The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
Raging Moderates: Can Democrats Criticize Trump’s Invasion Without Defending Maduro?
07 Jan 2026
Chapter 1: What is the significance of Nicolás Maduro's legal situation?
If you get mad every time you pick up your phone and start scrolling, it's not just you. Rage bait is kind of the currency or the power that's behind a lot of the content we might see. This week on Explain It To Me From Vox, why the internet is pissing you off on purpose. New episodes Sundays wherever you get your podcasts.
Welcome to Raging Moderates. I'm Jessica Tarlow. It's 2026. It's been wild so far. Scott isn't here, but Ben Maisalis, co-founder of the Midas Touch Network, the largest pro-democracy network out there. I'm sure all of you who are listening are subscribers and have certainly consumed his content over the past few years. Know him. Ben, welcome to the show. Happy New Year.
Great to be here, Jessica.
Yeah. It's always fun. Like, I love Scott, obviously. But when I'm thinking about who would be a fun co-host to have when he is out partying for longer than everyone else gets, his vacations are supercharged. Like, he takes all of August off. I don't know if you know that about him.
Chapter 2: How do Democrats navigate criticism of Trump's actions?
But anyway, I thought I was like, oh, is this the time when Ben and I can hang? And so I'm thrilled that you came to hang.
Well, you and I have wanted to do this for a very long time, and I really respect and love the work that you do. And Scott will be missed on this episode, but I'm sure he can enjoy his vacation. As I used to say when I was a litigator, you never get in the way of somebody's vacation. So enjoy.
No, Scott wouldn't let you get in the way of it anyway. So thrilled to be doing this. A lot to cover. We're going to talk about Nicholas Maduro in court. He's here in New York City with me, which is so bizarre. And the Democratic response to what's been going on.
The scandal that took down Tim Walz and the backlash over a new billionaire tax proposal in California where you are not a billionaire yet, but you probably have some views about it. Taxing the rich. Let's dive right in. Like I said, Maduro no longer ruling Venezuela. He's in a holding cell in Brooklyn. He was in a U.S.
courtroom on Monday where he pleaded not guilty to narco-terrorism charges and claimed that he was, quote, kidnapped, which actually I don't think is completely off base. The Trump administration says this wasn't a war regime change, but a law enforcement operation.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of the welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota?
They're just helping out Pam Bondi. Democrats, of course, agree that Maduro is a brutal dictator. You would look like an idiot if you didn't. But they're furious about how this went down. No advance briefing, no authorization from Congress. And now talk from Trump about the U.S., quote, running Venezuela. Political risk for Democrats is very clear.
Look like you're defending the Constitution without looking like you're defending Maduro or rooting against a clear villain being held accountable. So we've got questions about what's next in Venezuela. Also, what's next at home? What's next for our party? I want to start with kind of your overview of what you think of the operation and kind of the current state of play.
Because actually, I haven't heard you yet on it. So give me your fresh take.
Well, you know, we went live right away as soon as the.
I'm sorry, I wasn't. I was watching. I had no child care.
I wasn't.
No, I know.
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Chapter 4: How does the proposed billionaire wealth tax impact politics?
We put out a lot of content, though, also. But like but the point that I was I want to make is that when we went live with it right away, we immediately didn't hesitate in calling it an unlawful invasion because I saw the images. I saw what was happening. I saw the Chinook helicopters and I looked at it and I observed it and said, this is an invasion.
And then I said, was there congressional authorization for it? Yes or no? There was not. Does our Constitution require that there be congressional authorization when I see Chinooks and our soldiers in a foreign country? You absolutely require congressional authorization. Therefore, it's an invasion that is unlawful.
And so I think sometimes in the gamified political landscape of where do I stand on an issue is It gets filtered through a lens of politics versus a lens of basic values and principles. What's the point of having a constitution if it ultimately means nothing?
And I think a problem with the Democratic Party or with any political party at that is when you view it in terms of, is this going to help me politically or not politically? people, the general public, see your behaving that way, and I think sometimes they view that as, are you staking out a position that is politically advantageous, or do you feel a certain way?
Leaders need to lead, not ultimately come up with a position that they think is going to be palatable, and then you, as a leader, should bring people along on your position. And your position as the leader should be grounded in values and principles. So for me, when I run the network, that's how we cover everything. So the initial values and principles call was exactly what I said.
And then I wanted to ask the question.
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Chapter 5: What are the potential consequences of Trump's military actions?
So who is in charge? What is happening? And are we getting any answers that are satisfactory? And right now, as far as we know, somebody else from the Maduro regime by the name of Delcy Rodriguez, who was his vice president, is running the show. Trump claims that he is running it and that he's got a team of people who are basically puppeteering Delcy Rodriguez.
Delcy Rodriguez is saying things that indicate both support of Maduro and a resistance to the invasion, but it seems tailored to a domestic audience of kind of virtue signaling while making whatever this deal may have been with the CIA and Trump. But also, if you looked at her swearing in on Monday,
She sure looked chummy with the ambassadors of Iran and Russia, and they were there at her swearing in and hugging her, and she looked happy with them. And I didn't see an American ambassador there. So I then ask, huh, so what's really happening? Then we go to Donald Trump's justification, which is oil, that I briefed the oil companies before Congress got authorization.
You then have to ask yourself common sense questions about the oil companies who are already right now with the price of oil struggling to make a pro I mean, obviously oil companies are very profitable, but the question for them is their CapEx, their expenditures. Are they going to invest a hundred billion dollars in Venezuela?
And the answer is no, because it seems that Trump rolled out that the American taxpayers. are going to need to subsidize the oil companies in Venezuela, then we just ask, is this a good thing or a bad thing and what the heck is going on? So that's the framework with which I try to analyze it.
I like it. And there are a bunch of things that you brought up that I want to tap on. I'm going first to Delcy's swearing in, though, because I've been, I don't want to say disturbed, but kind of confused by the amount of coverage of...
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Chapter 6: How does the backlash from Silicon Valley affect Democratic strategies?
what happened that hasn't looked at the role of China, Russia, and Iran in what's going on in Venezuela. And Marco Rubio said it straight out on the Sunday shows, right? He said, like, our biggest adversaries are operating in our backyard about 1,200 miles from us. You have China control of Venezuelan mining sites. Iran has drone manufacturing facilities. They use the Russian radar array systems.
And... I don't know if you've noticed this, but there are a lot of smart people who are not pointing to that. Like, we've been fed a ton of lies, right? We heard that it was about drugs, and that's why they're taking out little drug trafficking boats that are actually taking cocaine to Suriname, not even coming here. That was the one with the lethal double tap strike.
Then we hear that it's about oil, but the state of the oil industry there is in complete disrepair, right? It's going to take, you give $100 billion, I've heard, between $60 and $100 billion to rejuvenate it up to a decade to get that to be profitable in any way. And Donald Trump said, I talked to the oil companies, but Reuters disputed that.
They, I guess, spoke to the oil companies themselves and said that they weren't given the heads up. So basically, this was like a go-it-alone situation. mission to a large degree on behalf of the administration, no Congress or even business influence. So what do you make of the fact that people seem to not be emphasizing the impact of
Does that in some way, I'm not saying making it justifiable, but I can certainly understand why it is not a good thing for those actors to be operating in our hemisphere and this close to us, you know, as a rationale for doing something.
Right.
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Chapter 7: What are the broader implications of wealth inequality in America?
And if that rationale is expressed rationally to the American people and through our elected representatives, with all that data, we decide, you know what? This is a real danger. Russia, China, Iran operating pretty close in Venezuela. Should we go and do an operation? Should we go and do a war with the accurate data? I still vote no on that, and I vote no emphatically.
I want to make sure we fix what's going on in the United States before we go have more wars abroad. But at least let's get the accurate information and understand, does this pose an imminent national security threat? Does it not pose an imminent national security threat? And then ultimately, what we did, though, if it was to decapitate a presence of Iran and China and Russia...
in Venezuela, then my question is, why were those ambassadors there at our swearing-in... Looking pretty happy. And they seem pretty happy. And what broader geopolitical discussions are taking place when the Russians are in Miami and they're meeting with... Witkoff and Jared Kushner. And right around that time, Donald Trump rejuvenates the conversations about taking over Greenland.
I don't think it was a coincidence. The timing of the converse. Yes, Trump's been talking about taking over Greenland for a long time. But this idea, we need a special envoy. The Louisiana governor was right around when Witkoff was speaking with the Russians, with Dmitriyev and Yushakov and others, you know, in Miami.
Chapter 8: How can Democrats effectively communicate their values to voters?
And are there broader, I mean, this is what Rubio has said, that he sees the world as spheres of influence, that he sees the United, he said this- The Don Roe Doctrine, as we call it now. And they said this back in last January when Rubio was giving speeches on this. Rubio said, spheres of influence, America's not the leader of the world. That's what Rubio said.
He said America controls the West, Russia controls its territory. Rubio didn't say Europe, but the implication was Russia controls Russia and Europe, and China controls Asia, and then the United States, China, and Russia divvy up resources around the world and trade with each other over the resources that they extract. So is there this broader implementation of that vision? Because...
How does Europe respond to that? You know, how do other sovereign nations respond to that?
Well, we're definitely seeing that at play. And the idea of choosing to be a regional superpower when you could be a global superpower seems silly to me. But we are seeing the reaction from European nations. Just this morning, there was a joint European statement in defense of Greenland. and Denmark as a NATO ally.
And the Danish prime minister spoke out yesterday and basically saying that NATO will end if Donald Trump does this, if he pushes forward and tries to take over Greenland. He's also listed Colombia, Mexico and Cuba on the list of
hot spots or hot spots, as far as he thinks, places to use this same kind of policy where you could say that you were carrying out some sort of law enforcement operation versus doing regime change, calling it just leadership change, which is, you know, what it is. It just happens to be the same leadership. And there's been a lot of coverage of
You know, Venezuelans here in America and at home in Venezuela are rejoicing to see Maduro gone. But it was particularly interesting to me, the Venezuelans in Florida, for instance, they were asked, I think it was on CNN, you know, are you going to go visit now? Do you want to go home? And they said, no, we can't go home. I mean, Delce Rodriguez is... They didn't say Maduro in a skirt.
But, you know, it's the same administration. It's the same military, the same actors. And I found it really interesting kind of watching the relationship with Maria Machado, the opposition leader who just won the Nobel Prize, which Donald Trump was very jealous of, you know, fracturing. And we didn't know exactly why that happened. had happened.
And the Journal, Wall Street Journal in particular, has done really good reporting on this. But over the course of months, basically, the U.S. administration and Rick Grinnell in particular, who was the envoy, were in conversations with her about, like, what's the plan, right? So if you are in charge, how are you going to corral all of the key stakeholders?
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