We don't have to support either Venezuelan president Nicola's Maduro or acting president Juan Guaido.
Both can be equally odious.
Our decision to insinuate ourselves on Guaido's side, however, has nothing to do with "overthrowing Socialism" or "bringing democracy."
It has to do with Trump's re-election.
And, naturally, oil.
The humanitarian crisis at the Venezuelan border wouldn't be occurring right now had the United States not imposed crippling sanctions against Maduro's government.
We, therefore, manufactured this crisis to provide an excuse to paint the Socialist Maduro as an abject monster so we, the capitalist heroes, can once again ride in and install someone--Guaido--more amenable to our corporate interests.
In so doing, the Trump administration is taking a page out of a hackneyed playbook to ensure the American people are sufficiently distracted from the impending Mueller report and the ways it is chipping away at our institutions--all so the president can boost flagging poll numbers ahead of the 2020 election.
Just look at history for evidence.
James Madison became our country's first wartime president during the War of 1812, setting a precedent where no incumbent commander-in-chief has ever lost re-election during a time of war.
Ronald Reagan knew that back in 1983 when he authorized the invasion of the tiny Caribbean island of Granada.
Having survived an assassination attempt three months into his presidency, Reagan's approval ratings soared--67 percent.
Yet with an economic recession and a 10-percent unemployment rate, by 1983, that approval dipped to 41 percent.
With the election a year away, Reagan had to do something lest he be a one-term president.
He took a cue from then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose own political future was tenuous until she authorized the British invasion of the Falkland Islands after Argentina's military junta.
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