Washington recently deployed a new national security strategy that called for the U.S. to exert much more control over the Americas.

As the January 6 anniversary approaches, we confront the truth: Donald Trump incited an insurrection, then rewarded nearly 1,600 rioters with pardons—many of whom went on to commit violent crimes.

Several prominent commentators within the MAGA movement have ignited an uproar among their audiences for supporting President Donald Trump's invasion of Venezuela. That's according to a Monday article in The Bulwark, which reported that far-right figures like Nick Fuentes, Tim Pool, Alex Jones and Gavin McInnes are all getting blowback for defending the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Fuentes (an outspoken defender of Adolf Hitler) posted over the weekend to Telegram: "TAKE THE OIL. THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE IS OURS." His post garnered more than 5,500 thumbs-down emoji responses, outperforming the 4,600 heart emoji responses. Pool was similarly ecstatic in the aftermath of the attack, writing on X: "The US economy about to boom. Tons of free oil heading our way." One of his followers responded: "It does not matter how much oil Venezuela has if you can't get it, and we can't get it." "They don't have the drilling equipment, they don't have the workforce, they don't have the supplies, they don't have the security, they don't have the storage, they don't have the roads, they don't have the pipelines, they don't have the power grid, they don't have the ports," the X user wrote. "And thats the short version of this, theres a much much longer version where things get even worse." Bulwark writers Will Sommer and Andrew Egger also observed that pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Alex Jones – was sued for falsely claiming on his InfoWars show that the Sandy Hook mass shooting in 2012 was staged — "tied himself in knots after the raid to defend the president." While Jones has frequently spoken out against "neocon war" efforts in the past like former President George W. Bush's invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, he claimed that Trump's attack on Venezuela was different as it was against the "globalist rules-based order." "Thomas Jefferson would’ve gone to war with Venezuela!" Jones said in a video posted to X. Jones' competitors weren't buying his argument. Far-right influencer Stew Peters (an avowed antisemite) implied Jones had been compromised by Israeli propaganda. Former InfoWars host Owen Shroyer called MAGA "slop-eating sheeple" for supporting the Venezuela invasion. Jones' former attorney Robert Barnes lamented that his ex-client had been "suckered into regime change support." Click here to read the Bulwark's full article.

With U.S. mid-term elections set to take place later this year, attention will begin to turn to Donald Trump’s lame duck period and who will succee...

Several prominent commentators within the MAGA movement have ignited an uproar among their audiences for supporting President Donald Trump's invasion of Venezuela.That's according to a Monday article ...

President Donald Trump hasn’t minced words about the larger message he’s trying to send the world with the U.S. military raid to capture Nicolás Maduro.

The New Yorker staff writer Jon Lee Anderson joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss the U.S. military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and brought him to the United States to face narco-terrorism charges. They talk about the unprecedented nature of the raid, the shaky intelligence and legal rationale behind it, and what the operation reveals about the Trump Administration’s increasingly coercive approach to the region. They also examine what “running” Venezuela could look like in practice—from leaving Maduro associates in power to exploiting the country’s oil reserves—and how the intervention may reverberate across Latin America. This week’s reading: “Regime Change in America’s Back Yard,” by Jon Lee Anderson “Who’s Running Venezuela After the Fall of Maduro?,” by Jonathan Blitzer “The Folly of Trump’s Oil Imperialism,” by John Cassidy “The Brazen Illegality of Trump’s Venezuela Operation,” by Isaac Chotiner “Can the U.S. Really ‘Run’ Venezuela?,” by Caroline Mimbs Nyce The Political Scene draws on the reporting and analysis found in The New Yorker for lively conversations about the big questions in American politics. Join the magazine’s writers and editors as they put into context the latest news—about elections, the economy, the White House, the Supreme Court, and much more. New episodes are available three times a week. Tune in to The Political Scene wherever you get your podcasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices