** NEW MERCH ** Jackets & Sweatshirts, Thermo Mugs!! Daniel Davis Deep Dive Merch: Etsy store https://www.etsy.com/shop/DanielDavisDeepDive?ref=seller-platform-mcnav Patrick and Danny argue that U.S. interventions in places like Iraq and Libya made conditions worse, and they fear Venezuela will follow the same path. They stress that this is not what many voters supported, despite Trump framing it as “America First,” and question whether his political support has an eventual expiration date or shields him from accountability. The discussion rejects the idea that Venezuela has been “liberated,” asserting that Maduro was popularly elected and not an illegitimate leader. The Trump administration is criticized for contradictory justifications—alternately claiming the intervention was about narco-terrorism, oil, democracy, or installing a pro-U.S. government—revealing what the speakers describe as no coherent strategy, only ad-hoc use of military force, threats, and questionable legal claims. They argue U.S. officials have offered implausible legal rationales, such as bombing Caracas to protect U.S. law enforcement during an arrest, which the speakers call absurd. The inconsistency fuels suspicion that Venezuela is part of a larger geopolitical agenda, possibly linked to future conflicts. The conversation then shifts to Western allies’ credibility, highlighting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to condemn the U.S. action against Venezuela despite condemning Russia’s attack on Ukraine. This hesitation is portrayed as fear and hypocrisy, exposing what the speakers see as the collapse of the “rules-based international order.” Finally, Trump’s invocation of the Monroe Doctrine is criticized as historically ironic: a doctrine meant to oppose European colonialism is now, in their view, being used by the U.S. itself to justify imperial-style intervention in the Western Hemisphere.