Sen. Warren: I just left the Venezuela briefing. It's worse than you thought.

[bigtree]

Elizabeth Warren @SenWarren
I just left the Venezuela briefing.

It's worse than you thought.

Oil company executives seem to know more about Trump's secret plan to "run" Venezuela than the American people.

We need public Senate hearings NOW.

Elizabeth Warren @SenWarren
President Trump’s unilateral military action to attack another country and seize Maduro — no matter how terrible a dictator he is — is unconstitutional and threatens to drag the U.S. into further conflicts in the region. What does it mean that the U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela, and what will Trump do next around the world? The American people voted for lower costs, not for Trump’s dangerous military adventurism overseas that won’t make the American people safer.

x.com/SenWarren/status/2008964826471743736

[applegrove]

1. ...

[The Roux Comes First]

2. Absolutely Spot-on! He Seems to Believe He Already is a Fully-empowered Despot (or "King,"!!)

I have a ravening appetite for some serious checks-and-balances.

[creon]

16. Yes

He does think that he is a despot

[multigraincracker]

3. Will he instal a relative of the Shah?

[Easterncedar]

5. The Shah's son is being prepped for return to Iran

[crud]

4. insanity

pure and simple

[Grim Chieftain]

6. Our country is in deep, deep trouble

This cannot go on. Apparently, there are no sane, ethical Republicans left who will step up to this fetid felon who is destroying our once great country.

[SergeStorms]

7. EVERYTHING with Trump is transactional.

Follow the money, if at all possible. This undoubtedly benefits Trump financially, and the petroleum industry has always been steadfast behind him.

[vapor2]

37. For months the oil companies

have been conspiring ! AND we will all pay for this crap

[SergeStorms]

39. We'll pay in both blood and treasure.

People in our country can't afford food, shelter, or healthcare, and this jackass is going to "rebuild" Venezuela?

[Clouds Passing]

8. Of course the oil companies knew and the rare earth mineral companies knew

Of which DonJr is a partner of one of these companies, surprise! surprise!

[popsdenver]

21. Sounds a lot like

when Cheney sat down with oil companies, when his and Rumsfeld's phony war attack ended......and those oil companies, divided it up between six U.S. Oil companies......

[Clouds Passing]

22. Oil companies are terrorists, just look at the koch family and their deadly shenanigans

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

26. Oh yeah, Koch brothers and the U.S. of A. turning to Stalinism...

Last edited Thu Jan 8, 2026, 10:21 AM - Edit history (1)

... their daddy was one of Stalin's best friends, stole another company's patent for refining crude and ran to the U.S.S.R. and set up oil refineries for Stalin.

I have been on to that for over 20 years.

[popsdenver]

32. I suspect that sometime

in the future, the United States of America, will be re-named: The Corporate States of America..............

The U.S. Corporations have all the best Politicians money can buy, and Citizens United clinched their domination.....

The lower 99% will be serfs and peasants.........

It will be the Gilded Age all over again, just with a new group of Robber Barrons.........

[Clouds Passing]

35. Strongly suspect Kochs set up Herit Found to help ruskes take over u.s.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

25. Don Jr $600+ million loan...

... so far... eom.

[Ohioboy]

9. I've been watching the MAGA base reaction to this

It sickens me that this illegal action against Venezuela seems to be popular with the Orange Stain's base.

[hadEnuf]

10. The American people need to organize and drive the Trump administration out of office.

Enough is enough. He is an evil criminal and he needs to GO.

[BurnDoubt]

11. We ARE in deep shit here.

We’ve lost whatever respect and credibility we ever had.
Clearly we have decided we would rather rule over rubble than get along.
"Union of Sociopathic Shithead Republic... for your consideration… here, in the Twilight Zone”.

[wiggs]

12. Good. Also, please use the phrase 'turn of the century colonialism, imperialism, and exploitation'. nt

[LiberalArkie]

13. JP Morgan knows a hell of lot more than the Senate knows also..

[Fil1957]

14. No surprised there...

[Baitball Blogger]

15. Who else thinks that it was this nonsense bringing in private oil interests into public negotitaions

that caused 9/11?

[patphil]

17. We are moving toward armed conflict, both with our neighbors, and allies, and also with the American Public.

The Trump government is totally lawless, and deliberately provoking situation after situation toward violence.
2026 looks to be a very dangerous year for Humanity.

[Puppyjive]

18. I know someone who works in the oil industry

They are all getting laid off. He works on oil rigs in Wyoming. Appears Trump's plan may have lowered gas prices, but it was detrimental to the workers. I think a lot of those guys are Trumpets and I know one who might be rethinking his position .

[Warpy]

19. Everything I've read//heard has gotten worse and worse

Plus I have no idea what Maduro is going to be charged with besides Fatso saying he doesn't like the guy. Getting into office via a crooked election (which he did) is more of an internal matter. If they want to pin the drug kingpin title on him, they're going to have an uphill battle because apparently his role was just looking the other way. Cozying up to Russia isn't an international crime, although it's pretty stupid, considering what shape Russia is in, not that it started out that great. See: Russian air defenses vs. US tech, it was no contest at all.

The political situation between the US and Venezuela has not been helped, although there were some street demos there cheering the ouster of Maduro. His VP is not going to be our friend, she seems to be even more of a hard liner than he was. Fatso's threats that the US will form a kunta down there are not playing well. Somebody needs to staple his mouth shut. The raid gained us nothing but a man we can't charge plus a worse enemy in Venezuela.

Fatso probably thinks she's going to obey his orders because she's only a woman. Sigh.

The death toll in Venezuela was also higher than they wanted to admit to. I don't know about the crews at the air defenses or maybe workers at the power plant up in the hills, but I have read that US forces wounded or killed nearly every guard in or near the presidential residence, from bodyguards to army guys guarding the perimeter. That's another reason Venezuela is not going to be amenable to being occupied by the US, too many funerals.

I can't see what this has gained the US beyond giving Russia and China a scary demonstration of US capabilities, at least while the high tech lasts, not long in a big war.

ETA: And their oil? It's high sulfur goo that our refineries don't handle, so it will end up in China or India, like it was going to do before the raid.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

24. I agree with most of what you said, but I will make two points:

First, the oil that comes from Venezuela is exactly what many Gulf Coast refineries were built to refine. This is possibly the main reason for targeting Venezuelan oil to begin with. Campaign promises to oil companies must be fulfilled--not so much to the American people.

"Venezuelan oil is particularly dense and sticky. The high-sulphur crude more closely resembles a semi-solid tar than the far clearer liquids produced in US shale heartlands, making it more difficult to extract and process into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and feedstock for the chemicals industry. But it is exactly what many refineries in the US were built to treat."
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jan/05/venezuelan-crude-oil-appeals-to-us-refineries

Second, it seems highly likely that the VP of Venezuela--Delcy Rodríguez--was in on the ousting of Maduro. It explains a lot: how did the U.S. have such great intelligence on Maduro's residence; why did the U.S. not immediately back the true winners of the election that Maduro stole? Who in Venezuela at this point has gained the most from the U.S. raid? Why would you leave the rest of the regime in power?

They aren't looking for a friend in Venezuela. They would have to treat a friend much better than a beholden enemy.

My $.02....

[Warpy]

27. Good point about nations trying to be friends with Russia

Like Fatso, they have assets or enemies, nothing better and nothing else.

Interesting about Rodriguez. I wouldn't be at all surprised at one of her backers having given intelligence to US operatives but only because Maduro was giving a good impression of a terrified man who was about to crack. She seems like a tough cookie and a more competent administrator.

As for your description of their oil, it's spot on. I was going to call it "bunker oil," but it's not that good.

Thanks for a great reply.

[Strelnikov_]

28. Trumpist bought Citgo a few months ago

Was wondering what ever happened to those refineries.

Per Paul Krugman today:

Which is not to say that nobody has profited from the abduction of Maduro. A few months ago Trumpist billionaire Paul Singer bought Citgo, the former U.S.-based arm of Venezuela’s state-run oil company. Citgo owns three Gulf Coast refineries custom-built to process Venezuelan crude, refineries that have suffered from the U.S. embargo on imports of that crude. If Trump lifts that embargo, Singer will receive a huge windfall. But this windfall will have nothing to do with reviving Venezuelan production.

Singer has made huge political donations to Trump, raising questions about how much he has influenced policy. His purchase of Citgo was also remarkably well-timed. What did he know?

[Ol Janx Spirit]

30. Yep. And it's a huge surprise isn't it? /s

So much corruption funded with our blood and treasure....

[Figarosmom]

20. I wonder if Manduro will be

Put on trial and what that would look like.

[Aussie105]

23. Play the Twilight zone music . . .

Trump's wrong footing everything just makes things worse.
Open conflict is next.
American boots on the ground in Venezuela, Greenland.

What if we are already in WW3?
What if we aren't but it is now going to unavoidably progress to that?
What if we are seeing the stage set for WW3 to happen?

All because some incompetent Apricot Colored Hell-beast wants to cover up past incompetence under more layers of incompetence - and doesn't want to go to jail?

[GiqueCee]

29. Republican excrement...

... will block any effort to get to the truth. Republicans HATE truth.

[Celerity]

31. Working link:

Link to tweet

[Aussie105]

33. Trump woke up one night . . .

His feverish brain came up with the perfect solution for all his woes.
The ultimate distraction!
Start WW3!

[ReRe]

34. K&R

That's right, bigtree & Elizabeth Warren. Senate hearings NOW!
What are we, the United States of OIL?

[Martin68]

36. Trump should be impeached ASAP. Republicans need to wake up.

[vapor2]

38. Call them and leave a message