Ed

But I can't make sense of it.

So

That just defaults me to this is about politics, not economics, which is not to say that Trump doesn't like to talk about everything like it's a business deal.

You know, and he talks about we get the oil and we're going to have this number of billions.

They're giving me that and we're going to be controlling everybody's going to be rich.

But that's just standard Trump rhetoric.

He puts that on top of everything.

Right.

So, you know, just on the facts.

Because it doesn't make sense in any of the ways I think, it has to be in the political domain, because it doesn't work for me.

You know, I hear you.

And I think the general kind of explanation that you're reaching for there, that a lot of different stars aligned in the case of Venezuela, that is clearly right.

Maduro made fun of him.

is one.

There is a lot of oil.

He just published a document saying we're not putting up with any nonsense in our hemisphere, and etc.

So all these things got into place at the same time.

I would just put the emphasis on oil.

the kind of hemispheric dominance, wild machismo side, rather than the economic side.

There is a very long thread