Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - 1/3/26: BREAKING: Trump Says US Will Run Venezuela, Boots On The Ground

Episode Date: January 3, 2026

Krystal is joined again by Drop Site News Latin America Desk Head José Luis Granados Ceja to react to the Trump press conference announcing the US will run Venezuela after kidnapping Maduro and his wife. Follow José Luis Granados Ceja https://x.com/GranadosCejaSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I just finished listening to President Trump's press conference down at Mara Lago describing the bombing and the kidnapping of President of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro. And it was so much more insane than I even could have imagined that we had to do another breaking news segment to break down what was said and what was announced in this press conference. The TLDR here is that he announced we, as in the United States of America, are going to be running Venezuela at least for a time. He did not rule out that that time period could be years, did not rule out that could involve direct boots on the ground, additionally threatened other countries to include Cuba and Colombia.

Just absolute insanity talked about the way that our oil companies are going to exploit the resources in Venezuela, about how we are going to rebuild Venezuelan infrastructure. So wanted to go ahead and bring you a series of these clips. Our friend from DropSight may be joining us as well at some point if he's able. But let me go ahead and pull up these first couple where he is talking about how we are going to run Venezuela. Take a listen. We're there now, but we're going to stay until such time as the proper transition. transition can take place. So we're going to stay until such time is we're going to run it

essentially until such time as a proper transition can take place. And in case you didn't think that, you know, in case you thought, oh, maybe he's just speaking off the cuff. He doesn't really mean it. Now, here he is repeating the same thing even more clearly that we are going to run the country until some sort of power transition occurs. Here you go. We're going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. So we don't want to be involved with having somebody else get in and we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition. Now, what does this actually mean? No one really knows. He was

asked a series of questions about, okay, who, what are we talking about? Who is going to, are there going to be boots on the ground? What is this going to look like? Not a lot of answers were forthcoming. However, he did seem to indicate basically Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth and the U.S. military are effectively going to be in charge of running Venezuela for the immediate future. Also, no, I mean, it's, it's possible we still have assets on the ground there. I don't think that any of that is really clear. But here's what he had to say in response to the question of like, okay, what do you mean we are going to be running Venezuela? Are you going to designate a U.S. officials to coordinate?

It's all being done right now. We're designating people. We're talking to people. We're designating various people. And we're going to let you know who those people are. What's the group you mentioned that would run Venezuela? Well, it's largely going to be for a period of time, the people that are standing right behind me. We're going to be running it. We're going to be bringing it back. It's a dead. You know, I talk about a dead country.

A year and a half ago, we were a dead country. So people standing behind him being Marco Rubio and Pete Hague Seth and military leader, General Kane, was that Raisin Kane, was there as well. So that seems to be who he is indicating would quote unquote run the country. There was also a question that was asked about, well, right now, Maduro's vice president has been sworn in as president. She is in charge. Like you kidnapped Maduro, but his vice president and the rest of his administration is still there and still in charge of the country. So what's going on with that? And he seemed to indicate that Marco Rue.

Rubio had spoken with her and that she was open to working with the U.S. and serving effectively as our puppet or easing the transition or something of that nature. Let me go ahead and let me go ahead and pull this one up for you because this is a significant piece. Let's see. Here. Here's the one. We weren't going to back Machado to come back and be the opposition later in your Fox

and Friends interview. And then you also mentioned the by the way, at another point, he was asked about Machado, who was just given them Nobel Peace Prize, unbelievably, and who was seen as a potential puppet leader. And he poured a lot of cold water on the idea saying she didn't have support of the people. So now he's going to be asked about the, the vice president who is currently in charge. Vice President of Venezuela. Are you going to work with Vice President of Venezuela? Or how do you foresee the relationship? Well, I understand she was just sworn in, but she was, as you know, picked by Maduro. So Marco's working on that. directly. He just had a conversation with her. And she's essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again. Very simple. So indicating that she's willing to collaborate with the Trump regime with Marco Rubio and Heggseth and whoever else we're going to install there as transitional rulers of this country. I don't even know what to say, guys. I mean, this is actually even more insane than Iraq. And if you thought it was some kind of a weird

leftist conspiracy theory that what we're really after is the oil, Trump talked about that quite explicitly as well, which is not a new thing. I mean, he and other administration officials and other Trump allies have been talking about the oil resources as a major motivator for this illegal offensive war. And he spoke to that as well. He talked about how our oil companies are going to go in and they're going to spend billions of dollars and they're going to make all kinds of money here. So let's go ahead and take a listen to what he said about the oil companies and how they will profit from this action. As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust for a long period of time. 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 anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country. and where he was asked at one point also about how China and Russia would feel about this given that they have interests in Venezuela and he said oh well we'll sell them oil I think it'll be fine no problem he was also asked about what's going on with Russia and Ukraine and indicated that he was frustrated with Putin but that's where we are Trump has said

we are running Venezuela so this was a direct regime change operation that we may well have boots on the ground, that this could last for years, that we are going to rebuild Venezuela's infrastructure and, quote unquote, make Venezuela great again, that we may take similar actions in other countries in the region, specifically Cuba and Colombia. He spoke about, which no one should be surprised about, since not only is this about seizing the resources and exploiting the resources of Venezuela. This is also a, frankly, multi-decade project to destroy any sort of left-wing government in the region. And Venezuela being a key part of that fantasy, which is now becoming reality with Marco Rubio there as Secretary of State. Let me go ahead. Jose Louis

Granado Seja has joined now from DropSite. Let me go ahead and let him into the room and we can get his reaction as well. Jose Louis. Great to have you again. Welcome. Thank you very much. Yeah. So I played some of the clips of Trump saying we're going to run Venezuela, seeming to indicate specifically like Marco Rubio and Pete Heggseth, apparently, saying we may have boots on the ground, saying that this could last years, saying also that that he, that Rubio had reached out to the vice president, Maduro's vice president, who has now been sworn as president of the country, and that she seemed open to

some sort of collaboration? I mean, what is your reaction to all of this? The first one is quite a surprise there. I had speculated earlier that they would use this as an opportunity to kind of move away from this engagement with Venezuela to finally put an end to this most recent round of escalations. But those words from Trump in this press conference, I think are very, very clear. They intend to occupy the country of Venezuela. That's obviously going to require a huge mobilization of troops. I think Trump is being deliberately vague or even misleading in his responses suggesting that it wouldn't take a lot, that it's just about protecting oil infrastructure. I don't think that's the case whatsoever. I think they're in

for a conundrum. The Venezuelan armed forces have talked about Venezuela becoming a new Vietnam for the United States if they chose to invade. If they're going to do what Trump just said in his press conference to try to administer the country as an occupying power, it's going to require an extraordinary amount of U.S. forces. This is going to be a very serious major U.S. operation right here in the Western Hemisphere. I imagine his comments around oil are a bit of an echo of their strategy that they've used in Iraq and in Syria to try to take control of the oil fields directly, but these are not similar situations when we think about Venezuela. Like I said earlier, Venezuela is a country that has undergone a very long political process. And even if there are

elements of the existing state that maybe break away or align themselves with the U.S. administration occupation, which I find hard to believe, given that essentially you're a traitor to your homeland, there's still going to be guerrilla struggles, sabotage. This is not going to be an easy ride whatsoever. I think the United States and the people of the United States need to be aware of what he's actually talking about. A very serious military mobilization to occupy a sizable country. It's far larger than what, you know, we saw in Panama, you know, there's been some military analysts speculating that at least 100,000 troops, at least to be able to try to actually invade and occupy Venezuela. And, of course, it's going to be a huge conundrum for them

because it won't be easy. I mean, is this just cope on my part? Is it possible this is just some sort of a weird, you know, chest move threat, bluster kind of a situation? Because, I mean, and do we know, are there assets on the ground right now? that have remained in country, you know, do we have any sense of that right now? It doesn't appear that there are U.S. troops on the ground right now. He talked about in the past tense. There were boots on the ground in order to carry out this kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro. But we do know that there are at least 20,000 troops nearby, either in Puerto Rico or on the ships that are stationed off the coast.

So I don't think that's enough to invade the country, but that is a sizable amount of manpower there that could easily be more. mobilized and used as part of another invasion. Trump talked specifically about a second round of attacks that they were actually prepared for a second one, that they actually didn't carry it out, but they were willing to do it, that they're willing to kidnap any Venezuelan leader who rises to fill the power vacuum, we could say, that his situation right now, given that we now know that Nicolas Maduro is indeed in U.S. custody aboard the Iwojima, Trump also said that he would be sent to New York to face these federal indictments.

So that means that obviously there has to be, at least for the time being, some kind of transition inside of Venezuela, given that the president cannot rule if he's detained. It looks like that's going to be Delci Rodriguez, the executive vice president. But it's very, very odd comments from him saying that she's essentially going to play along, which is very surprising with people who are familiar with Venezuelan politics. Desi Rodriguez is a very powerful figure inside of Venezuela, a close ally, a confidants of Maduro. for there's a reason why she was named directly by him. The vice president is not elected in Venezuela to be the executive vice president that she would allow herself to this, to lend herself to this, I don't find very credible. So you're skeptical of that aspect.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And not to mention. I mean, who knows what she may have said on the phone to Marco Rubio in the moment versus what the actual plans are? Maybe to avoid another strike on her location because it's clear that they do have some intelligence in terms of where people are moving. You know, Trump even mentioned that they had images of Maduro making it to the door of his safe room, but unable to actually be able to seal himself in. I mean, this is pretty serious in terms of what we're talking about, the amount of forces, the amount of resources that the U.S. appears to have used in this operation quite quite well could have been her just trying to protect herself, to try

to ensure that there is a succession. I don't think that she's going to play U.S. imperialism's game, not to mention the fact that she has been on the air all day talking about the need to resist this. So I don't think that's the case. But even if she did, she would be pushed out by the revolutionary forces. No one died of Venezuela is going to tolerate anybody who's going to be a traitor to her homeland. And someone else would rise to fill her shoes if that is the case. So it's a very unpredictable, unstable situation as of now and really, really quite surprising. But I will say, I think the point what I want to emphasize is that what Trump is talking about is a large-scale military operation or mission in South America.

I guess, you know, I heard that one of the reporters asked, how is this America first? I mean, it's apparently that word can, that phrase can be used for anything because in no way is this America first. This is another U.S. military adventure without a clear outcome in terms of how they're actually going to be able to get out of this. Let me play a little bit of this where Trump is talking about the Monroe doctorate. and they now call it the Donro Doctrine.

American dominance in the Western Hemisphere will never be questioned again. Let's listen to this. All of these actions were in gross violation of the core principles of American foreign policy, dating back more than two centuries. And not anymore. All the way back, it dated to the Monroe doctrines. And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal. But we've superseded it by a lot, by a real lot.

They now call it the Donne Roe document. I don't know. It's Monroe Doctrine. We sort of forgot about it. It was very important, but we forgot about it. We don't forget about it anymore. Under our new national security strategy, American dominance in the Western Hemisphere,

will never be questioned again. Won't happen. What do you make of those comments and it's consistent with some of the things that have been laid out in his national security strategy previously. You know, listening to him talk, I'm not sure he actually understands what the Monroe Doctrine was or how it could be applied in 2026. You know, the Monroe Doctrine was a policy of the United States that was aimed at Europe, above all, to dissuade them from engaging in any temp of colonization or recolonization here in the Western Hemisphere. He seems to

understand it as the United States can do whatever it wants in the Western Hemisphere, that this is, exclusive sphere of influence. Obviously, in practice, that is what the Monroe Doctrine ultimately became, but that's not really what it was intended as. And certainly, even if we accept the, you know, the principles behind the Monroe Doctrine, what the United States did is not about, you know, containing the influence of foreign powers inside of the Western Hemisphere. This is U.S. military adventurism. It's the U.S. imperialist policy of imposing its will on countries through might. You know, it's interesting we heard comments there from U.S. officials about how peace through strength, there's nothing peaceful about what just happened. You know, this is a very violent act. You know, like there's already no reports of casualties as a result. And of course, you know, the kidnapping of a sitting president is it just absolutely extraordinary, extraordinarily violent act. And so this is not peace whatsoever. And I hope that there's pushback from U.S. policymakers, from lawmakers, from the U.S. public around this. That's not what's happening here. The U.S. once again has reminded us, because this is something that the peoples of Latin America are very much aware of, that they are willing to engage in these kinds of illegal actions to impose its will.

And like I said, in the other segment that we talked about, you know, I hope this is a wake-up call because we really have to understand who we're dealing with here. And there's already, as I mentioned earlier, there's already him talk of him talking about something similar in Mexico. Right. He was asked directly about this. Yeah. And, you know, this is the problem is that, you know, this could lead to. a sort of domino effect where the U.S. says, look what we're willing to do. You want us to do that to you? Do exactly as we say. Let me go ahead and play to bolster your point, a portion where he's

talking about Cuba and Columbia, I believe, in this particular response. Let's listen to that. Go ahead. Is there a message you for Cuba and Vienz Canal? Well, Cuba's an interesting case. Cuba is, you know, not doing very well right now. That system has not been a very good one for Cuba. the people there have suffered for many, many years. And I think Cuba is going to be something we'll end up talking about because Cuba is a failing nation right now, very badly failing nation. And we want to help the people. It's very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba,

but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and living in this country. Do you want to say something about that, Marco? I'm sure Marco does want to say something about that, doesn't he? At another part, though, he did. He was asked about Colombia as well. you talked about Mexico. I mean, that's just a whole other wild level of insanity. It's hard for me to wrap my head around all of this. And, you know, I mean, I guess the best case in areas,

this is all like bluster and threats and him acting like a madman to try to coerce these various countries and leaders. But, I mean, part of this is incredibly deadly real. Not only the regime change in Venezuela, but now the promise that we are directly going to govern it, even if it takes boots on the ground even if it takes years. And I think this also just impresses upon everyone and for those who had any doubt that this is part of a long time project to destroy any sort of left wing governance in the region. Absolutely. You know, one of the terms that I have been using more recently is the strategic retreat of the United States. You know, and I think it's actually the national security strategy is a confession that they are very much willing to admit that the struggle for

total spectral dominance, which is what they used to talk about off the end of the Cold War, has largely been lost, that they do have a pure rival in China. And I think there is an acknowledgement that they need to kind of rebuild their forces. That the United States is not in a position today to be able to dispute hegemony at a global level, you know, and actually be able to kind of keep up with this peer rival. And so that's why we see this pivot towards the traditional spheres of influence and why we're seeing what's happening here in Latin America, this attempt to try to secure access to cheap resources, cheap labor, to client governments that are willing to do whatever the United States is willing to do. And those that aren't are going to face these kinds

of threats. And that helps us understand what he's talking about when they talk about Cuba and Colombia and Mexico. And like I said, this is pretty serious because of the precedent it sets. And that they are willing to put boots on the ground. Now, can the U.S. really engage in military conflicts in several countries at once? I think that's quite difficult. So if they really do, intend to occupy Venezuela. That's going to be a very long distraction and could ultimately define the Donald Trump presidency. Oh, absolutely. No doubt about it. Yeah, I mean, it's it's absolutely wild to see. And to your point about hoping that some media outlets and some, you know, political leaders stand up, there have been some, but the Washington Post editorial board has come

out in support. I just was reading Hakeem Jeffrey's statement, which was incredibly, weak and just basically, you know, did some hand-wringing about the process. Oh, why didn't you go to Congress before doing this completely insane thing, which like, okay, that's, yes, we want you to follow the process, but also let's talk about the meat and potatoes of what was done here. You know, I think that the Democratic Party will be somewhat split. And the leaders of the party, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer in particular, will be somewhat supportive. You know, I think the base of the Democratic Party is going to be very opposed. And we'll see. There's so much propaganda already on all the cable news nets that it's just, I mean, I can barely listen to it.

It's so disturbing and so insane. That's why we need alternative media. That's why we need to be able to hear from voices on the ground inside of Venezuela. We actually just published right now a report on drop site news featuring some commentary from a young man who, an Afro-Venezuelan man who immediately mobilized. He spoke of how both his siblings and his mom were scared and crying and he said, no, we need to get together and we need to resist us because we know what's happening and we have to push back against this. And those are the kinds of attitudes that people need to be aware of when Trump talks about an occupying force, about an invasion or their so-called administration of Venezuela, is that you're talking about millions of people

who are not going to stand for it. And that's really, I think, something that we need to drive home particularly amongst those who are listening to this program and who want to push back against this narrative because you're right. That's what we're going to hear. We're going to hear about how this is necessary. The bipartisan imperialist consensus is going to suggest that, well, we didn't like the methods, but we like the ends. And so we're going to continue to support this. There will probably be billions of dollars spent on this effort now.

And those are billions of dollars that could be going to health care, for example, inside of the United States. These are all things that I think put into really clear picture the contradictions that define U.S. political life here. And it's tragic that once again, the peoples of a global South country like Venezuela are going have to pay the price, but I hope it serves to wake up a lot of people inside the United States. Yeah, I mean, where we are is, as of the new year, you have, I don't know how many Americans who have seen their health care premiums, millions of Americans who've seen their health care premiums spike. You've seen the Epstein scandal continue to spin out of control. I recorded a

segment earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reporting that Mara Lago was a key hunting ground for Galane Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. So you have that. You have plunging approval rating and scandal and incompetence on all fronts. I do think the timing of that has to do, you know, in part with wanting to distract from some of those scandals. But yeah, I have to think is the American people, and even some people, some people who are in the Trump coalition, listen to him talk about we're going to rebuild Venezuela's infrastructure that they may feel like, hey, you know, we could do with some nation building and some infrastructure here at home. So look, I'm not under, any illusions, partisanship runs very deep. The Trump MAGA coalition was more actually adversarial

towards his strikes than Iran and potential war with Iran. There have been, you know, pretty widespread, I think, acceptance in the right-wing influencer class, at least, of potential war with Venezuela. I did see Marjorie Taylor Green put out a good statement, but, you know, she's about to resign and she's on the ounce with the MAGA coalition. So, you know, that is, that is where we are. And the last thing that I'll say to your point about how it almost feels you're sort of like watching the that you are watching the end of an empire in real time and that this action and the national security doctrine all is reflective of that decline in stature and stance globally. You know, the imagery from this press conference when he wasn't speaking, Trump was there falling asleep,

like announcing this insane regime change war with dire immediate consequences. and he can't even at, you know, almost 80 years old, he can't even stay awake for the whole thing. Talk about an image of a declining empire. That's it right there. Although, as other officials, you know, Rubio, Vance, they're much younger, and they're very much on board with his same plan. So that part is really worried.

Yeah, they're ready to go. After we finished recording the early one, we talked about how I injured my hand in yesterday's earthquake here. And I think it's worth mentioning this crisis that the United States is living in right now, especially when it comes to issues like health care, It doesn't have to be that way. The United States is still the richest country in the history of the world. There is plenty of resources there to give a better quality of life to the U.S. population,

and they don't get it because they spend money doing this instead. Just as a quick anecdote, you know, as I mentioned to you, I went to my clinic, I went to the trauma hospital, I was served in the emerge in less than four hours and had my injury attended. That's all of that in a middle-income country like Mexico, which has decided to invest in its welfare of the population. population. That's what you could have if you're able to push back against, you know, these imperialist designs of the U.S. ruling class. I want people to really sit with this. You know,

here you are in Mexico, a country with a lot less wealth and resources than the U.S. And you're able after you, your hand is injured, you're able to go in, get it treated, less than four hours, receive quality care for zero cost, zero cost. And then, you know, it's no wonder that Claudia Shiambaum has one of the high. approval ratings in the entire one. Not that she's entirely responsible for that, but, you know, that has been the direction of leadership in Mexico is to actually, you know, put the care for their people first and foremost, which I think is what some people thought when they were voting for America

first. Yeah. And certainly also what the Bolivand Revolution was about. It was about redistributing that country's wealth to those who had never been able to access to it. And apparently that was too much for the U.S. ruling class to tolerate. And that's why we've seen action after action after action culminating in what we're witnessing today.

well thank you so much for joining me again i've taken up much more of your day than i originally intended but i'm really grateful for it and your analysis has been absolutely invaluable so thank you so much thank you much for giving me this space to talk about this this is an iHeart podcast