Welcome to Red Meat, the conservative news update you need from Odyssey stations across the country.

This is the place where we're not afraid to dig in.

The U.S. continues to strike boats coming from Venezuela, which the Trump administration claims are used to smuggle drugs.

A troop buildup is also underway in the region.

The United States has masked numerous warships and around 15,000 underway in the region. The United States has masked numerous warships

and around 15,000 soldiers in the Caribbean, and now its most advanced aircraft carrier,

the USS Gerald Ford, has also arrived there. We have to think that missing on everyone's

2025 bingo card was a potential U.S. war with tiny Venezuela. And yet here we are. After at least 21

U.S. attacks on Venezuela ships that were allegedly transporting drugs across the Caribbean,

President Donald Trump is reportedly weighing whether to move on to attacking them on land.

So far, the bombings of Venezuelan boats have killed an estimated 80 people.

That's as the Trump administration has continued to significantly expand the U.S. military's presence in Latin America,

deploying F-35 aircraft, warships, and a nuclear submarine, plus the arrival of our largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford,

in the Caribbean Sea.

That's a lot of firepower against a country that's roughly the size of Texas and Oklahoma combined.

So, how did we get here?

For more on what's happening in Venezuela, here's K-CBS.

Marco Aponte Moreno, USC Marshall School of Business Professor.

He specializes in cross-cultural negotiations.

Good afternoon.

Thanks for joining us.

And what is the plan?

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