THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE

In TAPA #145 Baloney Not Oil, I laid out why the only people who will ever see a financial return from the Venezuelan incursion, an operation that cost American taxpayers an estimated $500 million, are the oil barons. Because of the massive tax breaks Trump handed the industry, any profits will never reach the “regular” American who works every day and receives a W-2 at year’s end. Every barrel of Venezuelan heavy crude is simply another dollar in oil-company and others pockets.

As later reported, Trump even tipped off oil executives with a “get ready” before the operation. Many wondered why that moment in time was chosen to spend taxpayer dollars and risk American lives. Only belatedly did I learn that Paul Singer, a Trump mega-donor, had purchased CITGO, the U.S.-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. The price, $5.9 billion a fire-sale discount due to the conditions at the time.

One has to wonder what prompted Singer to take such a “risk” and where the billions he is now positioned to recoup with Trump’s assistance, will ultimately flow. Perhaps that helps explain the timing. Or perhaps it was all just a coincidence? Because, as we are endlessly told, Trump acts only with the wellbeing of the American taxpayer at heart.

Even more troubling, indeed demoralizing, than this sleight of hand with public money is the killing of a 37-year-old mother in Minneapolis by an ICE agent. The videos are heartbreaking. Based on what has been publicly shown, the agent had no legal justification to take this woman’s life, especially the second and third shots fired point-blank through the open driver’s-side window.

An investigation is underway, and it should be thorough. The FBI, the Minneapolis Police Department, and the Minnesota State Patrol must be allowed to complete their work, and we should await their findings. My concern is not with the investigators. It is with the integrity, or lack thereof, of federal leadership.

Before any facts were established, Trump and his Secretary of Homeland Security rushed to assign blame, spreading distortions and outright falsehoods. They publicly vilified an American citizen they are sworn to protect, disregarding due process and the presumption of innocence. Even after video evidence emerged contradicting their claims, the lies persisted.

This is not merely irresponsible. It is corrosive to the rule of law. A president and a cabinet officer pre-judging a civilian’s guilt, particularly in a lethal use-of-force case, undermines constitutional protections at their core. For those in power, due process now appears optional, especially for people who live in a “blue” state. They no longer see fellow citizens; they see enemies.

The use of ICE and National Guard forces in this manner is not about safety. It is about intimidation. It is about silencing opposition. Rights are expendable. Lives are collateral. In their worldview, there is no America, only MAGA.

History warns us where this path leads. The parallels to Germany’s escalation in 1933 are unsettling. Were it not for our courts that still function, we might already be beyond the early pogroms and Kristallnacht, with the machinery of repression fully engaged and the trains ready to run. It took only one demagogue, aided by ambitious, morally vacant opportunists, to convince a decent population to look away, until it was too late.

Let us hope November 3, 2026, is not too late here. If Republicans cannot reclaim a semblance of patriotic and moral responsibility and defend constitutional government, then the responsibility falls squarely on the rest of us.

RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!!