The Rush to War With Venezuela
On The Time of Monsters: Van Jackson on Trump’s reckless plunge into conflict in Latin America.
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The Rush to War Against Venezuela with Van Jackson | The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
On Friday, the self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth announced the US was sending an
aircraft carrier to bolster its attacks on Venezuelan boats (which the Trump administration
alleges, without evidence, are trafficking drugs). I spoke to international relations scholar Van
Jackson (whose work can be found here) about the motives for this new war as well as the
muted opposition to it from Democrats.
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An indigenous woman waves a Venezuelan flag during a rally to commemorate Indigenous Resistance Day, on October 12, 2025 in Caracas, Venezuela.
(Jesus Vargas / Getty Images)On Friday, the self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth announced that the US was sending an aircraft carrier to bolster its attacks on Venezuelan boats (which the Trump administration alleges, without evidence, are trafficking drugs). I spoke to international relations scholar Van Jackson (whose work can be found here) about the motives for this new war as well as the muted opposition to it from Democrats.
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The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
After Iran War, Can America Still Be Trusted? w/ Annelle Sheline
The US/Israel war against Iran has been devastating to many US allies, both in the Middle
East and the wider world. It could easily lead to a Global Depression. Even before the
war, Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute noted that countries such as Qatar and
Saudi Arabia had good reason to wean themselves away from a close reliance on the
US. I talked to Annelle about the current state of the war and why it will only intensify
the alienation of traditional US allies.
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