Trump Knows What He Wants, Just Not How to Get There

4 comments

1. Vivian Salama and Sarah Fitzpatrick: “Since launching a military campaign in the Caribbean earlier this year, President Donald Trump has made clear what phase one of his plan looks like: killing alleged drug smugglers and pushing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to leave office. The end goal—let’s call it phase three—is to work with a new government to gain access to the country’s oil and rare earth minerals.

   “Phase two? That’s an open question.

   “Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as acting national security adviser, has taken the lead in planning for a variety of contingencies, several officials told us, although they said that the planning is restricted to a very small group of senior officials around the president and that they couldn’t provide any details. Other officials involved in Venezuela discussions told us that if there is any substantive planning being done, it was news to them, and that they had little understanding of what the administration intends to do in the event that Maduro is toppled. (The State Department didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

   “The opacity comes, in part, from Trump’s desire to avoid the pitfalls that came with previous U.S. attempts to plan for the unpredictable and often-chaotic outcomes of regime change in authoritarian nations. (See Iraq.) Trump, one official told us, prefers to take a ‘wait-and-see approach’ before deciding his next move. But divisions within the administration over whether to go all the way in attempting to push Maduro from power also play a role.

   “Trump said in a *Politico* interview this week that Maduro’s ‘days are numbered.’ But when it comes to accessing Venezuela’s oil and rare earths, would it be better to deal with a cornered and therefore pliant Maduro who stays in power, or to navigate the unpredictable terrain of a post-Maduro Venezuela, which could range from a new, Washington-friendly government to prolonged civic unrest?

   “One administration official we spoke with, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject, worried that going to war in Venezuela could create a failed state that would lead to a surge of migrants heading northward. Another official told us that even if Maduro were to leave willingly, things in Venezuela ‘will likely get worse before they get better. We need to be ready for that.’

   “Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Thursday that ‘prolonged war is definitely not something this president is interested in. He’s been very clear about that.’ But it’s less clear whether he has any actual plan to avoid it.”

   Read more: [https://theatln.tc/BqO4sq4V](https://theatln.tc/BqO4sq4V) 

2. Step 1: Deploy Navy

   Step 2: ?

   Step 3: Profit!

   The sad thing is, I really believe there is no plan. I think Trump expected Maduro to give up with a show of force. Mauro called his bluff because of course he did. Trump is obsessed with being Mr. Peace prize so that was an obvious move. Now the Trump administration is caught flat footed, like, “uhh shit what do we do?”

   If you try to overthrow the current government by force, you are a war hawk which Americans are a bit tired of (see Vietnam Afghanistan Iraq).

   If you back down you look weak. (This current administration’s worst nightmare). Of course you can make up some bullshit like, ” Well we were there to stop the drug trade, and we totally did that so mission accomplished!”

3. He wants autocracy,  ownership of this hemisphere..  and the other evil powers to collude with so that he can get what he wants

4. He needs a political distraction and a handy cap to anti-dollar regimes.

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