Alright here it goes. I’m sure, as always, everyone will come at me.
Where do I land on Venezuela?
I love it, BUT…… Can we ask a few questions? and I’m saying this as someone who loves this country, reveres the Constitution, and believes truth matters. There are many facets to consider but I am just going on this one for now.
The threat we’re talking about is real. Full stop. Fentanyl is not an abstract policy failure, it’s a body count. Am I mad that we are addressing it so harshly, while other drug epidemics go unchecked? Not really. Either way, cartels are not street gangs, they are transnational paramilitary organizations operating at industrial scale, poisoning our people, trafficking women and children, murdering Americans and law enforcement, and doing it with the protection or willful blindness of governments that have either lost control or chosen complicity.
A nation that refuses to confront that reality is not compassionate, it is negligent. I know, I know, do you stop the flow or the demand?… Just stop? That is another issue, and the answer is BOTH!
Anyway, I understand the instinct for decisive action and am all for it.
The media games and lies, the administration leaks, the pandering, I share the frustration.
I’ve said for a long time that pretending this is just a law enforcement issue while tens of thousands die every year is a lie we tell ourselves because it’s easier than admitting the scale of the problem.
The federal government has a duty to protect its people. It is one of its legitimate functions. Scripture affirms that government bears the sword for a reason, not for show, not for ego, but to restrain evil.
And to be clear, this is also how the administration itself is framing what happened. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has consistently described the situation not as conquest, not as colonialism, but as national security and law enforcement intersecting, an arrest of indicted narco terrorists, the dismantling of trafficking networks, and the prevention of hostile actors and terror affiliated organizations from using our hemisphere as a staging ground. Those stated objectives matter. I agree with them. They are not random. They are coherent. And they are long overdue.
As I am cheering, my constitutionalist bones still start to ache. HEARD?
The constitution should be honored and we must be disciplined. Especially when it feels justified. War, or anything that looks like it, has become so causal. Since 1973 it has increasingly become more and more flippant in a way.
I’m not sure it should be announced to our enemies foreign and domestic before it happens, I get it and I’m not sure it should be announced into existence and sorted out later.
I know the latter, is how we destroy our republic and the first is also how we get nothing done, thus destroying our republic. But the constitution, should remain sovereign, Now again, I’m not blaming. I’m exploring.
Since World War II, we’ve trained ourselves into a dangerous habit. Presidents act first. Congress reacts later. Or not at all. Everyone avoids responsibility.
The War Powers Resolution exists precisely because the founders understood something we seem to forget- urgency is not permission, necessity does not erase process- it heightens the need for it.
And this is where multiple narratives collide. Supporters point to urgency, security, and results. Critics, especially on the left, are already claiming this is about oil, or regime change dressed up as justice, or executive overreach. I don’t agree with their conclusions, but I’m not going to pretend those arguments don’t exist or won’t shape public opinion, nor will I pretend oil has nothing to do with it. How could it not play into the equationl
Constitutional questions don’t become illegitimate just because hypocrites raise them.
If we are crossing a line from pressure into force, if we are decapitating regimes or striking sovereign capitals, then we are not talking about a policy tweak, we are talking about war in everything but name. And war, just or unjust, demands authorization, clarity, and consent, doesn’t it?
What unsettles me is not the possibility of force. History shows there are moments when force is necessary. What unsettles me is the normalization of ambiguity.
I’m not interested in Trump worship or Trump hysteria. That’s a distraction. This is bigger than one man. Trump didn’t invent this problem. He exposed it! Personally, I am very thankful for Trump in many ways.
In fact, he is using the current system beautifully. His enemies don’t like it because he is moving within the system they set up against them, all the while exposing it. The hypocrites on the left are exposing themselves. If you are willing to pay attention.
Decades of congressional cowardice and executive overreach have brought us here. We’ve slowly accepted a system of ambiguity.
People cheering that Venezuela and Cuba have been freed are celebrating relief. Relief that someone finally did something. I get that instinct. I really do. I share it.
And then Scripture rears its head, and I am reminded that zeal without knowledge leads to ruin. But then, in today’s world we have so much knowledge that it can be hard to know what is true and what is not.
Which is also why I’m not afraid to say I’m looking at everything being floated right now, the good, the bad, the credible, and yes, even the conspiratorial. That doesn’t mean I accept it. It means I refuse to outsource my discernment. Truth doesn’t fear scrutiny. Lies do. And I’m not interested in blind trust, whether it comes from the media, the government, the internet, my party, or those who claim to be with me.
So, does that mean If the threat is real enough to justify military force, then it is real enough to demand a congressional vote, a clear legal theory, defined objectives, and an honest explanation to the American people?
Yes, but then you have all the folks who will just hold it up and play politics, which was why we got the The War Powers Resolution that permits a president to deploy U.S. forces without prior congressional authorization in certain circumstances. Yeah, see how that all works?
I love this country, I love truth and I love the Constitution too much to treat it as optional when things get hard.
So, the struggle some of us feel is not rejecting the action. It is trying to ensure our constitutional republic doesn’t decay so far that we can’t get her back. We are working with in a framework that has consistently tried to undermine our constitution all while trying to get it back.
As a principled pragmatist I do not reject action. I simply insists that action be rooted in truth, law, and moral clarity. The actions towards Venezuela are surely just and were needed. We just have to recognize a nation that treats war as both taboo and casual at the same time is a nation that hasn’t decided what governs it anymore- the Constitution, the moment, or the man who speaks loudest.
And that is a question worth slowing down for. We cannot stray away from these questions. We have to re-learn what a constitutional republic truly means and if we want one or a Democracy.
Nonetheless, taking out the not legitimate leader, wanted for trial, is much better than spending two decades killing all his people and importing the ones we don’t kill. Let the actual winner of the election take the presidency of Venezuela and let’s put the dirtbag who stole the election and did so off the money he’s made running drugs and sex slaves.
I am not confused…. as I let my constitutional conservatism tingles play out and refuse to muffle it, I say… It might not sound America First, but in the long run, it is. Isn’t it?
President Trump gave Maduro multiple chances. Maduro decided to test him. This is what “find out” looks like.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTDhKreiNe8/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
Venezuelans cheering? https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BL88DUtLz/
He said if you don’t know, now you know lol https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17bimQbKfz/?mibextid=wwXIfr