Welcome to The Lost Debata Show for Political Eclectics.

I'm Ravi Gupta.

And in a bit, we're going to hear from Adam Surwer from the Atlantic to catch us up on an

argument that he is making about free speech on the right and the whole CBS News 60 Minutes

controversy, which feels like a million years ago, but was really just a few weeks ago.

And he catches up on all that.

But of course, we've got a lot to talk about before then.

Before I go on, just as a reminder, you could subscribe to my substack at real Robbie Gupta.com for free.

This week I wrote about what does it mean to be a writer in the age of AI?

And in past weeks, I actually broke some news. I shared a

memo that David Axelrod wrote to Barack Obama, before Obama decided to run for president. And it's a

memo that kind of outlines some sweeping historical forces that are relevant today. So you could

check that out. That was a few weeks ago. So go to real Robbie Gupta

substack.com for that. But obviously, let's talk Venezuela. And the background here, you might

know it, but just some quick points early Saturday morning, U.S. military conducted airstrikes

in Venezuela and captured President Nicholas Maduro. DOJ announced Maduro and his wife were indicted in the Southern

District of New York. The charges include narco-terrorism, conspiracy, cocaine importation, possession

of machine guns and destructive devices. This was a joint operation involving over 150 aircraft

from 20 land and sea bases across the Western Hemisphere. Maduro was captured without resistance.

No U.S. troops were killed. One helicopter was struck by gunfire. Approximately six soldiers were injured.

Venezuelan officials say at least 80 were killed within Venezuela, including military and civilians.

The vice president of Venezuela, Delsi Rodriguez, was sworn in as the interim president, and Trump announced the U.S. will assume control of Venezuela until a safe, proper, and judicious transition and said we're not afraid of boots on the ground. By Tuesday, Trump claimed Venezuela would send 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., roughly $1.8 to $3 billion worth at the current prices.

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