America’s Crass President is Pulling Back the Curtain on the American Empire
When I learned of the news from Caracas, I texted three Venezuelan friends to gauge their reaction. Later in the day, I spoke to several more. With no exceptions, every single one of them was happy that the U.S. had deposed Nicolás Maduro. Everyone was still worried about the future of the country they felt forced to abandon. Two were upset that the U.S. had not captured notorious Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello.
No one was under the illusion that the military action was about U.S. benevolence. Indeed, there was zero romanticism in their words. The enemy of their enemy was their friend, but that didn’t make him the second coming of Simón Bolívar.
Dozens of emigrants were celebrating in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol. Their joy was palpable and, in my eyes, legitimate. I am happy for them. Whatever valid domestic or international legal issues make this military intervention problematic, it doesn’t take away from the fact that there are likely millions of Venezuelans both inside and outside their country who are thrilled that the wicked warlock is gone.
I don’t see how this act helps the American people, but that holds true for most of the nation’s 400 foreign military interventions throughout its history.
More often than not, leaders of empires neglect the interests of their domestic public. But Donald Trump didn’t invent the American Empire. He just doesn’t pretend American imperialism is about saving democracy. Indeed, in his press conference today, he mentioned oil at least 9 times without uttering the word democracy once.
Had he bullshitted about the need to preserve democracy or sovereignty in foreign lands, as have so many U.S. presidents, I’m not sure Venezuelans would have believed him in any case. But plenty of Americans would have fallen for the self-serving language of benevolent interventionism for the umpteenth time.
