President Trump said Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president and would act as a partner in letting the United States run the country.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” he said.
Less than two hours later, Ms. Rodríguez — who was Nicolás Maduro’s vice president — delivered a televised address to Venezuela that made clear she viewed the United States as an illegal invader that must be rejected.
“We are determined to be free,” she said. “What is being done to Venezuela is a barbarity.”
Her swift defiance of Mr. Trump made clear that his plans to swoop into the South American nation and run it as his own faced many more hurdles than he suggested in his Saturday news conference declaring victory in Venezuela.
“We had already warned that an aggression was underway under false excuses and false pretenses, and that the masks had fallen off, revealing only one objective: regime change in Venezuela,” she said. “This regime change would also allow for the seizure of our energy, mineral and natural resources. This is the true objective, and the world and the international community must know it.”
Significantly, Ms. Rodríguez delivered her address alongside what she called Venezuela’s National Defense Council, which included the nation’s defense minister, attorney general and the heads of the country’s legislature and judiciary. That unified front directly contradicted Mr. Trump’s claim that the United States would run Venezuela, especially given that White House and Pentagon officials had said that U.S. forces had already withdrawn from the nation.
Venezuela’s defense minister and attorney general also both publicly criticized Mr. Trump and the U.S. military action on Saturday.
In his news conference, Mr. Trump said that Venezuelan leaders must comply with the United States or else. “All political and military figures must realize that what happened to Maduro can happen to them,” he said.
Ms. Rodríguez’s speech also made clear that Mr. Maduro’s supporters — including her — still see him as the nation’s legitimate leader.
She repeatedly said that Mr. Maduro was Venezuela’s “only president” and even the text on Venezuelan state television labeled her as vice president. When she ended, the state broadcaster said that Ms. Rodríguez was the vice president who had just stated that Mr. Maduro was Venezuela’s president.
B-Z_B-S on
Trump is attacking Venezuela because he’s losing his support in the United States and he’s scared. He wants to become popular, so he’s invading other countries. Trump is weak. Trump is pathetic. Trump is a bully.
zSeia on
Wow, that blew up in trump’s face even faster than usual. Hope the new fucking forever war was worth it.
HearYourTune on
That was fast, He should have put the guy who won in charge.
SG_wormsblink on
Did they even ask her to be a US puppet or just assume she would obey? Smh can’t even do a coup correctly.
Guess they have to use the Nobel prize winner then. She has already promised to sell off the oil reserves so at least their goals align.
FoxIndependent5789 on
I am shocked that something trump is involved in turned into a clusterfuck.
thismadhatter on
Could you fucking imagine if they were just like “ok…. moving on” and continued on with same regime minus Maduro.
artcook32945 on
So??? We have no US Troops “On the ground”. So how is it that Trump can claim he has control?
ToadP on
Welp the interim leader is going to be escorted out of the country on a Helicopter tonight or early tomorrow morning I guess, Where is the Nobel peace winner, I mean the corporate vp of exxonmobil?? We have a bootlicking position to fill and Marco is already with job.
DesignerCorner3322 on
This all went pear shaped faster than I expected
No-Tomatillo3698 on
He has no plan. He is dumb enough to think that countries will just bow and give up when the mighty American army shows up.
But you can never bully or bomb a country and its people into submission.
Pristine-Ant-464 on
Lol how do you botch a coup this badly?
Raspberries-Are-Evil on
Ha she fucking played Trump so hard.
cutieFitNdNaked on
Just hours after Trump said the U.S. was working with Venezuela’s new leader, Rodriguez went on state TV and threw it right back, saying Maduro is still the country’s only president and condemning the U.S. operation as an invasion.
ferality on
I listened to Trump’s whole presser. There was little that made sense, but the thing I was most skeptical of when he was talking about the vice president just taking over and doing what the US wants her to do. Did they actually expect her to just meekly bend at the knee and become a puppet? Trump said she “didn’t have a choice” anyway, and they have a much bigger military wave ready to go if things don’t go the way they want. This could get a lot uglier quickly.
CurbYerGod on
The Epstein Wars will be trump’s legacy.
D-MAN-FLORIDA on
Meanwhile Rubio is focusing on Cuba. Dude, finish this first before you start other wars.
GuitarGeezer on
This was literally the very first thing I said might happen. This must be why Trump was talking about a second bigger strike.
This administration is lucky to have America’s outstanding operations teams and commanders put in place in the past for the solid execution of the mission, but many past wars show the failings at the top on overall policies cannot be bailed out by Seal Team 6 etc.
cutetinyGF on
Quick TL;DR: Washington said it installed an interim leader post-strike; that leader turned around and publicly declare Maduro the only president and called the entire U.S. intervention barbaric. That’s not compliance that’s defiance.
monkeybawz on
That made me laugh so hard.
SeniorFlyingMango on
Is trump going to declare a never ending war so he can try and remain in power?
gearpitch on
Why didn’t they install someone from the opposition as interim president? Pick an older non-charismatic leader that doesn’t have ambitions, put them in place, fire the Maduro government, put together a transition task force of key government and business leaders of various parties, and have a timeline for elections. It’s not hard, you’d think that they would’ve planned for this a little more than just dropping bombs and flying away.
in1gom0ntoya on
someone please take trump? anyone? ……please?
jayfeather31 on
As one would expect. I cannot see them taking this lying down at all.
Minyae on
Are they going to kidnap the VP next? In fact, maybe they’ll just go down the line until they find the US yes man. After all might makes right.
YoshiTheDog420 on
Just so you guys know, the mods at r/army are cowards. They’re banning and muting anyone who criticizes the militaries complicity in these actions.
All I did was ask, “hows it feel to know y’alls real boss is still big oil?”. And I was banned for, “bigoted language.”
I guess they learned how to lie and make excuses like their rapist and chief.
Relevant-Doctor187 on
Trump finally scored 100% in something. 2/2 coup failures.
ckglle3lle on
Not that we expect much from the administration but the basic incoherence of claiming this action was meant to overthrow an illegitimate ruler and then claiming to install his (equally illegitimate) VP as replacement is pretty grim.
Not to mention claiming it is about fentanyl but indicting Maduro on cocaine charges?
Or the report that Trump admin basically had to blackmail oil execs to get on board at all because even they don’t really want the trouble of trying to exploit the country’s oil.
28 Comments
President Trump said Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as Venezuela’s interim president and would act as a partner in letting the United States run the country.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” he said.
Less than two hours later, Ms. Rodríguez — who was Nicolás Maduro’s vice president — delivered a televised address to Venezuela that made clear she viewed the United States as an illegal invader that must be rejected.
“We are determined to be free,” she said. “What is being done to Venezuela is a barbarity.”
Her swift defiance of Mr. Trump made clear that his plans to swoop into the South American nation and run it as his own faced many more hurdles than he suggested in his Saturday news conference declaring victory in Venezuela.
“We had already warned that an aggression was underway under false excuses and false pretenses, and that the masks had fallen off, revealing only one objective: regime change in Venezuela,” she said. “This regime change would also allow for the seizure of our energy, mineral and natural resources. This is the true objective, and the world and the international community must know it.”
Significantly, Ms. Rodríguez delivered her address alongside what she called Venezuela’s National Defense Council, which included the nation’s defense minister, attorney general and the heads of the country’s legislature and judiciary. That unified front directly contradicted Mr. Trump’s claim that the United States would run Venezuela, especially given that White House and Pentagon officials had said that U.S. forces had already withdrawn from the nation.
Venezuela’s defense minister and attorney general also both publicly criticized Mr. Trump and the U.S. military action on Saturday.
In his news conference, Mr. Trump said that Venezuelan leaders must comply with the United States or else. “All political and military figures must realize that what happened to Maduro can happen to them,” he said.
Ms. Rodríguez’s speech also made clear that Mr. Maduro’s supporters — including her — still see him as the nation’s legitimate leader.
She repeatedly said that Mr. Maduro was Venezuela’s “only president” and even the text on Venezuelan state television labeled her as vice president. When she ended, the state broadcaster said that Ms. Rodríguez was the vice president who had just stated that Mr. Maduro was Venezuela’s president.
Trump is attacking Venezuela because he’s losing his support in the United States and he’s scared. He wants to become popular, so he’s invading other countries. Trump is weak. Trump is pathetic. Trump is a bully.
Wow, that blew up in trump’s face even faster than usual. Hope the new fucking forever war was worth it.
That was fast, He should have put the guy who won in charge.
Did they even ask her to be a US puppet or just assume she would obey? Smh can’t even do a coup correctly.
Guess they have to use the Nobel prize winner then. She has already promised to sell off the oil reserves so at least their goals align.
I am shocked that something trump is involved in turned into a clusterfuck.
Could you fucking imagine if they were just like “ok…. moving on” and continued on with same regime minus Maduro.
So??? We have no US Troops “On the ground”. So how is it that Trump can claim he has control?
Welp the interim leader is going to be escorted out of the country on a Helicopter tonight or early tomorrow morning I guess, Where is the Nobel peace winner, I mean the corporate vp of exxonmobil?? We have a bootlicking position to fill and Marco is already with job.
This all went pear shaped faster than I expected
He has no plan. He is dumb enough to think that countries will just bow and give up when the mighty American army shows up.
But you can never bully or bomb a country and its people into submission.
Lol how do you botch a coup this badly?
Ha she fucking played Trump so hard.
Just hours after Trump said the U.S. was working with Venezuela’s new leader, Rodriguez went on state TV and threw it right back, saying Maduro is still the country’s only president and condemning the U.S. operation as an invasion.
I listened to Trump’s whole presser. There was little that made sense, but the thing I was most skeptical of when he was talking about the vice president just taking over and doing what the US wants her to do. Did they actually expect her to just meekly bend at the knee and become a puppet? Trump said she “didn’t have a choice” anyway, and they have a much bigger military wave ready to go if things don’t go the way they want. This could get a lot uglier quickly.
The Epstein Wars will be trump’s legacy.
Meanwhile Rubio is focusing on Cuba. Dude, finish this first before you start other wars.
This was literally the very first thing I said might happen. This must be why Trump was talking about a second bigger strike.
This administration is lucky to have America’s outstanding operations teams and commanders put in place in the past for the solid execution of the mission, but many past wars show the failings at the top on overall policies cannot be bailed out by Seal Team 6 etc.
Quick TL;DR: Washington said it installed an interim leader post-strike; that leader turned around and publicly declare Maduro the only president and called the entire U.S. intervention barbaric. That’s not compliance that’s defiance.
That made me laugh so hard.
Is trump going to declare a never ending war so he can try and remain in power?
Why didn’t they install someone from the opposition as interim president? Pick an older non-charismatic leader that doesn’t have ambitions, put them in place, fire the Maduro government, put together a transition task force of key government and business leaders of various parties, and have a timeline for elections. It’s not hard, you’d think that they would’ve planned for this a little more than just dropping bombs and flying away.
someone please take trump? anyone? ……please?
As one would expect. I cannot see them taking this lying down at all.
Are they going to kidnap the VP next? In fact, maybe they’ll just go down the line until they find the US yes man. After all might makes right.
Just so you guys know, the mods at r/army are cowards. They’re banning and muting anyone who criticizes the militaries complicity in these actions.
All I did was ask, “hows it feel to know y’alls real boss is still big oil?”. And I was banned for, “bigoted language.”
I guess they learned how to lie and make excuses like their rapist and chief.
Trump finally scored 100% in something. 2/2 coup failures.
Not that we expect much from the administration but the basic incoherence of claiming this action was meant to overthrow an illegitimate ruler and then claiming to install his (equally illegitimate) VP as replacement is pretty grim.
Not to mention claiming it is about fentanyl but indicting Maduro on cocaine charges?
Or the report that Trump admin basically had to blackmail oil execs to get on board at all because even they don’t really want the trouble of trying to exploit the country’s oil.
They did this to make shitposts