John,
This weekend, the world watched as the U.S. launched airstrikes on Caracas and captured Nicolás Maduro. That was followed by an embarrassing Mar-a-Lago press conference where Pete Hegseth said “eff around and find out,” and Donald Trump announced that the United States is now “running” Venezuela.
The news coverage of the invasion was depressingly predictable.
There were “both sides” interviews with Democrats who opposed the war and Republicans who supported it. There was constant repetition of the Pentagon’s “Absolute Resolve” branding. There were endless loops of tough-talk quotes from Trump administration officials.
And while the media fixates on the “stunning display of might” in Caracas, the real story is what’s being buried by coverage of Trump’s war.
We’ve seen this before.
In 2003, media obsession with the theater of the Iraq War meant journalists stopped asking hard questions about motive and consequence. That failure cost untold lives and trillions of dollars — and almost no one was held accountable.
Now history is repeating itself.
This isn’t just a military operation. It’s a blackout curtain — designed to obscure the stories Trump doesn’t want you to see:
- The Oil Grab: Trump claims this invasion is about “stopping the flow of drugs.” The math doesn’t add up. Venezuela holds the largest proven oil reserves on the planet, and Trump’s biggest donors in the oil and gas industry are already lining up to “rebuild” the infrastructure we just bombed.
- The Epstein Fallout: Five million new documents from the Epstein files could be released imminently. This war has conveniently pushed them off the front page and out of the news cycle.
- The Health Care Emergency: ACA subsidies expired with the new year. Now, twenty million Americans are facing premium hikes of more than 100%.
When a president loses control at home, they reach for force abroad. It’s the oldest trick in the book. And once again, the legacy media is falling for it.
COURIER exists because we refuse to let spectacle replace scrutiny. We don’t just watch the bombs fall — we report on the corruption, the policy failures, and the accountability that shouldn’t stop just because the cameras moved to Caracas.
If you want journalism that refuses to look away, please chip in today to support COURIER.
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COURIER Newsroom