This was just before I watched the video of the ICE agent killing Renee Good. Soon enough it was claimed the ICE Agent had to kill Good because she had “weaponized her car” and she was a “domestic terrorist” deserving to die because of turning her car around. Having been fully brainwashed by Justified, I should have admitted it is a paragon of American narrative. I should have been happy. I should have stood up and sang the Star-Spangled Banner while saluting the Flag.
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Yet for most Americans, Venezuela is not the issue keeping them up at night. Affordability is. That’s the reality Democrats must stay anchored in. We cannot allow ourselves to be pulled into Trump’s Venezuela trap. Venezuela is a deliberate distraction from the affordability crisis Trump dismisses as a hoax, from his connections to Jeffrey Epstein, and from a parade of scandals that have sent his approval ratings plummeting. He needs Americans focused anywhere but on the issues that actually affect their daily lives.
Political psychosis is not a recognized medical condition. Psychology Today reports that social scientists view it as a societal phenomenon of shared delusions. Furthermore, it describes a sustained detachment from shared reality/norms, marked by irrational behavior, the spread of misinformation, vindictive thinking, and the collapse of effective governance. Today, this condition is most clearly visible in the Republican Congress, where ideology has eclipsed reason, loyalty has displaced law, and constitutional duty traded for political survival.
Late Friday night into early Saturday, I watched the news and scrolled through social media as reports of explosions in Caracas began to spread. I went to sleep unaware of what the morning would bring. Hours later, bleary-eyed and half-blind without my glasses, I woke to headlines announcing that the Trump administration had captured and arrested Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in what it called “Operation Absolute Resolve,” transporting him to New York to face narco-trafficking charges. Maduro’s sudden removal is being celebrated by Venezuelans abroad and met with a mix of relief and unease inside the country. But beyond those reactions lies a far more troubling implication: Venezuela will not be the end.
Indeed, we can’t avoid seeing ourselves. As psychologist John Gartner has pointed out, Trump is not only a malignant narcissist, but — as has been clear in his second term — he’s slithering ever more deeply into dementia. Yet people still support him — enough people to let him win elections. Why?
“Little Black boy,” Williams said, “you were worth it, and you always were. Without any titles, you were enough. You were always enough. You deserve to accept love, and you deserve to be protected.”
On a cold January afternoon outside City Hall, Zohran Mamdani stepped into that unfinished struggle. As he raised his right hand and took the oath of office as mayor of New York City—the first Muslim ever to do so—he embodied a quieter American tradition: the insistence that conscience belongs in public life.
Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon and marching his legion on Rome did not destroy the Roman Republic all by himself. The erosion of the republic and rise of the Empire occurred over decades, if not centuries, and built upon many little cuts and changes, often touted as necessary and proper, needed and good, that all added up to ending “government by the people” and replacing it with one Ruler above the law. These folks were later known as Caesars, who pretended (fake news) to rule with a Senate of the people’s choice but really ruled as dictators. But the infrastructure of the “highway to hell” or Empire erected on the death of the Republic was built inch by inch.
Being An Elected Leader Means Being Accountable And Having A Conscious
The US has overthrown the Maduro regime in Venezuela, captured its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and occupied the country. Continuing a long history of US interventions in Latin America, Trump has vowed to “run the country until such time that we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” The US policy of regime change had been telegraphed for months, as Trump ramped up attacks on supposed Venezuelan drug boats, imposed an oil blockade, and ordered a CIA drone strike on a Venezuelan dock alleged to be used for loading drugs. Now those clear violations of international and US law and false allegations about Venezuela’s role in the fentanyl trade are ending with an occupation and US control of Venezuela’s oil-based economy.