1.) Trump abducts President Maduro based on trumped-up drug trafficking accusations…
2.) …whereas Trump pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández who was actually convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison!
This is my hot take on why Trump is doing this. I could be wrong about any or all of this.
1) Trump wants to be perceived as strong, and what better way to do that than to use the military.
2) Trump wants to distract the media from Epstein and the rest of his failing agenda.
3) Venezuela has incredible mineral wealth, perhaps the most in the world. Also, oil.
4) Trump admires the Saudis. What better way to be like them than to have some control over a country with the largest oil reserves in the world?
5) There are real estate opportunities for Kushner and Witkoff.
6) Although Trump is Putin's man through and through, he doesn't want to think of himself as a lackey. Putin is Maduro's closest ally, so going up against Maduro is a way to exert dominance. (Not sure about this assertion at all, but this complicated relationship is worth examining!)
Thanks, Anne! I'm sure there's more. This is something I have been kicking around in my mind for a while. Someone else brought up Exxon, and Citgo is also in the mix. I know nothing about the business side of things, but my guess is that there's a lot of cash flowing around Washington to influence policy.
I would say I'm not sure the US oil companies really want to deal with Venezuelan Crude. That oil is *extremely* "sour" and takes a lot of money to extract and refine so that cuts into profits. They're doing just fine with US oil production and the prices are low that it might not be worth it. if oil was at 100 bucks a barrel, it makes sense? $57like it is now? no. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/03/trump-venezuela-oil-us-companies-return-00709782
One thing I couldn't understand is why Trump would go against a Putin ally. I believe Trump both admires and fears Putin. So, why go against Putin in this? Your theories make sense. Also, maybe Putin gets something out of this in the end? That way, Trump is still sucking up to Putin?
"China is Venezuela's primary oil customer, typically purchasing the vast majority (around 75-80%) of its exports, amounting to hundreds of thousands of barrels per day, often disguised through rebranding or transshipment to bypass U.S. sanctions, though recent U.S. pressure has complicated flows. In late 2025, figures showed China taking roughly 750,000-900,000 barrels daily, though actual volumes vary, with China holding significant stockpiles to buffer supply disruptions."
So this is yet another way to assert some dominance over China, though as the post on crude oil reserves vs. exports shows, the amount of oil in question is a small fraction of global exports.
That's fascinating. I don't know much about PDVSA (the Venezuelan oil company) except that its productivity tanked, not surprisingly, when Chavez demanded loyalty of all employees and fired all the top brass who wouldn't kiss the ring. (Sound familiar?) I remember that most of the engineers left or were fired, and this had a cascading effect down the line as things broke and couldn't be fixed. I visited a hydroelectric dam when I was a teenager because a family friend worked there. I have heard that it is in a dilapidated state now and that only one of the turbines works.
I don’t think he will do that, nor do I think he will do anything the people of Venezuela want. My opinion is he did this as a favor to his buddies that have financial concerns there. He will choose a puppet. It will be interesting to see if the Senate will push back.
Trump said "I think it would be very tough for her [María Corina Machado] to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within - or the respect within - the country." from news conference today as shown on cspan / youtube
This was an important hint about Trump’s actual intentions. She might want true democracy and independence for her people. Exact opposite of Trump’s desires for anything he considers to be in his orbit. I smell corrupt deal making with a puppet regime from miles away.
Isn’t VP Rodríguez in Moscow right now? I seem to recall mention that she was out of the country on a planned trip when the US attacked and abducted President Maduro.
Leader Hakeem Jeffries reminds us that 'Edmundo González Urrutia was elected President of Venezuela in the July 2024 election, according to opposition-collected tallies and many international observers." He is the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
Why do military leaders continue to carry out illegal orders? And, I would think this would really hurt Trump with MAGA -- he's supposed to end wars, not start them. MAGA doesn't care about regime change, or oil for that matter. What/who is going to stop this? What's next?
Thanks, Marianne, that is a crucial point. Some of us had hoped that the US military wouldn't obey illegal orders. I suspect that part of the reason why Hegseth et al. purged senior leadership of Blacks and women, and purged enlisted troops of trans members, and aimed recruiting at gun shows rather than Black engineers, was to make it more likely that troops would obey any orders without question. I wonder if troops would fire on civilian protesters -- we'll see.
He did invite Jeffrey Goldberg, and he had a very interesting conversation about dt's motives on Washington Week yesterday. Tom Friedman of The New York Times describes the "Trump Doctrine" of how dt and his enablers view the role of Our Country in the world. It is related to The National Security Strategy recently issued by maga.
Just saw a clip of the press conference and Rubio looked extremely antsy lol! He isn’t supposed to pace back and forth so he was kind of rocking back and forth in place.
And the carnival ride goes off the rails, with no seat belts. Welcome to 2026. I just went to bed on NYE, nothing felt "new" to me. I'm not depressed, just pragmatic. What next? We get bombed by ... someone ... anyone ... while Petey plays video war games wearing his goggles and headphones?
Video war games it is. My guess is that the reason "we" used expensive missiles to destroy "drug" boats instead of strafing them with cheap machine guns is that pilots would think of launching missiles at a distance as video games, while shooting at the boats from close range might make the pilots a bit uneasy. Also, the missile explosions make better video.
Don’t forget the 1953 CIA-led coup against Iran’s democratically-elected leader, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. This, of course, led to the Shah and his US-trained SAVAK. Americans may have forgotten this, but the Iranians certainly never did!
Eventually, of course, this all led to the Holy Fascism of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor Ali Khamenei.
I read :The Brothers. It opened my eyes to what how the Dulles brothers orchestrated regime change around the world. John Foster as Secretary of State and Alan as head of the CIA under Eisenhower. Wow: “what is good for American businesses is good for the world.” Iran, Costa Rica, Vietnam, the Congo, Cuba (did not end well). This feels like : Mission Accomplished “ W Bush all over again.
Simon, thank you for keeping us posted with this. This SHOULD be the nail in the coffin with Republican Senators and SHOULD motivate them to say, “Get this guy outa there!” We’ll see how much this pushes the GOP overall to grow a spine past Massie and only a few others. I can’t help but wonder (especially in conjunction with the data you posted) if this will further fracture the MAGA base. Even they’re growingly keen to the potential of another ‘forever war.’ Speaking of which, and this brings me to my question…I’m hesitant to put this out into the ether but I know this will become a more prevalent concern as the midterms draw closer…do you have any concern Trump is attempting to incite war in order to ‘postpone’ midterm elections? Surely, such an act of interference would be illegal BUT since when has he cared much about that?!? I just wonder how the Democratic Party and top intelligence officials (the ones who are Pro Democracy behind the scenes or former officials with access still in some way) are preparing to ensure we HAVE a midterm election. Apologies for the worrisome question but I rather ask far easier than later in the year. Thanks again for all you do.
I'm confused. The Venezuelans in south Florida received the news well of the seizing of Maduro. Aren't they the same group that Don the Con took away their temporary protected status in order to deport them back to Venezuela?
I appreciate your timely coverage of this event. I'd decided not to watch any news this morning and then wham! Even email wasn't safe. My Democracy Matters group at the senior living place I moved to last year marches for an hour every Saturday. My sign says Save Our 250th birthday. It isn't making any sense to me to celebrate at all.
It’s interesting that emigres in south Florida welcome this move. But I just can’t imagine this incompetent administration, which has already hollowed out the military, achieving something that works in this offensive. I have a bad feeling about all this.
just now they are pondering what comes next? not one mention of maria corina machado and restoring democracy? will the DOJ even have a solid case with evidence to prosecute? should this be an international court of law? satan followed the panama/george bush adventure. and they put them on a boat to nyc? not a flight? guess time to figure things out now that cat is out of the bag. they will make a deal with whomever will make a deal, even if part of maduro regime. they just want the oil. cant wait to hear from machado.
My family WhatsApp chat has been blowing up this morning. (My American aunt married a Cuban and moved to Venezuela in 1969. They have five kids. My Cuban uncle is one of four kids and I am friends with all the grandchildren, even though I'm only technically related to five of them. All five of my Venezuelan cousins now live in the US and all are citizens through their mom.) They are all cautiously optimistic. Even my most fervently leftist cousin.
Some perspective on why Venezuelans are happy even if they detest Trump and don't support him: Every one of my Venezuelan family members personally know someone who has been murdered. My youngest cousin went out for some arepas at 8:00 am about ten years ago. He was waiting in line when someone drove by and shot and killed someone not ten feet from him. My aunt was in Mass one morning when everyone heard a shot. A parishioner arriving late was dragged out of her car and shot and killed. Some parts of Venezuela only have school two days a week now because the teachers are so poorly paid that they all have other jobs and don't have time to teach. When my cousin Pancho's wife and kids were finally able to flee the country, they rented a car and driver to take them to Caracas, a journey of several hundred miles. They were stopped by armed men 38 or 41 times (the teenagers had different counts). My cousin's wife had stuffed the car with food and her pockets with dollars. Most of the bandits accepted the foot gratefully, but the last one pointed a gun at her head until she had forked over enough cash.
I think you can see why Venezuelans are happy that Maduro is gone. It's a complicated situation, and my family members have posted that there are four important people who need to leave or be removed or the regime will survive. One of those is reportedly in Russia, so we'll see what happens.
I don't think anyone is sad Maduro is gone, but the way in which it was done could lead to more instability and even the rise of a new dictator. Look at what has happened in Libya or the post Saddam years. We shall see.
Also, the way in which it was done - a unilateral decision without Congressional approval - means that any good coming from it is just chance.
If Maduro had sent Trump a military medal wrapped in a million dollars at the start of 2025, Trump would probably be Maduro’s biggest supporter. That is not a sane foreign policy.
my wife is colombian. they all know people who were murdered as well; she has a brother that was disappeared. to her this reeks of yankee imperialism once again. also, we have quite the problem with mass shootings and gun deaths of our own in this country....i have family in lewiston maine that frequent the establishments where the shootings went down, thank god they were not there. maduro only did what trump himself tried to do in 2020.....and as one pundit put it, it looks like we can put a foreign president on trial here but not our own president.....
I’m afraid their happiness may be short-lived. Trump cares not one whit about the Venezuelan people and has probably actually sold them down the river for several barrels of oil and the chance to appear “strong.” Your cousins should pay close attention to his remarks - he’s promising to pick up where Maduro left off. He has a corrupt deal with the country’s VP, I would almost bet on it.
Thank you for painting the picture of what every-day Venezuelans have been facing. I know they are a proud people of their heritage and country and I hope that serves them well in the face of the madman Trump.
Prof. Terrence Goggin of West Point predicted a couple of days ago that Frank Donovan of USMC would pull of the ouster of Maduro and installation of Machado. I think the success might be in spite of Trump, but maybe it will bump his favorability temporarily.
Just wrote an emergency message to my electeds - ENOUGH! Make these illegal military strikes stop now! We need to work on getting him out of office - he is a loose cannon.
Let me see if I got this right:
1.) Trump abducts President Maduro based on trumped-up drug trafficking accusations…
2.) …whereas Trump pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández who was actually convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison!
This is my hot take on why Trump is doing this. I could be wrong about any or all of this.
1) Trump wants to be perceived as strong, and what better way to do that than to use the military.
2) Trump wants to distract the media from Epstein and the rest of his failing agenda.
3) Venezuela has incredible mineral wealth, perhaps the most in the world. Also, oil.
4) Trump admires the Saudis. What better way to be like them than to have some control over a country with the largest oil reserves in the world?
5) There are real estate opportunities for Kushner and Witkoff.
6) Although Trump is Putin's man through and through, he doesn't want to think of himself as a lackey. Putin is Maduro's closest ally, so going up against Maduro is a way to exert dominance. (Not sure about this assertion at all, but this complicated relationship is worth examining!)
Very interesting analysis!
Thanks for your contributions today Elizabeth.
I'm officially upgrading this from a hot take to a really useful framework.
Thanks, Anne! I'm sure there's more. This is something I have been kicking around in my mind for a while. Someone else brought up Exxon, and Citgo is also in the mix. I know nothing about the business side of things, but my guess is that there's a lot of cash flowing around Washington to influence policy.
yes, I ran across something that control of oil already transferred, but don't know how reliable.
I would say I'm not sure the US oil companies really want to deal with Venezuelan Crude. That oil is *extremely* "sour" and takes a lot of money to extract and refine so that cuts into profits. They're doing just fine with US oil production and the prices are low that it might not be worth it. if oil was at 100 bucks a barrel, it makes sense? $57like it is now? no. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/03/trump-venezuela-oil-us-companies-return-00709782
One thing I couldn't understand is why Trump would go against a Putin ally. I believe Trump both admires and fears Putin. So, why go against Putin in this? Your theories make sense. Also, maybe Putin gets something out of this in the end? That way, Trump is still sucking up to Putin?
Thanks for this, Elizabeth.
Point 7, from AI:
"China is Venezuela's primary oil customer, typically purchasing the vast majority (around 75-80%) of its exports, amounting to hundreds of thousands of barrels per day, often disguised through rebranding or transshipment to bypass U.S. sanctions, though recent U.S. pressure has complicated flows. In late 2025, figures showed China taking roughly 750,000-900,000 barrels daily, though actual volumes vary, with China holding significant stockpiles to buffer supply disruptions."
So this is yet another way to assert some dominance over China, though as the post on crude oil reserves vs. exports shows, the amount of oil in question is a small fraction of global exports.
That's fascinating. I don't know much about PDVSA (the Venezuelan oil company) except that its productivity tanked, not surprisingly, when Chavez demanded loyalty of all employees and fired all the top brass who wouldn't kiss the ring. (Sound familiar?) I remember that most of the engineers left or were fired, and this had a cascading effect down the line as things broke and couldn't be fixed. I visited a hydroelectric dam when I was a teenager because a family friend worked there. I have heard that it is in a dilapidated state now and that only one of the turbines works.
Probably put Hernandez in office to replace Maduro.
I mean, why not?
Like, any of this makes any sense?
Not Hernandez. Machado is my first guess. Installing her would put Trump adjacent to her Nobel peace prize in his mind.
I don’t think he will do that, nor do I think he will do anything the people of Venezuela want. My opinion is he did this as a favor to his buddies that have financial concerns there. He will choose a puppet. It will be interesting to see if the Senate will push back.
Trump said "I think it would be very tough for her [María Corina Machado] to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within - or the respect within - the country." from news conference today as shown on cspan / youtube
This was an important hint about Trump’s actual intentions. She might want true democracy and independence for her people. Exact opposite of Trump’s desires for anything he considers to be in his orbit. I smell corrupt deal making with a puppet regime from miles away.
Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s vice president, was sworn in as interim leader.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/01/03/world/trump-united-states-strikes-venezuela?unlocked_article_code=1.BlA.qW8V.qIQTIP5aofAa&smid=url-share
That is odd, isn't it? Why capture the president and have the VP be interim leader?
Isn’t VP Rodríguez in Moscow right now? I seem to recall mention that she was out of the country on a planned trip when the US attacked and abducted President Maduro.
I'm reading that Delcy Rodriguez arrived in Russia after the US announced the capture of Nicolas Maduro.
Leader Hakeem Jeffries reminds us that 'Edmundo González Urrutia was elected President of Venezuela in the July 2024 election, according to opposition-collected tallies and many international observers." He is the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
https://bsky.app/profile/hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social/post/3mbkdcg4pc22s
"Daddy" in the casa.
Why do military leaders continue to carry out illegal orders? And, I would think this would really hurt Trump with MAGA -- he's supposed to end wars, not start them. MAGA doesn't care about regime change, or oil for that matter. What/who is going to stop this? What's next?
Thanks, Marianne, that is a crucial point. Some of us had hoped that the US military wouldn't obey illegal orders. I suspect that part of the reason why Hegseth et al. purged senior leadership of Blacks and women, and purged enlisted troops of trans members, and aimed recruiting at gun shows rather than Black engineers, was to make it more likely that troops would obey any orders without question. I wonder if troops would fire on civilian protesters -- we'll see.
I'm also wondering if Rubio found out on Truth Social like the rest of the world.
My guess is that Pete Hegseth never invites Marco Rubio to his Signal chat where these things are discussed and planned.
He did invite Jeffrey Goldberg, and he had a very interesting conversation about dt's motives on Washington Week yesterday. Tom Friedman of The New York Times describes the "Trump Doctrine" of how dt and his enablers view the role of Our Country in the world. It is related to The National Security Strategy recently issued by maga.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2025-National-Security-Strategy.pdf
It was also noted dt thinks he knows the monetary cost of everything, while he knows the value of nothing. https://www.pbs.org/weta/washingtonweek/video/2026/01/washington-week-with-the-atlantic-full-episode-1226
Thank you for adding this!
Nah, Rubio is hoping this will give him leverage in his run for president. It’s a competition between him and Vance.
Just saw a clip of the press conference and Rubio looked extremely antsy lol! He isn’t supposed to pace back and forth so he was kind of rocking back and forth in place.
Simon, thank you for your update.
I'm so old that I remember the "Hillary the Hawk, Donald the Dove" column in the NYT.
What a shit show.
And the carnival ride goes off the rails, with no seat belts. Welcome to 2026. I just went to bed on NYE, nothing felt "new" to me. I'm not depressed, just pragmatic. What next? We get bombed by ... someone ... anyone ... while Petey plays video war games wearing his goggles and headphones?
Video war games it is. My guess is that the reason "we" used expensive missiles to destroy "drug" boats instead of strafing them with cheap machine guns is that pilots would think of launching missiles at a distance as video games, while shooting at the boats from close range might make the pilots a bit uneasy. Also, the missile explosions make better video.
Pinochet, Lumumba murder, Shah of Iran...this has worked our so well in the past.
Don’t forget the 1953 CIA-led coup against Iran’s democratically-elected leader, Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. This, of course, led to the Shah and his US-trained SAVAK. Americans may have forgotten this, but the Iranians certainly never did!
Eventually, of course, this all led to the Holy Fascism of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his successor Ali Khamenei.
I read :The Brothers. It opened my eyes to what how the Dulles brothers orchestrated regime change around the world. John Foster as Secretary of State and Alan as head of the CIA under Eisenhower. Wow: “what is good for American businesses is good for the world.” Iran, Costa Rica, Vietnam, the Congo, Cuba (did not end well). This feels like : Mission Accomplished “ W Bush all over again.
it's all in the movie, the good shepherd.....
Also Reagan and the Falkland Islands....
Simon, thank you for keeping us posted with this. This SHOULD be the nail in the coffin with Republican Senators and SHOULD motivate them to say, “Get this guy outa there!” We’ll see how much this pushes the GOP overall to grow a spine past Massie and only a few others. I can’t help but wonder (especially in conjunction with the data you posted) if this will further fracture the MAGA base. Even they’re growingly keen to the potential of another ‘forever war.’ Speaking of which, and this brings me to my question…I’m hesitant to put this out into the ether but I know this will become a more prevalent concern as the midterms draw closer…do you have any concern Trump is attempting to incite war in order to ‘postpone’ midterm elections? Surely, such an act of interference would be illegal BUT since when has he cared much about that?!? I just wonder how the Democratic Party and top intelligence officials (the ones who are Pro Democracy behind the scenes or former officials with access still in some way) are preparing to ensure we HAVE a midterm election. Apologies for the worrisome question but I rather ask far easier than later in the year. Thanks again for all you do.
If you read the comments from John Thune this morning you may be disappointed.
Yet, I anticipate others in the GOP will break with Trump/Thune/Johnson/Hegseth/Rubio on this. Just a matter of time.
I'm confused. The Venezuelans in south Florida received the news well of the seizing of Maduro. Aren't they the same group that Don the Con took away their temporary protected status in order to deport them back to Venezuela?
I appreciate your timely coverage of this event. I'd decided not to watch any news this morning and then wham! Even email wasn't safe. My Democracy Matters group at the senior living place I moved to last year marches for an hour every Saturday. My sign says Save Our 250th birthday. It isn't making any sense to me to celebrate at all.
I feel exactly the same.
Bob F - Rochester Michigan
So, Putin launches an unprovoked attack on Ukraine and bankrupts his economy in the process.
Trump bankrupts our economy and launches an unprovoked attack on Venezuela in the process.
The world is at the mercy of two murderous, pathetic, impotent human wannabes..
It’s interesting that emigres in south Florida welcome this move. But I just can’t imagine this incompetent administration, which has already hollowed out the military, achieving something that works in this offensive. I have a bad feeling about all this.
just now they are pondering what comes next? not one mention of maria corina machado and restoring democracy? will the DOJ even have a solid case with evidence to prosecute? should this be an international court of law? satan followed the panama/george bush adventure. and they put them on a boat to nyc? not a flight? guess time to figure things out now that cat is out of the bag. they will make a deal with whomever will make a deal, even if part of maduro regime. they just want the oil. cant wait to hear from machado.
My family WhatsApp chat has been blowing up this morning. (My American aunt married a Cuban and moved to Venezuela in 1969. They have five kids. My Cuban uncle is one of four kids and I am friends with all the grandchildren, even though I'm only technically related to five of them. All five of my Venezuelan cousins now live in the US and all are citizens through their mom.) They are all cautiously optimistic. Even my most fervently leftist cousin.
Some perspective on why Venezuelans are happy even if they detest Trump and don't support him: Every one of my Venezuelan family members personally know someone who has been murdered. My youngest cousin went out for some arepas at 8:00 am about ten years ago. He was waiting in line when someone drove by and shot and killed someone not ten feet from him. My aunt was in Mass one morning when everyone heard a shot. A parishioner arriving late was dragged out of her car and shot and killed. Some parts of Venezuela only have school two days a week now because the teachers are so poorly paid that they all have other jobs and don't have time to teach. When my cousin Pancho's wife and kids were finally able to flee the country, they rented a car and driver to take them to Caracas, a journey of several hundred miles. They were stopped by armed men 38 or 41 times (the teenagers had different counts). My cousin's wife had stuffed the car with food and her pockets with dollars. Most of the bandits accepted the foot gratefully, but the last one pointed a gun at her head until she had forked over enough cash.
I think you can see why Venezuelans are happy that Maduro is gone. It's a complicated situation, and my family members have posted that there are four important people who need to leave or be removed or the regime will survive. One of those is reportedly in Russia, so we'll see what happens.
I don't think anyone is sad Maduro is gone, but the way in which it was done could lead to more instability and even the rise of a new dictator. Look at what has happened in Libya or the post Saddam years. We shall see.
Absolutely!
Also, the way in which it was done - a unilateral decision without Congressional approval - means that any good coming from it is just chance.
If Maduro had sent Trump a military medal wrapped in a million dollars at the start of 2025, Trump would probably be Maduro’s biggest supporter. That is not a sane foreign policy.
my wife is colombian. they all know people who were murdered as well; she has a brother that was disappeared. to her this reeks of yankee imperialism once again. also, we have quite the problem with mass shootings and gun deaths of our own in this country....i have family in lewiston maine that frequent the establishments where the shootings went down, thank god they were not there. maduro only did what trump himself tried to do in 2020.....and as one pundit put it, it looks like we can put a foreign president on trial here but not our own president.....
I’m afraid their happiness may be short-lived. Trump cares not one whit about the Venezuelan people and has probably actually sold them down the river for several barrels of oil and the chance to appear “strong.” Your cousins should pay close attention to his remarks - he’s promising to pick up where Maduro left off. He has a corrupt deal with the country’s VP, I would almost bet on it.
Believe me, they're worried, too.
Thank you for painting the picture of what every-day Venezuelans have been facing. I know they are a proud people of their heritage and country and I hope that serves them well in the face of the madman Trump.
Prof. Terrence Goggin of West Point predicted a couple of days ago that Frank Donovan of USMC would pull of the ouster of Maduro and installation of Machado. I think the success might be in spite of Trump, but maybe it will bump his favorability temporarily.
https://open.substack.com/pub/thewestpointhistoryprofessor/p/high-drama-on-the-high-seas-the-caribbean?r=3nbt2u&utm_medium=ios
Let’s say Maduro and wife are convicted on the drug charges the tRumpy regime is touting.
Gee, how much will Cheeto then charge to pardon them?
Just wrote an emergency message to my electeds - ENOUGH! Make these illegal military strikes stop now! We need to work on getting him out of office - he is a loose cannon.
This is what it looks like when a power hungry madman is put in charge of a country with so much military power. He is unhinged.