The Michael Knowles Show - January 10, 2026


What ＂Unprecedented＂ Actions The U.S. Took In Venezuela In 4 Mins


Episode Stats

Length

3 minutes

Words per Minute

147.27917

Word Count

498

Sentence Count

32

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.140 In the wake of President Trump's capturing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, politicians
00:00:05.160 are coming out of the woodwork to criticize the military action as unprecedented and illegal.
00:00:11.440 Kamala Harris, the Democrat presidential nominee who lost to Trump, came out within
00:00:16.000 hours to call the arrest of Maduro unlawful.
00:00:19.000 A tough argument to make when Harris's own administration attempted the exact same policy
00:00:24.400 a year earlier and even offered 25 million bucks to anyone who could help them do it.
00:00:28.720 Maybe Trump should call her up and try to claim his reward.
00:00:31.000 In terms of law, not only had there been a warrant for Maduro's arrest for over five
00:00:35.840 years, not only did Venezuela steal American property and traffic drugs to the United States,
00:00:41.740 but over 50 countries in the international community had not even recognized Maduro as
00:00:46.480 the legitimate president of Venezuela after he stole the Venezuelan presidential election.
00:00:51.240 Just about any way you slice it, the arrest was lawful and publicly defended, at least
00:00:55.440 for a while, by both Republican and Democrat administrations.
00:00:59.360 But how about the other claim, that Trump's intervention in Venezuela was unprecedented?
00:01:03.560 It was an unprecedented military action.
00:01:07.480 And this operation was flat out illegal.
00:01:09.720 This is not a win for the American people.
00:01:12.720 I don't know if any of those Democrats are history buffs, I suspect they're not.
00:01:16.440 But when we examine the claim that Trump's action in Venezuela was unprecedented, we find
00:01:21.680 a lot of precedent.
00:01:22.680 By my count, since the Mexican-American War in 1846, the total number of U.S. interventions
00:01:28.340 in Latin America has been 88, which is coincidentally the number of minutes which elapsed from the
00:01:33.760 time the U.S. troops reached Maduro's palace to the time they had completely evacuated the
00:01:38.020 country.
00:01:40.020 Pretty impressive.
00:01:43.100 In the middle to late 19th century alone, the United States military intervened in Mexico,
00:01:48.760 Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, Haiti, Panama, Nicaragua again, and Cuba.
00:01:58.260 But it wasn't until the 20th century that we really got involved, intervening in Guyana,
00:02:05.100 Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Argentina, Paraguay, and Grenada.
00:02:11.100 The United States, respectively, in Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, and Chile.
00:02:17.360 Three times in Haiti.
00:02:18.980 Five times each in El Salvador and Bolivia.
00:02:22.220 Six times each in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua.
00:02:26.620 Seven times in Cuba.
00:02:27.940 Ten times in Honduras.
00:02:29.400 And a whopping dozen times in poor old Panama.
00:02:33.020 Even if you only count the successful operations that led to a change in regime.
00:02:38.400 Since 1906, the U.S. has helped to swap out governments in Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico, the Dominican
00:02:45.280 Republic, Haiti, Guatemala, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic again, Brazil, the Dominican Republic
00:02:50.680 again, Bolivia, Chile, Grenada, Panama, and Haiti again.
00:02:56.100 Turn ahead to our own century, and we help to overthrow regimes in Haiti again, that's the
00:03:01.620 last one for now, and Honduras in 2009.
00:03:05.440 And then, most recently, we arrive at the unprecedented action in Venezuela, which is unprecedented only
00:03:13.720 in its efficiency, its legal predicate, and in how successfully it was carried out.