Shock And Oil

The Muckrake Political Podcast

CLNS Media Network

News, Politics

4.6 • 530 Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On this episode of the Muckrake Podcast, Jared Yates Sexton and Nick Hauselman confront what may be one of the most audacious and disturbing moments of the Trump era, which is saying something. The United States uses special forces to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro while bombing Caracas, then casually announces it will run Venezuela and seize its oil. No congressional authorization. No real pushback. No consequences. They break down how this operation could have happened, why it almost certainly required months of planning, and what it means when the most powerful military in human history is fully under the control of an authoritarian regime. The conversation explores the legality, or lack thereof, of the abduction, the hollow narco trafficking charges, and the chilling precedent being set for global politics. Jared and Nick also examine the implications for international law, NATO, and the postwar liberal order, drawing lines from the war on terror to Ukraine, Venezuela, and the emerging world of authoritarian spheres of influence. They discuss Mark Kelly’s warning to the military, the targeting of dissent, the role of oil companies, and why this feels fundamentally different from Trump’s first term. This is a bleak, furious, and deeply unsettling conversation about state power, fascism, and the collapse of norms that once pretended to restrain empire. If you are asking how far this can go, the answer may already be unfolding. Support the show by signing up to our Patreon and get access to the full Weekender episode each Friday as well as special Live Shows and access to our community discord: ⁠http://patreon.com/muckrakepodcast⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody. Welcome to the McCrigg podcast. I'm Jared D.SX. I'm here with Nick Houseman.
0:07.7	Nick, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know really totally what to say right now.
0:19.3	We have a full show today talking about one of the most audacious and disturbing
0:26.3	moments of the era of Trump, which is really saying something.
0:32.0	I don't know how else to get into it.
0:34.9	But before we do, a reminder, head over to patreon.com slash
0:38.5	Mike Craig Podcasts, support the show, keep us editorially independent, and also gain access to
0:43.6	the weekender episodes, which are already listening to reviews to. Nick, you know, this weekend,
0:52.4	early Saturday morning, I assume it was this way for you. I woke up,
0:57.2	and the first thing that I saw was that the United States of America used special forces to
1:02.7	kidnap the president of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro, while the military bombed Caracas.
1:09.5	Maduro was brought to America. He is going to stand trial on drug
1:14.0	trafficking charges. And we now apparently are in total and utter control of Venezuela, depending
1:20.8	upon who you're listening to. There are rumors that we are going to do this to other countries now.
1:30.3	There's a lot to talk about here, Nick.
1:32.2	I got an email from a listener and they were like,
1:35.3	are you going to do a special episode or are you going to do an emergency podcast?
1:42.2	And I thought about talking to you about it, but I was so, I'm dejected right now.
1:51.3	Like everything feels really bad in general.
1:54.5	And for something like this to take place, it is so not just audacious, it's so disgusting. And there are so many elements of this
2:03.3	that really bother me. I guess I want to start by asking, what was your initial reaction? We
2:09.9	texted a little bit about this, but like we haven't, we haven't been able to talk about it. This
	...

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