Tom Bilyeu

But in Cold War 2.0, countries are going to have to pick sides and there will be consequences regardless of which way people go.

The invasion and apprehension of Maduro was a message to Beijing and to all of Latin America.

This is what it looks like to go against the US if you're squarely within our sphere of influence.

Now, I expect this to be deeply discomforting to people all over the world.

And Lord knows, I hope we avoid the unimaginable tragedy that is war.

But any country that is not prepared to defend its way of life against its adversaries will fall.

The question is, where do we go from here?

Trump has deposed Maduro, but Maduro's VP has been sworn in as president.

Trump has made it clear that America is in charge and a fate worse than Maduro's awaits the new regime if they don't obey.

Given all of that, Venezuela is now essentially a vassal state for the US.

But that's going to require a lot of management.

And for a president who ran on America first and who has plenty of problems to deal with here at home,

it may become politically difficult very quickly to apply the kind of focus on Venezuela that it's going to require to keep them from falling into disarray or even civil war.

Regime changes are at best hit or miss, and at worst, total catastrophes.

If we burn money and American lives in Venezuela, Trump will see the populace turn on him even more than they already have.

Everything now hinges on one question.

Does Venezuela still remember democracy?

If there's still enough institutional memory, competent bureaucrats, engineers, oil workers, judges, business leaders, then there's a path forward.

A hard path maybe, a painful one to be sure, but a path nonetheless.

In that scenario, the U.S.