They have attacked Venezuela': President Gustavo Petro claims Caracas under missile attack

[Right_in_Virginia]

FYI, ICYMI @Timber Rattler ⬆️

[Timber Rattler]

If that were the case, Zelensky would've been snatched years ago when this whole situation began.

Putin tried and failed.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/29/russian-forces-reportedly-came-close-to-capturing-zelenskiy-during-first-hours-of-invasion

There is a difference between a targeted decapitation of state and a land war in eastern Europe. Land wars seldom end well.

Correct, but was not the lightning capture of Maduro also a "targeted decapitation of state?"

But honestly, I don't know why the Dems are mad. A retaliation by a foreign enemy deposing Trump would be exactly what they want!

So why would the Venezuelans NOT want to retaliate (although we all know that they can't).

Listen, we all know why the Rats are mad---they could really care less about Venezuela---their faux outrage is all about ideology, partisan politics, and virtual signaling against Trump.

However, there is a principled Constitutional argument about how Trump did this, in committing clear acts of war against a sovereign state without a formal declaration from Congress. That's why I stand with Massie on this. 

And no, I also didn't like it when Bush took out CIA asset Noriega that way in 1989, and then Bush with Saddam in 2003, and then Obama with Qaddafi in 2011, and then Trump with Syria in 2017-2018.

[Timber Rattler]

FYI, ICYMI @Timber Rattler ⬆️

The issue for me is not what Trump did but how he did and justified it.  I'm looking at the entire forest while most others are focused on single trees.

[corbe]

 

[Right_in_Virginia]

The issue for me is not what Trump did but how he did and justified it. 

 

[Bigun]

Sorry crew... feeling proud of my homies right now.

So am I! Feeling proud of your homies that is. They are my homies now! @Luis Gonzalez

[mystery-ak]

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro flashes a peace sign.

[mystery-ak]

Cilia Flores and Maduro arrive at MDC Brooklyn, Saturday, January 3, 2026.

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/TVNewsNow/status/2007729845502128211

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/Inevitablewest/status/2007793685749170524

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/MarinaMedvin/status/2007650987100758346

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/KurtSchlichter/status/2007694636433686795

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/2007812708947947642

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2007793201378443352

[verga]

MARCO!!!

POLO

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/2007537912825471466

[verga]

You do know that is an AI generated image, and in fact if the Delta/DEV Group commander has been identified, then that is a terrible breach of SpecOp secrecy, and made him and his family huge targets for retaliation?

Word for word, exactly what I was thinking.

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2007816558404579775

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/L77884Stephanie/status/2007823315851985217

[Canuck Conservative]

MarinaMedvin/status/2007650987100758346

NY Times and WashPost both knew on Friday about the mission, but held off on publishing details ...

Interesting ...

[Lando Lincoln]

Chevron reacts to Trump's Venezuela plan

[mystery-ak]

Venezuela's new leader Delcy Rodriguez is hardline socialist who kept Maduro in power for years... and she's already making threats against Trump

By SONYA GUGLIARA, US REPORTER

Published: 09:17 EST, 4 January 2026 | Updated: 10:58 EST, 4 January 2026

Venezuela's interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, has hurled threats at Donald Trump after the capture of the country's president, Nicolas Maduro, who is now languishing in a New York federal jail.

The Supreme Court of Venezuela confirmed hardline socialist Vice President Rodriguez as Maduro's successor just hours after US forces detained him and his wife, Cilia Flores, on narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges on Saturday.

Trump said he preferred Rodriguez, 56, in power rather than the country's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, adding that Maduro's VP was prepared to work with the US.

'She, I think, was quite gracious, but she really doesn't have a choice,' Trump said of Rodriguez during a news conference in which he said the US would 'run' the country.

'She is essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. Very simple.'

But the Maduro loyalist, who has helped him maintain his regime for over a decade, has vented her fury at Trump's capture of the despot, whom she called her nation's rightful leader.

Rodriguez, who also serves as minister for finance and oil, slammed Maduro's arrest as 'an atrocity that violates international law' and called for his 'immediate release'.

'We call on the peoples of the great homeland to remain united, because what was done to Venezuela can be done to anyone,' she asserted during a National Defense Council session after the US military operation.   

more
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15433043/Venezuela-interim-leader-Delcy-Rodriguez-Maduro-Trump.html

[mystery-ak]

A brutal firefight with 'a lot of gunfire', a spy on the inside and a fleet of stealth drones: The amazing story of how Trump's commandos snatched Venezuela's Maduro



more
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15431895/firefight-gunfire-spy-Trump-commandos-snatched-Maduro.html

[Timber Rattler]

https://twitter.com/L77884Stephanie/status/2007823315851985217

Maggie Haberman no doubt.

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/GuntherEagleman/status/2007820243146604828

[American Girl]

Excerpt:
You know that feeling when you see the same scripted chaos unfolding in different cities, and it all smells a little too organized? That's the story with these pro-Maduro protests popping up like weeds in New York City, Chicago, Orlando, Boston, and even Portland—four states' worth of liberals hitting the streets with identical white signs and black lettering, all whipped up in under 24 hours after Trump's daring arrest of the Venezuelan dictator. It's not organic outrage; it's bought and paid for, with the usual suspects like George Soros and Neville Roy Singham pulling the strings.




I wonder if they get paid extra when it’s cold out…

The Venezuelans are celebrating in the streets! Saying finally they have their country back. Americans are protesting the move just to make The Great President Trump look bad how stupid are these protesters.  They must be getting paid a good amount of money.


https://www.rightjournalism.com/paid-protests-exposed-liberals-rally-for-maduro-across-4-states-identical-white-signs-with-black-letters-prove-organization-videos/

[rangerrebew]

How the US captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro
By Meg Kinnard and Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press
 Jan 3, 2026, 11:58 AM
 
After months of growing military pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump ordered a brazen operation into the South American country to capture its leader and whisk him to the United States, where his administration planned to put him on trial.

In a Saturday morning interview on “Fox and Friends Weekend,” Trump laid out the details of the overnight strike, after which he said Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were flown by helicopter to a U.S. warship.


Maduro was in a ‘fortress,’ Trump says
Trump described Maduro as being “highly guarded” in a presidential palace that was “like a fortress,” although the Venezuelan leader was not able to get to a safe room.

American forces were armed with “massive blowtorches,” which they would have used to cut through steel walls had Maduro locked himself in the room, Trump said.

“It had what they call a safety space, where it’s solid steel all around,” Trump said. “He didn’t get that space closed. He was trying to get into it, but he got bum-rushed right so fast that he didn’t get into that. We were prepared.”

https://www.defensenews.com/news/your-military/2026/01/03/how-the-us-captured-venezuelan-leader-nicolas-maduro/

[mystery-ak]

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2007853843326149018

[rangerrebew]

How ‘Absolute Resolve’ harnessed 150 aircraft and more to launch a regime change in Venezuela

The Joint Chiefs chair described the "precise" and "unprecedented" military operation at a Saturday press conference.
Bradley Peniston | January 3, 2026 04:26 PM ET
 
   
The assault that captured the president of Venezuela was the result of months of intense rehearsal to ensure that hundreds of aircraft and thousands of troops could carry out myriad interlocking tasks to the second, the Joint Chiefs chairman said Saturday.

“The word ‘integration’ does not explain the sheer complexity of such a mission,” Gen. Dan Caine said at a press conference held at President Trump’s Florida compound. “An extraction so precise it involved more than 150 aircraft launching across the Western Hemisphere in close coordination, all coming together in time and place to layer effects for a single purpose, to get an interdiction force into downtown Caracas while maintaining the element of tactical surprise. Failure of one component of this well-oiled machine would have endangered the entire mission.”

“We think, we develop, we train, we rehearse, we debrief, we rehearse again and again, not to get it right, but to ensure that we cannot get it wrong,” Caine said

https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2026/01/inside-absolute-resolve-regime-change-assault-venezuela/410440/?oref=d1-featured-river-top

[rangerrebew]

Compare this piece of brilliance to the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle.  Which was more difficult and militarily more successful?

[mountaineer]

X thread: Who organized and funded the pro-Maduro demonstrations? (Spoiler alert: a network of self-described socialist, Marxist, and communist organizations, most of which operate as nonprofits that DO NOT have to pay taxes).

https://twitter.com/AsraNomani/status/2007708749075480885

[American Girl]

Excerpt:
You know that moment when a leftist host thinks she’s got a gotcha question, only for the Trump appointee to flip the script and school her on reality? That’s exactly what happened on NBC’s Meet the Press when Kristen Welker tried to pin down Secretary of State Marco Rubio on why the U.S. “needs” Venezuela’s oil after the bold capture of dictator Nicolás Maduro. Welker leaned in: “Why does the United States need to take over Venezuela’s oil?” Rubio didn’t miss a beat, firing back: “We don’t need Venezuela’s oil.



Trump has REVIVED the Monroe Doctrine with his own style!

America is back and stronger than ever



https://www.rightjournalism.com/nbc-tries-to-corner-rubio-by-asking-why-us-needs-venezuelas-oil-his-answer/

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

So is there no head of state in Venezuela right now? If there is, how are they going to keep the peace?

[MeganC]

X thread: Who organized and funded the pro-Maduro demonstrations? (Spoiler alert: a network of self-described socialist, Marxist, and communist organizations, most of which operate as nonprofits that DO NOT have to pay taxes).

https://twitter.com/AsraNomani/status/2007708749075480885

War by other means is still war. Now it is time to put an and to the Cuban dictatorship.

[MeganC]

So is there no head of state in Venezuela right now? If there is, how are they going to keep the peace?

Hopefully opposition forces will seize this moment to oust what remains of the communist regime.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Hopefully opposition forces will seize this moment to oust what remains of the communist regime.

This may be more risky than people realize.

[MeganC]

This may be more risky than people realize.

I imagine the US would provide air support.

[DB]

This may be more risky than people realize.

Yes, very unclear who has control of the country. Only Maduro's thugs have weapons. Hopefully there's a larger plan in place to manage this transition. The US cannot run the country without boots on the ground and boots on the ground has a lot of serious problems.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Yes, very unclear who has control of the country. Only Maduro's thugs have weapons. Hopefully there's a larger plan in place to manage this transition. The US cannot run the country without boots on the ground and boots on the ground has a lot of serious problems.

Exactly my point. 

[jmyrlefuller]

Correct, but was not the lightning capture of Maduro also a "targeted decapitation of state?"

Yes.

[American Girl]

Excerpt:
You know that feeling when a Democrat hack tries to trap a Trump appointee with a gotcha question, only to get schooled on the Constitution and reality? That’s exactly what happened when Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced off with George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” after the U.S. captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. Stephanopoulos, ever the loyal Democrat, pressed Rubio on the U.S.’s legal authority to “run” Venezuela, but Rubio didn’t flinch. “Let me ask this again. What is the legal authority for the United States to be running Venezuela?” Stephanopoulos probed. Rubio fired back, “Well, I explained to you what our goals are and how we’re going to use the leverage to make it happen. As far as what our legal authority is, is on the quarantine -it’s very simple. We have court orders. These are sanctioned boats. We get orders from courts to go after and seize these sanctions. So, I don’t know. Is a court not a legal authority?”



Hey Rubio, you're gonna have to explain it to him in retard language


https://www.usasupreme.com/rubio-destroys-democrat-hack-george-stephanopoulos-after-he-repeatedly-questions-uss-legal-authority-to-run-venezuela/

[corbe]

  Venezuela's new Leader

[mystery-ak]

Second front: How a socialist cell in the US mobilized pro-Maduro foot soldiers within 12 hours
By Asra Q. Nomani Fox News
Published January 3, 2026 8:28pm EST

As the U.S. military carried out a daring operation to capture Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro, a second front opened up within minutes in the United States  an information warfare, psychological and propaganda operation run by a hardened cell of self-described Marxist, socialist and communist leaders.

For years, this cell has fomented anti-American hate in the U.S. under the cover of "anti-war" protests, rallying activists after the 9/11 attacks to condemn the U.S. response, appropriating "anti-racism" protests after the 2020 killing of George Floyd, marching with Antifa agitators, organizing antisemitic campus encampments after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and activating "working-class Americans" to support Maduro and his regime in a war against "U.S. imperialism."

A Fox News Digital analysis of their minute-by-minute moves overnight reveals how this network activated a coordinated ideological and information warfare campaign, moving through digital social media channels with quickly produced posters to mobilize foot soldiers to the streets for an "EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION" in New York City; Washington, D.C.; and an estimated 100 other cities, moving with the speed and discipline of an organized military operation.



At 1:35 a.m., as U.S. special forces teams had just landed in Venezuela, BreakThrough News, a socialist propaganda arm of the network, published some of the first video from the U.S. military strikes, blasting the Trump administration for waging an "illegal bombing campaign of Caracas," the capital of Venezuela. It was a talking point that was going to stick.

more
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/second-front-how-socialist-cell-us-mobilized-pro-maduro-foot-soldiers-within-12-hours

[Wingnut]

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2007853843326149018

Go grill a raw burger you American hating POS.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Go grill a raw burger you American hating POS.

[Wingnut]

The same people who claim Trump is a dictator are now defending a real dictator.  Let that sink in.

[Wingnut]

MS Now has rebranded again after Trump removed a dictator.  It's now MS 13.

[Cyber Liberty]

MS Now has rebranded again after Trump removed a dictator.  It's now MS 13.

 

[Timber Rattler]

A friend of mine posted his deep thought opinion on his social media page, which I agree with 100%:

Let me start by saying this clearly: Nicolás Maduro is a bad actor — a dictator and a thug. I do not mourn his rule, nor do I excuse his corruption or brutality.
What I am questioning is not whether he should go, but how.

And on that point, no one has been able to point to a single sentence in the Constitution that authorizes what has been done.

Not one.

Instead, I hear appeals to things like the Monroe Doctrine — which is not law, but a theory of foreign policy....like communism is a theory of government.

Or I hear citations of the War Powers Act, which directly contradicts Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution and stands on the same unconstitutional footing as red-flag gun confiscation orders do under the Second Amendment.

If people want the president to have this power — which I absolutely do not — then there is only one honest path: amend the Constitution.

You do not get to ignore the Constitution simply because the outcome feels justified. That is not conservatism. That is rule by convenience.

Attempting to justify unconstitutional actions by pointing to unconstitutional laws only strengthens the argument that the Constitution itself is optional.

The Founders were explicit: any law repugnant to the Constitution is void. That principle either applies consistently — or it applies to nothing.

Then there are those who argue we must support this simply because “our team” did it. That logic is no different than saying immoral or unlawful orders must be followed simply because they came from authority. History has judged that excuse brutally.

I sincerely pray this does not end the way history shows these interventions so often do:

• more debt and spending
• more instability and radicalization
• more enemies created

We funded and armed “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan who later became Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda. That decision didn’t bring peace — it brought decades of war, terrorism, and the deaths of thousands of Americans. We never seem to learn this lesson.

And every time it happens, the result is the same: more Americans die overseas, and more Americans lose liberty at home — all in the name of making us “safe.”

If Congress had debated and issued letters of marque, which I would support, or if Congress had formally declared war, then this discussion would be happening exactly where the Constitution says it must — among the people’s representatives.

Instead, we see people who call themselves conservatives cheering actions that violate the very oath they swore — an oath to the Constitution, not to regime change, not to global order, not to removing bad men by whatever means seem expedient.

None of those goals are permitted without the consent of the people through their representatives.

Process matters.

Consistency matters.

The Constitution matters.

When elected officials celebrate unconstitutional actions, they empower future unconstitutional actions — often by people they will not like and cannot control.

Our path matters just as much as our destination.

[Wingnut]

A friend of mine posted his deep thought opinion on his social media page, which I agree with 100%:

Whiney little shit, your friend.