Maduro Got Snatched: Sponsored by Exxon ⛽

The Lincoln Project

Government, News, Politics, News Commentary

4.7 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This weekend, the capture of Nicolás Maduro didn’t close a chapter in Venezuela — it ripped one open. History tells us exactly where this movie goes: swagger first, strategy never. Venezuela isn’t just another “bad guy taken off the board”; it’s an oil-soaked, politically fractured, economically shattered country where outside powers think force can substitute for understanding. That’s how Iraq started. That’s how Vietnam metastasized. And now, under Donald Trump, America is once again flirting with the delusion that you can arrest a dictator, flip a switch, pump the oil, and call it victory. You can’t. You get insurgencies, regional blowback, endless commitments, and a war that exists not because it protects Americans — but because oil, ego, and imperial muscle memory demand it. Welcome to the next forever war, this time in our own hemisphere, where the lessons of the past are ignored, the bill always comes due, and the exit strategy is once again a shrug.
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Rick Wilson is on X at @TheRickWilson, on Bluesky at @TheRickWilson.bsky.social, and you can check out Rick's Substack at therickwilson.substack.com. You can check out more of LP's work at www.lincolnproject.us and on X at @ProjectLincoln.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know, and I checked the Constitution, and I have read the founders rather extensively,
0:04.8	and I missed the part where the purpose of America was to be a fucking protection racket.
0:10.4	Your task will not be an easy one.
0:12.8	Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battlehardt.
0:16.6	There is not a liberal America and a conservative America.
0:19.9	There is the United States of America.
0:24.9	Good night and good luck.
0:27.2	Hey, everybody.
0:27.8	First off, I want to wish everybody a very happy new year.
0:30.8	And Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah.
0:32.4	I hope all of you had a glorious holiday season.
0:35.1	We did.
0:35.7	We had a great Christmas.
0:37.1	Very quiet at home. We got married,
0:39.5	which was very nice. And you know what we decided to do today? Too alone. So we did it.
0:45.6	We did it. We did the thing. And we literally have had so many people asking about it for so long.
0:52.6	And I could not be happier.
0:57.0	And Renee has been an amazing part of my life for several years now, and I love her dearly,
1:06.0	and I love her to death, and I'm going to stop talking, because I've been doing all the talking. We just wanted to share our joy with you all.
1:15.6	Yeah.
1:16.6	And we feel like you all support us and reach out to us and show much, show us so much love.
1:25.6	Sorry, we've had a couple of days. A little champagne.
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