What the Military Extraction of Venezuela's President Means for Global Politics and Oil

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2026

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michigan Senator Elissa Slotkin has been sounding the alarm about creeping authoritarianism, warning of military forces on U.S. streets and extrajudicial killings on the high seas. Now, following a military raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, those warnings feel newly urgent. Slotkin joins us to discuss what the Maduro operation reveals about presidential power, and what Congressional oversight mechanisms are available. Furthermore, President Trump says the U.S. will now control Venezuela’s massive oil reserves — over 300 billion barrels of crude oil. Later in the hour, we talk about why the U.S. might keep Venezuela’s existing government in place, the real challenges of extracting Venezuela’s oil resources and how Trump’s use of the Monroe Doctrine is reshaping global politics. Guests: Elissa Slotkin, U.S. Senator representing Michigan; member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services Antonia Juhasz, investigative journalist covering energy and the environment for Rolling Stone and other outlets. She is the author of several books on the industry, including "The Tyranny of Oil." Kevin Whitaker, former U.S. ambassador to Colombia and deputy chief of mission in Venezuela. He is senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a non-partisan think tank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:02.3	Welcome to Forum.
1:03.8	I'm Mina Kim.
1:05.1	Michigan Senator Alyssa Slotkin has been sounding alarms about the Trump administration's campaign in Venezuela long before the president's
1:12.4	military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Slotkin, who served three tours of duty
1:18.0	in Iraq as a CIA analyst and worked in national security roles at the Pentagon, called the raid part
1:23.8	of the signature trend of Trump's presidency, quote, relentless focus on foreign entanglements
1:29.6	and looking tough abroad so as to distract from what's happening to Americans' pocketbooks.
1:35.8	Senator Slokin joins me now. Welcome to Forum. Thanks for having me.
1:40.1	So, Senator, you've just received a briefing from Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth and Secretary
	...

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