Venezuela, the Donroe Doctrine, and ICE Murders?!? - S05E07 - Finding Common Battle Grounds

In this episode of Finding Common Battle Grounds, we start with a lengthy discussion of the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife from Venezuela. We tackle this from multiple perspectives. We start by noting this is not about drugs. Even if Maduro is convicted, everyone knows that the drug trafficking charges are tangential to why this actually happened. We recognize that the plan went well from a military and precision standpoint. We note that, from Trump's standpoint, this was primarily about gaining access to the largest oil reserves in the world and not about liberating the Venezuelan people from a dictator (though Josh insists it's also because Maduro taunted him). We also discuss the moral calculus of roughly 100 people dying; if it were to liberate Venezuela, possibly justified; if it is so the US can gain access to oil, this is deplorable. Ergo, it's likely deplorable, and the CEOs of the oil companies who are greedily sitting on the sidelines watching the US military do their bidding are morally bankrupt pieces of shit. We also discuss whether a precision removal of a government leader is preferable to a full-scale ground invasion (probably). Ryan then raises the question of whether the US has now made this kind of attack on sovereign nations acceptable, meaning another country can do this to the US, and we can't argue that it's not allowed, since we did it. Finally, we discuss the "Donroe Doctrine," which is based on the 2025 National Security Strategy. Basically, the strategy is that the world is now divided up into regions, and the US doesn't care what China and Russia do in their regions as long as the US gets the Western Hemisphere and can do what it wants within that region, which is why Trump is claiming to own the oil in Venezuela. We end with a rather pointless discussion of the latest ICE shooting in Minnesota. Josh tries to convince Ryan of FAFO and that taunting people with guns increases the odds you'll get shot. Ryan is already convinced of this, so we just go in circles for a ridiculous amount of time. (Apologies to our listeners.) In a post-podcast discussion, we realize that Josh was really trying to suggest that left-wing media are encouraging people to mess with ICE and then holding up those who get shot as martyrs. He is bothered by this and doesn't want to see more people get shot. Ryan points out that left-leaning media are not telling people to aggravate ICE, though he does see how some left-leaning media outlets are depicting those who were shot as heroes.