The Life in My Years

“This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened.” Tweeted by the Department of State, January 5, 2026.

“I feel better going into this New Year than I did a year ago,” I told my son.

My son disagreed. He and his wife and two children were visiting for four days, starting on Christmas Eve. It was the day after Christmas and the grandchildren were enjoying their video game gifts, while Matthew and I exchanged our predictions for America and the world in 2026.

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At around 6 o’clock on the morning of Saturday Jan 3rd, my optimism was shattered when I turned on the T.V. and saw scenes of the fiery flashes of bomb blasts above a chyron that described a U.S. assault on the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, and the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro and his wife and son.

“Fucking Trump,” I said in a tone that sent my dog Lexi to the other room. Over the years she’s learned that “fucking Trump,” means papa is not happy.

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Well of course the United States attacked Venezuela. It makes all the sense in a world that’s ceased to make sense. Trump didn’t station a massive fleet off the Venezuelan coast so the sailors could enjoy the balmy Caribbean weather.

Yet even as the fleet sat off the Venezuelan coast and the U.S. continued to commit murder on the high seas by bombing what the Trump regime claimed (without proof) were drug runners, I didn’t think that Trump would go through with an actual incursion.

How stupid was I?

Maduro was barely aboard a U.S. warship headed for jail when U.S. Attorney General, conspiracy monger, and Trump acolyte Pamela Jo. Bondi announced the indictments against Maduro, and his wife and son that include narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine-importation conspiracy and weapons charges. I’m not sure how the weapons charges (possession of machine guns) hold up since the weapons Maduro was possessing were within the borders of his own country. But Trump does what Trump wants and Bondi does what Trump wants. It’s a sick symbiosis.

During her announcement Bondi promised that Maduro would “face the full wrath of American justice.” It’s a statement that democracy and justice loving Americans should make note of and remember. It used to be that justice in America was impartial and that there is a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. This is not the first time that Bondi and other officials of the regime, including Trump himself, have described American justice in terms of seeking vengeance. In Trump’s America, Lady Justice had been fired and replaced by the “hanging judge.”

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For months the administration has been peddling the lie that Venezuelan drug dealers, with the aid or approval of Maduro, have been shipping Fentanyl to the United States on cigarette boats (hence the “drug boat” murders). Since the murders began, there was never any effort on the part of the regime to prove to Congress and to the American people the legitimacy of the boat bombings. It’s been a policy of take our word for it or go fuck off.

During Trump’s press conference on Saturday it became clear that this adventure has the smell of oil about it.

It only took six and a half minutes into his rambling post abduction speech for Trump, just after announcing that the United States would “run” Venezuela, to give up the goods on the real reason for the assault. “As everyone knows the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust, a total bust for a long period of time” said Trump. He continued, “They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping, and what could have taken place. We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest in the world, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.” (Presumably “the country” means the United States)

After a period of typical Trumpian ramblings, lies, and assorted nonsense, Trump revisited the real reason for the incursion, by accusing Venezuela of seizing and selling American oil and seizing American drilling equipment and complaining that “we never had a president that did anything about it.”

As the speech was winding down, Trump claimed outrage over the fact that Venezuelan troops shot at an American invasion force. Because that’s what soldiers do in the face of an invasion. In a chilling statement Trump said, “All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy dating back two centuries, and not anymore. All the way back, it dated back to the Monroe Doctrines (sic). And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal.”

Trump continued, “Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again”

At the end of the speech Trump issued an ominous threat to the world saying the “operation (against Venezuela) should serve as a warning to anyone who would threaten American sovereignty or American lives.”

And there it was. The Monroe Doctrine all over again. The policy that made America a pariah. Only now it would be called the Don-roe Doctrine.

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Indeed over the course of the weekend the threats to other nations flowed like a gusher. On Air Force One, when asked if the regime would take action against Columbia, Trump responded, “It sounds good to me.”

When asked about Cuba, Trump responded, “They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They’re not getting any of it. Cuba is literally ready to fall, and you have a lot of great Cuban Americans who are going to be happy about this.”

Regarding Mexico Trump said, “You have to do something with Mexico. We’re going to have to do something. We’d love Mexico to do it, they’re capable of doing it, but unfortunately the cartels are very strong in Mexico.”

Trump has also been issuing threats against Iran for its government’s response to protests. “If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they’re going to get hit very hard by the United States,” he said.

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And then there’s Greenland, and Trump’s threats to go to war with Denmark, a NATO ally. “We need Greenland, from the standpoint of national security,” Trump said.

Katie Miller, the wife of Stephen Miller (America’s very own Heinrich Himmler) posted on X a map showing Greenland painted in the colors of the American flag with the caption “Soon.” Anyone who thinks that this is the harmless work of another crackpot MAGA camp follower should recall that Laura Loomer, another crackpot MAGA camp follower, has had her vile little fingers in the ousting of over a dozen officials in the Trump administration who she deemed to be disloyal.

What happens next in Venezuela is anybody’s guess. That includes the administration which, if you judge from the conflicting reports and opinions coming out of various government sources, is sounding suspiciously like the dog who caught the car.

For now the new Venezuelan leader is Delcy Rodríguez but she is under the gun, literally, as Trump, in true mob boss fashion said, “if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.”

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Trump wants the oil companies to go into Venezuela, repair the wells, and start pumping oil. One can imagine that on the first workday of 2026, the board rooms of American oil companies were filled with executives holding their heads in their hands and downing Xanax with a bourbon back. Who wants to commit billions to an unpopular and uncertain policy, concocted by an unpopular lame duck president, who is likely to lose Congress by this time next year? And if the oil companies balk at Trump’s demands they know that they have the mob boss, extortionist version of Trump in their near future.

One would also imagine that the Venezuelan populace isn’t going to just sit back and let the pillaging happen without a fight, so America can look forward to Iraq 2.0 when American troops are sent to another place where they aren’t wanted to take on another ill advised mission.

One thing is certain and that is, the United States is embarking on effecting another humanitarian crisis as it is creating more chaos in an already chaotic nation. As the embargo tightens and America steals oil money, starvation in Venezuela is almost certain. With the likes of white nationalists like Stephen Miller and J.D. Vance “running” Venezuela, there should be no expectations of humanity or sympathy.

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Forget the notion that America is a benevolent nation, a beacon for the world. The veil over MAGA (and by extension American) bellicosity has been ripped away and burned in rage. The tone during the entirety of the weekend was a hostile one. After the kidnapping of Maduro the White House put up a social media post showing a scowling Trump above a chyron that reads FAFO. The caption says, “No games.” The comments sections were litanies of nationalism, of blood lust and sabre rattling. It was keyboard mob violence.

(FAFO is an acronym for Fuck Around and Find Out. I used this acronym a number of times before the election as a warning not to fuck around with a Trump vote. Now I use a more appropriate version; “You Fucked Around and now We’re all Finding Out.” It is aimed especially at the fools who decided to vote against Harris or not vote at all.)

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On Saturday, after the kidnapping Little Marco said, “I don’t understand yet how they haven’t figured this out,” referring to world leaders who don’t wilt before Trump’s demands (one would imagine it includes business leaders, governors, lawyers, judges, university presidents, and anyone else who would have the temerity to say “no” to king Donald).

Following the lead of his boss, Little Marco put up a social media post of his own featuring Trump and Rubio wearing scowls above an angry banner that reads in large angry letters, DON’T PLAY GAMES WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP. The photo reminded me at once of Goodfellas.

In the past a president embarking on an imperial adventure might pay some phony lip service to the altruism of helping build a democratic state. Trump has exhibited none of that. There was no hopeful tone from Trump when he spoke on Saturday. Anger literally radiated from the man. During his Saturday press conference Trump mentioned “oil” twenty-seven times. He didn’t once say the word democracy.

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None of this is without historical precedent. In 1846, James K. Polk used the Thornton affair as a pretext to start the Mexican War. In 1964, LBJ used the Tonkin Gulf Incident to justify a massive buildup of American soldiers in Vietnam. In 2003, George W. Bush warned that Iraq had a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction and the U.S. embarked on another senseless meat grinder of a war.

National security and the coveting of natural resources have long been justifications for attacking sovereign nations. For Hitler, national security was one of the justifications for taking the Sudetenland. Imperial Japan craved the natural resources it didn’t possess; petroleum, coal, iron, copper, bauxite, and manganese.

And to kick off the New Year, Trump and his gang are revisiting some of the tragedies of history.

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Trump, J.D. Vance, Little Marco, Stephen Miller, and other feckless Republicans in the administration and in Congress have been busy trumpeting a fabrication that the nations of the world have a new respect for America. Nobody respects a boasting bully, not even other boasting bullies.

One can imagine that at this very moment, defense departments and intelligence agencies in nations that once called America an ally are now planning their defense strategies against American aggression.

The fact is that all respect has been exhausted. America’s reputation is not just in tatters – it’s gone. The so-called “Shining city on a hill” has been razed to the ground, and the beacon of hope and freedom has gone dark.

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I started this year with an optimism that I didn’t have a year ago. In three short days the optimism is shattered, replaced by foreboding.

Today I suggested to my wife that we may want to rethink our planned autumn trip to Europe. I still remember the hatred against an imperialist America, when the U.S. flag was burned during countless protests in countless countries. Americans had to be extra judicious when traveling overseas. It saddens me, as I look out on a gloomy day, to realize that those days are apparently returning. And they’re returning with a madman at the helm.

Today, my wife is revisiting Spanish dual citizenship.

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In an interview with Ben Rhodes, Alexei Navalny said that what sustained him during his darkest days was anger. Novalny was determined, he said, to “preserve and keep my level of rage.”

Novalny explained that what sustained his rage was the “lying.” “The Soviet Union was an empire based on a lie. And Putin’s Russia is based on a lie.”

And look what Russia is now. Orban’s Hungary is based on lies, and look what Hungary has become.

Like Novalny, it’s rage that sustains me because when I look at America now I see an empire based on lies.

And so the only question that remains is

What will America become?

Banner photo: Street art in Munich, Germany.