1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

What we’re reading… Venezuela is under US control. Our president says so. And he says Marco Rubio will be in charge. Except Rubio says that’s not the case. Our president says the Venezuelan VP is totally behind his plan to take over her country. Except she says that’s not true and wants Maduro returned. Last night, on Air Force One, our president told reporters that the US not the Venezuelan VP, is in charge of Venezuela. Oh, and big oil is lined up to help save Venezuela. Our president says he doesn’t need congressional approval to do what he did because it’s purely a law enforcement act. If so, we have sure seen a lot of videos of what looks like bombing of a residential neighborhood, killing at current count, 80 people. Civilians included. Our president claims to be a committed warrior against narcoterrorism, while pardoning Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández, a man who personally trafficked tons of cocaine into the US and actually said at one point he wanted to shove cocaine up the noses of the gringos. Our president said of this pardon, “If somebody sells drugs in that country, that doesn’t mean you arrest the president and put him in jail for the rest of his life.” No but you can steal his country THEN put him in jail for the rest of his life. Best comment on Rubio being frustrated over becoming the Venezuelan viceroy: “Yeah, people are fixating on a Cabinet Secretary being given a sovereign country to run because the president waged war without congressional approval and kidnapped the old leader. Weird that they’d get hung up on that.” Meanwhile our president does whatever he wants with the world. While turning America from a global power into a regional one. All by his choice alone. Reminder: the constitutional prescription for fixing this problem of presidential overreach is Congress. But the GOP Congress continues to be submissive. No hearings. No serious investigations. No enforcement of checks and balances. No accountability. What happened in Venezuela is wrong. Congressional Republicans would say so immediately if a Democratic president had done the same. Your silence is surrender. And in your silence we watch our democracy unravel. It’s hard to be brave. But give it a shot please. .