Tommy and Ben discuss: the fallout from the Trump administration’s strikes on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro, why President Trump chose Maduro’s VP Delcy Rodríguez to run the country instead of opposition leader María Corina Machado, how the DOJ’s new indictment of Maduro shows that the administration has been lying about him being the head of a drug cartel, and the comparisons between the Venezuela operation and the 1989 invasion of Panama to arrest Manuel Noriega. Then they dig into the (unfortunately named) “Donroe Doctrine” and what Trump’s embrace of regime change means for the world, including how seriously we should take his threats against Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and Greenland. Finally, they explain why Iranians have been protesting in huge numbers for over a week, how serious of a threat the protests pose to the regime, and debate whether we should take seriously Trump’s threat to respond militarily if the regime kills protesters. Then Ben speaks to Representative Joaquin Castro (D-TX) about President Trump’s lack of transparency to Congress about the attack on Venezuela, how much it’s costing American taxpayers, and how Democrats are trying to stop him from future invasions.

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Tommy and Ben respond to the breaking news that the Trump administration launched strikes on Venezuela and arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a special forces raid. They talk about President Trump’s claims that the US will now “run” the country, the illegality of this regime change operation, the plan to let American oil companies cash in, and the many other global implications of this shocking move.

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Tommy and Ben discuss the horrific Bondi Beach terror attack, the rise of antisemitism in Australia, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bad-faith attempt to connect Australia’s recognition of a Palestinian state to this violence, and the perpetrators potentially training in the Philippines. They also talk about the US seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker and how it fits into President Trump’s creep towards regime change, Chile’s election of the most right-wing President since Pinochet and Trump gleefully taking credit, questions about why US troops are still in Syria after the death of two US soldiers, pro-democracy advocate Jimmy Lai’s conviction in Hong Kong, a proposed policy to check the social media accounts of visitors to the US, the death of Jared Kushner’s corrupt hotel deal in Serbia, and highlights from episode 2 of The Liz Truss Show. Then, Ben speaks to Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, about global shifts to watch for in 2026.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

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