My first impulse this morning was to start with a mea culpa to the people of Venezuela . . . but I didn’t launch the invasion.

Then I considered a plea for forgiveness to all of America’s traditional allies . . . but I had no part in the decision.

Hell . . . I didn’t even vote for him. Not in 2016, or 2020, or 2024.

I even gave a fleeting thought to renouncing — symbolically, at least — my treasured U.S. citizenship. But I found that to be impossible. I was born here, and I have spent a lifetime loving my country, warts and all. I have verbally defended her to people from other lands who saw only her faults, and proudly pointed out her many incomparable virtues.

And, despite everything we are experiencing, I continue to hold out hope for her salvation and renewal when these dark days are behind us at last.

But — short of putting my fist through a door, or running down the street screaming “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore” — I need an outlet for the shock, the anger, and the grief I am feeling today. And so I write.

My country — my America — does not start wars. We do not invade countries that are not threatening our borders. We do not kidnap heads of other governments. We do not pretend to be engaged in a “war on drugs” when the real target is oil.

But that is precisely what he — not “we” — has done. But “we” are complicit, because we didn’t stop him. The signs were there when he blew the first suspected drug boat out of the water, taking the lives of his first victims. His verbal threats could not have been more explicit. And his intentions were made clearer when he deployed the USS GERALD R. FORD to the waters off the coast of Venezuela.

No one — not the Supreme Court, not our elected members of Congress, and not his supposed “advisers” — has held him accountable for a single one of his illegal, unconstitutional actions over the past ten months. So why wouldn’t he think he had carte blanche to carry his madness to the next level?

This man who calls himself the “Peace President”; who preaches to other world leaders about legality and human rights; who claims to have ended seven or eight or nine conflicts around the world; who threw a tantrum when he was denied the Nobel Peace Prize . . . this person has now positioned himself as the single most denigrated head of state on the planet.

When even the worst of the worst — tyrannical regimes like Russia, Iran, North Korea and China — have denounced his action, one would expect that he might be having second thoughts. Instead, he declares that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” [BBC, January 3, 2026.]

Where have we heard those words before? Oh, yes . . . from Vladimir Putin, in regard to his conditions for ending the war in Ukraine.

And what about our allies — the countries of Europe, Canada, Japan, and others? Their silence thus far has been deafening, and understandably so. Just when they must have been thinking he couldn’t get any worse . . .

*. *. *

So, what is the solution? If I knew that, I expect I would be the front runner for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize. But I do know what my idea of justice would be; and it would involve a “safe, proper and judicious transition,” right here in the United States.

For God’s sake, Congress . . . wake up, and stand up, before it’s too late! This is your moment.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/3/26