At a time when nearly half of Americans say they’re struggling to afford basic necessities, President Trump has turned his attention to invading and ruling Venezuela.
One in two Americans are having trouble affording groceries, utilities, health care, housing, and transportation, according to a recent poll. Health care costs are rising — and in many cases doubling — for millions of Americans because Republicans in Congress refuse to help. And while grocery prices remain high, those same GOP lawmakers chose to cut food stamps for millions of struggling people.
Our government should be helping working people and families. Instead, the president chose to use our tax dollars to invade a foreign country. And while Trump said plenty about how the U.S. will now rule over the people of Venezuela, he hasn’t explained why the same tax dollars that paid for this invasion can’t be used to make health care, food, or housing more affordable for people here.
The president added he’s “not afraid of boots on the ground” in Venezuela. But the last times the U.S. attempted to take over other countries — in Iraq and Afghanistan — it cost trillions of dollars, thousands of American lives, and potentially millions of lives in the Middle East. It’s way too soon to make this mistake again — and Trump had previously promised he wouldn’t, calling those wars “foolish” and “stupid.”
To be sure, someone will benefit from this invasion — just not ordinary Americans. The president has offered oil companies taxpayer dollars to take Venezuela’s oil. They hardly need the help, though they did contribute handsomely to his campaign.
Despite previous claims by the administration, this move is far more about oil than drugs, since Venezuela isn’t a supplier of the fentanyl that still causes so many deaths — and even the cocaine trafficked through Venezuela tends to head to Europe, not the United States. Either way, the U.S. shouldn’t be in the business of deposing every questionable leader in the world by military force.
