Thread by @AliAdair22

🇻🇪Seems like Donald Trump is mentioning Venezuela a lot lately. Could someone possibly think that military action ("It’s a regime that, frankly, could be toppled very quickly by the military if the military decides to do that.") by the United States is appropriate right now?

💣In 2017, Trump said he was "not going to rule out a military option" in Venezuela but thanks to cooler heads—both inside the U.S. and outside—he was overruled.

businessinsider.com/trump-discussi…

🗣️Speaking at the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual convention, Trump said about #Florida Gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum:

🇻🇪"If his [DeSantis'] opponent gets elected, you'll have Venezuela—Florida will become another Venezuela, & that is not good."

🍗🥩Although President Nicolás Maduro is denying there is a humanitarian crisis in his country, there is growing evidence of food shortages and lack of proper medical care.

ajc.com/news/national/…

🦊In fact the country's communications minister Jorge Rodríguez says it's a "hoax" and "fake news."

⁉️Could this be Trump's plan to try to thwart the #BlueWave2018?

washingtonpost.com/world/the_amer…

🇷🇺But a @nytimes article from a little less than a year ago, sticks out to me. Russia—I'm quite sure from the kindness of their heart—"eased the debt burden of Venezuela."

nytimes.com/2017/11/08/bus…

💣@nytimes: The Russian finance minister, Anton Siluanov, announced on Wednesday that the two countries had agreed to the restructuring of roughly $3 billion in Kremlin loans.

🇷🇺The 3rd time Russia came to the aid of Venezuelans.

@nytimes: part of a worldwide strategy to use the Russian national oil company Rosneft to help achieve foreign policy objectives.

🔪I wonder what happens when they default on the Russian loans?

📰From the @businessinsider article posted above: "But in the year since the U.S. has kept pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government, punishing dozens of officials with sanctions but sparing others in a gambit to stoke tensions in Caracas."

🗣️Marco Rubio: "I believe that the armed forces of the United States are only used in the case of a threat to national security," adding that he believed there was a "very strong" argument that "Venezuela and the Maduro regime have become a threat to the region and to the U.S."

💣Experts say military action would take a U.S. commitment on the scale of the invasion of Iraq, a country half the size of Venezuela with slightly more people, according to the @businessinsider.

▶️Trump trying to get Venezuela in the narrative many times
▶️Trump suggesting war with Venezuela
▶️Putin is involved
▶️Trump recruiting a GOP Senator to back him
▶️We hear "hoax" and "fake news"
▶️GOP is in losing position