the orange man has fully removed the empire from being that shining city on a hill to a criminal gang that charges a 'vig', a bit one; 

When the moral pose is openly and exultantly flaunted as sham then young Christians who take themselves seriously become rebellious.

So, finally an act of unvarnished predatory action by Trump and his team – the abduction of President Maduro in a lightning night-time military strike – has launched 2026 into a pivotal moment. A pivotal moment not just for Latin America, but for global politics.

The ‘Venezuela method’ is aligned with Trump’s ‘business first’ approach which is rooted in constructing a ‘financial reward system’, whereby diverse stakeholders to a conflict are offered financial benefits that permit the U.S. to (ostensibly) achieve its own objectives, whilst locals continue to extract rewards from the exploitation of (in this case) Venezuelan resources – under U.S. close supervision.

In this template, the U.S. does not need to create a new governing régime from scratch, nor put ‘boots on the ground’ – for Venezuela, the plan is that the existing government of the newly-sworn in President, Delcy Rodriguez, will remain in control of the country – so long as she follows Trump’s wishes. Should she or any of her ministers fail to follow that blueprint, they will receive the ‘Maduro treatment’, or worse. Reportedly, the U.S. has already threatened Venezuela’s Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, that he will be targeted by Washington unless he helps President Rodriguez meet U.S. demands.

Put another way, the plan comes down to a single underpinning premise that the only thing that matters is the money...........more............