Brett Cooper — Reacting to the Craziest Takes on Maduro's Capture | Episode 114

Brett Cooper in "Reacting to the Craziest Takes on Maduro's Capture | Episode 114". Full transcript below, with the movement's reading and the gaps we could not close.

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Transcript

A dictator was literally kidnapped in the middle of the night by Donald Trump and now the future of this entire nation rests in his hands. Now the political right has very legitimate nuanced questions about what this means for regime change and America first, but on the left, well, they have done a complete 180, of course, and they've decided that actually they know better than real Venezuelans. So in case you've been living under a rock this holiday season, which by the way, good for you if so, that's wonderful, but this photo of Venezuelan President dictator Nicolas Maduro being captured by Donald Trump and being flown back to America quite literally broke the internet on Saturday morning and I know who I am going to be for Halloween.

Now just a funny like social media tidbit here, you can see that he is wearing a Nike tracksuit. That specific Nike tracksuit sold out almost immediately. So again, people are getting ready for Halloween just 10 months in advance. Anyway, moving on. One thing that I do want to say that I feel like we all could agree on like before we get into the, you know, arguments and the nuances and the back and forth of what this means for America, the one thing that I do think we can and should all agree on is that our military is so bad.

What happened Friday night, Saturday morning was so freaking epic. Like I felt like AN EAGLE LIKE LIKE THROUGH MY VEINS AND I was trying to think of like why it meant so much to me even though I do have concerns about what we're doing there and I think it's because like I grew up under Obama completely dismantling our military and we just lived through Biden, you know, putting all of this emphasis on DEI in the military.

Like our military has been turned into a laughingstock. Even though there were incredible men and women that were still there, that were enlisted, that were, you know, that believed in the cause and the mission of being in the American armed forces, it had kind of become a joke. And our military had also become connected to things that I personally as an American was not proud of. Everything that we did in Iraq, the never-ending wars in Middle East, like that was not giving any kind of like positive connotation.

But going in in the middle of the night and kidnapping a country's communist dictator, taking out Iran's nuclear facilities in like 5 minutes with the freaking Dorito flying planes, like our boys have had some incredible moments. And after years of hearing about the DEI running our military, this was just amazing to see. So I think that is a place where we all could agree, hopefully. Like Will Chamberlain posted and said, "I really had no idea that our military was this capable.

We flipped a switch, turned off every one of Venezuela's defensive systems, infiltrated the residence of the head of state, kidnapped him, killed his security, and walked out without taking a single casualty." Yes, like if nothing else happened, I do think that Trump has at least put the fear of God in a few world leaders, so that's a good thing. Anyway, now moving on to the debate aspect. While the left is melting down over optics and debates over whether Nicolas Maduro was actually a dictator because of course socialism has never been done right, the right is asking really important questions.

You know, they are asking, "Is seizing Venezuela's oil actually America first or is this just Iraq 2.0 with a fresh coat of paint?" which is something that I personally am very concerned about. Now I'll be the first to admit that I am not an expert on geopolitics. I've never said that I am, but I will at least try to walk you through the arguments and what I am thinking. Now before we dive into this, make sure that you like this video, subscribe to the channel if you have not already, ring that notification bell if you never want to skip one of our amazing episodes.

And if you want behind-the-scenes content, farm blogs, which are very fun, I must say, head on over to cooperconfidential.com. That is our subscription platform. I hope you guys enjoy it. All conversations about Venezuela have been about drugs and the cartel. And so at face value, when Maduro was captured early Saturday morning, everyone was talking about how important this was, how we needed to do this to stop the flow of drugs into our country.

But the thing is a lot of people looked around and they went, "Okay, well, if we're doing all of this about drugs, then why are we not taking a stance that is this drastic, this severe when it comes to the Mexican cartel?" Well, very quickly people realized that this was not actually about the drugs. Possibly more importantly, capturing Nicolas Maduro and toppling his regime was about oil. It was about oil and keeping our enemies out of the Western Hemisphere, aka our backyard, and possibly even election fraud.

As some context for anybody who is not up to date on the history of Venezuela, I certainly was not, again, not an expert here, but I think we all should at least be on the same page. Now as some context for those of us who are not Venezuelan history and political experts, Venezuela went from being one of Latin America's poorest countries to the world's fourth largest economy by the 1950s. And the reason was because of oil.

Massive oil reserves worth up to $45 trillion. And you can see it right here. Proven crude oil reserves in barrels in 2024, Venezuela is outpacing everyone. However, by the 1980s, foreign influence and socialist policies had begun draining that wealth rapidly and communist leader Hugo Chavez nationalized the entire oil industry. And obviously, when you nationalize anything, that just does not turn out well. We have learned that.

That's why communism and socialism does not work. Anyway, he everyone out, including American companies, and he basically dismantled and ruined the entire oil industry there. Then came Nicolas Maduro, who successor, and Venezuela's complete collapse. Now in 2018, Nicolas Maduro won the election to be president, but most Venezuelans believe that this was stolen. And let me be clear, the people of Venezuela did not see Nicolas Maduro and his government as a legitimate government.

They see Maduro as dictator. And that is a really important key to this story as the political right and left in America are just duking this out. Because if everything that is said about him is true, he has in fact earned that title as dictator. Refusing to leave office, crimes against humanity, silencing dissidents, political persecution, but ultimately led to his arrest, what he was indicted in the United States for, is running a narco-state from the presidential palace.

But if you don't believe me, let's hear it from a Venezuelan. You know what we have had to deal [clears throat] with all of these years? The government kills the civilians. The government attacks the civilians with fire weapons, even though the civilians have no weapons. So do you really think that these people were going to leave if we asked them pretty please? We have asked them by protesting and what do we get? Bombed, we get shot.

The government hires mercenaries so they can go and dissipate the crowds on the protest. So what did we do? We don't protest anymore. Hundreds of thousands of people have died along the years just for having a different opinion, for having an an opinion against the government. We just came to a point where we thought nothing's going to change. We had no hope. We just gave up. That is the reality that Venezuelans have been facing for the last 26 years.

So tensions obviously have been rising and since then they have been saying to the United States, "Please help us. Do something. You're right there. You're so close to us. Can't you do anything to help us?" And the United States was allegedly listening. Our politicians certainly made it seem like that. In fact, Biden even campaigned on helping Venezuela back in 2020. Just read this tweet. He said, "Trump talks tough on Venezuela, but admires thugs and dictators like Nicolas Maduro.

As president, I will stand with the Venezuelan people and for democracy." know now, those were empty statements. Kamala posted things like this. "What is happening in Venezuela is a crisis. People who have fled Maduro's dictatorial regime deserve safety and protection. As president," this is when she was running, "I would immediately extend TPS status to Venezuelans. It is the right thing to do. America must show moral leadership in this hemisphere."

She also said the US must immediately condemn Maduro's violence against his own people. There is no excuse for this. The Venezuelan military and security forces must demonstrate restraint. The Venezuelans deserve a free and fair election and a peaceful transfer of power. So it's just a lot of empty words. It's like, "No, let's just bring in a bunch of immigrants into our country and we're going to condemn things on social media because we hate him and we know it's bad.

We're standing with you, but from all the way over here. From all the way over here behind our screens on social media." Anyway, they did nothing over the four years that they were in office and just before they left office, this was a year ago now, Biden raised the bounty on Maduro's head to $25 million. That's all they did. So let's just like take that in for a second. The Democrats literally campaigned on helping the Venezuelans.

They had a bounty of $25 million for anything that would lead to Maduro's arrest and nothing happened. But now that Trump has actually captured him and arrested him and brought him back to the United States, the Democrats have decided that no, actually now they are holier than thou and they have done a 180 switch because they can't be happy about anything. They need something to be angry about. And so now let's look at what Kamala tweeted just a couple of days ago.

She said, "Donald Trump's actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable." Oh, like you cared about that before, Kamala. "That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We've seen this movie before. Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength, but turn into chaos and American families pay the price." Okay, now the warmongers are suddenly like worried about what Trump is doing.

people do not want this. They are tired of being lied to. This is not about drugs or democracy. It is about oil and Donald Trump's desire to play the regional strongman. If he cared about either, he wouldn't pardon a convicted drug trafficker or sideline Venezuela's legitimate opposition while pursuing deals with Maduro's cronies. The president is putting troops at risk, spending billions destabilizing a no exit plan, and no benefit at home.

America needs leadership whose priorities are lowering costs for working families, enforcing the rule of law, strengthening alliances, and most importantly, putting the American people first." Okay, Kamala. So now you are America first. Now you want to strengthen alliances overseas when you and Biden did nothing to help that. In fact, you just made foreign affairs worse. You want to lower costs for working families and make sure that Trump is in office doing that.

Meanwhile, the president that you worked for was on vacation for maybe the majority of his presidency. Like just spare me the outrage and hypocrisy. You also wanted Maduro gone. Like did you forget that or did you actually never want him gone? Maybe you just wanted the Venezuelans to vote for you. Maybe you wanted to make yourself feel good about the fact that you were standing against and condemning a dictator, but you never had the balls to do anything about it.

And now Trump did. He made it happen. He removed him, but now you're nitpicking him because what? Because he didn't tell Congress in advance? Like I'm sorry, Kamala, that Trump did not trust AOC and Jasmine Crockett with this information. But also there's a super critical because Democrats have done the exact same thing, Kamala. Somebody commented and said, "Obama killed Osama bin Laden, no congressional approval. Obama invaded Libya, the opposition killed Gaddafi, no approval.

Biden killed the Al-Qaeda leader in 2022, no congressional approval. Trump swoops in and brings the man alive back to the US, Democrats go crazy, lol. As an independent who sits in the middle, Democrats need to stop being so hypocritical. Correct. You know, there are warmongers on both sides. We have captured leaders from other countries before. We have killed them. Democrats have done this, too. So, Kamala, Biden, Democrats, stop getting your panties in a bunch.

Like, just looking at all of this, like, I guarantee Trump just always feels like he is in a battle with Goliath, which reminds me of Angel Studios' new movie. Angel Studios' film David is a stunning animated musical that brings to life the story of the shepherd boy who became a king, and it is in theaters right now. And if you love The Prince of Egypt or Lion King, you will love this film. It is epic, emotional, and full of heart, and it is a movie that your entire family can enjoy and learn from.

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Anyway, because all of these leftists and Democrats all have Trump Derangement Syndrome to the max, they have, of course, taken to the streets to protest Maduro's capture. it was maybe 6 hours after he landed in Manhattan, and they were already out there with t-shirts, with signs, ready to go. And what do you know? They like this communist dictator more than Trump. Just watch. Like, these are insane insane individuals.

Would you trade Trump for Maduro? Yeah, 100%. I mean, I think Trump I mean, I think Maduro was democratically elected. Probably, yeah. Sure. Uh more than likely, yes, of course. If there's a Nicolás Maduro out here who's going to bring us uh to revolution, I will support that movement. >> So, you want to support a movement that will destroy the United States, that will not bolster the economy, but in fact, do the exact opposite, completely collapse our entire country.

You're in favor of a president, a dictator, killing people in the streets who disagree with him. That's what you're saying. You are in favor of a brutal, violent communist revolution. So glad we're being honest. That is at least a start. And so, I'm so glad that we all know that Trump is the dictator, not Nicolás Maduro. And the comments here were just incredible. Somebody said, "These are the same people who were screaming, 'No kings!'

a couple of months ago. Now they are saying they would rather have an actual dictator in office. It is astounding." Yeah. For people who care about kings so much, I don't think they actually know what a king or a dictator actually is. Somebody else commented and said, "See, not everyone should be allowed to vote." Yes, let's repeal it all. Let's repeal it all. Let's just start over from scratch. That might be better for our country.

Another person said, "The answers being given are so outlandish and intellectually dishonest, none of these people can be taken seriously. They should be prevented from working anywhere that requires critical thinking skills. Retail and fast food should be their only options." Brutal, but also, if you watch that video, I think you probably know where this person is coming from. Now, that video and those sentiments alone, everything that I have been seeing on Blue Sky and on TikTok, the outrage, that in and of itself, just standing alone, is crazy.

But what is even crazier is when you compare their sentiment to the sentiment of actual Venezuelans that they are speaking for, allegedly. And clearly, it seems like none of these benevolent leftists have actually listened to what their poor token Venezuelans have had to say about this issue, because if they did, they would hear a completely different story. Just look at this. We're bombing Venezuela right now. >> [screaming] >> It is 2:35 a.m.

Every single person in power of the country has abused us and abused of their power. We have been living in a dictatorship for about 20 years. So, I can tell you, this feels like a breath of fresh air. >> [music] >> So, yes, for the people of Venezuela, right now, at least, this is a very good thing. They are celebrating in the streets. They are thanking Trump. And regardless of what happens next, regardless of whether they actually like Trump or not, even for Venezuelans in America, they are happy and relieved that Maduro was gone.

They are happy and relieved that their 26 years of horror is hopefully over. One commenter summed this up with nuance and said, "As a Venezuelan and a Democrat living in the US, I can tell you all the Venezuelans against Maduro are happy that this happened. We certainly don't know what are the other president's intentions, but our biggest thing with Maduro and his people being in the government for almost 30 years. So, no matter how much oil they want to take or how illegal the situation is, which I don't really think it is, we are very happy and relieved knowing that Maduro does not have power anymore.

A lot of people died in this 25-plus years, something drastically like this needed to happen." Now, that comment leads me to the next point that we need to talk about, which is oil. Guys, even though I am sure it felt great to topple a country for Trump, this really is about oil. And honestly, I have to give him credit because unlike his predecessors who danced around the issue and lie about their intentions, he is not pretending otherwise.

Listen to this clip from his press conference. We're going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country. And guys, Donald Trump said that before Maduro had even set foot on American soil. He was like, "Yep, we're going in. We're drill, baby, drill.

The oil is coming back. This is great." And honestly, like, that no-bullshit honesty is exactly why I voted for him. That is what I would like to hear. Like, regardless of whether I agree with him or disagree, I would rather you just be brutally honest so that I can make up my mind. But I have to say, at first, like, overall, I was very happy about this, especially because we got in and out so quickly, literally before I even woke up in the morning, and I could respect the fact that he did this so that China and Russia would not get the oil and would not be in our backyard, would not be an easy nuking range for the US.

But later, in that same press conference, he did say something that gave me a lot of pause. And this right here is why so many people, so many Republicans and America Firsters are against what Trump is doing. So, let's just take a listen. We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. So, we don't want to be involved with uh having somebody else get in, and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years.

So, we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. And it has to be judicious because that's what we're all about. >> So, that's regime change. He is saying that we are going to be doing the regime change in Venezuela. And so, for a lot of people, when they first woke up on Saturday morning, they were excited. They were thrilled, even, because Maduro had been taken out, and the US was, you know, back on American soil within hours.

That was done. Let's leave it to the Venezuelans. They are cheering in the streets. Now the opposition can take power because they believe that, you know, she won in a landslide, and Maduro just wouldn't leave office. This is great. Leave them to their own devices. And then Trump gets up on stage and saying, "Actually, we're not leaving. We are going to be handling this." He put it even more bluntly in a later press conference on Air Force One.

What are your thoughts on the entire situation? You said the US would run Venezuela. We're dealing with the people. We're dealing with the people that just got sworn in. And uh don't ask me losing charge, because I'll give you an answer, and it'll be very controversial. What does that mean? It means we're in charge. I mean, like, you kind of have to love it. Again, you kind of have to respect the fact that he's like, "Hey, you're going to hate this, but yeah, we're in charge."

Like, I'm not going to lie to you, we are, in fact, running this country. We are not pretending like it's something else. We are running this country. It is Marco Rubio's 15th job. This is what is happening. And so, suddenly, guys, after watching both of those press conferences, I watched them in their entirety. I'm just I was just sitting there thinking about Taylor Swift's song All Too Well, mostly because I just watched her documentary ON DISNEY PLUS.

BUT GUYS, LIKE, the line from that song, like, "I remember this all too well." Like, we have been here before. We're starting wars to save people, to spread democracy, and help with regime change. We're just going to be there temporarily. But as we know, nothing, usually with the government, is temporary. Then we fast-forward 20 years in the situations. This is what I grew up under, where we are then still in a foreign country.

Millions of American soldiers have died. We leave it worse than we found it. And then when we try to withdraw from the situation, it's just an absolute cluster F. That is what I have experienced. That is where my mind goes to. Now, we have to be honest, you know, can Trump do this differently? Maybe. I think that's what he's trying to accomplish. he wants to prove the naysayers wrong. You know, can Marco Rubio get in there, get the oil pumping, get the new president set up quickly, and leave?

Maybe. We're adding it again to his like 15 jobs that he has. But a lot of people are understandably very skeptical. A lot of America Firsters, a lot of isolationists, I am very skeptical. But again, I'm not Trump. I don't know what he knows, and I'm not a politician. But just sitting from the outside in what I grew up under, this doesn't feel great to me. Now, Dave Smith, who is famously anti-war and anti-foreign intervention, he complimented Trump for how quickly this was done, the expediency, all of that, but later in his tweet, he said, "The most important question is always what comes next, and it is a question that DC is famous for ignoring.

In the case of Iraq and Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen, it was a disaster, despite all of the war hawks immediately celebrating the quote-unquote success. I hope what comes next is better for the people of Venezuela and the region, but I'm not optimistic. These events have a tendency to destabilize, and unlike the Middle East and North Africa, this is in our backyard, and we will pay a steeper price if the results are another destroyed country."

And he is not the only one, far from the only one who is speaking out against this. Folks like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie and Rand Paul, all of whom I usually really love, I do love, are very staunchly against this. And this is what they have to say. This is about oil and regime change. I'm very fearful that these boat strikes and the positioning of our ships and our troops right off the coast of Venezuela is a prelude to war.

I think that there is a real question of legality. And this is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of, that doesn't serve the American people, that actually but actually serves the big corporations, the banks, and the oil executives. But others, in their own right, don't share those same concerns. Like Matt Walsh, my friend who is usually very isolationist, actually disagrees and says, quote, "This is a war for oil."

First of all, the war lasted like 90 minutes, true. Anyway, he goes on and he says, "Secondly, going to war to secure vital resources for your own people is totally legitimate. Why should we allow some third-world communist to control trillions of dollars worth of oil?" Now, jumping off of Matt's point, what could be even worse is selling that oil to our enemies and then giving them access to our hemisphere, literally putting them in our backyard.

And that is the point that Marco Rubio has been driving home, and I do see a lot of validity here, as well. We don't need Venezuela's oil. We have plenty of oil in the United States. What we're not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States. You have to understand, why does China need their oil? Why does Russia need their oil? Why does Iran need their oil?

They're They're not even in this continent. This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live, and we're not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States. This is deeply destabilizing stuff. It's not going to continue to happen. They are not going to come from outside of our hemisphere, destabilize our region, in our own backyard, and us have to pay the price for it.

Not under President Trump. >> Again, in that moment, I feel bald eagles screeching. I'm like, "Yes, we're protecting our people." Anyway, so I I can be swayed by this argument, and again, I do understand both sides. I understand the concerns, and I understand the motivations. So, the argument here, what the Trump administration is saying, is that yes, it is about oil, but also it is bigger than that. It is sending a message to our adversaries.

Melissa Chen posted on this point and said, "You guys realize the message the Trump administration has sent to China, right? We went from letting China float spy balloons over the US mainland and not even saying a peep about it when Biden was in charge to this." Under Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela evolved from a failing petrostate into a permissive operating environment for foreign adversaries and transnational criminal networks.

China had taken the most advantage out of the situation. There are over 600 ongoing bilateral agreements outlining energy and infrastructure, trade, defense, and strategic partnerships between China and Venezuela. In fact, China sold and implemented the air defense system that failed on the day of the US operation to capture Maduro. A few hours before Delta Force landed, the high-level Chinese delegation was meeting with Maduro, literally that day at the palace to, of all things, discuss the multipolar world order amid US pressure.

Little did they know the multipolarity was about a huge hit. This is a complete reassertion of American power in order to claim American dominance in the Western Hemisphere, and I completely understand that, and I see why Trump is focused on that. Now, on top of all of that, on top of the oil and toppling a commie and sending a message, there is yet another pressure point here for Trump. And this is something that not a lot of people are talking about, especially not in the mainstream media, but it did feel relevant to chat about, even though I don't really have a lot of information, but there has long been a quote-unquote conspiracy, not in Trump's mind, about the US government outsourcing their alleged election rigging technology, like Dominion and Smartmatic, to Venezuela, and having that election rigging allegedly take place in Venezuela, based on my understanding.

And it has not been something that I have really followed over the years, but obviously, this is personal for Trump. Like if he can leave office with proof that he actually won in 2020, I think that would be the most important thing that he does in his mind. And so, I think another reason that he wanted to drag Maduro here alive was so that he could get answers on this. And I will not pretend to be an expert on this, either, but if you want to read more about it, House and Habit has done new articles about it.

She posted a new story highlight. She is personally tracking this. She has some inside, I don't really know, but go find her on Substack, and you can get more information there. So, the point being, why I brought this up, is because there is a lot at play here. And I understand, very personally, why some Americans are concerned that this is not actually America First, especially if we fail them like we have failed before.

But we are doing this under a different president, a president that I trust a lot more than the Bushes and the Obamas and the Bidens of the world. And so, to sum up my opinion, which I am still kind of muddling through as the information comes out, we should acknowledge that the Venezuelan people are celebrating in the streets. We should acknowledge that they are happy and that they believe this is a really positive thing for their country.

So, I'm not going to speak for them or say that actually Maduro was wonderful and all of those things. They are happy. A brutal communist dictator is in custody, and China and Russia just lost a major foothold in our backyard. That objectively is a win, in my book, and I am happy that we are in and out in under 2 hours, and that we did not lose any Americans. But then, soon after, to his credit, Trump was very honest about the fact that we, as Americans, we are now in charge.

We are the ones doing the regime change. We are rebuilding their oil industry, and suddenly I got a lot less optimistic and a lot more concerned. Again, because we have seen this unfold before, and it was not pretty, for us or for the countries that we were allegedly helping as the benevolent Americans. Again, we left it worse than when we got there. And because this is right in our backyard, there is a lot at stake if we screw this up.

Now, thankfully, what I will say is that I think that Trump knows this. You know, his legacy could completely hinge on what he does here in Venezuela, especially since his Republican base is largely America First and anti-intervention. Like the age of the neocon warmongers is over, especially for my generation. I don't think he knows that. And so, if we start losing American lives, if we start sending billions of tax dollars into Venezuela, if this distracts or takes away from positive domestic policy, if the only people who benefit are his buddies in the oil industry, it will not be pretty for his legacy, for the hope of another Republican president soon after in 2028.

And again, I think I hope that he knows that. I am hopeful that Trump will handle this better than an Obama or a Bush. He has already been more honest and more efficient, but only time will tell, which is hard, it's not fun for a control freak like me, of course. But you know, one thing I will say is that even if he proves all of the naysayers wrong, even if he crushes this and Venezuela comes back swinging and we have a strong economy and they have a strong economy, we already know that the left will have critiques.

They will say that actually he is the real fascist dictator here. So, at least we have that kind of consistency in our lives. At least we can rely on that. Now, I am interested to know what you guys think about this, because again, there is a lot of nuance here. Some people are so excited, some people are not. I want to hear what you guys think, and maybe we will do a follow-up episode as we start to learn more, and I will read some of your comments.

Anyway, have a great day, guys. Happy Tuesday and happy New Year.

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