Can magats still have such a causal relationship with the truth that they buy into his bs regarding Venezuela oil? I mean really. Rents up, gas is up, groceries.... up. Still Biden's fault?
Everytime I think maybe we are getting a lasso around his ignorant escapades the Robert's court blows democracy out of the water. SMH.
Don't confuse reason with emotion. MAGAts did not reason themselves into MAGAtry, they got there viscerally. MAGAland is comprised of the uber rich, a very small portion to be sure, and a ragged collection of racists, religious zealots, fascists, incels, and emotionally stunted losers who equate vile behavior with strength. The last election suggest that they are well represented among 21st century Americans.
I think it's important to note that the loose coalition you've described do, in fact only support what is also in fact a minority party. And given the fact that the majority of eligible voters in this country don't in fact vote, we might want to seriously question how 'representative the coalition actually is.
It is always important to look at these numbers and realize our election system is expletive deleted. It doesn't work to reflect the will of The People. It works to express the will of the rich. The rich have always bought elections through marketing ploys of various kinds. There is a reason the rich are super for capitalism. But, then again, we see the will of the People rejected in places like Russia and China, where the thought of democracy is derided and capitalism, if it exists, is simply used to express the will of, you guessed it, the rich in those cultures.
Election results in the USA, 2024:
The No Vote Won
89,278,948 Total votes not cast 37.74%
77,302,580 Trump voters 31.60%
75,017,613 Harris voters 30.66%
241,599,141 Total # of Eligible not RegisteredVoters 100.00%
164,296,561 Voters who did not authorize Trump and crew to take over the US and run it like a Dictatorship 68.40%
Indeed, it is necessary to look at inequality in these United States (these are the numbers we have):
From google AI (yes, Google has bent the knee and become a liar along with most of the rest of this world):Cycles of inequality
Begin End Years between start dates
1810 1850 1810/1870 -60
1870 1914 1870-1920 -50
1920 1929 1920-1970 -60
1980 2026
Return to human response: Raving inequality has happened in the US every 60 or so years. It is a foul and replicating pattern.
Now, it is time for folks who track history to go back as far as they can, get any numbers that are available, and track how the rich have harmed the People of Earth and all the other living beings of Earth.
Now do we see our problem?
Our problem is the force the rich can use against Earth, the living, and humans, to enforce the way of the rich. We see that is extraction and war: getting rich and fighting to keep those riches. It is why humans keep returning to this way of being. Force is hard to resist among humans. Few can actually do it. The procession of Trump is key evidence for this: it is why the US Supreme Court lets him do whatever he does. Only Carney and Iran have ever really stood up to this man, and they are paying a terrible price for that resistance. Anyone who resists, indeed, pays the price.
Humans have earned extinction. It is the only way to end this pattern, because as George Orwell noted, you can kill the rich, but they always regrow (do read Animal Farm--in which Orwell strategically blames animals for human behaviors--he too had to survive). It is in human DNA.
"Black, sticky fantasy" is the biggest oil ripoff of all time. U.S. oil companies didn't want to invest in Venezuela for a variety of reasons but Trump did some arm-twisting.
The oil is thick, dirty, difficult and expensive to refine. It just adds to the world's carbon footprint while Trump undermines renewable energy and focuses on building monuments to himself.
Ah the old "someone in the world is totally amoral, so it may as well be us" argument, which is the poor and stupid sacrificing their morals, so someone else can be rich.
So easy to say; so seductive to believe. I don't know what your field of study is, but mine is behavioral science, inclusive of anthropology, sociology and psychology, with a dollop of Western Civ and a soupcon of education. So maybe we come by our differences honestly. I am not a determinist, or a pessimist, and I respectfully cast a little shade on your assertion that greed and selfishness somehow ride in on our DNA. Or let's just say that along with those qualities ride a lot of other ones, including altruism, generosity, cooperativeness, collaboration and even self sacrifice, along with a whole lot of creativity and love. IMO it's not helpful to characterize us all via the disorted behavior of a class of people who share many common characteristics of deviant behavior, as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the APA. In the majority of human societies cooperation and collaboration have led to progress and continuation, while greed and cruelty have led to extinction. No disrespect intended. When I'm in a down mood I can sometimes lose sight of a broader perspective, too.
I agree, but we see a pattern of behaviors over time in the USA, but maybe the whole world, where extraction and war to upregulate the acquisition of resources, including money, does appear as a major cultural and species driver. We have to control for this appearance, which is across all generations. I feel we would be ignoring reality if we ignore this behavior in a group of humans who appear throughout our historical, literary, philosophical, and religious texts about what has happened over the long time of human lives. I found this helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPFI0oe8jKI
My field of study is human physiology with emphasis on neurophysiology.
I'm not denying the presence and influencers of short-sighted, greedy, destructive people among us. It seems as if ever since the agricultural revolution created conditions for the creation of stratified societies their numbers have multiplied among us, which only the blind could deny. What I am observing is that, although the generous and cooperative among us might not have achieved equal fame--after all, the were mostly not rich enough to buy fame--they have always existed in what I believe must have been greater numbers. Without these people, the greedy would already have an end to the human race. That's not to say there has not been and may yet be suffering and injustice, just to put a different spin on it. Yes, Dr. Hawkes, we are at an inflection point. But as there have been, there are still more of us than there are of them. Will we stand up and claim our rights to a different kind of society? Here and there, right here and right now, some people have fought for and achieved a better way of life. Look at Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
Interesting quibble, to which I'd appreciatively add the probability hypothesized by Marija Gimbutas et al. Perhaps their most essential teaching defines and explains the definitive difference between the governance that enabled our species' approximately 294,000-year thriving and the fact that since then, it's taken us only about six thousand years to commit ecogenocidal suicide. The late Prof. Gimbutas and her colleagues in academia and spirituality assert the maternal ethos at the core of our six-digit longevity mandated cooperation and sharing, while our suicidal six millennia are ethosed by run-amok, fear-and-envy-crazed male ego that mandates hierarchy in the most sadistic and greedy forms. Thus patriarchy's war against matriarchy -- apocalyptically poisoned cultural blankets, as if to reduce the planet to Precambrian lifelessness -- the fatal obscurity of which was noted by Tim Buckley 60 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Y-Kiqz-4g
Women are in many ways at the head of the battle to reestablish decency in government right now. We are the best hope for change, and change is happening.
Yes, patriarchy has pitted itself against matriarchy. Gimbutus is one scholar who clearly demonstrates that. And, it is interesting to note that the Trump crew has pitted itself against women. And, yet, feminists have pitted themselves against men. Because this has become a 10,000 year long fight. There is nothing to be gained by the two halves of this species fighting each other. It leads to a type of suicide, as is noted.
I expect that if you took a longer and broader view you'd find that the statistic you've used is inaccurate. Here's just one example: the Iroquis Confederacy lasted for @600 years and did not fail. It died out from a combination of diseases introduced by European colonialists and war, also introduced by them. Any number of indigenous groups never failed as much as died out. I suspect that only more stratified, top-down and so called literate societies belong on your list. Including some indigenous ones, like the Inca and Aztecs. So there's something in the systems, maybe, as much or more than in the "DNA" of the peoples who failed. Humans can be monsters, and they can be saintlike. All is not lost.
This argument gets made after every election cycle by the losers. As if people who didn't vote were going to vote for their candidate. Or that the victor having such a small margin of victory means something. It means nothing. Winning the election is accomplished by getting the most electoral votes. Everything else is the aerobics of weeping and gnashing.
LOL. Mr. Trump and his followers are making his history right now. They are indeed doing as they will to not only the US, but the world--they are making loads of cash and Mr. Trump is considered the most powerful man alive. He and his followers do say anyone not for them is simply foolish and wish instead to be where he is--indeed, he has been elected twice.
That being said, history will tell his story, though likely somewhat differently than with grandiosity. It will also tell the story of those who voted to put this man in control of a world in which money is the only thing that matters--which is absolutely true. In the end, in this free country, we will all have elected to do the things we have done. In the end, this is how history will judge us for our participation in the events of our time.
We wish. It's ingrained in the Constitution and would take a Constitutional Amendment to get rid of it. Its built-in rural bias is Republicans' greatest advantage.
Actually, the electoral college was designed to prevent a demagogue like trump from winning the presidency. It was hoped that the "college" would consist of serious statesmen interested in the nation's well-being.
Krugman said, “In the modern world nations grow rich through innovation and productivity, not conquest.” Bu he was talking about foreign military conquest not domestic political conquest by the rich that created corruption to seize power and deliver conquest by exploiting ignorance and hate. The conquest by the rich has happened in America many times as exhibited by slavery and the Republican party aligned with the rich and corporations for decades. For domestic political conquest, innovation occurs by replacing democracy with a lawless, fascist autocracy that was planned since the Powell Memo in 1971 attacked FDR’s policies in the New Deal to have the Republican party replace democracy with an oligarchy that rejects the rule of law. The domestic political conquest by the rich was completed with an insurrection that began on January 6, 2021, but continued into 2025 as planned by Project 2025 driven by the rich. Insurrection is a modern form of domestic conquest supported by corruption such as Citizens United, forceful ICE agents in the streets, deaths threats, and a DOJ that attacks opposition while rejecting the rule of law.
How did the domestic political conquest happen? Millions of eligible registered people were a plurality but didn't vote. But 77 million voted for Trump in 2024 but many of those voters were supporting the corrupt, hateful, ignorant political change that happened in 2010 by the Republican party in opposition to Obama, a black president. Those voters for Trump in 2024 were the planned result of the Powell Memo in 1971 that launched an attack by Republicans, corporations and the very wealthy on FDR’s policies in the New Deal. The attack targeted FDR’s high taxes on the very wealthy and corporations and targeted democracy by exploiting ignorance with Republicans funded by the rich to promote fake economics centered on Milton Friedman’s trickledown economics adopted by Reagan that justified tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations. The fake economics and money from the rich convinced ignorant corrupt neoliberal Democrats to support the tax cuts and other corruption by Republicans, corporations and wealthy oligarchs that destroyed affordability. Since the late 1970s the corruption caused $80 trillion to be siphoned from the bottom 90 percent of Americans and transferred to the richest 1 percent but mainly to billionaire oligarchs with tax cuts for corporations, the richest 1 percent and billionaire oligarchs.
As Republicans, the wealthy and corporations gained political power since 1971, they gradually undermined democracy they intentionally but deceptively created a corrupt Supreme Court to make decisions such as Citizens United. The corrupt SCOTUS gifted more political power to the wealthy and manipulated politics and elections with campaign donations from the wealthy and corporations that funded extensive lying and political attacks. Democrats became corporate Democrats who accepted campaign donations from the wealthy and corporations and supported the Republican party interests including more tax cuts and fewer regulations.
Today the political attacks on democracy and civil rights are supported by about 56 million registered voters, mostly registered Republican voters with some Independents, that still approve of Trump and the corrupt system despite the blatant corruption and violations of law, the lying, the attacks on democracy and elections, the lack of affordability, the wealth inequality, the ICE raids on immigrants including the murders of American citizens and the war with Iran. At the core of the 56 million are about 28 million MAGA voters who are largely white male supremacists who hate women, LGBTQ, immigrants, Democrats, Independents, democracy and the rule of law.
The core problem in America today is the lawless fascist autocracy which was installed in 2025 with a criminal insurrection that unfortunately was not stopped by Garland and Biden and still has not been recognized as a crime by almost all registered voters. Trump's insurrection began on January 6, 2021, but the insurrection continued into 2025 and 2026, and has been totally supported by Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court and billionaire oligarchs. A new generation of progressive Democrats must get elected and enforce the law against insurrection to prosecute, convict, and imprison these insurrectionist felons, Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court and multiple billionaire oligarch including Musk.
Enforcing the law against insurrection enables political, legal and economic innovation to eliminate corruption by the rich and enable shared productivity in a democracy by solving problems such as affordability and wealth inequality.
This is factually untrue: The lowest post-WWII turnout for Presidential election was in 1948, at roughly 51% of the voting-eligible population (Harry Truman's election). The next lowest was 1988 at about 52.8%. The most recent one was 65%+, which is modestly behind Europe, but not by a democracy altering amount. Many voters were unable to vote for either party because the Democrats were rabidly backing the Palestinian genocide, and both parties supported a withdrawal from international law and accountability.
1. $18 billion of arms shipments to Israel during the first year of the genocide 2. Harris saying that she had no intention of an arms embargo despite the NSm-20 report confirming they were not compatible with human rights 3. Refusal to let a Palestinian American talk at the DNC 4. Oppression of anti-genocide academics.
Honestly the lies you people tell are what makes you the same as the GOP. You both love empire and the hatred violence and racism that goes with it.
One of the tactics of the MAGAts is to tell outrageous lies - like cats eating dogs - in order to emotionally manipulate their poorly educated cult into voting for right wing fascists.
That is what you are doing.
Unfortunately for the MAGA cult liberals don't get emotionally manipulated by lies like they do.
Idiots like you backing the arrest of progressives. I was there, and heard directly. You right wing democrats are just as bad as the GOP. You back the genocide one minute and lie about it the next.
You have put a finger on it. What lies at the heart of the Trump era, and to be fair much of the Democratic machinations, is a miserably corrupt and Byzantine system for anointing leadership. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can change until that does.
One common reason cited is that there's little difference between the two wings of the UniParty except on divisive "wedge" issues like abortion. And look how well the Democrats have protected that (previous) right. At least on the national level, there's very little daylight between the DNC and GOP when it comes to things like wealth inequality, social services (the Dems talk a good game, but always seem to cave).
I agree there is a vile component of MAGA who are zealous fascists, but they are a minority of those who voted for Trump in 2024.
There is also a large cohort of (mostly men) under age 50 who are very, very angry about the lack of economic progress they experience, who have bought the line that line that GOP tax cuts enabled the return of high paying "men's" jobs, but Democrats in league with the "Global Elite" gave THEIR jobs away to other countries, and academics and the "liberal" media are just shills for the "Global Elite" so they are not listening... especially if they think educated people call THEM ragged and vile.
They see that Trump is not working. They do not see that the line they bought is wrong. Their economic experience is getting worse. Anger is rising.
I know this because I am related to two of them. I wish I had a solution.
Yet this is intentional. The GOP works deliberately to undermine our economic security, public health, and school systems. It’s because they in fact have no interest in folks getting good educations or working through tough times, reducing despair or drug abuse, or getting ahead economically – because that would not be in Republicans' best interest.
On the contrary, these politicians are quite happy to have their supporters struggling and hurting because it means that they can keep them stressed and misled while appealing to their pain and anger for their own political ends.
So instead they feed these folks Fox falsehoods and faux machismo and focus on distracting culture wars rather than the issues that really help and make a difference for people in their everyday lives. Thus the politicians benefit from the disenfranchisement of their constituents, especially that of men.
In the end, the blame never goes where it should. So the examples you cite will just go into that same GOP misery machine, thus continuing the circle of resentment, pain, and discontent.
Which is why he continues to blame Biden and Obama, which is dog-whistle code to the MAGAts that the Democrats made you miserable and I'm the only one who can save you from them.
It's the wealthy oligarchic GOP that works to undermine all pillars of democracy, as you outline above, to show that democracy doesn't work. Look at all those ignorant, sickly, uneducated, poorly housed people living in poverty! That's what democracy gets you. They are in league with Putin, perhaps none more than DT (clearly a Russian asset), in asserting oligarchy as the best form of government.
Nope. The trait which is most useful in identifying who might be a trump voter is racism - the more racist, they more likely it is that they like him.. This has been true since the beginning. Their "economic anxiety" is anxiety that taxes paid by Americans might help a POC. Screw them.
Seems to me that racism is just another component of what Acela called the GOP misery machine. Its easy to identify and define someone who looks, sounds and acts different, especially if they are willing (or have no option but) to work for lower wages or who, through effort and aptitude, take spots in prestigious schools and/or advance more quickly at work. While we claim to believe in meritocracy, too often that only means when its applied to me and not thee. As a result, such groups become easy targets to "otherise." Their presence and/or success must be due to some preference or loophole (i.e., DEI), or more likely due to cheating or reverse racism. At its most basic level, this is just simple tribal behavior: If you don't look, act and sound like me, or aren't otherwise attached to the tribe, you are an outsider and not to be invited in or trusted. In the current environment, its also a great tactic to deflect attention away from more important issues, e.g., wars, inflation, failed promises and, of course, the Epstein files.
The irony is Republicans like George HW Bush pushed for free trade. Republicans also blamed unionization for Stagflation when the Nixon Surprise economic package in 1971 had a greater role in that fiasco. Young men today should be asking their fathers and grandfathers why they fell for such nonsense back then and continued to fall for it during the next five decades.
Appointed by one man who is financially supported by an ungodly rich oligarchy. It's a corporatocracy, not a democracy. Pull the funding and it all disappears.
It is not MAGAs' relationship with the truth that is in play. Rather their extremely tenuous relationship with knowledge and reason. Little greater than Trump's.
I wonder how Trump expects to "grift" off this deal? He obviously is not doing it to benefit America, or Venezuela.
So far, the proceeds of his putsch in Venezuela has gone into a bank account which he controls in Qatar. But what is really laughable is that we are past peak oil. trump’s folly has ignited a real push to move over to renewables everywhere but here. This is another Donnie deal with ‘pending bankruptcy’ graffitied all over it.
DT equates oil with wealth, but he probably doesn't realize it will take years to develop those oil fields. (One wonders if he wanted Iran's oil as well.). He obviously doesn't think past his own simplistic notions. Making the "greatest oil deal in history" is also political theater, showing the American public that he is supposedly dealing with gas prices. He similarly is suspending tariffs on beef to try and address affordability concerns -- but note the suspension is only for 90 days. He's trying to shore up support before the midterms.
A fairly large shipment of his "tariff-free" beef had to be recalled because of possible contamination. Which should "increase consumer confidence". Remember "everything Trump touches dies". That includes people.
It just occurred to me Trump had the Parks Service culling a lot of wild horses, that might be where the "beef" is coming from. If you whinny when you burp you will know.
He won't. He announced this supposed oil reserve windfall to:
a) Offset the spreading awareness that he's almost completely drained the US SPR--Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Which is also why he's blamed Biden this week for draining the SPR after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022--even though Biden apparently refilled the SVR 2023-24. Once the SPR is empty, gas + diesel prices will rise much more quickly, and NatSec hawk politicians will scream loudly.
b) Distract from the Trump2 inability to open the Strait of Hormuz, which is the operative reason the SPR is being drained.
c) The no-bid process selecting a Trump2 crony as the public-private coordinator of what is a huge, probably >$50 billion investment to repair Venezuela's oil infrastructure and develop virgin tracts in the Orinoco, has no legs. Absent one or more large oil multinationals like Chevron--that have the necessary technical expertise--committing actual $$$ to the project, it's merely the plan of a plan.
"In short, at this point only someone deeply ignorant of both the realities of modern economies and of the lessons of history can believe that there are big payoffs to seizing other nations’ natural resources."
Loved this set-up.
And on a serious note, as a history teacher, I hope we can all agree that if we have no knowledge of where we've been in the past, our understanding of the present is flawed, and our ability to control the future is non-existent.
Those who study history are the best people to consult to ensure that we don't make the same mistakes over and over again. And, of course, the current kakistocracy have no intention of consulting anyone who might counsel self-restraint.
Mr Krugman is spot on in his take on the 'rape' of Latin American resources and what it has gained us, basically nothing politically, except for those few presidents and administrations that attempted to raise the standard of living in those countries. I take as proof the support the Reagan administration gave to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua to overthrow SOMOZA, and those who are in power there now are virtually the same as SOMOZA under a different political rubric! We deplore when other countries 'mess' in our affairs but think nothing it would seem in doing that in Latin America! SHAME
Yes - soon it will be all the other Americans including Canada against Trumopian USA. And perhaps soon we can rename ourselves the "Non-United States of America"
As far as I can tell MAGA is hopeless, and the real question concerns the response of Wall Street. To date they have been willing co-conspirators, responding to Trump's rants in true Pavlovian style. But I wonder, will they tire of being jerked around?
Or Xi’s indirectly. Like Trump, Putin is dragging Russia down and China is benefiting. It wouldn’t be surprising if China found two dunderheads who like to think they are geniuses and manipulated them to its advantage.
I don't understand the need to externalize the cause of this to Putin. The US has always been an out of control empire run by an elite ruling class of super-rich people. They destroy countries of the world just for having aspirations of democracy and prosperity for their own people, then they outsource the good jobs to those undermined countries, which undermines the US people to the point where there's hardly a "middle class" anymore and most people are struggling while the elites live like royalty. This is self-inflicted. This is what the capitalist class does to the people of the world. This is not some far-off Dr Evil cartoon of Putin.
I think you misread Stephen Whitmore. He wasn't suggesting that Trump was necessarily a Russian asset and that Putin orchestrated all this, more like what Vladimir Lenin called "useful idiots."
No, I didn't misread because the idea that Trump is but a useful idiot of Putin is the same basic idea that this is a foreign plot and not simply what the imperialist ruling class does to the world. Trump is an actor on a stage, a circus clown of distraction, not exactly making the decisions ultimately, but it's not Putin making the decisions for US imperialism either. That's an even sillier notion than thinking Trump is steering the ship.
There's a lot of truth in what you say, and many of us agree with the portrayal of capitalism as system that creates a great deal of injustice and other forms of chaos. But I, at least, am starting to form the impression that we need to become more precise with our terms: capitalism, especially. Why? Because when capitalism can be effectively (emphasis on that word) regulated as well as forced to pay its fair share for support of the people of a given country, it appears to work reasonably well, as it does in the social democracies of Scandinavia, all of which are peaceful, prosperous and among the top tier of countries in terms of the level of well-being and satisfaction of their peoples. Sure, capitalism's insistence on eternal increase of profits is inherently unsustainable, but I suspect that the model might well be modulated to better conform to reality if less greed-motivated people were in charge of capitalist enterprises.
Regulation is the key when it comes to capitalism. Of course, those regulations have been under constant attack for decades by those at the top of the pile.
I agree. This is more about Trump et al trying to distract the American people from the price of gas by claiming he has the solution. They don't know that this oil comes out of the ground like "cold peanut butter."
I get tired of seeing this, too, largely because it feels like a way to absolve us of our issues, our participation (or lack thereof) in coming to this point. Putin surely does enjoy the turmoil. He may well direct his trolls to stoke it. But he is not an architect. Nor is Trump. He is a symptom of a deep rot. For whatever reason, he appears to have been the fool who bumbled on stage at “the right place and time”, but we were headed here with or without *him* as the face, the voice. Trump can be gone, Putin can have no part in any of this, and we will still have the many, many root problems to address.
We are not in a this-or-that-moment. There are many things in motion. Attention to them is critical. Krugman is covering many of them for us Americans, as are others.
Why, then, did trump look like a beaten dog while putin smirked at the Helsinki meeting? And why does trump have frequent calls with putin? Foot dragging on sanctions and weapons to Ukraine - embarassing Zelenski in the WH which was planned? Don't need a weatherman.............. Of course you are correct on our history but putin has a role too.
Trump is the ·only· thing that makes Putin smile these days, and it seems like he has gone off the deep end in his Russia-devastating obsession with Ukraine (and somehow restoring the old Russian Empire).
It is horrifying to behold the countless ways in which Trump embraces mean, stupid ideas that were obsolete before he was born: imperialism, battleships, gunboat diplomacy, bomb 'em till they cry uncle, faux-Versailles decors, lethality and manliness in military matters--the list goes on and never ends.
The fact is that imperialism pays -- not for the people but for those in control. They are quite happy to spend two dollars of our money to make one dollar for themselves. This is a basic point that Michael Parenti made over and over in his amazing talks.
I totally see the point that imperialism only pays for the imperialists when they can capture the income while the taxpayers pay the costs.
But the Venezuela deal is still a loss even in Trump thinking as the US importing billions of barrels of oil from Venezuela, means that the US will have a trade deficit with Venezuela.
The Trump Administration on R cabal is also trying to “earn” midterm votes. This is also a very obvious attempt at fooling voters. Question is, are enough smart enough to see through it?
I hear you but I don't understand, because I think the US can basically take the oil and not pay for it. I don't think the US plays by rules of fair engagement and voluntary transactions, to put it mildly.
From what I've read, Trump is claiming that the oil is ours. We pay only the costs of extracting it, shipping it, and refining it. No trade is involved.
He said that it was going to be”put Alberta on notice”, eg, he wants to substitute Venezuelan crude for Canadian. Of course, he will have to build infrastructure to get it out of the ground, then tweak refineries in the Gulf of Mexico to be able to get a salable product. The Midwest refineries are essentially tied to Alberta. Even if he were to cut back dependence upon Canadian oil, we would sell it to someone else*, maybe not at the discount the USA gets. Trump won’t see the benefit of Venezuelan oil—he’s too close to his expiration date.
* We have about 10 years before the glut of oil in the world starts becoming a liability or at least a lot less profitable. I’m talking about electrification shift that is happening right now. The future will have oil, just not for transport or to generate electricity.
But all the revenue from Venezuelan oil is apparently going into an account owned by Trump personally, so...the Venezuelans lose, we lose, but he wins.
No, we absiolutely do not want to keep burning oil as the planet burns, but we cannot stop because we are not in charge. The 1% are in charge. We are not a "we" with the 1%, they are a "they" to us. We the people are not in control of this wild ride and it's destroying everything as it spinds out of control. It's not democracy at all. There is only the simulacrum of democracy in the US and the sooner we realize this, the better. We the people need to take control, and to do so we need to see the situation clearly. The capitalist class of the world is destroying the planet and also killing the people and making our lives a struggle for survival and absurdly meaningless. Each of us has only one life and I don't want to spend mine just coping with this destruction and never speaking with clarity. We need to organize.
I'm with you, Sage. We the people (what a quaint little concept!) aren't in charge (at the moment, anyway). Ah, no - the lunatics are definitely running [i.e., are being allowed to run] the asylum. Normalizing their activities and behavior is complicit and criminal (IMHO). Many people (I am not one of them) believe in the little 4-word motto on our coins; this does not seem to be paying off. (They also believe POTUS is some sort of Kasparov-level chess player --- excuse my chortling.) So, yes - we need to organize. My only hope is there are contingents of Doremus Jessup types spread throughout the country (or world!), toiling away - organizing, if you will - and working (somehow in concert) on a plan to get us out of this catastrophic mess.
My understanding is that heavy Venezuelan crude "cracks" to produce large fractions of diesel and, interestingly enough, US Gulf Coast distilleries are built to handle just this type of heavy crude. Which is not to suggest that this deal is legal, smart, or will ever be profitable. But one can see the Trumpian gears working. The biggest problem is, of course, CO2 and the array of nitrogen compounds and particulates belching out of diesel exhaust pipes. Despite increasingly disruptive weather events tied to anthropogenic climate change, Donnie Dipshit remains tied to the legacy oil business. He has disrupted US efforts to bring more solar and wind energy on line an in the process ceded control of those technologies to China. Further, as Krugman noted, this is a deal written with a goose feather on sand. It has zero chance of lasting. If will be interested to see if any oil companies climb aboard. Chevron seems likely as it is already chest deep in Venezuela. I'll give it a year and then start shorting those oil companies.
The Alberta, Canada tar sands are being extracted by burning oil to lower the consistency of the tar. Which makes tar sands the most destructive oil resource globally. As long as someone is willing to put evermore CO2 into the atmosphere there is probably a method of using Venezuela's crude.
In the face of the rapidly growing use of EV's, heavily promoted by China, it's possible the demand for gasoline and diesel has peaked. Perhaps the cost of a barrel of oil is quickly becoming immaterial. Chinese EV makers are doing quite well in S. America. They would do well here if the trade barriers were lowered.
One of Donnie's cronies bought the Citgo assets. This could be a windfall for him. The Citgo lake Charles,LA refinery was designed to process this crude. The infrastructure in Venezuela to extract and ship the product is the biggest bottleneck in the way. It won't happen overnight.
This is colonialism, pure and simple. We have kept the corrupt regime in place while ruling Venezuela through our viceroy Marco Rubio. Of course Trump loves it. It's rather clever in a way. But from what I can gather about conditions down there, some type of popular uprising is inevitable, though when it will take place is anybody's guess. Then we may have a situation similar to Iran in 1979-80 again, and whoever is president will have to decide what to do to get our hostages released
Yes, this is naked imperialism. The US has been the global imperialist for many decades but it's even more mask-off now. Even the most propagandized people in the world -- the US population -- can see it more and more now.
Cuba is next. I recall a Cuban cab driver being interviewed years ago, who said while the current regime was a problem, he did not want the return of the prior ruling class, the Cuban oligarchs. Have no fear, former Cuban monied interests, Marco will save you!
The US took over Venezuela in part to undermine Cuba which was quite dependent on Venezuelan oil. The US also recently blocked oil shipments from Mexico to Cuba by making serious threats against other Mexican interests, to keep people suffering and dying in Cuba. The US is a global mafia, the enemy of the people of the world. The record is clear, since the 1953 overthrow of the democratic government of Iran, which is ironic because now it's Iran that is serving to bring down the US empire seven decades later. But the US overthrew the democratic government of Guatemala in 1954 just because they gave land to landless poor families in 1952. They installed a right-wing dictatorship and funded death squads that killed around 250,000 people, mostly Mayan, in the next decades, in part trained and armed by Israel as well, in what they even termed the "Palestinianization of Mayans" which shows the nature of these things. What the US did in Vietnam and Korea and also Iraq and Afghanistan is also unforgiveable. The rest of the world is not perfect. There are authoritarians and undemocratic forces elsewhere, as well, but we can't very well sort these out until the main protaganist stops wreaking havoc.
Thank you for the article, Professor Krugman. I just got through listening to Brian Tyler Coen on YouTube about gas stations who were selling gas 40 to 60 cents cheaper. The fact that some people stole the gas and call it freedom gas gives me a great deal of pause especially since they have not been arrested for this crime. You may want to listen to this YouTube. It’s very informative and interesting.
All broadly true. Spent 17 years in the oil business. The entire industry knows that Venezuela's oil infrastructure is essentially in ruins and will require tens of billions of investing spread over many years. It will be a brave executive at one the majors who will sign off on this given the unstable political situation. So basically just another case of Trump talk.
Can magats still have such a causal relationship with the truth that they buy into his bs regarding Venezuela oil? I mean really. Rents up, gas is up, groceries.... up. Still Biden's fault?
Everytime I think maybe we are getting a lasso around his ignorant escapades the Robert's court blows democracy out of the water. SMH.
Don't confuse reason with emotion. MAGAts did not reason themselves into MAGAtry, they got there viscerally. MAGAland is comprised of the uber rich, a very small portion to be sure, and a ragged collection of racists, religious zealots, fascists, incels, and emotionally stunted losers who equate vile behavior with strength. The last election suggest that they are well represented among 21st century Americans.
I think it's important to note that the loose coalition you've described do, in fact only support what is also in fact a minority party. And given the fact that the majority of eligible voters in this country don't in fact vote, we might want to seriously question how 'representative the coalition actually is.
It is always important to look at these numbers and realize our election system is expletive deleted. It doesn't work to reflect the will of The People. It works to express the will of the rich. The rich have always bought elections through marketing ploys of various kinds. There is a reason the rich are super for capitalism. But, then again, we see the will of the People rejected in places like Russia and China, where the thought of democracy is derided and capitalism, if it exists, is simply used to express the will of, you guessed it, the rich in those cultures.
Election results in the USA, 2024:
The No Vote Won
89,278,948 Total votes not cast 37.74%
77,302,580 Trump voters 31.60%
75,017,613 Harris voters 30.66%
241,599,141 Total # of Eligible not RegisteredVoters 100.00%
164,296,561 Voters who did not authorize Trump and crew to take over the US and run it like a Dictatorship 68.40%
Indeed, it is necessary to look at inequality in these United States (these are the numbers we have):
From google AI (yes, Google has bent the knee and become a liar along with most of the rest of this world):Cycles of inequality
Begin End Years between start dates
1810 1850 1810/1870 -60
1870 1914 1870-1920 -50
1920 1929 1920-1970 -60
1980 2026
Return to human response: Raving inequality has happened in the US every 60 or so years. It is a foul and replicating pattern.
Now, it is time for folks who track history to go back as far as they can, get any numbers that are available, and track how the rich have harmed the People of Earth and all the other living beings of Earth.
Now do we see our problem?
Our problem is the force the rich can use against Earth, the living, and humans, to enforce the way of the rich. We see that is extraction and war: getting rich and fighting to keep those riches. It is why humans keep returning to this way of being. Force is hard to resist among humans. Few can actually do it. The procession of Trump is key evidence for this: it is why the US Supreme Court lets him do whatever he does. Only Carney and Iran have ever really stood up to this man, and they are paying a terrible price for that resistance. Anyone who resists, indeed, pays the price.
Humans have earned extinction. It is the only way to end this pattern, because as George Orwell noted, you can kill the rich, but they always regrow (do read Animal Farm--in which Orwell strategically blames animals for human behaviors--he too had to survive). It is in human DNA.
"Black, sticky fantasy" is the biggest oil ripoff of all time. U.S. oil companies didn't want to invest in Venezuela for a variety of reasons but Trump did some arm-twisting.
The oil is thick, dirty, difficult and expensive to refine. It just adds to the world's carbon footprint while Trump undermines renewable energy and focuses on building monuments to himself.
Use the Venezuelan oil to cover all the gold paint sprayed all over Washington?!
Indeed.
Indeed.
Oil companies like it because it is cheaper oil... and someone is going to use it might as well be us.
But it's not really "cheaper oil" - it's of a type that requires a special type of refining process.
https://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/too-dirty-too-late-why-the-economics-of-venezuelas-oil-dont-pencil-out/
It comes out of the ground like "cold peanut butter." And the reason it is sold cheaper has to do with that.
"Because it requires complex “coker” refineries to process, it currently sells at a $12–$20 discount compared to global benchmarks like Brent."
Ah the old "someone in the world is totally amoral, so it may as well be us" argument, which is the poor and stupid sacrificing their morals, so someone else can be rich.
So easy to say; so seductive to believe. I don't know what your field of study is, but mine is behavioral science, inclusive of anthropology, sociology and psychology, with a dollop of Western Civ and a soupcon of education. So maybe we come by our differences honestly. I am not a determinist, or a pessimist, and I respectfully cast a little shade on your assertion that greed and selfishness somehow ride in on our DNA. Or let's just say that along with those qualities ride a lot of other ones, including altruism, generosity, cooperativeness, collaboration and even self sacrifice, along with a whole lot of creativity and love. IMO it's not helpful to characterize us all via the disorted behavior of a class of people who share many common characteristics of deviant behavior, as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the APA. In the majority of human societies cooperation and collaboration have led to progress and continuation, while greed and cruelty have led to extinction. No disrespect intended. When I'm in a down mood I can sometimes lose sight of a broader perspective, too.
I agree, but we see a pattern of behaviors over time in the USA, but maybe the whole world, where extraction and war to upregulate the acquisition of resources, including money, does appear as a major cultural and species driver. We have to control for this appearance, which is across all generations. I feel we would be ignoring reality if we ignore this behavior in a group of humans who appear throughout our historical, literary, philosophical, and religious texts about what has happened over the long time of human lives. I found this helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPFI0oe8jKI
My field of study is human physiology with emphasis on neurophysiology.
I'm not denying the presence and influencers of short-sighted, greedy, destructive people among us. It seems as if ever since the agricultural revolution created conditions for the creation of stratified societies their numbers have multiplied among us, which only the blind could deny. What I am observing is that, although the generous and cooperative among us might not have achieved equal fame--after all, the were mostly not rich enough to buy fame--they have always existed in what I believe must have been greater numbers. Without these people, the greedy would already have an end to the human race. That's not to say there has not been and may yet be suffering and injustice, just to put a different spin on it. Yes, Dr. Hawkes, we are at an inflection point. But as there have been, there are still more of us than there are of them. Will we stand up and claim our rights to a different kind of society? Here and there, right here and right now, some people have fought for and achieved a better way of life. Look at Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
There are examples where universal cooperation is possible: we all drive on the right - even Elon Musk. We should try to expand on this.
We all drive on the right? Huh?
Interesting quibble, to which I'd appreciatively add the probability hypothesized by Marija Gimbutas et al. Perhaps their most essential teaching defines and explains the definitive difference between the governance that enabled our species' approximately 294,000-year thriving and the fact that since then, it's taken us only about six thousand years to commit ecogenocidal suicide. The late Prof. Gimbutas and her colleagues in academia and spirituality assert the maternal ethos at the core of our six-digit longevity mandated cooperation and sharing, while our suicidal six millennia are ethosed by run-amok, fear-and-envy-crazed male ego that mandates hierarchy in the most sadistic and greedy forms. Thus patriarchy's war against matriarchy -- apocalyptically poisoned cultural blankets, as if to reduce the planet to Precambrian lifelessness -- the fatal obscurity of which was noted by Tim Buckley 60 years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Y-Kiqz-4g
Women are in many ways at the head of the battle to reestablish decency in government right now. We are the best hope for change, and change is happening.
Yes, patriarchy has pitted itself against matriarchy. Gimbutus is one scholar who clearly demonstrates that. And, it is interesting to note that the Trump crew has pitted itself against women. And, yet, feminists have pitted themselves against men. Because this has become a 10,000 year long fight. There is nothing to be gained by the two halves of this species fighting each other. It leads to a type of suicide, as is noted.
Yet, 99.99 percent of human societies have failed. That is a really broad perspective.
I expect that if you took a longer and broader view you'd find that the statistic you've used is inaccurate. Here's just one example: the Iroquis Confederacy lasted for @600 years and did not fail. It died out from a combination of diseases introduced by European colonialists and war, also introduced by them. Any number of indigenous groups never failed as much as died out. I suspect that only more stratified, top-down and so called literate societies belong on your list. Including some indigenous ones, like the Inca and Aztecs. So there's something in the systems, maybe, as much or more than in the "DNA" of the peoples who failed. Humans can be monsters, and they can be saintlike. All is not lost.
The money stolen will be used to oppress Americans, including creating paramilitary to oppress Americans
We need 70-80% turnout. The usual 45% is too low. We need at least 70 as in all normal countries. We can do it!
This argument gets made after every election cycle by the losers. As if people who didn't vote were going to vote for their candidate. Or that the victor having such a small margin of victory means something. It means nothing. Winning the election is accomplished by getting the most electoral votes. Everything else is the aerobics of weeping and gnashing.
LOL. Mr. Trump and his followers are making his history right now. They are indeed doing as they will to not only the US, but the world--they are making loads of cash and Mr. Trump is considered the most powerful man alive. He and his followers do say anyone not for them is simply foolish and wish instead to be where he is--indeed, he has been elected twice.
That being said, history will tell his story, though likely somewhat differently than with grandiosity. It will also tell the story of those who voted to put this man in control of a world in which money is the only thing that matters--which is absolutely true. In the end, in this free country, we will all have elected to do the things we have done. In the end, this is how history will judge us for our participation in the events of our time.
As many countries do, make voting manditory and on Sunday. And abolish the Electoral College.
We wish. It's ingrained in the Constitution and would take a Constitutional Amendment to get rid of it. Its built-in rural bias is Republicans' greatest advantage.
Actually, the electoral college was designed to prevent a demagogue like trump from winning the presidency. It was hoped that the "college" would consist of serious statesmen interested in the nation's well-being.
Leigh
Krugman said, “In the modern world nations grow rich through innovation and productivity, not conquest.” Bu he was talking about foreign military conquest not domestic political conquest by the rich that created corruption to seize power and deliver conquest by exploiting ignorance and hate. The conquest by the rich has happened in America many times as exhibited by slavery and the Republican party aligned with the rich and corporations for decades. For domestic political conquest, innovation occurs by replacing democracy with a lawless, fascist autocracy that was planned since the Powell Memo in 1971 attacked FDR’s policies in the New Deal to have the Republican party replace democracy with an oligarchy that rejects the rule of law. The domestic political conquest by the rich was completed with an insurrection that began on January 6, 2021, but continued into 2025 as planned by Project 2025 driven by the rich. Insurrection is a modern form of domestic conquest supported by corruption such as Citizens United, forceful ICE agents in the streets, deaths threats, and a DOJ that attacks opposition while rejecting the rule of law.
How did the domestic political conquest happen? Millions of eligible registered people were a plurality but didn't vote. But 77 million voted for Trump in 2024 but many of those voters were supporting the corrupt, hateful, ignorant political change that happened in 2010 by the Republican party in opposition to Obama, a black president. Those voters for Trump in 2024 were the planned result of the Powell Memo in 1971 that launched an attack by Republicans, corporations and the very wealthy on FDR’s policies in the New Deal. The attack targeted FDR’s high taxes on the very wealthy and corporations and targeted democracy by exploiting ignorance with Republicans funded by the rich to promote fake economics centered on Milton Friedman’s trickledown economics adopted by Reagan that justified tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations. The fake economics and money from the rich convinced ignorant corrupt neoliberal Democrats to support the tax cuts and other corruption by Republicans, corporations and wealthy oligarchs that destroyed affordability. Since the late 1970s the corruption caused $80 trillion to be siphoned from the bottom 90 percent of Americans and transferred to the richest 1 percent but mainly to billionaire oligarchs with tax cuts for corporations, the richest 1 percent and billionaire oligarchs.
As Republicans, the wealthy and corporations gained political power since 1971, they gradually undermined democracy they intentionally but deceptively created a corrupt Supreme Court to make decisions such as Citizens United. The corrupt SCOTUS gifted more political power to the wealthy and manipulated politics and elections with campaign donations from the wealthy and corporations that funded extensive lying and political attacks. Democrats became corporate Democrats who accepted campaign donations from the wealthy and corporations and supported the Republican party interests including more tax cuts and fewer regulations.
Today the political attacks on democracy and civil rights are supported by about 56 million registered voters, mostly registered Republican voters with some Independents, that still approve of Trump and the corrupt system despite the blatant corruption and violations of law, the lying, the attacks on democracy and elections, the lack of affordability, the wealth inequality, the ICE raids on immigrants including the murders of American citizens and the war with Iran. At the core of the 56 million are about 28 million MAGA voters who are largely white male supremacists who hate women, LGBTQ, immigrants, Democrats, Independents, democracy and the rule of law.
The core problem in America today is the lawless fascist autocracy which was installed in 2025 with a criminal insurrection that unfortunately was not stopped by Garland and Biden and still has not been recognized as a crime by almost all registered voters. Trump's insurrection began on January 6, 2021, but the insurrection continued into 2025 and 2026, and has been totally supported by Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court and billionaire oligarchs. A new generation of progressive Democrats must get elected and enforce the law against insurrection to prosecute, convict, and imprison these insurrectionist felons, Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, six justices on the Supreme Court and multiple billionaire oligarch including Musk.
Enforcing the law against insurrection enables political, legal and economic innovation to eliminate corruption by the rich and enable shared productivity in a democracy by solving problems such as affordability and wealth inequality.
This is factually untrue: The lowest post-WWII turnout for Presidential election was in 1948, at roughly 51% of the voting-eligible population (Harry Truman's election). The next lowest was 1988 at about 52.8%. The most recent one was 65%+, which is modestly behind Europe, but not by a democracy altering amount. Many voters were unable to vote for either party because the Democrats were rabidly backing the Palestinian genocide, and both parties supported a withdrawal from international law and accountability.
"Democrats were rabidly backing the Palestinian genocide"
Nonsense.
Go back and actually look at what Democrats were saying instead of accepting the right wing narrative.
1. $18 billion of arms shipments to Israel during the first year of the genocide 2. Harris saying that she had no intention of an arms embargo despite the NSm-20 report confirming they were not compatible with human rights 3. Refusal to let a Palestinian American talk at the DNC 4. Oppression of anti-genocide academics.
Honestly the lies you people tell are what makes you the same as the GOP. You both love empire and the hatred violence and racism that goes with it.
One of the tactics of the MAGAts is to tell outrageous lies - like cats eating dogs - in order to emotionally manipulate their poorly educated cult into voting for right wing fascists.
That is what you are doing.
Unfortunately for the MAGA cult liberals don't get emotionally manipulated by lies like they do.
So...nice try.
Idiots like you backing the arrest of progressives. I was there, and heard directly. You right wing democrats are just as bad as the GOP. You back the genocide one minute and lie about it the next.
MAGA troll alert
You have put a finger on it. What lies at the heart of the Trump era, and to be fair much of the Democratic machinations, is a miserably corrupt and Byzantine system for anointing leadership. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can change until that does.
Has anyone studied why eligible voters don't vote?
One common reason cited is that there's little difference between the two wings of the UniParty except on divisive "wedge" issues like abortion. And look how well the Democrats have protected that (previous) right. At least on the national level, there's very little daylight between the DNC and GOP when it comes to things like wealth inequality, social services (the Dems talk a good game, but always seem to cave).
I agree there is a vile component of MAGA who are zealous fascists, but they are a minority of those who voted for Trump in 2024.
There is also a large cohort of (mostly men) under age 50 who are very, very angry about the lack of economic progress they experience, who have bought the line that line that GOP tax cuts enabled the return of high paying "men's" jobs, but Democrats in league with the "Global Elite" gave THEIR jobs away to other countries, and academics and the "liberal" media are just shills for the "Global Elite" so they are not listening... especially if they think educated people call THEM ragged and vile.
They see that Trump is not working. They do not see that the line they bought is wrong. Their economic experience is getting worse. Anger is rising.
I know this because I am related to two of them. I wish I had a solution.
Yet this is intentional. The GOP works deliberately to undermine our economic security, public health, and school systems. It’s because they in fact have no interest in folks getting good educations or working through tough times, reducing despair or drug abuse, or getting ahead economically – because that would not be in Republicans' best interest.
On the contrary, these politicians are quite happy to have their supporters struggling and hurting because it means that they can keep them stressed and misled while appealing to their pain and anger for their own political ends.
So instead they feed these folks Fox falsehoods and faux machismo and focus on distracting culture wars rather than the issues that really help and make a difference for people in their everyday lives. Thus the politicians benefit from the disenfranchisement of their constituents, especially that of men.
In the end, the blame never goes where it should. So the examples you cite will just go into that same GOP misery machine, thus continuing the circle of resentment, pain, and discontent.
Which is why he continues to blame Biden and Obama, which is dog-whistle code to the MAGAts that the Democrats made you miserable and I'm the only one who can save you from them.
It's the wealthy oligarchic GOP that works to undermine all pillars of democracy, as you outline above, to show that democracy doesn't work. Look at all those ignorant, sickly, uneducated, poorly housed people living in poverty! That's what democracy gets you. They are in league with Putin, perhaps none more than DT (clearly a Russian asset), in asserting oligarchy as the best form of government.
Nope. The trait which is most useful in identifying who might be a trump voter is racism - the more racist, they more likely it is that they like him.. This has been true since the beginning. Their "economic anxiety" is anxiety that taxes paid by Americans might help a POC. Screw them.
Seems to me that racism is just another component of what Acela called the GOP misery machine. Its easy to identify and define someone who looks, sounds and acts different, especially if they are willing (or have no option but) to work for lower wages or who, through effort and aptitude, take spots in prestigious schools and/or advance more quickly at work. While we claim to believe in meritocracy, too often that only means when its applied to me and not thee. As a result, such groups become easy targets to "otherise." Their presence and/or success must be due to some preference or loophole (i.e., DEI), or more likely due to cheating or reverse racism. At its most basic level, this is just simple tribal behavior: If you don't look, act and sound like me, or aren't otherwise attached to the tribe, you are an outsider and not to be invited in or trusted. In the current environment, its also a great tactic to deflect attention away from more important issues, e.g., wars, inflation, failed promises and, of course, the Epstein files.
The irony is Republicans like George HW Bush pushed for free trade. Republicans also blamed unionization for Stagflation when the Nixon Surprise economic package in 1971 had a greater role in that fiasco. Young men today should be asking their fathers and grandfathers why they fell for such nonsense back then and continued to fall for it during the next five decades.
A majority of white women voted for trump.
Sadly.
Great article Paul but Trump will find a way to grift as much as he can out of this Venezuela mess!!!
Pull the funding, which means remove the gross inequality in society.
How?
Spot on
well said!
... and like DJT, they confuse power with respect...
You left out Supreme Court Justices inhabitation of the vile MAGAtland
Appointed by one man who is financially supported by an ungodly rich oligarchy. It's a corporatocracy, not a democracy. Pull the funding and it all disappears.
Pull the funding and unfortunately the money will find another way.
That is why we have to take most of their money and assets away.
Being that wealthy grants people power that society hasn't given them willingly. Extreme wealth is detrimental to our society and humanity.
Hillary Clinton said, “to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.”
If what you say is true, and I think it is, then you just described at least one third of U.S. adults. How depressing!
The money stolen will be used to oppress Americans, including creating paramilitary to oppress Americans
It is not MAGAs' relationship with the truth that is in play. Rather their extremely tenuous relationship with knowledge and reason. Little greater than Trump's.
I wonder how Trump expects to "grift" off this deal? He obviously is not doing it to benefit America, or Venezuela.
So far, the proceeds of his putsch in Venezuela has gone into a bank account which he controls in Qatar. But what is really laughable is that we are past peak oil. trump’s folly has ignited a real push to move over to renewables everywhere but here. This is another Donnie deal with ‘pending bankruptcy’ graffitied all over it.
Curious about your information source re: Trump's Qatari bank.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-venezuela-oil-revenue-qatar-bank-b2901312.html
Thanks.
With advisers like Bessent and Lutnick how can trump miss Everyone in trumps cabinet is there for the same reason. To make trump money.
and to line their own pockets. They are the most vile opportunists.
And to heap praise on the Dear Leader, of course.
ANd themselves as well in the so-called 'bargain'!
DT equates oil with wealth, but he probably doesn't realize it will take years to develop those oil fields. (One wonders if he wanted Iran's oil as well.). He obviously doesn't think past his own simplistic notions. Making the "greatest oil deal in history" is also political theater, showing the American public that he is supposedly dealing with gas prices. He similarly is suspending tariffs on beef to try and address affordability concerns -- but note the suspension is only for 90 days. He's trying to shore up support before the midterms.
A fairly large shipment of his "tariff-free" beef had to be recalled because of possible contamination. Which should "increase consumer confidence". Remember "everything Trump touches dies". That includes people.
Good point. And why are they not disclosing where the beef is coming from? Nothing about this administration inspires confidence.
It's being called "mystery meat" in many publications.
It just occurred to me Trump had the Parks Service culling a lot of wild horses, that might be where the "beef" is coming from. If you whinny when you burp you will know.
He won't. He announced this supposed oil reserve windfall to:
a) Offset the spreading awareness that he's almost completely drained the US SPR--Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Which is also why he's blamed Biden this week for draining the SPR after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022--even though Biden apparently refilled the SVR 2023-24. Once the SPR is empty, gas + diesel prices will rise much more quickly, and NatSec hawk politicians will scream loudly.
b) Distract from the Trump2 inability to open the Strait of Hormuz, which is the operative reason the SPR is being drained.
c) The no-bid process selecting a Trump2 crony as the public-private coordinator of what is a huge, probably >$50 billion investment to repair Venezuela's oil infrastructure and develop virgin tracts in the Orinoco, has no legs. Absent one or more large oil multinationals like Chevron--that have the necessary technical expertise--committing actual $$$ to the project, it's merely the plan of a plan.
He wants oil to remain relevant. Oil and oil profits can be controlled. Hence buying out wind farms. Rest of world will save us here.
Yes, he wants the price of gasoline to remain high - he and his "friends" make more money...
"In short, at this point only someone deeply ignorant of both the realities of modern economies and of the lessons of history can believe that there are big payoffs to seizing other nations’ natural resources."
Loved this set-up.
And on a serious note, as a history teacher, I hope we can all agree that if we have no knowledge of where we've been in the past, our understanding of the present is flawed, and our ability to control the future is non-existent.
Those who study history are the best people to consult to ensure that we don't make the same mistakes over and over again. And, of course, the current kakistocracy have no intention of consulting anyone who might counsel self-restraint.
Mr Krugman is spot on in his take on the 'rape' of Latin American resources and what it has gained us, basically nothing politically, except for those few presidents and administrations that attempted to raise the standard of living in those countries. I take as proof the support the Reagan administration gave to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua to overthrow SOMOZA, and those who are in power there now are virtually the same as SOMOZA under a different political rubric! We deplore when other countries 'mess' in our affairs but think nothing it would seem in doing that in Latin America! SHAME
Yes - soon it will be all the other Americans including Canada against Trumopian USA. And perhaps soon we can rename ourselves the "Non-United States of America"
And nixon/kissinger fostering a coup on Allende
I don't think Reagan ever supported the Sandinistas. He supported the Contras to try and overthrow the Sandinistas.
Which he did illegally.
The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history. George Orwell
As George Carlin said, "think how stupid the average person is and half of them are stupider than that."
Never forget that the “supreme” court enabled this.
As far as I can tell MAGA is hopeless, and the real question concerns the response of Wall Street. To date they have been willing co-conspirators, responding to Trump's rants in true Pavlovian style. But I wonder, will they tire of being jerked around?
No one is more driven by outrageous greed than the people on Wall Street, which is why Trump has so many on his team.
However, if they start to lose money because of Trump, he will be gone in a New York minute.
Matt Randolph ("Mr. Global") describes how totally stupid and corrupt the whole Venezuela deal is:
"MAGA Falls For The Trump Line Every Single Time"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAn5Sg-zYqU
That penultimate sentence. That is the heart of the matter.
There is also a large segment who wouldn't vote for a non-white woman.
Or the people who just “can’t bear” to check a D, so vote for a shite R or not at all…though not at all maybe will help…
Cultural Republicans.
drumpf - "The Manchurian Candidate" , literally or in effectively, that makes the Cheshire cat smile (putin).
drumpf is putin’s slow motion 9/11 attack on the US
If only… alone in 2020, Drumpf caused more than a hundred 9/11s with his pandemic denial.
Or Xi’s indirectly. Like Trump, Putin is dragging Russia down and China is benefiting. It wouldn’t be surprising if China found two dunderheads who like to think they are geniuses and manipulated them to its advantage.
I don't understand the need to externalize the cause of this to Putin. The US has always been an out of control empire run by an elite ruling class of super-rich people. They destroy countries of the world just for having aspirations of democracy and prosperity for their own people, then they outsource the good jobs to those undermined countries, which undermines the US people to the point where there's hardly a "middle class" anymore and most people are struggling while the elites live like royalty. This is self-inflicted. This is what the capitalist class does to the people of the world. This is not some far-off Dr Evil cartoon of Putin.
I think you misread Stephen Whitmore. He wasn't suggesting that Trump was necessarily a Russian asset and that Putin orchestrated all this, more like what Vladimir Lenin called "useful idiots."
No, I didn't misread because the idea that Trump is but a useful idiot of Putin is the same basic idea that this is a foreign plot and not simply what the imperialist ruling class does to the world. Trump is an actor on a stage, a circus clown of distraction, not exactly making the decisions ultimately, but it's not Putin making the decisions for US imperialism either. That's an even sillier notion than thinking Trump is steering the ship.
There's a lot of truth in what you say, and many of us agree with the portrayal of capitalism as system that creates a great deal of injustice and other forms of chaos. But I, at least, am starting to form the impression that we need to become more precise with our terms: capitalism, especially. Why? Because when capitalism can be effectively (emphasis on that word) regulated as well as forced to pay its fair share for support of the people of a given country, it appears to work reasonably well, as it does in the social democracies of Scandinavia, all of which are peaceful, prosperous and among the top tier of countries in terms of the level of well-being and satisfaction of their peoples. Sure, capitalism's insistence on eternal increase of profits is inherently unsustainable, but I suspect that the model might well be modulated to better conform to reality if less greed-motivated people were in charge of capitalist enterprises.
Like much in life, it is a spectrum. Unfortunately, for us as well as the ripple effect, the US is on the wrong end of it.
Regulation is the key when it comes to capitalism. Of course, those regulations have been under constant attack for decades by those at the top of the pile.
I agree. This is more about Trump et al trying to distract the American people from the price of gas by claiming he has the solution. They don't know that this oil comes out of the ground like "cold peanut butter."
Agreed.
I get tired of seeing this, too, largely because it feels like a way to absolve us of our issues, our participation (or lack thereof) in coming to this point. Putin surely does enjoy the turmoil. He may well direct his trolls to stoke it. But he is not an architect. Nor is Trump. He is a symptom of a deep rot. For whatever reason, he appears to have been the fool who bumbled on stage at “the right place and time”, but we were headed here with or without *him* as the face, the voice. Trump can be gone, Putin can have no part in any of this, and we will still have the many, many root problems to address.
We are not in a this-or-that-moment. There are many things in motion. Attention to them is critical. Krugman is covering many of them for us Americans, as are others.
Putin is not the cause of what the US empire does. That's a basic fact so I want to dispel the myth. That's all. It's a smokescreen notion.
Putin helped Trump win the election in 2016 and 2024. These wins helped to undermine NATO.
Why, then, did trump look like a beaten dog while putin smirked at the Helsinki meeting? And why does trump have frequent calls with putin? Foot dragging on sanctions and weapons to Ukraine - embarassing Zelenski in the WH which was planned? Don't need a weatherman.............. Of course you are correct on our history but putin has a role too.
The South American Candidate is more like it. Also the Siberian candidate, the Judean Candidate, and the Persian Candidate
Stephen 2017 was a long time ago
Trump is the ·only· thing that makes Putin smile these days, and it seems like he has gone off the deep end in his Russia-devastating obsession with Ukraine (and somehow restoring the old Russian Empire).
It is horrifying to behold the countless ways in which Trump embraces mean, stupid ideas that were obsolete before he was born: imperialism, battleships, gunboat diplomacy, bomb 'em till they cry uncle, faux-Versailles decors, lethality and manliness in military matters--the list goes on and never ends.
I forgot to mention racism, misogyny, xenophobia and brain-dead religion.
He is insane!
The fact is that imperialism pays -- not for the people but for those in control. They are quite happy to spend two dollars of our money to make one dollar for themselves. This is a basic point that Michael Parenti made over and over in his amazing talks.
I totally see the point that imperialism only pays for the imperialists when they can capture the income while the taxpayers pay the costs.
But the Venezuela deal is still a loss even in Trump thinking as the US importing billions of barrels of oil from Venezuela, means that the US will have a trade deficit with Venezuela.
The Trump Administration on R cabal is also trying to “earn” midterm votes. This is also a very obvious attempt at fooling voters. Question is, are enough smart enough to see through it?
I hear you but I don't understand, because I think the US can basically take the oil and not pay for it. I don't think the US plays by rules of fair engagement and voluntary transactions, to put it mildly.
But it still costs more than it is worth to extract and refine the oil.
From what I've read, Trump is claiming that the oil is ours. We pay only the costs of extracting it, shipping it, and refining it. No trade is involved.
He said that it was going to be”put Alberta on notice”, eg, he wants to substitute Venezuelan crude for Canadian. Of course, he will have to build infrastructure to get it out of the ground, then tweak refineries in the Gulf of Mexico to be able to get a salable product. The Midwest refineries are essentially tied to Alberta. Even if he were to cut back dependence upon Canadian oil, we would sell it to someone else*, maybe not at the discount the USA gets. Trump won’t see the benefit of Venezuelan oil—he’s too close to his expiration date.
* We have about 10 years before the glut of oil in the world starts becoming a liability or at least a lot less profitable. I’m talking about electrification shift that is happening right now. The future will have oil, just not for transport or to generate electricity.
But all the revenue from Venezuelan oil is apparently going into an account owned by Trump personally, so...the Venezuelans lose, we lose, but he wins.
Yes. "Outdoor relief for the upper class."
So now Venezuela Is officially a banana republic minus the bananas.
Controlled by a republic where the president is bananas.
Or cold peanut butter!
Maybe we can get another country to grab our president and haul him off to jail in a foreign country.
I can't think of a country that stupid.
And do we really want to keep burning oil as the planet burns?
No, we absiolutely do not want to keep burning oil as the planet burns, but we cannot stop because we are not in charge. The 1% are in charge. We are not a "we" with the 1%, they are a "they" to us. We the people are not in control of this wild ride and it's destroying everything as it spinds out of control. It's not democracy at all. There is only the simulacrum of democracy in the US and the sooner we realize this, the better. We the people need to take control, and to do so we need to see the situation clearly. The capitalist class of the world is destroying the planet and also killing the people and making our lives a struggle for survival and absurdly meaningless. Each of us has only one life and I don't want to spend mine just coping with this destruction and never speaking with clarity. We need to organize.
Also even the rank and file Republicans believe global warming is hoax.
The money stolen will be used to oppress Americans, including creating paramilitary to oppress Americans
We need 70-80% turnout. The usual 45% is too low. We need at least 70 as in all normal countries. We can do it!
I'm with you, Sage. We the people (what a quaint little concept!) aren't in charge (at the moment, anyway). Ah, no - the lunatics are definitely running [i.e., are being allowed to run] the asylum. Normalizing their activities and behavior is complicit and criminal (IMHO). Many people (I am not one of them) believe in the little 4-word motto on our coins; this does not seem to be paying off. (They also believe POTUS is some sort of Kasparov-level chess player --- excuse my chortling.) So, yes - we need to organize. My only hope is there are contingents of Doremus Jessup types spread throughout the country (or world!), toiling away - organizing, if you will - and working (somehow in concert) on a plan to get us out of this catastrophic mess.
Republicans believe all energy must come from fire.
My understanding is that heavy Venezuelan crude "cracks" to produce large fractions of diesel and, interestingly enough, US Gulf Coast distilleries are built to handle just this type of heavy crude. Which is not to suggest that this deal is legal, smart, or will ever be profitable. But one can see the Trumpian gears working. The biggest problem is, of course, CO2 and the array of nitrogen compounds and particulates belching out of diesel exhaust pipes. Despite increasingly disruptive weather events tied to anthropogenic climate change, Donnie Dipshit remains tied to the legacy oil business. He has disrupted US efforts to bring more solar and wind energy on line an in the process ceded control of those technologies to China. Further, as Krugman noted, this is a deal written with a goose feather on sand. It has zero chance of lasting. If will be interested to see if any oil companies climb aboard. Chevron seems likely as it is already chest deep in Venezuela. I'll give it a year and then start shorting those oil companies.
Donny Dipshit and his supporters don’t think climate change is real. The Nepalese, people in Central Indiana and Central Ohio would argue otherwise.
I’ll give you the Nepalese, but the two states you mention keep electing climate change denialists.
Unfortunately, you’re correct. I live in Ohio and the Republicans have performed a hostile takeover of state government.
Sadly, I can assure you that the folks in central Indiana will still vote for climate denying Republicans.
They will, just as they do in Ohio.
The Alberta, Canada tar sands are being extracted by burning oil to lower the consistency of the tar. Which makes tar sands the most destructive oil resource globally. As long as someone is willing to put evermore CO2 into the atmosphere there is probably a method of using Venezuela's crude.
In the face of the rapidly growing use of EV's, heavily promoted by China, it's possible the demand for gasoline and diesel has peaked. Perhaps the cost of a barrel of oil is quickly becoming immaterial. Chinese EV makers are doing quite well in S. America. They would do well here if the trade barriers were lowered.
No the other oil companies aren't climbing aboard, that's why Trump got the Pentagon to put up 20%. Good WSJ articles on the subject.
I do think Trump's buddy who refines in the Gulf coast is probably a big proponent and has influence on Trump who is stuck in the 70s and 80s.
Right. Imperialism with a bit of socialism.
One of Donnie's cronies bought the Citgo assets. This could be a windfall for him. The Citgo lake Charles,LA refinery was designed to process this crude. The infrastructure in Venezuela to extract and ship the product is the biggest bottleneck in the way. It won't happen overnight.
I assume that the oil industry is paying him for his support.
I believe they paid in advance with campaign "donations."
Pennies on the dollar.
This is colonialism, pure and simple. We have kept the corrupt regime in place while ruling Venezuela through our viceroy Marco Rubio. Of course Trump loves it. It's rather clever in a way. But from what I can gather about conditions down there, some type of popular uprising is inevitable, though when it will take place is anybody's guess. Then we may have a situation similar to Iran in 1979-80 again, and whoever is president will have to decide what to do to get our hostages released
.
Yes, this is naked imperialism. The US has been the global imperialist for many decades but it's even more mask-off now. Even the most propagandized people in the world -- the US population -- can see it more and more now.
Cuba is next. I recall a Cuban cab driver being interviewed years ago, who said while the current regime was a problem, he did not want the return of the prior ruling class, the Cuban oligarchs. Have no fear, former Cuban monied interests, Marco will save you!
Marco 👕
The kidnapping of Maduro was probably only possible because of Rubio being from the region
Trump 2.0 in four words.
Paul, I wish you could joining the next administration as a top cabinet member of a unity government that will start rebuilding our country! …
The American military as “bully boys” for a crime family must be pretty disconcerting to many in the armed forces
The US took over Venezuela in part to undermine Cuba which was quite dependent on Venezuelan oil. The US also recently blocked oil shipments from Mexico to Cuba by making serious threats against other Mexican interests, to keep people suffering and dying in Cuba. The US is a global mafia, the enemy of the people of the world. The record is clear, since the 1953 overthrow of the democratic government of Iran, which is ironic because now it's Iran that is serving to bring down the US empire seven decades later. But the US overthrew the democratic government of Guatemala in 1954 just because they gave land to landless poor families in 1952. They installed a right-wing dictatorship and funded death squads that killed around 250,000 people, mostly Mayan, in the next decades, in part trained and armed by Israel as well, in what they even termed the "Palestinianization of Mayans" which shows the nature of these things. What the US did in Vietnam and Korea and also Iraq and Afghanistan is also unforgiveable. The rest of the world is not perfect. There are authoritarians and undemocratic forces elsewhere, as well, but we can't very well sort these out until the main protaganist stops wreaking havoc.
Thank you for the article, Professor Krugman. I just got through listening to Brian Tyler Coen on YouTube about gas stations who were selling gas 40 to 60 cents cheaper. The fact that some people stole the gas and call it freedom gas gives me a great deal of pause especially since they have not been arrested for this crime. You may want to listen to this YouTube. It’s very informative and interesting.
I think this is the link:
https://youtu.be/UzX6hpNh4WU?si=Yys15p-kM9HxW6hU
Vile and stupid? The Trump Administration?
Where is the news in this story?
Vile and deeply stupid? In other words, business as usual.
"Vile and deeply stupid" sums up Trump and members of his junta pretty well.
All broadly true. Spent 17 years in the oil business. The entire industry knows that Venezuela's oil infrastructure is essentially in ruins and will require tens of billions of investing spread over many years. It will be a brave executive at one the majors who will sign off on this given the unstable political situation. So basically just another case of Trump talk.