00:00Tell us something else, because what you've just described there, we're seeing a huge
00:03show of force here, but a lot of smoke and mirrors, it seems. Just listening to an expert
00:08on Venezuela a moment ago saying that there's no such thing as a cartel de los Soles. There
00:13are little groups, but this is kind of a fiction. And also you talk about Nicolas Maduro saying
00:18that he's deploying 4.5 million militiamen. Well, the biggest army in the world, the Chinese
00:23standing army is 2.2 million. Where's he going to find these from? So there's a lot of pomp
00:27and standing up right now. You've spent time as Washington correspondent. What's your
00:32sense of what's behind this? Well, look, there are two things, because clearly part of it
00:38is actually related to drug trafficking, whether it's right or wrong about Venezuela. The idea
00:46is that the Trump administration, ever since they came into office, have been focused on
00:50this war on drugs, whether it was the fentanyl coming through the land borders. That's why
00:56they put tariffs on Mexico, on Canada, on China, or cocaine coming from Latin America. That
01:04has been a focus of Donald Trump. And to that end, they've been gradually over the last few
01:11months designating those drug cartels, not just the Venezuelan ones like Trenderagua, but
01:16others from Central and South America as terrorist organizations. And why are they doing that?
01:23Because by using the terror threat, what the U.S. is arguing is that it is a national security
01:29threat. And when there is a national security threat, then you have a justification to use
01:35force in a way that you would not be permitted to do in other points. And to your point about
01:42Nicolas Maduro and what this is all about, it's about drugs. But some, including Nicolas Maduro,
01:49are saying this is about regime change, because they have really named Nicolas Maduro as sort of
01:56the kingpin of the Venezuelan drug cartel. Let's take a listen at how Marco Rubio, who is
02:04the Secretary of State, talked about Nicolas Maduro, the words he used to describe him.
02:10Let's be clear, Nicolas Maduro is not a government, nor is he a political regime. He is a terrorist
02:18organization of organized crime that has taken over a national territory and is using that
02:22territory to become rich. So if you follow that lead, if he is the head of a terrorist organization,
02:32then maybe there's justification in going after him. And why did I mention Marco Rubio? Because
02:37Marco Rubio has been a longtime hawk when it comes to Venezuela and Cuba, of course. But back in 2018,
02:45this is what he was saying about regime change in Venezuela. I think that the U.S. should only
02:51be, U.S. forces should only be used in cases of national security threats. And there's a strong
02:59argument that Venezuela and Maduro's regime have become a threat to the region or to the United States.
03:06He has long advocated possibly for a push in regime change. And of course, this harks back to
03:13sort of the 60s, the 50s, the 70s, when the United States was intervening more or less subtly in Latin
03:22America to push for regime change, help with coups, destabilize government. And so, of course, this is
03:28bringing up a lot of questions if that is indeed the final goal or the final intent of what the U.S.
03:35is doing right now. Talk to us briefly about war is peace. Suddenly, we're seeing the Defense
03:41Department's executive order signed today. Trump wants to call it the Department of War.
03:46Yes, a big change there. Just a recap. This was the Department of War from its creation by George
03:54Washington back in 1789 until right after World War II. That's when sort of the Department of War was just the
04:04Army, was merged with the Navy, the Air Force. All of that became the national defense establishment for a couple of
04:11years. And since 1949, it's been called the Department of Defense. But that is not good enough for Donald Trump, who wants a
04:18little bit of defense, but also offense. Those were his words. And he also believes that under
04:24the name Department of Defense, there have only been bad wars, like the Vietnam War, for example, Iraq,
04:30Afghanistan. And he says that before that, when it was the Department of War, we would win all the time. So it's a
04:36branding issue. But it's also very contradictory when you think about Donald Trump, who came in as the peacemaker, the man who's going to end wars, the man who doesn't want to get involved in foreign
04:36wars, who doesn't want troops on the ground anywhere in the world. But now he wants the Department of War. He also is the man who absolutely wants the Nobel Peace Prize. And that is a little bit contradictory, but it also fits with this sort of
04:55bravado, the peace through strength aspect of the Trump administration rather than the defense.
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