This morning’s live chat walks through Marco Rubio’s Senate testimony on Venezuela—and what happens when a polished politician speaks quickly to avoid answering simple questions. I break down Senator Chris Murphy’s three straightforward concerns: why Trump donors were handed no-bid oil contracts, whether Venezuela’s authoritarian leadership is actually changing, and whether the administration is laying the groundwork for military force without congressional approval.
As Rubio responds, I slow the tape and unpack the language. The justifications don’t hold up. Claims of urgency contradict years of inaction. “Short-term fixes” look a lot like cronyism. Promises of democratic transition are vague, conditional, and endlessly deferred. And when it comes to the use of force, Rubio’s answers slide dangerously close to normalizing executive power while sidestepping Congress altogether.
Along the way, I fact-check the mythology of a “brilliant” military operation, question the legality of oil seizures and maritime interdictions, and call out how terms like “quarantine” are used to avoid saying what this actually is: coercion without accountability. This live isn’t about partisan outrage—it’s about recognizing how easily power concentrates when no one slows the conversation down and demands real answers.
