Natalie Kitroeff

And we should have known.

In Trump, we trust.

Yeah.

Well, with Venezuela, it happened so quickly.

While some people had experienced queasiness about it, basically, the Maduro expedition kind of fell under the category of F around and find out.

That here was a guy who had been hostile towards the United States and paid the price for it.

And once again, without us seeming to suffer any sorts of negative consequences.

If anything, it appeared that

The new regime in Venezuela was going to be getting the message that, you know, we're very, very interested in those oil reserves you have.

And if you play ball with us, if you're on our sides, you'll be rewarded.

If you're not, well, you see what happened to the last guy.

And so it looked like there was really nothing to argue about.

That's right.

And what he's doing, Natalie, also is a reflection of what he had been doing at home, right?

I mean, so from the beginning of his second term, he was bringing his might down on universities, on media conglomerates.

on large American law firms that he believed were adversarial to him.

He was putting the muscle to them and forcing them to make concessions.

That, in essence, was what he was doing to Venezuela.

He has as leverage the greatest military and economic force in world history, and he is deploying that to gain concessions both abroad and at home.

This, to Trump, is the way a smart, powerful person exercises their leverage.