The Keith Edwards Show - People are LOSING IT over this interview...

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Keith Edwards analyzes Marco Rubio’s absolute train wreck of an interview on ABC's This Week, where the Secretary of State completely crumbled when asked for the legal authority behind the US takeover of Venezuela. They are making up the rules as they go along.#MarcoRubio #Venezuela #TrumpBecome a Member: https://www.youtube.com/@keithedwards/joinSubscribe to my Substack: http://keithedwards.substack.comBuy a Democracy Hat: https://keithsdebateclub.com/products/democracy-hatCall me and ask a question or leave a comment: ‪[phone]‬Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekeithedwardsshow/Follow me on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/keithedwards.bsky.socialFollow me on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@keithedwardsFollow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keithedwards/Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@keithedwardsFollow me on X: http://twitter.com/keithedwards

This interview was a disaster. Look at this man. This man knows that he is in the wrong. This is a broken individual. This is the face to someone who understands the severity of their actions. Unfortunately for Marker Rubio, this is a man who might actually somewhere have a conscious, but has suppressed it in order to get power. How is that working out for you?

Now, he was on this week an ABC morning show answering questions. well, not really answering questions, avoiding questions about who's running Venezuela. And surprise, surprise, it doesn't seem like anyone knows. Doesn't seem like anyone knows. Now, that is why the Atlantic is reporting that some of Trump's closest allies have told the Atlantic that they were unnerved at the President's brash no plan for tomorrow approach to oucing a sovereign nation's leader. Trump, for his part and his announcement yesterday that I showed you, made no mention of watching. to spread democracy or allowing Venezuela's opposition, which the United States has recognized

is the legitimate winners of 2024's elections to take power. And that person is Maria Karina Machado, who in a landslide victory in 2023, won 92% of the vote. 92% of the vote. But Donald Trump doesn't want her. He's a want her in there. In fact, what he's done is he's made it to the vice president, someone who's aligned with Maduro. It's still in power. So what the hell was the point of all of this? I'll tell you what the point was. It was all about oil.

Let's get to this interview first. This is honestly, we have to. This is so damning. This is so, so, so, so. I could not believe this. So, Stephanopoulos asked Rubio that Trump said that the U.S. is going to run Venezuela. And he asked, under what legal authority?

Bro. This morning, President Trump was pretty clear yesterday. He said the United States is going to run Venezuela. under what legal authority? Under, well, first of all, what's going to happen here is that we have a quarantine on their oil. That means they're oil. Well, first of all, what's going to happen here is that we have a quarantine on their oil. That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States

and the interests of the Venezuelan people are met. And that's what we intend to do. So that leverage remains. That leverage is ongoing. And we expect that it's going to lead to results here. We're hope so, hopeful. that it does, positive results for the people of Venezuela, but ultimately, most importantly, for us in the national interest of the United States, we will no longer have, hopefully,

as we move forward here, we'll set the condition so that we no longer have in our hemisphere of Venezuela that's the crossroads for many of our adversaries around the world, including Iran and Hezbollah, is no longer sending us drug gangs, is no longer sending us drug boats, is no longer a narco-trafficking paradise for all those drugs coming out of Colombia to go in through the Caribbean and towards the United States. And obviously we want a better future for the people of Venezuela. We want them to have an... Really big filibuster there, but he's asking under what legal authority could Marker Rubio,

Donald Trump and the rest of the administration do this? And notice how he doesn't answer, but George Stephanopoulos actually... Actually ask him again. For the United States to be running Venezuela. Well, I explain to you what our goals are and how we're going to use the leverage to make it happen. As far as what our legal authority is on the quarantine, I'm very simple. We have court orders. These are sanctioned boats and we get orders from courts to go after and seize these sanctions.

So that's, I don't know, is a court not a legal authority? So is the United States running Venezuela right now? I really wish you would have followed up with that, but I'm glad he followed up at all because what does that mean? Because we have legal orders to go after boats that, by the way, we still don't know whether or not those boats actually carry drugs. We don't know. We don't know. There's no evidence one way or the other. but because they have a legal authority from the courts, they're allowed to just take the leader of a country, that doesn't make sense to me.

Does that make sense to you? Well, I've explained once again, I'll do it one more time. What we are running is the direction that this is going to move moving forward. And that is, we have leverage. This leverage we are using and we intend to use. Bro, this is scary. He's not answering. Who's running the country?

He started using already. You can see where they are running out of storage capacity. In a few weeks, they're going to have to start pumping oil unless they make changes. And that leverage that we have with the armada of boats that are currently positioned allow us to seize any sanctioned boats coming into or out of Venezuela, loaded with oil or on its way in to pick up oil, and we can pick and choose which ones we go after.

We have court orders for each one. That will continue to be in place until the people who have control over the levers of power in that country make changes that are not just in the interest of the people of Venezuela, but are in the interest of the United States. the things that we care about. That's what we intend to do. Legal authority is the- Well, he was asked again, go to George Stephanopoulos.

Let's just, maybe just, I don't know, give some. Like, I do think that when journalists do a good job of pushing you back, especially in this environment, we should lift them up. And I think George Stephanopoulos actually did a good job pushing back in Marco Rubio. So give him some love in the comments. But he asked him again, point blank, who is running the country? When the president was asked you, yesterday, who will be running Venezuela?

He said it was you. He said it was the Defense Secretary. He said it was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Are you running Venezuela right now? Jordan, I've explained again that the leverage... He looks terrified. He's like, look. Jordan, I've explained again that the leverage that we have here is the leverage of the quarantine. So that is a Department of War operation, conducting in some cases, law enforcement functions

with the Coast Guard on the seizure of these boats. I'm obviously very intricately involved in these policies. by the way, very intricately involved in moving forward. And what we hope to see some of these changes being addressed. Unfortunately, the person that was there before, who was not the legitimate president of the country, was someone we could not work with. Was someone that we could not.

He had already suckered the Biden administration a couple of years ago on a deal he didn't keep. And this is someone we simply couldn't work with. We are hopeful that there are people in place now. We're going to find out the proof will be in what they do or fail to do that will start making some of these changes that will ultimately lead to a Venezuela. that looks substantially and dramatically different from what's been in place for 15 years.

All right. Well, you left in the VP, and let's go back to this Atlantic article because the only other Venezuelan politician Trump spoke about yesterday was Maduro's own vice president, Delci Rodriguez, and she was sworn in as interim president soon after Maduro's departure, but maintains that Maduro is a legitimate president and condemned his arrest. But Trump said that she had already told. told Mark Arrubia that the new government in Caracas would do whatever the U.S. wanted, something that she's denied.

So I actually don't know who to believe. I actually kind of believe that they're putting in some stooge who will not make things better for Venezuela, but are probably just going to make it so that they can rape that country for all of its oil and make lots and lots of money. Okay. Now, I just can't get over his face. in kindergarten he is his man is in hell this man is in hell now he was asked what congressional authorization they had to do this uh never you know this is just some good career advice

live your life in such a way that when you show up for work you don't you don't look like this okay we don't we don't all have to like what we do but we can at least have integrity by the things that we do where we do them and this is a man who has sold his soul and he is understanding that the soul isn't worth any price. I'm still not clear on what the legal authority is for the United States to run the country of Venezuela, but several members of Congress and other legal experts have said this operation to take Maduro was illegal because you didn't seek congressional authorization. Why wasn't congressional authorization necessary?

It wasn't necessary because this was not an invasion. We didn't occupy a country. This was an arrest operation. This was a law enforcement operation. He was arrested on the ground in Venezuela by FBI agents. Read his right and removed from the country. I encourage everyone. I know it's Sunday.

People are busy, but the indictments have now been unsealed. People should read this indictment. They should read this indictment. They should read what this man did for 15, 8, the last 15 years of his life. You want to read the indictment? Let's read the indictment. This is the first paragraph of the indictment. For over 25 years, leaders of Venezuela have abused their positions of public trust and corrupted

once legitimate to do. to import tons of cocaine into the United States. Oh, Marco, I think you meant export. I think you meant export. These, bro, like the stupidest people imaginable are running and making very important decisions. That impact us all. Now, Marco Rubio was asked point blank,

God, I can't get over his face. I can't get over his face. He was asked point blank if, how can you arrest Maduro for drug charges, But then Donald Trump pardoned one of the biggest drug kingpins in the world. And Marco Rubio's answer is probably not surprising. The congressional gang of aid has a history of not leaking. But you mentioned the indictment of Mr. Maduro.

And of course, it does detail as drug running operations. In the same jurisdiction, the former president of Honduras was actually convicted on similar charges. Yet the president pardoned him. Here's what the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, had to say about that. you cannot credibly argue that drug trafficking charges demand invasion in one case while issuing a pardon in another. What's your response? Well, the president has the pardon authority. He's the one that reviewed the file with the folks at the White House to make these pardon decisions.

And I refer questions to them on it because I'm not involved in the pardon process. So I can't comment on that because I wasn't involved in that process. But the president... I hate that answer so much. I wasn't involved in the pardon process, so I can't talk to you about that. What do you mean? You can't talk. You just like, do you not have an opinion?

You do not think for yourself? Are there no thoughts going on in your head that you can't just say what you feel like might be the double standard going on in this country? It's insane. In what other profession would you be asked for your opinion on something and you just say, well, I don't know. I don't know. It's your job to know. It's literally your job to have an opinion. That is your job.

It was an outlined yesterday that he felt that in that particular case, there was unfairness, and that there was unfairness in the way that that individual was treated. And he also pointed to the fact that the party that's now won the elections in Honduras had asked for this. And so I would point to those comments as a rationale for it. In the case of Maduro, look, it's very simple. This guy was indicted. No one ever did anything about it. And he didn't think he was under threated that the indictment was ever going to be forced.

was enforced yesterday. Hernandez was convicted by a jury. I understand. You're asking me, the pardon authority is something that, you know, I'm not involved in in my role. I'm not criticizing it. I can't just comment on it because I just wasn't involved in those deliberations. Do you support it? I wasn't involved in those deliberations. I haven't looked at the case file. I haven't looked at the arguments made by, you know, I've got a bunch of other things going on that are within my purview of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, but

pardons aren't one of them. So I just, I can't comment on a case that, frankly. Well, this is the end of it either because it's being reported in that same Atlantic interview, that President Donald Trump issued a threat against Venezuela's interim president Delci Rodriguez saying that if she doesn't do what's right, she's going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro, adding that he would not stand for Rodriguez's, quote, defiant rejection of military intervention by the United States. Additionally, during the interview, President Trump reaffirmed that Venezuela may be, may not be the last country. subject to American intervention or even that would remain isolated in Latin America,

clearly stating, quote, we do need Greenland absolutely while describing the island, which is a part of Denmark, a close alley, member of NATO as, quote, surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships. So this is not the end. I was saying to someone on the phone earlier, I was saying to a friend earlier today, that tyrants, when they have a taste of this sort of domination and power, they always go. Oh, there go, oh, the kids. This is really his first time tasting this level of power. And they never go, oh, no, no, no.

I just needed a bite. That was good enough for me. I just wanted to taste. I just wanted to taste, no. They suddenly get very hungry. I'm going to eat the whole thing. And they start to expand. And they want to dominate more.

Donald Trump, I do not put it past him. That him and his administration are going to see this. as a beginning, not an end. Not an end. I'm going to say this too. Yesterday, take this for what you will. Yesterday was one of those days. It wasn't as big as 9-11 in terms of the historic impact on our country, but 9-11 to me is the clearest example of a before and after day, a day where life will never be as it was before and will be ever be changed after that day. I kind of feel the same. thing about what happened yesterday. It's a before and after day. Life will never be the same before what Donald Trump did to Venezuela, and it's forever changed after it. So we'll see where this

heads, but I don't, I just don't think it's anywhere good. You know, like, to be optimistic. I'm not optimistic about this. I'm not. Now, I'm a realist, because I'm just looking at this reality. There is a way out of this. It has not revealed itself yet, but the first thing we have to do is when looking at this. One, seeing that Marco Rubio clearly understands, they don't know what they're doing, and two, that this is not forever. This is not forever.

And three, it is so important that we do not tune this out. That is what authoritarian want. They want it so that you and I say, you know what, this is too stressful, too anxiety, and just, I'm going to watch Disney Plus. I'm just going to put on reality TV. you know, whatever. This is just too much.

Okay? That's the last thing we want to do right now. We want to stay engaged. And eventually, there'll be a moment for action. It's not here yet, but the action for now is just being engaged, staying informed, and getting prepared.

But just because I'm not optimistic right now doesn't mean I don't think that eventually there will be a moment for us to take action. There's not a lot of we can do right now other than pay attention. But that is a lot. That's a lot more than most are doing. So go on you for doing it. And I'll see you soon. Bye.