And now the scamming of Americans begins
The David Pakman Show - January 6, 2026
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Trump floated a plan to NBC that should set off every alarm: oil companies rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, keep the profits, and then get reimbursed by the U.S. government. In other words, Big Oil gets the upside, taxpayers get the risk, and Trump sells it as “America First” even though it looks like the Iraq and Afghanistan contractor playbook with a fresh coat of paint. Add in Trump admitting he briefed oil companies about the Maduro operation while Congress was left in the dark, and the priorities are pretty hard to miss.
The “no new wars” branding is falling apart in real time. Trump allies are openly discussing potential action against Iran, Cuba, Colombia, and even Greenland, with Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio treating escalation like a political selling point. Stephen Miller would not rule out force against Greenland and suggested no one would resist, which is an extraordinary statement given NATO and the security relationships involved.
The Maduro kidnapping has crossed into territory where international law experts are debating detention risk and universal jurisdiction theories if Trump travels abroad. The issue is not whether Maduro is sympathetic, it is whether states can normalize extrajudicial seizures of foreign leaders without consequences. Once that becomes acceptable, other countries may respond in kind, and the risks extend beyond presidents to diplomats and officials.
Even Fox News is struggling to translate this into something coherent, and that is telling. Hosts who normally package Trump’s decisions into digestible talking points are struggling to explain how bombing a country and capturing its leader is “not war,” while drug trafficking is framed as war. When the friendly media can’t produce a consistent justification, it signals that the administration’s narrative is falling apart.
Trump then used Truth Social to push vaccine misinformation, including the debunked claim about “72 shots” by counting doses in misleading ways. On top of that, he posted broad warnings about Tylenol and pregnancy without the context doctors use when weighing risk versus benefit, and that kind of simplistic messaging can lead people to make worse health decisions.
On Venezuela’s political future, Trump dismissed opposition leader María Corina Machado as lacking support and respect. Machado then went on Hannity and said she would love to share a Nobel Peace Prize with Trump, signaling deference in hopes of gaining favor. The dynamic is bleak: Trump appears motivated by ego and leverage, and Machado’s approach makes her look more dependent, not more credible.
Gavin Newsom fired back at Speaker Mike Johnson after Johnson cited a U-Haul report to argue California is falling apart because people are leaving and taxes are too high. Newsom mocked the post and pointed to recent population growth, while also arguing that the “California is a failed state” story depends on cherry-picked numbers and missing context. The broader point was simple: Republicans keep using California as a prop, but the state’s economy and wages do not match the collapse narrative they’re selling.
Trump’s “tough on dictators” justification runs into the obvious question: if this is about opposing authoritarianism, why not target Putin, Kim Jong Un, or Orbán? Zelensky underscored the double standard by implying that if the U.S. can deal with dictators this way, it knows who the real threat is. What remains is not principle, but selective enforcement based on who Trump sees as useful or expendable.
Finally, Senator Raphael Warnock, Democrat from Georgia, joins us to discuss the Trump administration’s Venezuela operation and the stakes for U.S. credibility abroad.
On today’s bonus show:
Colombia and Mexico brace for Donald Trump’s next moves as flu activity surges in the U.S. and overwhelms communities across the country
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I think we need to make it very clear trump isn't smart enough to understand what he's doing in/ with Venezuela, but the Republicans who are in government do, the Heritage Foundation certainly does.
Republicans are 100% in charge, trump is just doing what he's told to do, and they're letting him shine, as we all know trump is easily manipulated with massive compliments and they are letting him roll in the accolades. trump couldn't have done this without Republicans direction. The threat really isn't trump, it's the Republicans, always has been.
The oil in Venezuela belongs to China and Russia. This fiasco is going is going to start WW3.