Trump: the delusion of impunity
1. It has no limits. Everything is permitted to him. The world is his. There are no sovereignties or borders to respect. Who knows if we'll ever learn the fine print of it all: how can we explain the assault on a political regime, its decapitation, and the recognition the next day of the dictator's heir as an interlocutor to move things forward? Was there a prior agreement to get rid of Maduro and turn the page? Is this gesture enough to evaporate Chavismo? Trump recognizes Delcy Rodríguez, but makes things clear: "We are in charge of the country" and "we want access to everything we ask for." And the agenda is written: fix the oil sector, order and call elections.
With his emphatic declaration on the Venezuela operation, President Trump (who is adding more countries to his subservience) takes his display of an uncontainable ego to a whole new level, as a way of believing, and making us believe, that he can always do whatever he pleases. And unfortunately, there are increasingly more powerful people who could challenge him and are giving him free rein. Faced with a Trump blunder (and this one is breaking records), the question that should be asked is: what powers are enabling him to operate with this level of impunity, establishing irresponsibility, violations of international law, and the denial of the nation's autonomy as the norm in a republic, allowing him to do as he pleases in another country?
2. The interminable speech Trump's rhetoric about the Maduro operation not only sought to justify a military intervention that violates international law but, even more so, the United States' right to lead the political transition in Venezuela and determine the government's strategic lines, while simultaneously warning that after Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba could be next. And it doesn't stop there. A disquiet, adorned with the prose of what is considered untouchable, taken to extremes that are nothing more than expressions of its poverty of spirit. And yet it persists. The Democratic Party tweets so little that it is barely audible. The country that should be the guardian of freedoms and democracy lives, it seems, without much discomfort, through this permanent exercise in the misery of politics. How can such little resistance, such capitulation, be explained? Certainly, liberal democracy has been affected by the transition from industrial to financial and digital capitalism. The new communication system, controlled by a few hands with unlimited power, is wreaking havoc. But from all this, are we to conclude that a violation of international law consisting of a military attack on a country's capital and the abduction of the president and his wife can be considered normal?
Maduro is a sinister figure, and it's not at all pitiable to see him detained. But the inviolability of state sovereignty is a basic right of the world order that Trump seems to disregard when he declares with impunity that from now on he will govern Venezuela, and that the new president, Delcy Rodríguez, must adapt or face dismissal. He also claims that American companies will take over Venezuela's oil industry. At the same time, Trump is already announcing that other operations, involving other countries, will follow. It is surprising, and unsettling, that only President Sánchez and the presidents of Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Uruguay have spoken out against this absurdity. Europe, as always, drags its feet.
3. To make rape The habitual disregard for the principles and norms of democracy, as practiced by the President of the United States, always driven by the legitimacy of his ego, should not be befit his position. And yet, it is evident that his behavior encounters few constraints in his own country. And that, ultimately, what he is doing is unleashing impunity in international relations. Looking at the map, it is easy to understand that this episode suits Putin very well because it legitimizes his insolence. With Trump in Venezuela, how long will it be before we see Ukraine definitively in Russia's hands? Meanwhile, China is gaining ground and time to quietly consolidate itself as an alternative power.
What does Trump want? For them to do his dirty work? To clear the way for American businessmen to seize the oil and other resources, and then we'll talk about it later? Trump prefers to rely on the authoritarians who govern, rather than play the Edmundo González Urrutia card, who won the last elections—the results of which were rejected by Maduro—or María Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He's removed an undesirable figure from the scene, but it doesn't seem to be in favor of freedom. The most optimistic say that this reversal could be the end of Trump. And it's true that delusions can be deadly. But I find it hard to believe. You only need to ask yourself one question: who supports him? That's the question.
