U.S. Captures Venezuela’s President Maduro — A Global Shockwave

And we're live. Welcome back to the LOOPcast. Good morning, everyone. It's Tom, Erika, and Josh. The gang is back together, ready for a great 2026. Hopefully, everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Josh, you made that face. Is there something you'd like to say other than, let's get this bread?

I mean, it's a beautiful day. It's a beautiful day, indeed. Beautiful day, indeed. The LOOPcast brought to you by The Loop, every Catholic American's favorite morning newsletter. Go subscribe if you haven't already. I have some people from Colorado said that CEO Kelsey hit it out of the park at her talk at SEEK conference here in Denver.

No surprise. I mean, no surprise. I mean. Of course. But yeah, shout out to those guys at SEEK. I have some friends in Focus and SEEK is bigger. We got information out of that because we, of course, on the staff knew that, you know, know that she's pregnant. She made it public. But then not only that, and we knew it was a boy, but then she said the name that they're going to baptize him with. I missed it. What's his name?

I didn't hear about that. What's that? Isn't that in the story? Oh. Did you read the story? No, I didn't. I'm going to keep it A1. Do tell us, Josh. I had a plague for like a week. I think it gives an indication of who she's going to support in the 2028 primaries, though.

Is this Gavin? Marco? No, James Dominick. Sounds like she's a J.D. fan. Don't put that on her yet, Josh. It's early. Can't give them out too early, especially with their children. Hey, but here's the deal. We got a good show today. I think, like many of you, we've been really stewing on.

I mean, one of the most shocking, seemingly successful operations of all time. I mean, we just, we snatched the leader of Venezuela overnight. He was in New York in like four hours. He's before a judge right now that leaves a lot of questions. You know, what was the operation? What actually happened? What's going to happen with Venezuela? There's a very interesting... Oh, it's simple, Tom. Josh, but we got an hour show. You can't just say it now. No, no, no, no.

You don't understand. Trump heard all about the No Kings protest. He goes, okay, I'll take care of them. Yeah. I have seen a lot of stuff that a lot of people are reporting the final straw for Trump was that he danced too much. Maduro was doing the Trump dance to taunt him, and that was it. He said, all right, send him in. Can't have that anymore.

Anyway, I mean, so much to talk about there, but we're going to do good news. We're going to do Twilight Zone, as always, but I will hand it right over to Erika. So, we had Operation Absolute Resolve. I think, you know, the retelling of a great name, of course, but I mean, really just shockingly successful and a pretty complex. So, shout out to our boys, but yeah, tell us what happened there. Yeah, I mean, you just have to appreciate the surgical precision of what went down on Saturday night.

We all woke up Sunday morning. This all happened while we were sleeping here on the East Coast. And we wake up, and it's like, oh, we took the president of, or so-called president, self-proclaimed president of Venezuela. So, on Saturday morning, around 1.30 a.m. Eastern, a series of explosions start to ring out over the city of Caracas. And within minutes, Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, who were sleeping in a military compound, basically, they were snatched out. And here he is with his...

Perp walk, for those of you watching on YouTube. Snatched out by U.S. special forces. The first indications are that it was a Delta force. ...from the compound, helicoptered out over the Caribbean to the USS Iwo Jima, and then headed up to New York City, where he is there. Now, we've seen more perp walks through the city to face narco-terrorism charges. He was indicted for those. He's been under arrest, quote-unquote, for months now, but the entire operation took under five hours. There were zero American casualties.

Crazy. Apparently, one of the aircrafts, or 150 aircraft, flew in from 20 locations all over the globe to take out the signal, to take out the aircraft defense system. Just a side note, China had just upgraded for Venezuela. Their air-to-missile defense system didn't work. It was not effective. We were still able to get through it. That is a real side piece in all of this, is that they were defended by Chinese technology, and they completely failed. I mean, completely failed. Total failure.

Total shockwave to the world. Like, what does this mean about Chinese defense technology if not even, no one was touched? Especially awkward for the Chinese, because they had a delegation of 10 or 12 Chinese ambassadors were in Venezuela. They met with Maduro hours before he was snatched. They were literally sleeping in a hotel, like, down the block. From where he was snatched from, because their own defense system failed. Awkward.

So, at a press conference Sunday morning, General Raisin Cane gave us some more details, and he said the failure of any one component in this very complex operation would have meant the failure of the entire mission and the loss of American lives. So, he told us that starting late this past summer, intelligence personnel began tracking what Maduro ate, what he wore, where he lived, how he traveled. They were helped by an asset within the Venezuelan leaders' inner circle, according to other administration officials and those familiar with the operation.

Meanwhile, U.S. Special Forces have been rehearsing... Around the clock, practicing how to extract him inside a replica of the fortified military compound where we finally got him from. Everything needed for the operation was in place by late December, and in fact, there were some attempts, including on Christmas and New Year's Day, to go in and finalize the operation, as they say, but there were weather issues, and Trump wanted to wait a few more days to see if Maduro would relinquish power on his own.

As you know, he's been... Trump has been telegraphing to Maduro for the last six to eight months that we're going to come and get you. You need to start to work with us. Get the Chinese out of there. Get the Russians out of there. We basically have a naval blockade of the country at this point, and then we just did the thing on early Sunday morning.

So, Trump deferred to the Pentagon until it was time to give the green light, which he received from at 10.46 p.m. Friday. Operation Absolute Resolve was a go. Good luck and Godspeed, Trump told military leaders. And, yeah, then from within his makeshift secure location at Mar-a-Lago, he watched the whole thing unfold.

Here's Rubio, who, I mean. Has to be, this is like a Rubio renaissance. This is the Marco Rubio moment. Banging the drum on this for so long, so long, so long, and I mean, here we have this. I mean, I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the operation. Like, this wasn't, I mean, I guess boots were on the ground to snatch him. No American casualties.

Very little casualties in general, actually. No fatalities. We had a couple guys injured, but that's, yeah. Okay. Thanks for the distinction. But, you know, not even like mass. Like, this wasn't like a... It's hard to even wrap my mind around. Like, when's the last time you could just sneak into a country, snatch their leader, get out? And now everyone's just kind of at an impasse. Like, do you go to work? Like, I'm just having a hard time thinking, like, if Trump was taken to Canada, like, what would we be doing today, you know?

Would we be just going about it? Anyway, here's what Marco Rubio had to say about the action. The Venezuelan oil industry. Well, we don't need to. First, let me go back up. We don't need Venezuela's oil. We have plenty of oil in the United States. What we're not going to allow is for the oil industry in Venezuela to be controlled by adversaries of the United States. You have to understand, why does China need their oil? Why does Russia need their oil?

Why does Iran need their oil? They're not even in this continent. This is the Western Hemisphere. This is where we live, and we're not going to allow the Western Hemisphere to be a base of operation for adversaries, competitors, and rivals of the United States. We also want to see that oil and the proceeds from it. Hold on. We want to see the oil proceeds of that country benefit the people of Venezuela. Why have 8 million people left Venezuela? 8 million, the single largest mass migration probably in modern history, left Venezuela since 2014 because all the wealth of that country was stolen to the benefit of Maduro and his cronies in the regime, but not to the benefit of people of Venezuela.

You know how destabilizing 8 million migrants is? The number one fear that Brazil has, that Colombia has, that all these countries in the region have. About what is happening in Venezuela and our involvement, is they are afraid of another mass migration event. That is what they fear. This is deeply destabilizing stuff. It is not going to continue to happen. They are not going to come from outside of our hemisphere, destabilize our region in our own backyard, and us have to pay the price for it.

Not under President Trump. I love it. Yeah, it seems to be the gamut. I saw there's a Jack Ryan, the show clip going viral about, you know, who's the greatest threat to America, and they, Russia, China, et cetera, and it was actually Venezuela was the thing for it. Almost like word for word, Josh, you were saying like, oh, TV shows collaborate. It's like, were they collaborating with the Pentagon here? Who knows? I mean, it almost was a word for word story of what it seems like we're attempting to do here.

Marco Rubio is saying it, Trump is saying here, calling it the Dunrow Doctrine. Where is the Monroe Doctrine? You call it the Don Monroe Doctrine. Which I think is absolutely a successful military aberration, no question about it. And it does seem that the United States simply wants to remove an illegitimate president, you know, illegitimate leader. It's worth reminding people that even in the Biden administration said that his election was false and baloney, that he was not the true leader. Multiple countries across the world have said this.

You know, he's in power illegitimately. And I like, you know, if... Look, I don't like, I mean, I just wish we could have done something like this on other countries. Like, rather than being, you know, maybe Afghanistan is unfixable. Like, we should never even bother with it. In Iraq, if you go in and you take out the leader, there's no telling you can immediately place another leader in charge and say, okay, see you later, boys. Whereas Venezuela, there actually is the ability, there is enough political leadership in the country where you can actually help build some sort of, you know.

Common sense government there, they have at least, you know, the apparatus there. I've just, so, you know, foreign wars in Middle East, I'm not a big fan, but like in our continent, especially when you're talking about the displacement of 8 million peoples that can end up at our door, I think it makes sense for us. And, you know, again, That there's so many people in the United States who are reflexively against anything simply because it was done by Donald Trump. Like, if Biden had done this, I wouldn't automatically be against it just because it's Biden, but you have people in this country like, well, it must be wrong because Donald Trump did it.

And you see the reaction, like, you had the lady from Meet the Press, Welker, I forget her first name, but like, did you see that? The press, the interview that, you know, Margaret Brennan does, I mean, like, it is getting to be almost... Yeah, but you would not expect anything else. I guess what is new about it is... Well, like, the point is that she shifted from, like, you know, why are you doing this to, like, well, why did you only get the one leader?

Why did you get four or five other leaders? Why did you take five of them out? Marco Rubio is like, do you know how much planning it took to get the one guy? Yeah. Well, and to the point about destabilization as well, and Tom and I were talking about this. Before the show, it is really interesting, and some people, like Venezuelans who are dancing in the streets, I mean, Florida, the footage coming out of Florida, New York City, any of these areas where the Venezuelan diaspora live in numbers, were just flooded with celebration, and so many of the Venezuelans were saying, you didn't go far enough.

Like, now Trump just needs to, like, get rid of the whole Chavezism, is that the word? ... and go even farther, because now we saw the vice president with Maduro has been sworn in, and she's no better. I mean, it's still, the military is still in charge, the cartel of the sons is still the party in power. She's changed her tone quite a bit, by the way. But she has changed her tone. Yes. She started, this is an act of war, we're going to go, and then all of a sudden, she's kind of like, oh, we want to peacefully cooperate.

We can work with the United States. I think basically what the terms were, like, you can keep talking like that, and you'll not be in power, or we'll let you be the president. And you have to call for elections, and you can stop talking crap. Yeah, 100%. I think she saw the writing on the wall pretty quick. Yeah, but I think to Margaret Brennan's whole thing about why didn't you take out the entire regime, well, that would create a kind of vacuum, and it would be a door and a vulnerability to further chaos and the kind of uncontrollable, unsettling that we've seen in other attempts to do a regime change.

I think it was smart of the Trump campaign to just be like, the Trump administration just to say, we're going to make a surgical strike. We have one objective. He's under indictment. He's going to come back for trial, and now we're going to allow the next leader, who's already in power, where they have the apparatus there. The other difference, too, that I've been thinking about between Venezuela, and I know on the left, it's like anything Trump does is bad, and then in the MAGA base, you also have this anything done on foreign soil is bad, and we need to be isolationist.

I think there's good precedent for why people feel that way. Yeah, 100%. I mean, our whole lifetime. Yes, sure. Our whole lifetime. We think of Afghanistan. We think of Afghanistan, we think of Iraq, we think of Libya, we go back a little farther. Syria. The big difference here being that this is in our hemisphere, and with modern technology and modern travel, Venezuela is basically on our border. And this is, as Marco Rubio pointed out in that interview that we played, that they are our neighbor, this is where we live.

And I love that he said it that way, because we do have a different approach. We should have a different approach. to nations who are here, who are being infiltrated and essentially run by our enemies from overseas, China, Russia, Iran. So, yeah, I think that there was, when you go to the whole just war theory that's going, all the debate on social media right now of like, oh my gosh, should we ever strike and blah, blah, blah. I mean, if you look at the tenets of just war theory, we pretty much hit all of them, right?

Like we tried diplomacy. We gave prior warning that we were going to do this. It was an absolute. And it seems like we have a pretty clear picture of what the endgame is, and those are all tenets of just war theory.

So, for me, I think that, historically, I ended up being like, yeah, this was a great move. I would say the just cause are two things. Number one... China is a destabilizing force in the region, and we have every reason to get that adversary out because they have malicious intent.

And number two, it's less than the number one, but it is true that the Maduro and Chavez governments, you know, stole. Billions of dollars in oil from, you know, U.S. companies. Like, U.S. companies are going down there to invest, to improve infrastructure, and then the state just confiscated all that wealth. And it's like, okay, I mean... The machinery and the wealth. I mean, they nationalized, they stole it, and then they started using it. And so now their machinery and their infrastructure, all their infrastructure is way outdated now.

And so, like, you know, like, now Donald Trump can go in there to the new government and say, let's... Work together at peace. Our companies, we would like to get that money back, obviously, and we're willing to work and partner with you to upgrade your machinery, your infrastructure for oil, so that the wealth of this oil will not just be given.

Feathering the nest of the governmental officials, but will be good for all the people in Venezuela, and it will boost the economy. And then the third effect, which is also huge, is that you are going to start to see people in Venezuela, Venezuelans from outside of the country, like, you know, in places like Florida and New York, as you mentioned, want to return home. No question. It reminds me a little bit of the El Salvador situation. Like, if you go, El Salvador was horrific.

Yeah. Bukele comes in, creates a safe country. People actually want to go back. Salvadorans want to go back. You can actually build there. You can live your life there. You don't have to be in fear for your life. Well, can I make one more point about the difference between this operation and, say, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq?

Venezuela, within living memory, was a thriving democracy. There are people Josh's age who now live here in the United States, excuse me, who live here in the United States who can remember a thriving Venezuela where their grandmother owned a bookstore, where it is very prosperous, the fourth wealthiest in the world at one point in the 1970s, and they can remember that. And we have boomers from Venezuela who remember a functioning democratic election system they participated in. And that's a huge, it's a massive difference between trying to go in and do Arab Spring across the world, where there is no existing or historic or cultural memory of that sort of a civilization, and going to Venezuela as a restorative operation.

It is massively different. It is also, there is precedent, by the way, for just about everything that was just done in this operation, because we had a situation in Panama in the 80s where Manuel Noriega canceled an election. And we went in, you know, George H. W. Bush sent in the boys, captured him, brought him to Miami, tried and convicted of drug trafficking, served time in the United States, before he was finally extradited to Panama, where he died. Yeah. 2017. Noriega, former CIA asset.

Interesting. But yeah, I was looking for... What a shock that is. And then the other interesting thing... After reading. I have a theory about Maduro, but... I have a theory about Maduro, but... Funny, we keep talking about precedent. I think, unless you go back and, like, read history, I don't think this is really taught on or fully understood. Like, intervention in Latin America is not new and super common. I mean, it was a part of the thinking of just about every president up until...

You know, said recently, we get involved in the Middle East, but, like, you go back to Theodore Roosevelt. Like, Theodore Roosevelt really thought we were supposed to be, like, the police of Latin America, or at least he wanted to be the police of Latin America. Roosevelt Corollary. Taft. And he built the Panama Canal. Built the Panama Canal. Taft also. It was like, we should be training people, like, be good citizens and, like, can build prosperous countries, like. And I think the thinking with Venezuela makes a lot of sense.

It is like a half hour from water if you wanted to launch a missile. So, that is why I think my initial reaction, as everyone knows, I am very against these wars in the Middle East, and just intervention in general, I think is very serious.

Venezuela, someone made a great point about this, and I've been thinking about it a lot. CNN was going around and interviewing people, and there's this guy in Spanish, and he's just like, why do you think the Chinese wanted us? Did they want our arepas recipe? No, they wanted our oil. They wanted our natural resources. Venezuela is the number one. Their reserves of oil is four times Japan's economy. They are the jewel of Latin America in terms of natural resources, not just oil, like refined oil, but also natural gas as well.

Right. And we've had a situation where China has come in, Russia has come in, and they've brought loans, and they've brought different things. Russia, a lot of military equipment as well. And they said, you know, we're going to be your friend. Like, we're going to be friends to the Maduro regime, which, of course, was horrific, human rights abuses, disappearing people. You know, this isn't anything new. It tanked the economy. They stole a lot of American assets in terms of oil, and it's just shut it off from the United States.

And so, when you think about a targeted enforcement action, really just, I can't even get over this rate. It's so unbelievable. And that's what leads to my theory. My theory is that Maduro actually is potentially in on this.

Okay. I think that, hear me out, hear me out, this is a possibility. Josh is leaving the set. Bye, Josh. Maduro wanted, he needed an out. So, they do this military operation. They get him, because look at this picture. He's done like 10 outfit changes. They parade him around. Here's a picture of him, like, thumbs up with DEA agents.

They take him and his wife. They get out of there. If he would have fled or exiled, I think it's a pretty good chance he gets executed or something like that by, like, Cubans or, like, handlers, Russians, someone, right? Like, if he flees the country, like, someone gets him. So, this way, Maduro gets out. He's safe in America, even if he, you know, gets tried or whatever. He's safer there. And then, now he had his out. America gets their big win.

They were going to do it anyway, regardless. It's like he cooperates. It's an interesting theory. I've been thinking a lot about it. I don't know. I don't mean to dismiss you, Terry. I don't have enough information to say yes or no to it. It's not outside the realm of possibility. I wasn't meaning to try to poo-poo it. It could be. I just don't know. But what I was going to say about what you're saying about with Russia and China, it's worth pointing out there really are kind of three different ways a larger power can deal with a country of smaller power.

You know, the imperialist model, which is, you know, sometimes only thought of as colonial, but I think sometimes colonial wasn't pure imperialism either, Annie, but imperialistic, you know, like where the weaker country is at service to the greater country. Well, that's certainly the case with Russia.

And with China, you know, it is a subservient relationship to the greater power. Then there is the way that the United States has conducted most of its foreign policy over the last 50 years, which has been almost pure charity. Like, we just give aid, and we send our troops, and we expect nothing in return ever. And the thing is, like, If you ask most of the foreign policy intelligentsia, that is the only dynamic they can see. It is either you are imperialistic, where you are robbing their resources, or you are being selfless and letting them have everything.

The problem is, there actually is a better third way. The better way is to partner with them and say, let us help you along. We can do investments. We do not want you to steal our stuff. And we can collaborate, but it doesn't have to be completely pure selflessness. It can be in there, like, we'll send in our Exxon or whatever to help improve your infrastructure, and yeah, we're going to get a good deal out of it. We're not just doing this out of the goodness of our hearts, purely.

I mean, obviously, we think communism was miserable for Venezuela, so obviously, we think it's going to be better. That, it really, we do need that in the 21st century, because You know, it was one thing. I think we got the wrong message with regards to, like, the Marshall Plan with Europe. I mean, Europe was in smoldering ruins, you know, and so what we're going to do? We're just not going to let these people, like, you know, perish. Obviously, we send them money, and we'll get them up off their foot.

And we don't just let the Soviets rebuild for them. Right, right, exactly. That doesn't mean that anywhere and always forever, it has to be pure. Wait a minute. You are going to take the money from your own taxpayers and give it to basically tin pot dictators in other countries? No, this is stupid. Let us make sure we are doing something that makes sense for both countries.

Well, it reminds me a little bit of Ukraine. Of course, what a quagmire that is, but part of it was like, okay, we bring in some defense, and then you give us some of the rare earth minerals or whatever in return to help repay for the defense that we're doing.

And yeah, I think that's closer. Well, it's certainly pragmatic. It's more viable long-term. That's why I'm like, with this whole thing, as crazy as it is, it's like, oh, we care about Venezuela all of a sudden like a month ago. And of course, I think we have many problems we could be solving here. I think this is like, the more I think about it, this is the easiest case you can make. Very simply, there are a lot of American interests here, and there's actually Venezuelan interests as well.

This is pretty easily provable. Yes, this is an American interest, and it can be good for the country. It can be good for you, and I just think access to those kind of natural resources as well, and then a productive partnership with Venezuela expelling foreign adversaries, Russia and China, it's just good at hemispheric defense. I want to show you some clips, and maybe this is okay. We had the serious talk, and now we get to be like, what are we projecting here?

Trump had quite the press conference on Air Force One. Okay, so I'm going to play a few of these for you guys. World leaders on airplanes just get me a little itchy, you know? And I'm like, there's got to be something more here, and obviously with Trump, it's like you don't take what he says seriously, but take him seriously. So, okay, tell me what a lot of these clips are saying to you. We'll play the first one.

Yeah, we got it. We come up to Greenland. What do you expect to take in action against Greenland? Well, I don't want to talk about Greenland. Let's talk about Venezuela, Russia, Ukraine. We won't worry about Greenland in about two months. Let's talk about Greenland in 20 days. By the way, I will say this about Greenland. We need Greenland. From a national security situation. It's so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it, I can tell you.

Denmark just coincidentally put out something being like, do not take Greenland, essentially. Well, I mean, we're not going to attack a territory of a fellow NATO power. Some people online get a little crazy about this. Here's the next one.

One of the things that is happening, and I think you see it, you see it all the time, Howard, you've seen it, that Cuba is ready to fall. Yes. Cuba looks like it's ready to fall. I don't know if they can hold up. But Cuba now has no income. They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They're not getting any of it. And Cuba literally is ready to fall. And you have a lot of great Cuban-Americans that are going to be very happy about this.

Yeah, really interesting point there. Greenland, Cuba. And then when asked about who is in charge of Venezuela, we haven't even talked about the future of Venezuela. Well, Greenland is about, you know, there is, I don't care. The next question is who is in charge of Venezuela right now. Have you spoken to the newly sworn in president there, Rodriguez, and what are your thoughts on the entire situation when you said the U.S. would run Venezuela? We're dealing with the people. We're dealing with the people that just got sworn in.

Don't ask me who's in charge, because I'll give you an answer, and it'll be very controversial. What does that mean? It means we're in charge. For those who can't hear, he's like, don't ask me who's in charge, because I'm going to give you an answer, and it's very controversial, and then she's like, okay, who's in charge? He's like, we're in charge. We're in charge.

So classic Trump. Okay, going to run everything, in charge, and then casually threatening five more nations around the world with U.S. intervention. Immediate focus, you made clear, would be the Venezuela's vast oil reserves. We're in the business of having countries around us that are viable and successful, and where the oil is allowed to freely come out, because that's good. It gets the prices down, and asked what top priorities should be for Maduro's successor. Trump said, we need total access. We need access to the oil.

A lot of people freaking out about this, as like we're just, you know, we're in a bit of a hot streak right now with the seven-day war and snatching a Maduro. Are we concerned? What is he projecting with kind of some smack talk post-snatching? I don't know. With respect to Cuba, you know, I understood how in the 60s, 70s, 80s, it made no sense to try to do that because they were an ally of the Soviet Union.

But when the Soviet Union fell, and I am thinking like all throughout the 90s and even in the 2000s, like why do we let this guy keep an entire island prisoner? Just send in some Navy SEALs and take out Fidel Castro. He is an absolute criminal. Just take him out, and then you can have an island full of freedom again. I mean, the Cubans would flock to the island.

So, you know me, Tom. I am not like... I am not... Ridiculously against interventionism. I'm not for rampantly either. Certainly not. Yeah, you're pretty even-handed, I'd say. But with regards to the Monroe Doctrine, I love it, whether it's Monroe or Donro.

I want freedom in our hemisphere, for sure. I want market stability, market economies, and I think that's better. So, the Greenland thing isn't a, you know, it's just, right now, China's doing a squeeze on rare earth. Minerals. And so, that could be what's going on with Greenland. I mean, China banned the export of silver. I have another banger Trump quote. Which is why, by the way, why the price has gone crazy. It's gone up like 100% since the summer.

So, you know, it could be that, okay, let's not rely on China for some of these rare metals, like, you know, lithium and uranium and all that kind of stuff that we need more and more of when it comes to, you know, making all the computer infrastructure we have, phones and all that stuff.

So, there's some of that stuff going on. Trump rare earth quote, there's no such thing as rare earth, it's everywhere. You can't, I mean. There's never been, there never will be again. That's why, yeah, that's why I get people, you know, the TDS people, it's like, come on, you can't even, like, it's funny. It's hilarious. There will never be another it's funny, even if you don't like them.

But the odds that the 2028 Republican ticket will be a combination of Vance Rubio is now at about 99%. No kidding. Oh, you think so? Polymarket just like, who's going to win? Actually, Trump's at a 4% polymarket to run Venezuela.

So, there is a potential that he serves out his term, and then he gets elected by the Venezuelans to run their country. Four percent. You taking those odds, Josh? You talked about gambling. No, I am not. But it is kind of funny that the new leader of the U.N. Security Council, because they rotate, so that leader of Somalia, the guy, the Somali ambassador. You know he runs a daycare? In Ohio, yeah. You can't even make this stuff up. You can't make it up.

No, and I have, don't worry, we're going to touch Tim Walz. I have that as my twat zone. Can I just, because you almost laughed, because this is just like so unbelievable. Like, Trump does something new that you're just, I didn't even know this was possible. I didn't know you could just go into a country and snatch up their president, bring him back overnight, no real damage. Yeah, we do have space marines. We have marines, and we have space marines. There's two things in my mind, maybe to have a more serious conversation about going forward, is like, there are genuine concerns that this could devolve into a power vacuum.

America does have a bad track record when it comes to the follow-through. Like, we're great at, like, Desert Storm went through in a weekend, awesome, and then you have to put up a new government. So, one, Erika, like, what is the future of Venezuela here that we know about now? Obviously, this is a little bit of conjecture, but, like, what's the plan here going forward? And then, is there any concern to, like, the rest of the world of what's been signaled?

Like, what immediately comes to mind is, what if China just goes into Taiwan and takes their... And it's just like, well, you know, you just did it in Venezuela. Who's going to, not that I put a lot of stock in international law, because there's, it's like the Dave Chappelle quote, like, you and what army, like, there's no force behind it. So, if you could answer those two questions, it's the best your ability. I don't even know the reality. Yeah, I mean, it's really, really early, and like you said, where we seem, the United States seems really good at doing these really precise strikes, and then, like, what happens next?

And that's just the mess of governing, right? Once you've won something. It's really hard to govern. I think in terms of Venezuela, with Trump saying, well, we're running things, and everyone's like, oh my gosh, we're setting up a public government.

It could mean any kind of things, but I do think that the Trump administration told us what their goals are in Venezuela in November, when they released their national security strategy. They gave us a paragraph on this, and they said, we are going to assert and enforce a new Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. I will read it to you. What do they want in Venezuela?

We want to make sure that all countries in the Western Hemisphere remain reasonably stable and well-governed to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States. So, that is the first thing. Stop the migration, which we have pretty much done. Two, we want a hemisphere whose governments cooperate with us against narco-terrorists, cartels, and other transnational criminal organizations. Now, Whether Delcy Rodriguez, who's the new president who just got sworn in yesterday, can even cooperate with us against her own cartel, which is narco-terrorist and transnational and criminal, will remain to be seen.

She might not be there very long. And it says, we want a hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets, and that supports critical supply chain. Like, they go through, this is what we want out of Venezuela going forward. And I think that in the next few months, we will see whether or not Delcy Rodriguez decides that she's going to reform her cartel and her government so that it can align with the Trump corollary. And if she does not, if she fails to, If she, like, welcomes China back in to help rebuild Caracas or whatever, I don't think she'll be there very long, because it's pretty clear what we're looking for when it comes to countries in the Western Hemisphere.

And I think when Trump says we're running things, he's telling her, if you are not aligned with our objectives of my Trump corollary, then we will come in after you the same way we came in after Maduro. And that's what he means by running things. He would like Venezuela to be run by Venezuelans. He would like a free election, which they had supposedly in 2024, and then it was overturned by Maduro. So, there is an opposition party that is supported by the majority of Venezuelans waiting to walk in.

So, I think that I can't predict what's going to happen. A lot of it rides on what the current government decides to do in response to the strike, and that's going to play out in the next... Probably a few weeks to two months, three months. I would guess by March, we will have a better idea. But do I think we are going to go in there and crown Marco Rubio president of Venezuela and have American military? He already has a job, so that would be possible.

No, I do not think we are going to have American military policing Venezuela. That is not what the Trump corollary says. Okay. Thank you for that, Erika. I forget what your second question was, but... I kind of forget now, too. That is my best prediction. Is there anyone...

Good thing we saved the Venezuela talk for today. Let us just put it that way. Oh, my gosh. Last Friday's show, we were like, we are out of time. You are welcome. And I have to say, shout out to Peter Wolfgang, who texted me this morning and was like, hey, I just finished Friday's show, and Tom said, well, we do not have time for Venezuela today, and Erika said, do not worry, Maduro will sleep with you on Monday. Oh, my second question, and again, I guess this is somewhat conjecture, is like, People keep talking about international law.

I'm sorry to roll my eyes at it, but really, you could have philosophical discussions about justice and natural law and the commerce that aligns or whatever, but pure pragmatic politics is like, they have no army. There's no enforcement. Right now, the big conversation is between the big boys, the United States, Russia, and China. Can we just be honest about this, please? Yeah. But the new thing is, the new precedent that Trump has set here with this action, are we concerned now that...

You know, this will embolden a China, so embolden a Russia and be like, I'm going to go snatch someone and be like, well, this is just the new standard. They already do that. I don't think that Trump should like sit on his hands here with Venezuela because he's like, oh, maybe Zhao Jinping will now go invade Taiwan and snatch people.

Like, that's not a reason to not act in the best interests of America in the Western Hemisphere, so no, I don't think we should be concerned that Putin will suddenly lose his conscience in Russia because Trump came and snatched Maduro over here. Well, you know, if China does invade Taiwan, it's not a great situation, but like, it doesn't mean the United States is going to go to hot war against China. It might mean that we put a bunch of trade... Yeah.

And I've seen some comebacks to that of, like, Putin has actually attempted to snatch Zelensky, like, to just take him. I mean, they've been in active war for so long. So, it's, yeah, we hold America to high standards.

Internationally, as we should. And it is kind of, yeah, it's really odd to see the same people that were calling for Maduro to be removed now, you know, being really mad at Trump for taking action on this, and now they're like Maduro fans, basically.

Okay, you're kind of unserious and insincere. So, I think it's good we hold America to high standards. I really can't get over how successful and effective this mission is. I really did not think this was going to be the end of all this buildup. Like, I thought for sure there'd be some type of boots on the ground, armed conflict, and it seems like there's just not a lot of... Political, like military will from the Venezuelans, that could just speak to how weak their economy is right now, how weak the control is.

I don't know. How bad the Chinese technology is, I don't know. This is what we have right now. So, good thoughts. We can run into good news now, and of course, we'll keep you guys updated as the situation unfolds. Erika, what do you have first? Yeah, this is making the rounds. So, Scott Adams, who's the creator of Dilbert and has become a sort of, you know, cultural commentator since he retired from that. He's been dying of cancer for a couple of years now.

He's kind of come in and out of relapses, but now he was given the news a couple of weeks ago. And he documents all this on his social media platforms. He had the news a couple of weeks ago that he has fewer months, if not just weeks, to live. And then, just over the weekend, he dropped this video. So, let us just listen to this. Sounds good. Too sentimental for Josh, you think?

I like it. This is not sentimental. I have great respect for people who care enough that they want me to convert. And then go out of their way to try to convince me. So, you're going to hear for the first time today that it is my plan to convert. So, I still have time, but my understanding is you're never too late. And on top of that, any skepticism I have about reality would certainly be instantly answered if I wake up in heaven.

I do believe that the dominant Christian theory is that I would wake up in heaven if I have a good life. I don't necessarily have to state something in advance. And so, to my Christian friends, yes, it's coming.

So, you don't need to talk me into it. I am now convinced that the risk-reward is completely smart. If it turns out that there's nothing there, I've lost nothing. But I've respected your wishes, and I like doing that.

If it turns out there is something there, and the Christian model is the closest to it, I win. So, with your permission. I promise you that I will convert. Isn't this Pascal's Wager? This is classic Pascal's Wager. Yeah, so he's getting a lot of flack for that, and people are saying, oh, he doesn't have the right idea of Christianity. He's just doing it to risk-reward that kind of talk. It seems very clinical and transactional.

If you read all of Pascal's Wager, And you kind of get past the initial, well, you know, if I'm wrong, I don't lose anything. If I'm right, I win everything. Obviously, I'm going to be a Christian. If you get past that, Pascal is saying, That that's enough, right? And God is going to use, he's a very low threshold for our salvation in some ways that he will, if that's what it takes to get you to turn your face to God at the end, he's going to use that too.

And obviously, we hope that- You know why it's enough? Why, Josh? Because we aren't responsible for our own salvation. Yeah, it's an ounce, even if it's a tiny ounce of humility. Yeah. That's enough for God. Yeah. Well, yeah, there's the confusion. There is a God. And because people are now like, I'm seeing some people being like, you know, what kind of theology is this? Like, you live a good life, and you wake up in heaven. I'm like, okay, like, we can split hairs over all this, but isn't the baseline of all this, and what I actually do genuinely admire about a lot of, say, Protestant denominations or whatever, is like, the truth is, is that we don't really do anything to merit our own salvation.

Like, salvation comes from Jesus Christ himself, and it's actually in spite of ourselves that we get saved. And this idea, like, sometimes I think people get a little bit too caught up, and it's like, oh, it's because I was so good, and I did this, and I did that. And it's like, no, it's actually God working through me, and then God in his infinite mercy, forgiving me for my sins, and then dying for my sins, and therefore, now I have access to...

But it does take a yes. It does take a yes. Yeah, for sure. And really, what's the only unforgivable sin is... Not asking for forgiveness, yeah, but asking for the Holy Spirit, not believing in salvation, so that is beautiful.

I'm here for it. So, let's just remember to pray for Scott, and this is a guy who, I think it was just a year ago, maybe 18 months ago, was talking about killing himself because he didn't want to go through cancer, and he chose not to, and now here he is, like, yeah, I'm going to turn to God.

Just wait until he gets a hold of, like, Therese of Lisieux, and, like, talking about being sick. Oh, someone get him Therese. Someone said that over. Suffering? Actually, okay, part of this is like, I was just sick recently, which is, this is how freaking weak and stupid I am, but I was like, I was miserable. And then I was thinking about like, Teressa LeSue was like sick her entire life. Yeah. And just her entire existence was basically like a shell of, I guess, what she could have been, if you think about it that way.

And she had the spiritual maturity to the entire time just being miserable and like actually make something really beautiful out of that. It is hard for me to wrap my mind around. She also did not have two little kids in the house, though. Josh, God gives his hardest challenges to his toughest soldiers. That is what they say. And apparently, all I can handle is a mild flu with children, but it really is amazing. Yeah, pray for Scott, seriously. Read some Dilbert.

Josh, what do you got? Well, I don't have anything quite as profound, just two little things I think is kind of interesting. With the new year, the states of Utah, Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, and West Virginia are banning sugary drinks and candy bars from SNAP benefits. Uh-huh.

I mean, I can tell you in Michigan, I've seen people on SNAP, they'll go into the Walmart, buy... Cans of pop, go outside, pour it out, and use the cans for 10 cents, just to get the 10 cents. I mean, it's an absolute disgrace. They won't be able to do that in other states, at least, where they have nickel deposits.

Other news, North Carolina. It's a state that had been, for generations, historically older, Democrats or whatever. Um, it's one, it's now another one of these southern states that has finally, officially, over the last week, flipped. Wow. Now, there are more registered Republicans in North Carolina than there are registered Democrats.

North Carolina, all eyes are going to be on you next. This year, actually, now that we're in 2026, they have the marquee Senate race there with RNC Chairman Watley going up against the former Governor Roy Cooper. We're going to be spending a lot of time and energy on that, so it's a big race.

Voter registrations for Republicans, that will be interesting. So, anyway, one to keep an eye on. Awesome. All right, my good news is that Bishop Barron actually listens to the LOOPcast. Bit of a guess, but here was his... I'm not... So, I was thinking about the show, and I was like, man, I'm so glad we just lucked into talking about collectivism, because I asked that question to Erika, and here was his takeaway. This is 11 a.m., so was it at the same time?

Was it after? I don't know. Well, that could be 11 a.m. Minnesota time. He's now around. Ooh, totally post-pandemic. Although, isn't it? I guess, isn't this to my time, though? Yeah, sure. I'd probably index it. Okay, yeah, sure, sure. There was a line from Zoram Amdani's inaugural address yesterday that took my breath away. He said he intended to replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.

Collectivism, in its various forms, is responsible for the deaths of at least 100 million people in the last century. Socialists. ...and communist forms of government around the world today. Venezuela, very appropriately timed. Cuba, North Korea, etc. are disastrous. Catholic social teaching has consistently condemned socialism and has embraced the market economy, which people like Mayor Mamdani caricature as rugged individualism. In fact, it is the only economic system that is based upon the rights, freedom, and dignity of the human person. Erika, I think you hit all three of those notes.

Yep. For God's sake, spare me the warmth of collectivism. I love it when Bishop Barron and I are riding the same wavelength. I love it. Bishop Barron confirmed Erika had. But even just besides that, I mean, he's got to be kind of like America's bishop, right?

I'm trying to think of another bishop that would have that. Yeah, pretty amazing. He's certainly the bishop of the United States with the most influence because of his word-on-fire ministry. I mean, Dolan had a large audience, although he's going to be retiring soon. So, yeah, Bishop Barron would definitely be the only other priest in the country with as much influence, of course, sadly, as James Martin. I was going to say, yeah. Yeah, some people were pointing out on social media that, isn't it curious that...

24 hours after New York inaugurates a Democratic Socialist mayor, Trump removes the Socialist government from Venezuela. How long do we live until we liberate New York City or Minnesota or California? Oh, we're not going to have to wait long for Minnesota.

Although, who knows who replaces? Yeah, let's just do, sorry, I'll jump the line on Twilight Zone. Tim Waltz is out. Now... Now, Josh, you know, listen, I know this is a big moment for a lot of people. It was kind of amidst a lot of this alleged fraud with the Somali community daycares, but it was really the beginning of a lot of fraud. People have been banging the drum on fraud in Minnesota for a long time, but to me, Tim Walz is one of the few members of the National Democratic Party that had established himself as a known quantity, an anti-Trump guy.

Yes, there is the embarrassing campaign, but it seems to me like he could have used a lot of this. And ran on it. You know, Trump hates me. People are picking on us for this. And he could still have done it. So, I guess, why would he drop out? I know a lot of people are happy about this. I don't think his replacement is going to be much better. Why would he choose to drop out now? Is it higher ambition? Is he really done?

Not higher ambition. I mean, again, a politician doesn't... He was all in in September, as you show from this ad. He was planning on running for a third term. And then, you know, what happened is when this scandal blew up over the Somali daycare... Fraud schemes, stealing money, and that the Democrats, like Keith Ellison, the Attorney General, and Tim Walz, knew about this and did nothing. What's going on right now is his numbers have cratered in Minnesota. I mean, these guys don't do anything without, so they had to have gotten some, you know.

So, governors, senators, these people have polls. They have pollsters that they count on to give them the real stuff, like, hey, what is going on? What would it take for me to win? And then they can just see the trajectory of his polls going down, and that is when he made the call yesterday to Senator Amy Klobuchar and said, hey, I am out. And yesterday, somebody registered Klobuchar for Governor.com. Is there any case that... He could be running from... responsibility in regards to the fraud?

Like, could he have been prosecuted publicly? Whether or not he gets prosecuted or not, I think he just realized that his ability to win a third term, you know, he puts his party at jeopardy. It still, obviously, because you imported 80,000 Somalians into Minnesota, was going to become a purple state or even, you know, maybe even a little bit reddish, but they imported so many voters that are now Democrats. So then, By him staying in the race would have actually put the race in jeopardy, and the chance that a Republican could have won the governor's race would have been pretty good.

Now, Amy Klobuchar is by far the very most popular politician in Minnesota. Of course, Republican activists don't like her at all, and she's terrible, and she eats salad with her comb, but she'll probably get elected. Unfortunately, so. Yeah.

And there's nothing for her to lose. I mean, if she does actually manage to lose the race, she can still stay in the Senate. Should we do a walk down memory lane with Tim Walz? So wretched. Do we have to?

He was almost the Vice President of the United States. Almost the Vice President of the United States. A lot of jazz hands. One of my favorite quotes from the George Floyd era was that his wife said that she enjoyed consuming fumes of burning tires because she felt like she needed to.

They kept the windows open at the match. Kept the windows open. You could smell the burning. He visited China like 30 times. Oh, there I go. Oh, there goes the camera. Yeah, Bernie Sanders did his honeymoon in the Soviet Union, and Tim Walz would fly to China. So, like, what is with these? Democratic politicians who love to go to communist-run hellholes.

It's a little weird. Yeah, Tim got me on the cam. Yeah, I remember the days, too, of COVID lockdowns when he actually had people ruling the streets of Minneapolis with paintball guns. I believe it was paintball guns. Was it airsoft?

Trying to find people who were out on their front porches getting a breath of fresh air, because how dare you? Those were good days. Oh, my goodness. Good sarcastic. Yeah, good sarcastically. Do not quote me on that. All right. Who's up next?

I think it's me. I think I'm up in the twilight zone. Yeah, so this was breaking news this morning. An unknown man was taken into custody early today after breaking several windows at the Cincinnati home of Vice President J.D. Vance. So, this is the home that he shares with his wife and children. The family was not there during this attack on the home. There was a hammer involved. One window showed damage with potential gunshots as well.

But the Vances had been there the previous weekend between Christmas and New Year. Obviously, the local police were involved. The Secret Service is also involved. You can see a photograph of the young man there on the screen, and it says, The incident occurred shortly after midnight in the East Walnut Hills neighborhood, where they have their personal residence along the Ohio River.

Some people on social media are immediately leaping to, well, he's just crazy. Like, this is a crazy guy. It's mental insanity. It has nothing to do with politics. But I have to say, in the era of two assassination attempts on President Trump, The death of Charlie Kirk, the attacks, this is clearly a part of the assassination culture that has been allowed to build up on the left, and I am glad that no one was hurt. I am glad that the suspect was taken into custody, but it is a reminder to continue to pray for the safety of President J.D.

Vance, of everyone in the Trump administration, and just for an end to political violence in the United States. In general, and on all sides, as the media likes us to say, understanding that most of it is on the left. So, thank God there is nothing worse. More details coming. Josh? Josh, what do you got?

I don't have much of a twilight zone. I was going to say, you got nothing. I know what that was. You don't have any personal anecdotes? The twilight zone was that this was the day the kids were supposed to go back to school, and then we ended up with a snow day, so my life is... Oh, snow day in Michigan. That's fun.

Nice. Yeah, we've had so much snow this year in Connecticut. It's crazy. We've had snow on the ground for weeks now, and usually we don't get any until early February, if at all. But I can blame climate change. I don't know. Maybe Bill Gates is right.

I'm trying to see if I can find a quick one for Josh. Oh, Josh, here's yours. The Steelers won in advance of the playoffs last night. They had a priest come and bless the field before the game, and the side of the field that the priest blessed, the opposing kicker missed a chip shot to lose the game.

Not perfectly a chip shot. 44 yards should be able to make a 44-yard. But, I mean, this is the thing. I mean, like... You know. Is it good to bless a football field? Sure. Does that mean that God is going to automatically give you a win? No, of course not. No, and it makes no sense because Aaron Rodgers is clearly a Satanist. What? What are you talking about? He made some deals for all the winning in Green Bay over those years.

There's no question. Seriously, and it wasn't God. I'll tell you that. He went to someone and enjoyed dominance over the NFC North for like 20 years. So, anyway, obviously, we don't believe it to be superstitious, and we don't certainly believe that, oh, if you bless your field, you're automatically going to win.

We are certainly not saying that, but it is good for the owner of a team to allow the blessing of his field. That is good. Who knows? God can do what he wants. It is prerogative. Thanks for snapping into administrative mode to make sure that I fit. Literally, do not mean that if you bless your field with holy water, you will win. In case anyone took that away from this conversation. It is getting chopped up somewhere. What was the kicker's name that failed the kick?

Oh, wasn't it? It was Tucker's replacement. He had, like, a weird last name. Tyler Loop. Loop! Kind of a tough day for loopers. That's perfect. Yeah, that's tough. Maybe we should send him a consolation loop mug. Probably not. No, no, no, no, no. That is not a good idea. Oh, man. So, do you guys want to adjust your Super Bowl predictions at all? Nope. Okay, he is going by it. I do not remember what I picked. I have not followed the NFL as much this year because my Vikings have been terrible.

Although they beat the Lions twice, that is good to know. Oh, man. I've enraged the cheeseheads in the chat. Allegedly. If your Lions could have beat my Vikings just one time, they'd be in the playoffs, though, right? It's true, although you're sitting in Cancun as well, buddy. So, that was the Cancun Bowl, it turned out.

And then, of course, we win a meaningless game against the Bears, just to prove. Anyway, there is a reason my camera is off. You can actually win, right? There is a reason my camera is off. Just not when it counts. Okay, it is getting a little loopy, so let us run into daily prayer now. So, guess what? Full show, you know, full week of shows, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We are going to have another episode of The Deep for you on Thursday, and we hope you guys have a fantastic week.

We will keep you updated on all of the Venezuela situation, and more coming. We are going to have a great week, but we are going to end in daily prayer today. So, in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Amen.

Prayer for greater love of God by St. John Henry Newman. Oh, Jesus, I desire to love you, to embrace you with my whole soul. I desire to love you as your Holy Mother Mary and as your foster father Joseph loved you. Oh, that I could love you with their humility, fidelity, purity, confidence, and love. My Savior, grant me these virtues. Amen. St. Thomas More, St. Fidelis, Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. See you guys in the next show. Peace out.