Trump LIES that we are taking back OUR OIL from Venezuela

[bush_cheney2004]

5 hours ago, BeaverFever said:

...What’s been standard is that US has violated international law on several occasions with impunity because it is a superpower amd there’s nothing anyone can do about it. But what is not standard is the total lack this time of any attempt to obtain congressional or international approval or to credibly argue that it’s justifiable.   It’s just naked raw power “we’re doing this because we can and there’s nothing anyone can do about it, Greenland is next, now STFU or you’ll be sorry”. 
 

 

Agreed....Donald Trump is just another American president, making policy and interventionist decisions that often violate "international law".  It is part of the job description.   There should be absolutely no distinction made between Trump and many other previous U.S. presidents in this regard.  Might does not make right...it just makes.

I ran across this video in my YT feed, wherein Niall Ferguson explains Trump to a Canadian audience (Macdonald Laurier Institute), and does so with an objective understanding of American history.   

 

 

 

[WestCanMan]

2 hours ago, robosmith said:

When are you going to stop pretending your ^OPINIONS are "the proof"?

More than half of that is fact, the vast majority of the rest is just well-established practices of the US gov't that define their pattern, or their M.O. 

For sure it's a lot to say that maybe the US put snipers up to that, that's pretty for out there imo, but I'm not afraid to at least consider things, even if I don't want them to be true. 

Right now you're stuck at "America never interfered at all in Ukraine's democratic process", which is not even in the ballpark. 

[User]

4 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

The US Gov't DECIDED who Ukrainians could even vote for. 

You just keep asserting this, but that doesn't make it any more true. 

4 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

I'm just not gonna sit here and listen to Beave pretend that Zelenki's appointment is 100% legitimate but somehow what happened to Maduro is off-the-charts illegitimate. You don't get to have it both ways.

I am not having anything both ways, you are making BS claims like you usually do with zero evidence. If you now also want to claim that Maduro was elected fair and square, fine, we can have a seperate discussion on your continued ignorant dishonest claims. 

4 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

The Americans were bribing, conniving, manipulating, controlling, directing, guiding and everything elsing in Ukraine going back to the '90s. 

So, the answer was you have no evidence. 

4 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

1) Who would have that? Do you think the US gov't would leave such loose ends around?

2) And who would be dumb enough to accuse the US of being above that?

So, in summary, again, you just want to insinuate something with no evidence. 

4 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

Of course it happened before Z was elected. What would be the point of the US choosing election candidates after Z was already president? That doesn't even make sense. 

You just claimed they chose Zelensky and then cited something that happened before he was even on the political scene. Your claim is BS, as usual. 

4 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

The war wouldn't be happening if Ukraine wasn't joining NATO, and you have been made well aware of that. You've also seen Russia demand it as a condition for ending the war. 

All I can do is show you the proof, I can't Understand it for you. 

You might as well say if Putin was to come to your home and kill your family and torture you, then claim it was because you picked your nose, that you have only yourself to blame for picking your nose. 

Ukraine joining NATO didn't start a war. Putin did. 

[robosmith]

2 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

More than half of that is fact, the vast majority of the rest is just well-established practices of the US gov't that define their pattern, or their M.O. 

For sure it's a lot to say that maybe the US put snipers up to that, that's pretty for out there imo, but I'm not afraid to at least consider things, even if I don't want them to be true. 

Right now you're stuck at "America never interfered at all in Ukraine's democratic process", which is not even in the ballpark. 

STILL just your unsubstantiated OPINIONS. I'm not "stuck at" anything, because I can deny everything you've said and that is just as strong as YOUR OPINIONS.

You really don't know how evidence works. LMAO

[Barquentine]

22 hours ago, CdnFox said:

But it's too soon you save trump has a good plan or not for that

Watching the news makes it clear Trump has no plan. (Why does Rubio always look so scared on camera?)

Still no clear reason why Trump pardoned one of the biggest Narco-Terrorists?

22 hours ago, CdnFox said:

as to why it was not a good idea to go pull Maduro

No one's shedding tears for Maduro. It's not the what but the why. Because Maduro stole Trump's dance moves? So far no plan excepet to steal oil. And no plan to help Machado because she wouldn't give Trump her Nobel?

A 7 year old is running the US and phucking things up all around the world. Russia and China are laughing their asses off. Big time criminals around the world can't wipe the smiles off their faces.

[CdnFox]

36 minutes ago, Barquentine said:

Watching the news makes it clear Trump has no plan. 

I think that's a tough statement to make. You might not have shared the plan but it's becoming more and more apparent but he was in negotiations with their vice president and others in country about this for some time. You'll notice the country hasn't exactly just devolved into anarchy. 

41 minutes ago, Barquentine said:

Still no clear reason why Trump pardoned one of the biggest Narco-Terrorists?

He's actually been fairly clear about that. And it's not relevant to this.

Wish you were attempting is the logical fallacy known as repetition. You think if you keep bringing up enough unproven points then when you mush them all together it'll mean that your position is supported.  That's not how logic works.  

You may not like trump's motivation for releasing whats-his-face (can't remember right now) but he has stated his reasons, and they are very trump like reasons, Personally i hate the whole idea of 'pardons' but that's a separate subject 

And whether it turns out he's got the very best reason in the world or not, it has no bearing on this situation in the slightest 

49 minutes ago, Barquentine said:

No one's shedding tears for Maduro.

Well it's true there aren't many but in fact there are lefties who are shedding a tear as we speak.  There's protests to let him go, to reinstall him in venezuela, etc.

Quote

It's not the what but the why.

Well... is it tho? Because in other similar cases the same people weren't questioning the why. 

Trump's been pretty clear about the why.  They were dumping drugs into the country with the express stated purpose of harming americans as well as partaking in other things that threatened the us security and people and this lets the us control the oil which is strategically advantageous. 

That DOES sound pretty trump like.  Not sure there's much more to it than that. 

 

Quote

Because Maduro stole Trump's dance moves? So far no plan excepet to steal oil. And no plan to help Machado because she wouldn't give Trump her Nobel?

Again, i know you think if you make ENOUGH false accusations and mush them together somehow it'll produce a fact. That's not how it works  LOLOL

Quote

A 7 year old is running the US and phucking things up all around the world. Russia and China are laughing their asses off. Big time criminals around the world can't wipe the smiles off their faces.

well just remember that the democrat candidate and party made that look like the better choice.

[robosmith]

2 hours ago, Barquentine said:

Watching the news makes it clear Trump has no plan. (Why does Rubio always look so scared on camera?)

Still no clear reason why Trump pardoned one of the biggest Narco-Terrorists?

No one's shedding tears for Maduro. It's not the what but the why. Because Maduro stole Trump's dance moves? So far no plan excepet to steal oil. And no plan to help Machado because she wouldn't give Trump her Nobel?

A 7 year old is running the US and phucking things up all around the world. Russia and China are laughing their asses off. Big time criminals around the world can't wipe the smiles off their faces.

The plan is to demonstrate that Trump can do whatever he wants in the Western Hemisphere and no one will stop him.

Signal to Russia they can take Ukraine and China can take Taiwan. 🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮 

[CdnFox]

2 hours ago, robosmith said:

The plan is to demonstrate that Trump can do whatever he wants in the Western Hemisphere and no one will stop him.

Signal to Russia they can take Ukraine and China can take Taiwan. 🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮  🤮 

There's no such signal. Your opinion isn't   fact.

[bush_cheney2004]

5 hours ago, Barquentine said:

...A 7 year old is running the US and phucking things up all around the world. Russia and China are laughing their asses off. Big time criminals around the world can't wipe the smiles off their faces.

 

That's what he was elected to do...break things.   Russia and China are not laughing as there economies implode. The "world" should not be so dependent on the actions (or inactions) of one U.S. president...maybe work on that first.

[robosmith]

3 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

That's what he was elected to do...break things.   Russia and China are not laughing as there economies implode. The "world" should not be so dependent on the actions (or inactions) of one U.S. president...maybe work on that first.

The US economy depends of foreigners like China buy our bonds.

Our economy is much more likely to implode than their's

[bush_cheney2004]

2 minutes ago, robosmith said:

The US economy depends of foreigners like China buy our bonds.

Our economy is much more likely to implode than their's

 

The majority of U.S. debt is held by Americans...I own some myself (T-Bills).   China holds about 3% of U.S. debt, and has not been able to topple U.S. dollar hegemony or petrodollars.

[robosmith]

5 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

The majority of U.S. debt is held by Americans...I own some myself (T-Bills).   China holds about 3% of U.S. debt, and has not been able to topple U.S. dollar hegemony or petrodollars.

China is just the BIGGEST foreign holder of US Debt I said "LIKE CHINA."

Experts are now saying the main reason Trump wants control over Venezuelan oil is to keep the US petrodollar system intact so the sales are still in dollars.

Edited January 7 by robosmith

[bush_cheney2004]

Just now, robosmith said:

China is just the BIGGEST foreign holder of US Debt I said "LIKE CHINA."

 

Nope...Japan and UK hold more than China...

https://ticdata.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/slt_table5.html

 

[robosmith]

19 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

Nope...Japan and UK hold more than China...

https://ticdata.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/slt_table5.html

 

Doesn't matter; they are all comparable and if they stop buying our debt, implosion is a huge risk.

[bush_cheney2004]

Just now, robosmith said:

Doesn't matter; they are all comparable and if they stop buying our debt, implosion is a huge risk.

 

Some risk...but not huge.  China has already begun reducing its share of U.S. debt.

U.S. debt has been the safest game for a very long time, especially in time of economic downturns.

The U.S. dollar still rules globally.

[robosmith]

3 minutes ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

Some risk...but not huge.  China has already begun reducing its share of U.S. debt.

U.S. debt has been the safest game for a very long time, especially in time of economic downturns.

The U.S. dollar still rules globally.

The trend is not good and Trump is promising more chaos, which is not good for enticing investment.

[bush_cheney2004]

29 minutes ago, robosmith said:

The trend is not good and Trump is promising more chaos, which is not good for enticing investment.

 

Investment is up...partially due to Trump's tariffs.    Chaos is good to shake up the status quo.   

[gatomontes99]

On 1/6/2026 at 9:42 AM, Michael Hardner said:

Thanks for the Info but to my mind I'm asking if he has a TrumpCoin account.

 

Seriously has anyone explained this, beyond what @Barquentine posted below ?  Because it's kind of a jaw-dropper to just accept this explanation, even if you are a Trump fan IMO.

 

 

FactCheck.org put together a both sides argument. It is a he said, she said case. The Biden admin used drug traffickers that Juan Orlando Hernández had extradited to the US as witnesses saying Hernández was helping other drug traffickers. Their credibility is highly questionable as they got lesser sentences for their testimony. Hernández says the Biden admin set him up for political reasons. 

The fact that factcheck.org was fair on this lends a lot of credibility to Hernández's argument. 

[CdnFox]

5 hours ago, robosmith said:

China is just the BIGGEST foreign holder of US Debt I said "LIKE CHINA."

Experts are now saying the main reason Trump wants control over Venezuelan oil is to keep the US petrodollar system intact so the sales are still in dollars.

NOpe. 

Japan, the UK, and China are consistently the largest foreign holders of U.S. debt, with Japan often holding over $1 trillion, representing roughly 12-13% of foreign holdings, while the UK and China hold significant but varying amounts, with the UK recently holding around 9-10% and China around 8%, though their shares have shifted over time, with Japan taking the top spot from China around 2019. 

 

So china comes in at a distant third. They're not even close to number one

Looks like you were Robo wrong again RoboSmith

Do you ever get anything right

[Barquentine]

17 hours ago, CdnFox said:

He's actually been fairly clear about that.

And you just accept his 'reason' at face value? I think you're smarter than that but become wilfully ignorant when defending Trump. Why is that?

2 very similar Narco-terrorist leaders: one gets arrested and charged, one gets pardoned. Why?

[robosmith]

18 hours ago, bush_cheney2004 said:

 

Investment is up...partially due to Trump's tariffs.    Chaos is good to shake up the status quo.   

Not in oil production in Venezuela.

[robosmith]

6 hours ago, Barquentine said:

And you just accept his 'reason' at face value? I think you're smarter than that but become wilfully ignorant when defending Trump. Why is that?

2 very similar Narco-terrorist leaders: one gets arrested and charged, one gets pardoned. Why?

CdnLIAR is as poor a LIAR as Trump. Not very smart for a LIAR to completely destroy their credibility with continual clearly demonstrable LIES.

[CdnFox]

6 hours ago, Barquentine said:

And you just accept his 'reason' at face value?

I can always tell when you realize you're losing an argument when you begin to make up fake things that I've never said and start to argue against those  LOLOL

You would claimed he had never explained himself. All I did was point out that he very clearly has explained himself. Whether or not you like the explanation is irrelevant, you said he hadn't given one and he has

As for the validity I haven't dug into it. But I can say at this point is most likely I believe strongly that he believes it strongly even if it's complete nonsense. We all know trump says things that aren't true. But what is often forgotten is that he very frequently he convinces himself they are true  and when he makes his comments he's making them absolutely believing that every word he's saying is correct.

His argument here is that this guy was treated inappropriately and his case was mishandled or some such thing and that might or might not be true I honestly don't know. Like I said I haven't looked into it. But I am 100% sure that trump himself was badly mistreated by the legal system and that his conviction is a joke. Knowing that with absolute certainty it is not hard for me to believe that it's easy to convince him that somebody else was mistreated and that their conviction may not be as legitimate as some would say.

6 hours ago, Barquentine said:

2 very similar Narco-terrorist leaders: one gets arrested and charged, one gets pardoned. Why?

Well you've been told the why. You may not agree with the why but pretending that this hasn't already been answered just makes you look childish.

I would recommend if you want to compare the two that you go back and try and take a look at trump's claims of mistreatment by the legal system for the other person and see if there's any sort of substance to it or possible substance to it. I'm honestly not that interested.

But it is absolutely true that that guy is no longer leader of that country. And it's probably quite true that even if he wins his court cases, which he might, maduro will have been removed from office and therefore no longer be the same threat that he was.

Tell maybe the difference in the long run is that in both cases trump was satisfied with removing them from power and after they were removed from power he didn't consider them to be such a threat

[CdnFox]

4 minutes ago, robosmith said:

CdnLIAR is as poor a LIAR as Trump. Not very smart for a LIAR to completely destroy their credibility with continual clearly demonstrable LIES.

ROFLMAO!!!!!  OH NOES! TRIGGERED ZUCCHINI COMMUNIST IS TRIGGERED! 

The only one who's been caught lying here is you.  That's why you're so angry at me, I pointed out your lies earlier a few times and you can't possibly argue against them

But it's always funny to watch you Spaz out   No wonder you're afraid to talk to me

[Barquentine]

19 hours ago, CdnFox said:

Ican always tell when you realize you're losing an argument when you begin to make up fake t hings that I've never said and start to argue against those  LOLOL

You would claimed he had never explained himself. All I did was point out that he very clearly has explained himself. Whether or not you like the explanation is irrelevant, you said he hadn't given one and he has

As for the validity I haven't dug into it. But I can say at this point is most likely I believe strongly that he believes it strongly even if it's complete nonsense. We all know trump says things that aren't true. But what is often forgotten is that he very frequently he convinces himself they are true  and when he makes his comments he's making them absolutely believing that every word he's saying is correct.

His argument here is that this guy was treated inappropriately and his case was mishandled or some such thing and that might or might not be true I honestly don't know. Like I said I haven't looked into it. But I am 100% sure that trump himself was badly mistreated by the legal system and that his conviction is a joke. Knowing that with absolute certainty it is not hard for me to believe that it's easy to convince him that somebody else was mistreated and that their conviction may not be as legitimate as some would say.

On 1/8/2026 at 8:06 AM, Barquentine said:

2 very similar Narco-terrorist leaders: one gets arrested and charged, one gets pardoned. Why?

Well you've been told the why. You may not agree with the why but pretending that this hasn't already been answered just makes you look childish.

I would recommend if you want to compare the two that you go back and try and take a look at trump's claims of mistreatment by the legal system for the other person and see if there's any sort of substance to it or possible substance to it. I'm honestly not that interested.

But it is absolutely true that that guy is no longer leader of that country. And it's probably quite true that even if he wins his court cases, which he might, maduro will have been removed from office and therefore no longer be the same threat that he was.

Tell maybe the difference in the long run is that in both cases trump was satisfied with removing them from power and after they were removed from power he didn't consider them to be such a threat

What a lot of wasted words just to avoid a question. You sound like just another Republican twisting into a pretzel to defend Trump. So sad, especially from a Canadian. Yoiu are a Canadian, aren't you?