If this bombshell reporting holds, it will, blow away the defense commonly employed by Trumpers, that the January 6th insurrection was just some spontaneous rally that got out of hand. It will also for the first time put Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis right at the center of the insurrection.
Reporter Jonathan Karl told host George Stephanopoulos: “This is a very important document, George. On new year’s eve, it is from[Trump’s Chief of Staff] Meadows himself, forwarded to Mike Pence’s Chief of Staff, and it outlines in very clear detail, what should be done on January 6th to effectively overturn the election, to effectively have a coup. This is Mark Meadows forwarding a memo, not from an outside lawyer, but from a lawyer for the campaign, Jenna Ellis.”
Any reasonable person presented with this bombshell news report would conclude that the events of January 6th were not some innocent rally gone bad, but rather a meticulously planned coup orchestrated by Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis and others. Jenna Ellis must be made to testify before the January 6th Committee as to who else was involved in drafting the detailed coup memo. Was Trump involved?
Bottom line folks, the January 6th Committee owes it to the public to follow through on any lead that brings us closer to the behind-the-scenes orchestrators of DC insurrection. Where, as here, it appears Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis may have been one of the masterminds behind the attempted coup, she must be hauled in to testify.
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One of the biggest obstacles for Democrats, especially in the battle for control of State Legislatures has been the powerful gun lobby group National Rifle Association(NRA). Unlike other powerful lobby groups that influence both the Republican and the Democratic Party, the NRA literally has a stranglehold on the Republican party. NRA’s stranglehold on the GOP is so bad, even President Trump recently had to ask GOP Members of Congress not to be “afraid of” the gun lobby group when discussing sensible gun control proposals. Marion Hammer, a powerful NRA lobbyist in Florida for example is so feared by Florida State GOPers, that she’s dubbed “The Real Gov of Florida.” Such is the power the NRA wields over the GOP
The troubling news therefore that the FBI is investigating the NRA as a possible vehicle for funnelling Russian money to help Trump in the 2016 elections should be of great concern to Democrats. New York Times Columnist Frank Bruni said on CNN’s Outfront with Erin Burnett that the NRA spent a whopping $30M to help Trump get elected, which is more than they spent the last two Presidential cycles combined. A Russian banker Alexander Torshin who has ties to Putin is an NRA life member and the key suspect in the alleged funnelling scheme. Torshin apparently wanted to create a “back channel” between the Trump Campaign and Russia and one of his associates reportedly told a Trump campaign staffer that “Putin is deadly serious about building a good relationship with Mr. Trump.
Under normal circumstances this would be just another questionable daliance between a powerful U.S. gun lobby group and a foreign financier. However against the backdrop of an ongoing Special Counsel investigation into U.S. election meddling by the Russians, this strange relationship between the NRA and the Putin-allied Russian financier has become a much more serious issue, one that Americans trust Mueller and Co. will get to the bottom of.
It also bears pointing out, as New York Times Columnist Frank Bruni did that Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr, is a major NRA supporter and activist. Trump Jr you’ll remember is already in the middle of a very questionable meeting with Russian lawyer Natalya Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower. Veselnitskaya has since confessed that she’s an informant for Putin’s Kremlin
Simply put, the NRA-Russia story is a major story that could affect the Dem political fortunes from here on out. According to CNN Political Correspondent Sara Murray, the NRA is privately, very concerned about the FBI’s investigation into its ties to the Russian Banker(vid at 14:00). Obviously we Dems have to be patient and allow the feds to conduct their investigation into the NRA but just like Trump used the ongoing Clinton email probe to hamstring her 2016 campaign, there is no reason why the DNC should not pummel NRA-allied GOP candidates over Russian money as we head to Midterms 2018, the perfect target being Sen Ted Cruz
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