A new war got announced..

So we're going to war with Venezuela. It's happening very soon. Who's excited? So this got announced by the way, I always joke about this about how wars get announced on my days off I took a day off yesterday and a war got announced How does this keep happening?

Venezuela is ordering a massive mobilization of its military as the United States sends more of its own firepower to the region

That's right. Amante de la paz.

We love peace.

We deeply love peace.

Peace?

We don't want war here nor in any other place around the world.

Uh-oh.

But if they dare to touch Venezuela, they're going to find us in every street.

Uh-oh.

The announcement came after America's largest warship Yeah, see, we're sending those over there. Arrived in US Southern Command area of operations. That area includes most of Latin America. We've got CNN senior national security reporter, Zach Cohen in Washington for us. Zach, good to see you.

What more do we know about Venezuela's mobilization of not only its troops, but equipment as well as ammunition. And then also how significant is it that the USS Gerald R. Ford is now in Southern Command's region?

Who's the president?

Yeah, Venezuelan officials making clear that this mobilization was ordered directly by President Nicolas Maduro and it comes as a response to the US military buildup in the region, which of course has been used to conduct these strikes against alleged drug boats.

That's right. Increasing tensions with Venezuela in the process. Venezuelan officials calling the US buildup a quote imperialist threat and saying that

Absolutely.

They plan to conduct land, air and naval exercises naval exercises as a show of force to essentially ward off a potential US invasion of sorts. Now the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford is the-

So they're just going to run around and try to scare us by running around?

I don't know if that's going to work. It is the most advanced aircraft carrier in the US fleet. At the same time it brings significant air assets as well. It has nine air squadrons, anti-surface capabilities and it will join what is already a very large US military presence in the region including guided missile destroyers that are all ballistic capable, raising

questions about what this firepower is needed. The Trump administration insists that the Gerald Ford and the rest of the military assets there are intended to conduct the counter-narcotics mission, the targeting of alleged drug boats, but at the same time I'm told U.S. officials were unable to tell Congress why they need so much firepower to target small

boats. So just flex on them, Hos. That's the reason why. It's pretty obvious. Yeah, bro, he just, he brought everybody out there just to let them know. That's the reason.

This uncertainty still increasing and contributing to the ongoing tensions with Venezuela.

Yeah, absolutely. And look, a lot of people looking on and wondering whether this means some kind of confrontation down the line. But we know that the undercurrent of a lot of what we've been seeing is that Caracas does believe that Washington is seeking regime change, something we've even heard from President

Trump. Yeah, they're going to get rid of that Maduro guy. It's pretty obvious. They're either going to kill him or something's gonna happen. Nobody even in Venezuela apparently likes him.

And sort of nuanced terms but what are your sources?

Yeah he's cooked. Like apparently he's like sitting there recording messages for Trump telling him please don't come in English like.

Yeah we reported back in September and since then that there are some within the Trump administration who are pushing a strategy to effectively conduct strikes inside Venezuela with the idea of Pushing Nicolas Maduro the president Venezuela out of power No, I still something some US officials hope can be accomplished as this as part of this military buildup at the same time

We already I mean, of course they can get rid of them

I mean if they want to they get real easy also know that the Trump administration told Congress just a few days ago that it doesn't currently have the legal justification to target anything inside Venezuela or any other territory even though they are potentially seeking an additional legal justification that would allow them to do so so really some uncertainty some ambiguity there as you mentioned Donald Trump has has been noncommittal on this since the beginning,

both speaking... He's going to be noncommittal on it until he comes up and he announces that they blew him up. Yeah, he's going to be like, yep, well, we're not going to have a war in Venezuela. Why not? Well, because we killed all the people in charge. Wait what? Yep it happened 30 minutes ago.

Very verbose terms in terms of threatening Nicolas Maduro at the same time, not going all the way to commit to US forces, conducting some sort of a regime change strategy operation.

So do you support this? Isn't it double standard? Do I support it? I mean I think that Venezuela, it's pretty obvious. I think that a lot of South American countries are occupied by these drug cartels, and I think that it's pretty obvious that the drug cartels call some of the shots, and I think that's very problematic. Now, do I totally agree with the regime change? I don't know really if I do or not. I mean, I don't have a strong opinion on it one way or another, to be honest with you. Like, I'm not totally against it, though. Not our problem. Well, it is. Like, if their economy is

built off of basically sending illegal drugs to our country, then it is our problem. It absolutely is our problem. And really, I mean, you know, the president of the United States, his job is to keep Americans safe, right? And so if you have people that are importing a bunch of drugs to our country that are killing Americans then that to some extent is his responsibility, right? Yeah, stop buying drugs?

Well that's not what happens though, right? It's like, I mean, I understand like that's like your surface level opinion of it, but like think about it like this, a lot of the drugs that end up killing people are laced with things that people don't even know they're buying, for example. So like somebody thinks they're buying uh you know Xanax and it has fentanyl in it right, or they're buying cocaine or something like that and then they overdose in another way. So like I understand what you're

saying, I think that like there's a degree of that that I kind of agree with, but at the same time, you know, it's not that simple. Targeting him. So we're gonna have to wait and see what ultimately happens. But again, there's really a lot of questions as to what all this US firepower, a significant piece of the US Navy, what it is doing there and why it's needed, which is again, is stoking the questions about a potential regime change in Venezuela.

Want to do it with China? Well, it's easier to bully Venezuela. Simple. It's the same reason why we do it to Iran. Why do you think we went and blew the fuck out of Iran, and then we also are gonna blow up Venezuela, but we didn't do it to China or Russia? It's because they're a bigger country. We get to bully them around.

It's easier.

You might not like the answer, but it's true.

Yeah. It's the same reason why nobody does the task. Yeah. All right, Zach Cohen. Great to have you on the story. Thank you so much.

Joining me now to discuss all this is retired US Air Force Colonel and-

What's the evidence of this insane drug trafficking operation? We live in a digital age, show the evidence and you'll have popular demand. I mean, do you really think there's not a lot of drugs coming out of there? I mean, come on.

And military analyst Cedric Leighton, welcome to the show for the first time. Thanks so much for being with us.

It's my pleasure. Thanks so much, Alex. Appreciate it. So what's really going on here with Venezuela? Yeah, so this is a very complex issue actually, but what's basically happening is that the U.S. is moving its forces in just as you described with the USS Gerald R. Ford, the biggest aircraft

carrier in the world.

This is nuts.

We're going to have another war. Basically entering that particular part of the world. And since it's there, it was moved from Europe. It now gives the U.S. extra air power that it can potentially use against targets in Venezuela. Now, the administration, the Trump administration, has denied that it is going after regime change in Venezuela, but the types of forces that are arrayed against Venezuela or against targets

in Venezuela is way more than what you need for a drug interdiction mission, and not quite enough to really affect regime change. So we're kind of in that gray zone right now in terms of the numbers of forces. But I think what the administration wants to do, Alex, is they want to have a presence in the area that will perhaps force change in Venezuela. But that's kind of where we are right now. Yeah, that's probably what they're trying to do. Nicolas Maduro, who leads Venezuela, has expressed concern that the Trump administration wants there

to be regime change. Do you think that's...

It's fucking obvious, bro. Yeah, they don't like you. They don't like you and they're gonna get you. They might not get you this year, but they're gonna get you. It's pretty obvious.

That's what's going on here. And if so, how would that even happen?

Yeah, that would be one of the most difficult things to actually do. And I can see from Maduro's point of view that that's exactly what he sees. If you're sitting in Caracas and you're looking out across the Caribbean and you see all these naval vessels coming toward you

and the aircraft flying along your coastline, then you certainly think that there's something more going on that just-

Well, it's meant to intimidate and scare them. It's a show of force, obviously, that's why.

After some boats that are on the coastline. So what Maduro is doing is he's beefing up his forces. He's calling up the reserves. He's calling up his military, his National Guard. And they are, in essence, putting themselves in a position where they think they can defend the country.

Now, what would happen if, let's say, we did try to effect regime change? I think the first thing that the U.S. would try to do is make contact with the opposition leaders, including the lady Machado who received the Nobel Peace Prize recently, and that would then be the impetus to move things forward using Venezuelan forces to, in essence, fight each other. Now that's one possible scenario.

That would be easier for us, it'd be cheap.

Nobody has said that's going to happen yet, but it's certainly a possibility. So if I were Maduro, I'd be looking at this and I'd be concerned, to say the least.

Yeah, I mean, he's cooked.

It's over.

Like, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

He done. Like, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Hey, Don.

These have moved some equipment into Venezuela. They have Cuban help already in the form of intelligence support and weapons support. So, there's definitely an effort going on within Venezuela and with Venezuela's allies to build up the Venezuelan forces, perhaps to thwart a possible U.S. invasion.

So sort of yes or no, should the U.S. be concerned about a war with Venezuela? Yes, because it's a much more complex thing than just throwing out the government. The government has been in power there through two leaders, Chavez and Maduro for decades now. They have institutions, they have a whole cadre of folks that are loyal to them, and they would potentially mount a guerrilla war against any US forces or other allies

that come into Venezuela.

I always wonder like how much of that is like a forced problem and how much of it is that they just let it happen. Because I've always assumed, it's like if we have satellites that can read a license plate,

why can't we figure out what these guys are doing? If Israel can figure out where one guy's apartment building is, why can't we figure it out? And my opinion is that with the Vietnam War and with the Iraq War,

is that we were not there to win. We were there to continue fueling the military industrial complex. I think if we had tried to actually accomplish any one specific goal there, it would have happened extremely fast.

Especially now with the technology.

What you could see is us getting mired into a war that would make Vietnam potentially look like, you know, not quite a picnic, but certainly it would be a very difficult, difficult aspect to deal with. So we would be, I think, in areas that complicate relations with Latin America, it also would complicate relations with countries like Colombia, which President Trump has gone after, even though they've been allies in the drug war.

So, well, they just he gonna blow them up after that. The thing is that this has been a problem for a long time with the cartels and I'm surprised Trump is this aggressive at it. I really am. But yeah, I mean, I think that if he starts a war over there, I think that most Americans probably won't really care that much as long as soldiers aren't being sent over there. Like as long as there aren't like soldiers being stationed in Venezuela actively fighting,

I don't really think that Americans are really going to be that upset about it.

It's a real mess and it's something that we should definitely not get involved in this

way. Well, President Trump has said that he's the guy who ends wars, doesn't get involved in wars, and I'm sure he's not looking to get involved in something that makes Vietnam look like a picnic. Cedric Leighton, thank you so much for joining us with your perspective, really.

Yeah, there it is. You can't have regime change without armies, period. I mean, I don't know. You could bomb the shit out of them. I have no idea like maybe that's the case Maybe it's not it's hard to say but either way Put on notice with Trump's last there's another one that's happened

Welcome back with the Fox News alert the Trump administration steps up the fight against drug smuggling and narco terrorism more as reports claim President Trump has been briefed on updated military options targeting Venezuela. So this is ratcheting up.

Welcome to a brand new hour of America's Newsroom.

I'm Dave from Real Deal Hammers off today. Oh boy. Here we go.

Good morning.

Is this his birthday?

Yes.

Happy birthday, Bill. Happy birthday, Bill. Good morning, everybody. I'm Martha McCallum. So the White House is announcing Operation Southern Spear, which targets Latin American drug cartels operating in America's neighborhood. President Trump ordering the military buildup to stem the flow of drugs into our homeland which is obviously a good idea and he is also putting a lot of pressure on

someone who has wobbled before but has always maintained his leadership in Venezuela but he's urging Maduro with all of this action to lose power. And as

the mighty aircraft carrier USS Ford approaches the waters off Venezuela,

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has a warning for the Maduro regime.

This is a counter-drug operation. The president's ordered it in defense of our country. It continues, it's ongoing. It can stop tomorrow if they stop sending drug boats. The Maduro regime is a narco terrorist regime indicted in the southern district of the United States for narco-terrorism but more importantly they're also a trans-shipment organization that allows these groups to operate from their national territory

they allow drugs to be shipped they openly cooperate with the shipping of

these drugs towards the United States and Europe by the way.

Very cool war on drugs too. I think very cool. Or on drugs, too.

I think this one's going to be a bit different.

Well, he's a former acting secretary of Homeland Security and he's now director of the America First Policy Institute.

Chad, here's General Jack Keane on sending the USS Ford that way.

What the Trump administration is attempting to do is demonstrate to the elites that are surrounding Maduro that it's not worth keeping this guy in as our leader. As an army guy, I can tell you full out, the number one symbol of American military superiority is that aircraft carrier that's sitting now off the coast of Venezuela.

Chad, I imagine that you don't send the USS Ford if you're not serious.

Well I think that's right and I would agree with the general there. Look, this is about a pressure campaign right now. But what we know is that the Trump administration is going to back that up. It's not just intimidation. It's not just a bluff. I think they are looking if there's not a change in Venezuela as far as the narco terrorist

organization that Maduro runs

that if there's not going to be a change I mean if you're calling the president a terrorist I think that we all know where this is going to end we all know what's going to happen everybody they're just they're out there saying it right now

and the Trump administration will take this to the next level. They will eliminate that threat, that threat that's killing hundreds of thousands of Americans every year.

Chad, Martha McCallum here. It's interesting. We saw what President Trump did at the southern border and it choked off a lot of business for the cartels, both in drug business and in human trafficking as well. So then you see them taking this water route, which they always took, but maybe using it

a little bit more now. What do you think they do? What is their next idea to try to get this stuff into the United States? Or is this the last avenue?

Well, I mean, if I were them, what I would do is I'd probably just try to do what you can, you know, do it in like, you know, maybe 10, 20% and then just wait for Trump to get out of office and then just keep getting, just go back to it. That's what I, if I were, if I was the cartels, that's what I would do. Like I wouldn't try to fight them on it because it's just like you're, you're risking too much. Just wait. Yeah, just wait it out. Submarines? Nah, they can figure that out.

I don't know that this is the last domino. Look, these are multinational organizations that- Eight years? They're not going to stop. Twelve. They're going to continue to try to not only smuggle illicit narcotics into the United

States, but they're a criminal enterprise, so they're going to continue to do a number of things. Look, I think to put this in a larger context though, this is not just about targeting with kinetic action drug boats, you know, there in the Caribbean. The Trump administration...

Look at all them boats, bro.

Holy shit.

...from day one has had a coordinated strategy here to deal with this illicit narcotics coming into the country. And so whether that's designating a foreign terrorist organization, all the border security measures, we just saw the FBI director, Director Patel, over in China talking to them about precursors to fentanyl. There is a coordinated strategy here by the Trump team that is the right strategy

to try to reduce this threat to Americans. And so this is not probably the last type of action they're going to take. They're also going to look at land routes. They're going to look at a variety of different things to have these drugs

continue to pour into the United States. Chad, do we have any- They'll probably stop it if they want to. Like, yeah, of course. Do you believe any of this? You think it's about oil? It's probably both. That's why I assume they probably don't want to have the drugs coming in. They don't like the drugs, but at the same time, there's like other types of incentives that, you know, make going after the drugs more appealing. That's what I would assume.

All right. Have you seen any of the evidence or results yet that there has been a reduction in the amount of drugs coming into the United States or being used here?

I don't know.

Well, I think it's probably a little too soon for that. Some of these strikes, you know, we're a couple of months into this. I think that's something that the Trump team will take a look at. I think, you know, when you look at the value, the street value of these illegal narcotics, if that starts to certainly go up, that means that there's a supply issue that they're dealing with as well.

And so it's really important though that we put this again, Venezuela here in the larger context. You know, for far too long, a lot of these narco groups have just been criminal enterprises. But what we see in Venezuela, Cuba, and to a lesser extent Mexico, is that there is state...

I think that's the problem that they have, is that these cartels are operating with a degree of like gray area inside of the government. And like with some countries, like obviously you're always going to have like criminal enterprises in every country, but I think the difference is that, you know, they think that in Venezuela or Mexico that they're operating under the, you know, implicit consent of the government.

Sponsorship.

They are backed by the political and the ruling class now. And that's something that the Trump team is saying, look, not in the Western hemisphere, not in our backyard, because that destabilizes trade, it destabilizes economies. It's the security of the United States at stake here. And so that's why it's really important. I know a lot of people are saying, well, why Venezuela? It's in our backyard. And the Trump team understands that and they realize that and they're taking that action. Chad, thanks for being with us today.

Thank you. Chad, thanks for being with us today. Thank you. Thanks Chad. Could you imagine being that fucking guy? Like I would not want to be on one of those boats, I'll tell you that. I would be done with that shit. The importance and difference capturing a boat with drugs versus blowing it up as we know for certain to fade to the drugs? Well I mean again, if we have enough information on a boat and we think that it's a drug boat, I think we just blow it up, just blow it up. But there's no reason you've got to arrest the person and figure it out. If you have intel on it. I

mean, military construct conduct strikes on things like without they don't interview every terrorist in the Middle East before they construct a you know, conduct a bomb attack on them. That's it. Yeah, fuck him. It's a waste of money. Yeah, it's a huge waste of money, bro. Like, yeah, what do you mean? And so yeah, the only winners are the fish. Yeah, the fish are getting high as

fuck, right? So yeah, biggest criminal enterprise inside is inside the United States government. Yeah, well, then we don't like competition. They shouldn't have been competing. That's it. Yeah, it shouldn't have been doing that and Yeah, what were you thinking trying to compete against the US government? What do you think? Yeah, our intelligence knows exactly what the boats are carrying Yeah, of course. I mean you really think that we can't figure that out I mean, come on, like it's pretty obvious. It'd be easy to do But yeah, so it looks like we're gonna be having a war with Venezuela pretty soon. Pretty exciting, not necessarily what I was expecting to have happen, but as always whenever

I take a day off, a new war starts. So yeah, I think that we'll probably see something happen with this in a couple of days as it kind of builds up, but nothing really has happened yet. So yeah, that's pretty much where we're at. So yeah, that's pretty much where we're at. Not on my bingo card, I guess so.