January 5, 2026 • 31 mins
Maduro is out. Oil is in play. And the Monroe Doctrine just got revived. Michael Berry unpacks the raid, the geopolitics, the heavy‑crude goldmine, and why this moment reshapes U.S. power in the hemisphere.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time time, time, time, luck and load. So
Michael Verie Show is on the air. Come and get me.
Nicholas Maduro will wait right here in Mira Flores. Don't
take too long, coward.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
The Biden administration made a deal with Maduro. No one
talks about this. Maduro asked that his nephews, convicted drug traffickers,
be released from US prisons. He asked that his chief
money launderer, his money man, his bagman, be released from
US custody.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Before he stood trial.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In exchange, he promised to hold free and fair elections.
He got the nephews back, the drug dealers, he got
the bagman back, and he never did the free and
he stole all the elections.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
He stole the elections.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
President Trump just announced on social media that venzueanam president
for Nicholas Madora, has been captured and flown out of
the country. The forty seventh president the United States is
not a game player. When he tells you that he's
going to do something, When God tells you he's going
to address a problem means this is a president of action.
Like I don't understand yet how they haven't figured this out.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And now if you don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Now you know.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
The Venezuelan people made our support to recover their democracy
and rebuild their country. I'll use sanctions is one of
the tools for a comprehensive strategy. It includes humanitarian assistance,
international pressure and support for democratic actors in Venezuela to
force the regime to embark on the road to a
free and fair election.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
This is not any president that just talks and does
letters and press conferences. And you know, if he says
he's serious about something, he means it. The message here
should be.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
For the world.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Look, the president doesn't go out looking for people to
pick fights with. He's not generally wants to get along
with everybody. We'll talk and meet with anybody, but don't
play games.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Don't play games with.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
This president's in office, because it's not going.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
To turn out well.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Tell me how this news is being received in Iran,
How's it being received in Russia, How's it being received
in China? All three, predictably will deplore this kind of
activity publicly. Privately, they will be impressed with the military
capability here. I would argue none of those three militaries
(02:33):
could have executed an operation like this and again, we
just we tend to just breeze by this. But the
idea of finding Fixing, kidnapping, taking him.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Out alive with his wife.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
No casualties on the side of the US, that's an
extraordinary military operation.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
The US has something of a mixed track record of
ousting dictators without necessarily a plan for what comes afterwards.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
That's where we have different presidents. With me, that's not true.
With me, We've had a perfect track record of winning.
We win a lot.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
You will hear occasional reference to the Monroe Doctrine, And
in case you weren't paying attention in school, but have
a rough estimation of what that means, let me explain.
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States.
On December second, eighteen twenty three, during his seventh annual
(03:54):
State of the Union address to Congress, he would lay
out what came to be known as Monroe Doctrine. He
didn't call it the Monroe doctrine. In fact, no one
at the time did. That was eighteen twenty three. It
was not until eighteen fifty twenty seven years later that
this doctrine, and we'll get into what this means, would
(04:15):
be named after the Man who first articulated it at
that time. Spanish colonies in the Americas, some of which
you've been on vacation to. We're all either independent or
in the process of becoming independent. We interchangeably use the
word Spanish and Latin America, but here I mean in
(04:40):
the literal sense Spain, which represented Europe. Spain, of course,
one of the at that point on the back end
of their world powers, although they were still an economic empire.
Spain represented the Old World and America represented the New World,
(05:01):
and the Old World was the real power in the
world at the time in eighteen twenty three and to
that point in eighteen fifty and Monroe argued, Look, America
will stay out of the Old World. America will stay
out of Europe because at this time you have the French,
(05:22):
the English, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Germans, although it's
not so simple as the Germans, because what later came
to be known as the German Empire was not the
German Empire for many decades later. You had the Austrians,
you had the Habsburgs, you had these regions.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
You had the.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
Poles, who, while not on the same level, were a
powerful force and of course, you had the Russians throw
in there that Italy was much stronger vis a vis
their peers than they would be in World War II
when they would embarrass themselves. So Monroe says, look, Europe
will have its sphere of influence and you boys can
(06:09):
fight that out on your own. We won't involve ourselves
and we will have our sphere of influence.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
It was sort of an America first approach, he said.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
It is in America's interest to protect the Americas, to
protect the nations. Now, the map didn't look at that
time the way it does today. Well, North America did,
Central and South America and the many islands of the
Caribbean did not. But when that was laid out, it
(06:42):
was laid out to give an overarching theory of the
isolationist America position with regard to the world around us,
and that was the fact that we are a standalone
nation that does not busy ourselves in foreign entanglements. Of course,
to our peril, we have violated our own such rule.
(07:05):
It is also the case that we will defend our
interest beyond our shores, as it relates to our interests
being in Ukraine and involving ourselves in the war between
former Soviet Republic Ukraine in modern day Russia. Not part
of the Monroe doctrine. Frankly, not something we should have
(07:29):
been funding. But I think most everybody by now understands
that that wasn't about the security of the world or
the bread basket to the West. That was about enriching
Zelenski and the kickback commissions that were to be given
to the Biden's, Clinton's and yes, some of the other
names we all know.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So when Monroe.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Lays out the doctrine, it is a fascinating concept as
to how two hundred two years later that still applied.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Because it does.
Speaker 6 (08:01):
And yes, it is as America first as anything else
we do.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Libor old tears because I didn't get a single time.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
Spot start here that our country is failing you today.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Invest in Kleenex, ladies and gentlemen. And this is the
Michael Berry Show. I want you to know. I mean
spent time with my family.
Speaker 6 (08:33):
Over Christmas and New Year's clearing my head and resting
my brain. This is so difficult. I just want you
to know how much I appreciate and we all do.
The Family's on our team. Chad Knock Andishi Jim Mudd
from on Roeblas Deryl Kunda in that order of importance.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Well, Kunda didn't do anything wrong. It's just he's the
newest guy.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
I can't I can't even move him ahead of you. Yeah,
we do appreciate that you give us the opportunity to
be here, if by nothing else, you being here as well.
So thank you, thank you for everything you do. President
Trump did offer Maduro the opportunity. He offered him the
(09:20):
opportunity the way when Clint Eastwood walks into the saloon
and he gives the bounty hunters the opportunity to leave
and live, and he spits and has to say, dying
ain't much of a living. Remember, the fella comes back.
(09:43):
He's going to leave because he realizes you're not going
to beat Josie Welles. But then he comes back in
and he said, I had to got to make a living.
And that's when I love Josie Wells famously says in
a story that's true, you know, dying ain't much of
a living. Trump offered Maduro that he can go into exile.
My understanding is the most attractive of the offers was
(10:05):
to Turkey. But I think the point is that he
could have saved face and he chose instead the wrong course.
There is a cartel called the Cartel de la Sols,
the Cartel of the Suns in Venezuela, and the argument
(10:26):
is that Maduro was the de facto head of the cartel,
not just the head of the government that tolerated the cartel,
but actually the active head of a cartel that is
a criminal enterprise in and of itself, which worked in
parallel with human trafficking drug trafficking.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
There are some people who are.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
Erroneously saying that our fentanyl deaths are traced to Venezuela,
and I have attempted to run this ground. Means a
lot of people will claim some inside knowledge, or if
you don't know what they know, you're not as smart
as they are. And some of this information is just erroneous.
(11:08):
As best I can tell from people I respect, Venezuela
is responsible for cocaine, not the fentanyl. The fentanyl comes
from the triads of China, also through Mexico, and there
is a number there is a certain amount of cooperation
or at a minimum of detent between those organizations, but
(11:29):
that would make Maduro, through the cocaine trafficking the head
of the criminal enterprise, and not just someone who was
enabling it to happen, but someone who was captaining the ship.
United States assets are still in place, including some pretty
amazing warships, and the President has made clear himself and
(11:52):
through his surrogates, the Secretary of State Defense, Raising Kine,
and others, that the capability and willing to strike at
a moment's notice remains. The attempt is to get the
elections in Venezuela and to get a leader who has
popular support, which Maduro did not, by any measure did not.
(12:16):
The Venezuelan constitution calls for an election within thirty days
under the incapacitation of the Venezuelan leader. And while we
did not recognize him as the leader, he was, for
all intents and purposes internally the person with the keys
to the kingdom. His incapacitation occurred the moment they put
(12:42):
him on a helicopter and took him to Iwajima. That
is the moment he was no longer in any way
the effective leader of Venezuela. So within thirty days there
must be elections. But the Supreme Court immediately made the
acting Vice President the leader of the nation. How long
(13:05):
will this continue, Will there be elections? Those are going
to be key questions over the next few days, and
there will be a quagmar of questions in an attempt
to confuse Trump because the Democrats understand that this is
a big victory for Trump. You'll have Thomas Massey, You'll
have Ran Paul, You'll have a number of individuals with
(13:27):
whom I am a fellow traveler on the number of issues.
I'll be honest, But those individuals will say this was
not an authorized action. President operated outside the jurisdiction the
rightful constitutional authority. And you can think what you want
about whether that's true or not. It really doesn't matter.
But in the court of public opinion, we will see
a bump by Trump because every red blooded American, myself included,
(13:52):
loves a good show of force and an ass kicking
of another country, especially when that fellow is dancing and
taunting the United States. And there you'll see some of
the internal split in American politics of the left who
want us to be citizens of the world, and every
red blooded American who says, I'm tired of getting kicked
around if we're not exerting our supremacy, lest at least
(14:16):
stop genuflecting to the rest of the world and worrying
more about their people than ours. This regime was a
criminal enterprise. I don't think there's really much doubt there.
And we'll get into some audio clips of Chuck Schumer,
Nancy Pelosi, and a number of others claiming that if
(14:40):
Trump was serious about what he claims, he would have
taken Maduro out. They said this during his first administration. Well,
do you remember that in January of twenty twenty five,
a year ago before they left office, the Biden Harris
administration put a twin D five million dollar bounty on
(15:02):
information leading to the arrest of Maduro.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Now, why did they do that?
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Arguably to make themselves more popular with the Venezuelan American community.
But they put twenty five million down on the head
of Maduro. And now Kamala Harris says that grabbing him
doesn't make us safe.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Do you think no? But the internet is forever, lady,
don't mess around with old And this is the Michael
Barry Show.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
Reports now circulating, credible reports that before the.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Tim Waltz would resign.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
Late morning Today news emerged Klobachar Forgovernor dot com had
already been registered, suggesting, of course that somebody, whether authorized
or not, I suspect authorized, is prepared Amy Klobuchar to
(16:01):
take control of the governor's office in Mogadishu. Partly because
it's a coup. The senator has real, no real power,
but a governor does. And partly because we've got to
make sure.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
That the that the powers of that state.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
Are in place to protect against federal investigations and whistleblowers
and leaks about the corruption that has occurred, which was
not just Somali warlord frauds. Let's be clear on that
they could not have done this. In fact, the one
daycare where they rolled the guy out and he said,
(16:50):
you know, they came for our documents to show that
this daycare, this getting millions of dollars is actually a daycare, and.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
We would have glad provided those documents.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
However, there was a break in at our daycare and
they stole all the documents. Wait what, okay, show us
the camera. Somehow we don't have camera footage of the
(17:23):
break in. You know, those levels of lies might work
in Somalia, and they might have normally worked in Minnesota,
but you have the entire nation's eyes upon.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
You for a moment.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
It would appear, however, that the Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobachar,
who you'll recall, was a presidential candidate with a very
very annoying, very very annoying demeanor. The thing I remember
most about her campaign from that year twenty twenty were
the revelations that she thought rose things at her staff,
(18:02):
sort of a white Sheila Jackson Lee if you want,
I hope a Bretdon's most bad. My god, y'all think
I'm kidding, But in political circles from people who knew
Sheila Jackson Lee, it was widely discussed and we would
all laugh. And how bad her breath smelled, I mean,
(18:24):
just horrible. Venezuela has seventeen percent of the world's oil reserves.
That's reserves, but it is only exporting one percent.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
The US.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
Blockade of Venezuelan oil, the the pushing out of American
interests in Venezuela, the lack of infrastructure, so basically they've
been doing what they could but not investing any of
it back into their assets have left them a shell
(19:06):
of what they were. But it's still the largest proven
reserves in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
That's real. It's heavy crude that.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Our country desperately wants and needs. I read early this
morning that there are six refineries in the United States
best placed to refine this heavy crude, and those six
(19:38):
refineries are located in the Great States of Texas and Louisiana.
Heavy crude, as I understand it, is far more expensive
to extract than like crude, which of course makes sense.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
It's a gooier.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Element, a gooy or concoction, and that requires advanced techniques
like apparently the most prominent something called steam injection. And
as I understand it, America is the best at the
process of extracting and refining heavy crude. I also have
(20:25):
come to understand that the United States is incredibly dependent
on heavy crude.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
We need a lot more than we're able to get.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
In nineteen eighty in the United States, between ten and
twenty percent of crude oil imports were.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
The heavy crude variety.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Today, the majority from ten to twenty percent to over
fifty percent are of US Crewe oil imports are heavy
crude oil at some say as much as seventy percent,
(21:05):
but we're not able to get that from Venezuela presently,
or at least we weren't. We have an appetite for
a lot more heavy crude, and Venezuela has billions of
barrels of it. The president says he's going to effectively
run the country till we get it stabilized. He's also
(21:29):
said we're not in the business of nation building. A
press release coming out overnight from the Vice President now
acting President of Venezuela that she looks forward to working
with the president, which is a definite change of tone.
But you have to think if you can keep the
corruption and ineffectiveness and foreign meddling from the Chinese, iranis
(21:49):
the Russians and Cubans.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
At Bay, which is not nothing.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
If you could start, you could fire up these plants
to run at full bandwidth overnight or within reason, and
you put some of that money into that economy, you're
going to get people off of their household dog as
dinner and looking more and more like the Venezuela that
(22:17):
was a richer country than Poland just a few decades
ago before they were plunged into the depths of poverty.
And that's going to make a world of difference. The
United States wants more heavy crude. Venezuela has billions of
barrels of it. Now, who's the loser out of this
(22:39):
Canada during this time? Their share of exports to this
country or their share of imports for America's heavy crud
has gone from fifteen percent to sixty percent, which would
enable us to get off of Canadian heavy crude the
(23:00):
Venezuelan economy, and boy, doesn't that change our negotiation process
with Henry. It is being reported by some news outlets
that a twenty six year old by the name of
William Defour has been charged after trying to break into
(23:23):
the Ohio home of.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Vice President JD. Vans.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
He was using a hammer to break the windows to
gain access. That's being reported from w XIX. Bringing a
hammer to the home of a politician in their spouse.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
This is where Paul Pelosi lives.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
It is just one more reminder of the sacrifices of
serving in public life. If you are a Republican today,
our president was shot in the head, and but for
God's favor, President Trump would be a martyr today, just
as Charlie Kirk turned out to be Rand Paul was
hospitalized and almost died Steve Scalise by a gunman who
(24:16):
was a Bernie Bro gunned down out on the field
during the Congressional softball game practice. Reminder that the Bernie
bro walked past some Democrats and asked if that was
the Republicans who were practicing over there. That was as
(24:37):
clear as day, a targeted attack, as clear as day.
Venezuela's experts to the United States. Our importation of Venezuelan
and heavy crude, which as I understand, is a blend
you use.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
With the light crud, not one or the other.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
We just happened to be really good at refining the
heavy crew, especially the states of Texas and Louisiana. And
what we need a lot more of for a more
balanced diet is that heavy crew from Venezuela that we're
now having to get a much larger percent, over fifty
percent of from Canada. This would be highly profitable for
(25:27):
a number of folks, but it would also be very
good for the American consumer. Now, a number of people
within the sound of my voice are cringing right now
because people in the oil and gas industry are not well.
Most people in the oil and gas industry are not
(25:47):
making money under Trump the way they did under Biden.
And that is because when you open up production and
you flood to market with more product, gasoline at the pump,
as you and I see see it. There are other uses,
but that's how we primarily see it. When you drive
gas prices down into the two dollars two to three
(26:09):
dollars range fifty seven dollars a barrel as opposed to
seventy where they'd like to see it, that's really good
for you and me.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
That's really good.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
If you took a driving trip over the Christmas holidays
to see Grandma, or Niagara Falls, or West Coast or
the East Coast, or wherever you went, you noticed that
you had more money to spend on food and fun
that would have previously been spent on fuel. And that
makes a world a difference in an election year. That
(26:42):
is a back pocket issue that is easy for people
to understand, even easier than a carton of eggs ramon.
Everybody feels their tank. Ford just announcing a couple of
weeks ago that the F one P fifty electric will
no longer be preduce for all intents and purposes. The
(27:02):
major American auto manufacturers, save and except Tesla or exiting
the electric vehicle experiment. But as we've said all along,
that was never a market based decision to get into
that business. It was always given by government herrot instead.
(27:24):
The market for the electric vehicle was primarily in California,
and you'll remember California announced that by twenty thirty they
would be electric vehicle only. They just drove Valero out
of that state at a cost of over a billion dollars.
We've never seen anything like that in the modern era,
where a company willingly chooses to exit a state in
(27:44):
the Union, relocate to another, shutdown operations there now in
what they're referring to as the gas desert now or
the energy desert, and that's when to take offline. I
believe the number, don't quote me. It was five percent
of production in California. There are still people driving gasoline
powered automobiles there and they have the highest gas prices
(28:08):
in the country, and that's only going to get worse.
You don't overnight replace that. The last standing EV maker
will be Tesla, but you have some others. I think
Rivian makes a pretty vehicle. I think they're styling and
design is very nice. Lucid, some of the others fisk
(28:29):
that went away or on the verge of going away,
have fallen to a lack of demand. A lot of
people bought electric vehicles as their second vehicle, not their primary.
It's a fun thing and they are fun there, are
fun to drive. They're far more responsive than an internal
combustion engine. They're quicker off the line. They got some
(28:52):
neat aspects to them, and no doubt about it, but
they're simply not practical. They're like a second home if
you can afford it, a second at home on the beach,
a second home at the lake, a second home in
the mountains. But you can't make a living there. It's
not sustainable, not practical. And eventually you ran through the
number of people who wanted an electric vehicle as their
(29:16):
primary driver, and that number is very, very small. And
you call Mike Batches said lone star Chevy. You find
out that chevyes are back. You find out that American vehicles,
traditional gas powered vehicles are back.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
What does that mean?
Speaker 6 (29:34):
Lower cost of gas at the at the pump no
longer a seventy five subsidy as of September of twenty
twenty four that phased out you're not going to be
producing all these electrical electric vehicles. You're not going to
get the tax benefits, you're not getting the regulatory requirements.
(29:55):
All of that adds up to we need more gasoline,
and the the more gasoline you flood to market with,
the cheaper it is for you and me, for the
consumer who is also a voter. Venezuela holds more oil
reserves than any other country in the world. Reportedly I
(30:17):
read earlier this morning, if they hold more than twenty
percent twenty sorry, they hold twenty percent more oil reserves
than Saudi Arabia. Now that is amazing. You think about that.
That is a fact that does not get discussed very often.
President Trump said after the raid quote, We're going to
have our very large US oil companies go in, spend
(30:41):
billions of dollars, fix the broken oil infrastructure, and start
making money. He also says the US will sell large
amounts of oil pumped from Venezuela. He also said that
some of that will go to China, who is dependent
on Venezuela and oil.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
People are mad at him for that, but.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
I think this is not the time to be threatening
China til we get a better hold on that country.
I think that was meant to a sage any Chinese concerns. Hey,
look guys, you're gonna get your Venezuelan oil. I will
make sure of that, So let me do what I'm
doing Inezuela. In Venezuela, the Chinese envoy was on Venezuelan
(31:22):
and soil when Maduro was taken out. It's supposed to
be over one hundred thousand chinamen in Venezuela today.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
That's a lot. They got a lot going on here
It's that time time, time, time, luck and load. So
Michael Verie Show is on the air. Come and get me.
Nicholas Maduro will wait right here in Mira Flores. Don't
take too long, coward.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
The Biden administration made a deal with Maduro. No one
talks about this. Maduro asked that his nephews, convicted drug traffickers,
be released from US prisons. He asked that his chief
money launderer, his money man, his bagman, be released from
US custody.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Before he stood trial.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
In exchange, he promised to hold free and fair elections.
He got the nephews back, the drug dealers, he got
the bagman back, and he never did the free and
he stole all the elections.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
He stole the elections.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
President Trump just announced on social media that venzueanam president
for Nicholas Madora, has been captured and flown out of
the country. The forty seventh president the United States is
not a game player. When he tells you that he's
going to do something, When God tells you he's going
to address a problem means this is a president of action.
Like I don't understand yet how they haven't figured this out.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
And now if you don't know.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Now you know.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
The Venezuelan people made our support to recover their democracy
and rebuild their country. I'll use sanctions is one of
the tools for a comprehensive strategy. It includes humanitarian assistance,
international pressure and support for democratic actors in Venezuela to
force the regime to embark on the road to a
free and fair election.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
This is not any president that just talks and does
letters and press conferences. And you know, if he says
he's serious about something, he means it. The message here
should be.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
For the world.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Look, the president doesn't go out looking for people to
pick fights with. He's not generally wants to get along
with everybody. We'll talk and meet with anybody, but don't
play games.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Don't play games with.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
This president's in office, because it's not going.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
To turn out well.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Tell me how this news is being received in Iran,
How's it being received in Russia, How's it being received
in China? All three, predictably will deplore this kind of
activity publicly. Privately, they will be impressed with the military
capability here. I would argue none of those three militaries
(02:33):
could have executed an operation like this and again, we
just we tend to just breeze by this. But the
idea of finding Fixing, kidnapping, taking him.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Out alive with his wife.
Speaker 5 (02:46):
No casualties on the side of the US, that's an
extraordinary military operation.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
The US has something of a mixed track record of
ousting dictators without necessarily a plan for what comes afterwards.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
That's where we have different presidents. With me, that's not true.
With me, We've had a perfect track record of winning.
We win a lot.
Speaker 6 (03:32):
You will hear occasional reference to the Monroe Doctrine, And
in case you weren't paying attention in school, but have
a rough estimation of what that means, let me explain.
James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States.
On December second, eighteen twenty three, during his seventh annual
(03:54):
State of the Union address to Congress, he would lay
out what came to be known as Monroe Doctrine. He
didn't call it the Monroe doctrine. In fact, no one
at the time did. That was eighteen twenty three. It
was not until eighteen fifty twenty seven years later that
this doctrine, and we'll get into what this means, would
(04:15):
be named after the Man who first articulated it at
that time. Spanish colonies in the Americas, some of which
you've been on vacation to. We're all either independent or
in the process of becoming independent. We interchangeably use the
word Spanish and Latin America, but here I mean in
(04:40):
the literal sense Spain, which represented Europe. Spain, of course,
one of the at that point on the back end
of their world powers, although they were still an economic empire.
Spain represented the Old World and America represented the New World,
(05:01):
and the Old World was the real power in the
world at the time in eighteen twenty three and to
that point in eighteen fifty and Monroe argued, Look, America
will stay out of the Old World. America will stay
out of Europe because at this time you have the French,
(05:22):
the English, the Spanish, the Portuguese, the Germans, although it's
not so simple as the Germans, because what later came
to be known as the German Empire was not the
German Empire for many decades later. You had the Austrians,
you had the Habsburgs, you had these regions.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
You had the.
Speaker 6 (05:47):
Poles, who, while not on the same level, were a
powerful force and of course, you had the Russians throw
in there that Italy was much stronger vis a vis
their peers than they would be in World War II
when they would embarrass themselves. So Monroe says, look, Europe
will have its sphere of influence and you boys can
(06:09):
fight that out on your own. We won't involve ourselves
and we will have our sphere of influence.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
It was sort of an America first approach, he said.
Speaker 6 (06:19):
It is in America's interest to protect the Americas, to
protect the nations. Now, the map didn't look at that
time the way it does today. Well, North America did,
Central and South America and the many islands of the
Caribbean did not. But when that was laid out, it
(06:42):
was laid out to give an overarching theory of the
isolationist America position with regard to the world around us,
and that was the fact that we are a standalone
nation that does not busy ourselves in foreign entanglements. Of course,
to our peril, we have violated our own such rule.
(07:05):
It is also the case that we will defend our
interest beyond our shores, as it relates to our interests
being in Ukraine and involving ourselves in the war between
former Soviet Republic Ukraine in modern day Russia. Not part
of the Monroe doctrine. Frankly, not something we should have
(07:29):
been funding. But I think most everybody by now understands
that that wasn't about the security of the world or
the bread basket to the West. That was about enriching
Zelenski and the kickback commissions that were to be given
to the Biden's, Clinton's and yes, some of the other
names we all know.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So when Monroe.
Speaker 6 (07:51):
Lays out the doctrine, it is a fascinating concept as
to how two hundred two years later that still applied.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Because it does.
Speaker 6 (08:01):
And yes, it is as America first as anything else
we do.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Libor old tears because I didn't get a single time.
Speaker 6 (08:11):
Spot start here that our country is failing you today.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Invest in Kleenex, ladies and gentlemen. And this is the
Michael Berry Show. I want you to know. I mean
spent time with my family.
Speaker 6 (08:33):
Over Christmas and New Year's clearing my head and resting
my brain. This is so difficult. I just want you
to know how much I appreciate and we all do.
The Family's on our team. Chad Knock Andishi Jim Mudd
from on Roeblas Deryl Kunda in that order of importance.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Well, Kunda didn't do anything wrong. It's just he's the
newest guy.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
I can't I can't even move him ahead of you. Yeah,
we do appreciate that you give us the opportunity to
be here, if by nothing else, you being here as well.
So thank you, thank you for everything you do. President
Trump did offer Maduro the opportunity. He offered him the
(09:20):
opportunity the way when Clint Eastwood walks into the saloon
and he gives the bounty hunters the opportunity to leave
and live, and he spits and has to say, dying
ain't much of a living. Remember, the fella comes back.
(09:43):
He's going to leave because he realizes you're not going
to beat Josie Welles. But then he comes back in
and he said, I had to got to make a living.
And that's when I love Josie Wells famously says in
a story that's true, you know, dying ain't much of
a living. Trump offered Maduro that he can go into exile.
My understanding is the most attractive of the offers was
(10:05):
to Turkey. But I think the point is that he
could have saved face and he chose instead the wrong course.
There is a cartel called the Cartel de la Sols,
the Cartel of the Suns in Venezuela, and the argument
(10:26):
is that Maduro was the de facto head of the cartel,
not just the head of the government that tolerated the cartel,
but actually the active head of a cartel that is
a criminal enterprise in and of itself, which worked in
parallel with human trafficking drug trafficking.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
There are some people who are.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
Erroneously saying that our fentanyl deaths are traced to Venezuela,
and I have attempted to run this ground. Means a
lot of people will claim some inside knowledge, or if
you don't know what they know, you're not as smart
as they are. And some of this information is just erroneous.
(11:08):
As best I can tell from people I respect, Venezuela
is responsible for cocaine, not the fentanyl. The fentanyl comes
from the triads of China, also through Mexico, and there
is a number there is a certain amount of cooperation
or at a minimum of detent between those organizations, but
(11:29):
that would make Maduro, through the cocaine trafficking the head
of the criminal enterprise, and not just someone who was
enabling it to happen, but someone who was captaining the ship.
United States assets are still in place, including some pretty
amazing warships, and the President has made clear himself and
(11:52):
through his surrogates, the Secretary of State Defense, Raising Kine,
and others, that the capability and willing to strike at
a moment's notice remains. The attempt is to get the
elections in Venezuela and to get a leader who has
popular support, which Maduro did not, by any measure did not.
(12:16):
The Venezuelan constitution calls for an election within thirty days
under the incapacitation of the Venezuelan leader. And while we
did not recognize him as the leader, he was, for
all intents and purposes internally the person with the keys
to the kingdom. His incapacitation occurred the moment they put
(12:42):
him on a helicopter and took him to Iwajima. That
is the moment he was no longer in any way
the effective leader of Venezuela. So within thirty days there
must be elections. But the Supreme Court immediately made the
acting Vice President the leader of the nation. How long
(13:05):
will this continue, Will there be elections? Those are going
to be key questions over the next few days, and
there will be a quagmar of questions in an attempt
to confuse Trump because the Democrats understand that this is
a big victory for Trump. You'll have Thomas Massey, You'll
have Ran Paul, You'll have a number of individuals with
(13:27):
whom I am a fellow traveler on the number of issues.
I'll be honest, But those individuals will say this was
not an authorized action. President operated outside the jurisdiction the
rightful constitutional authority. And you can think what you want
about whether that's true or not. It really doesn't matter.
But in the court of public opinion, we will see
a bump by Trump because every red blooded American, myself included,
(13:52):
loves a good show of force and an ass kicking
of another country, especially when that fellow is dancing and
taunting the United States. And there you'll see some of
the internal split in American politics of the left who
want us to be citizens of the world, and every
red blooded American who says, I'm tired of getting kicked
around if we're not exerting our supremacy, lest at least
(14:16):
stop genuflecting to the rest of the world and worrying
more about their people than ours. This regime was a
criminal enterprise. I don't think there's really much doubt there.
And we'll get into some audio clips of Chuck Schumer,
Nancy Pelosi, and a number of others claiming that if
(14:40):
Trump was serious about what he claims, he would have
taken Maduro out. They said this during his first administration. Well,
do you remember that in January of twenty twenty five,
a year ago before they left office, the Biden Harris
administration put a twin D five million dollar bounty on
(15:02):
information leading to the arrest of Maduro.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
Now, why did they do that?
Speaker 6 (15:08):
Arguably to make themselves more popular with the Venezuelan American community.
But they put twenty five million down on the head
of Maduro. And now Kamala Harris says that grabbing him
doesn't make us safe.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Do you think no? But the internet is forever, lady,
don't mess around with old And this is the Michael
Barry Show.
Speaker 6 (15:33):
Reports now circulating, credible reports that before the.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Tim Waltz would resign.
Speaker 6 (15:40):
Late morning Today news emerged Klobachar Forgovernor dot com had
already been registered, suggesting, of course that somebody, whether authorized
or not, I suspect authorized, is prepared Amy Klobuchar to
(16:01):
take control of the governor's office in Mogadishu. Partly because
it's a coup. The senator has real, no real power,
but a governor does. And partly because we've got to
make sure.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
That the that the powers of that state.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
Are in place to protect against federal investigations and whistleblowers
and leaks about the corruption that has occurred, which was
not just Somali warlord frauds. Let's be clear on that
they could not have done this. In fact, the one
daycare where they rolled the guy out and he said,
(16:50):
you know, they came for our documents to show that
this daycare, this getting millions of dollars is actually a daycare, and.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
We would have glad provided those documents.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
However, there was a break in at our daycare and
they stole all the documents. Wait what, okay, show us
the camera. Somehow we don't have camera footage of the
(17:23):
break in. You know, those levels of lies might work
in Somalia, and they might have normally worked in Minnesota,
but you have the entire nation's eyes upon.
Speaker 1 (17:38):
You for a moment.
Speaker 6 (17:40):
It would appear, however, that the Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobachar,
who you'll recall, was a presidential candidate with a very
very annoying, very very annoying demeanor. The thing I remember
most about her campaign from that year twenty twenty were
the revelations that she thought rose things at her staff,
(18:02):
sort of a white Sheila Jackson Lee if you want,
I hope a Bretdon's most bad. My god, y'all think
I'm kidding, But in political circles from people who knew
Sheila Jackson Lee, it was widely discussed and we would
all laugh. And how bad her breath smelled, I mean,
(18:24):
just horrible. Venezuela has seventeen percent of the world's oil reserves.
That's reserves, but it is only exporting one percent.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
The US.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
Blockade of Venezuelan oil, the the pushing out of American
interests in Venezuela, the lack of infrastructure, so basically they've
been doing what they could but not investing any of
it back into their assets have left them a shell
(19:06):
of what they were. But it's still the largest proven
reserves in the world.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
That's real. It's heavy crude that.
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Our country desperately wants and needs. I read early this
morning that there are six refineries in the United States
best placed to refine this heavy crude, and those six
(19:38):
refineries are located in the Great States of Texas and Louisiana.
Heavy crude, as I understand it, is far more expensive
to extract than like crude, which of course makes sense.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
It's a gooier.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
Element, a gooy or concoction, and that requires advanced techniques
like apparently the most prominent something called steam injection. And
as I understand it, America is the best at the
process of extracting and refining heavy crude. I also have
(20:25):
come to understand that the United States is incredibly dependent
on heavy crude.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
We need a lot more than we're able to get.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
In nineteen eighty in the United States, between ten and
twenty percent of crude oil imports were.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
The heavy crude variety.
Speaker 6 (20:45):
Today, the majority from ten to twenty percent to over
fifty percent are of US Crewe oil imports are heavy
crude oil at some say as much as seventy percent,
(21:05):
but we're not able to get that from Venezuela presently,
or at least we weren't. We have an appetite for
a lot more heavy crude, and Venezuela has billions of
barrels of it. The president says he's going to effectively
run the country till we get it stabilized. He's also
(21:29):
said we're not in the business of nation building. A
press release coming out overnight from the Vice President now
acting President of Venezuela that she looks forward to working
with the president, which is a definite change of tone.
But you have to think if you can keep the
corruption and ineffectiveness and foreign meddling from the Chinese, iranis
(21:49):
the Russians and Cubans.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
At Bay, which is not nothing.
Speaker 6 (21:55):
If you could start, you could fire up these plants
to run at full bandwidth overnight or within reason, and
you put some of that money into that economy, you're
going to get people off of their household dog as
dinner and looking more and more like the Venezuela that
(22:17):
was a richer country than Poland just a few decades
ago before they were plunged into the depths of poverty.
And that's going to make a world of difference. The
United States wants more heavy crude. Venezuela has billions of
barrels of it. Now, who's the loser out of this
(22:39):
Canada during this time? Their share of exports to this
country or their share of imports for America's heavy crud
has gone from fifteen percent to sixty percent, which would
enable us to get off of Canadian heavy crude the
(23:00):
Venezuelan economy, and boy, doesn't that change our negotiation process
with Henry. It is being reported by some news outlets
that a twenty six year old by the name of
William Defour has been charged after trying to break into
(23:23):
the Ohio home of.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
Vice President JD. Vans.
Speaker 6 (23:28):
He was using a hammer to break the windows to
gain access. That's being reported from w XIX. Bringing a
hammer to the home of a politician in their spouse.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
This is where Paul Pelosi lives.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
It is just one more reminder of the sacrifices of
serving in public life. If you are a Republican today,
our president was shot in the head, and but for
God's favor, President Trump would be a martyr today, just
as Charlie Kirk turned out to be Rand Paul was
hospitalized and almost died Steve Scalise by a gunman who
(24:16):
was a Bernie Bro gunned down out on the field
during the Congressional softball game practice. Reminder that the Bernie
bro walked past some Democrats and asked if that was
the Republicans who were practicing over there. That was as
(24:37):
clear as day, a targeted attack, as clear as day.
Venezuela's experts to the United States. Our importation of Venezuelan
and heavy crude, which as I understand, is a blend
you use.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
With the light crud, not one or the other.
Speaker 6 (25:01):
We just happened to be really good at refining the
heavy crew, especially the states of Texas and Louisiana. And
what we need a lot more of for a more
balanced diet is that heavy crew from Venezuela that we're
now having to get a much larger percent, over fifty
percent of from Canada. This would be highly profitable for
(25:27):
a number of folks, but it would also be very
good for the American consumer. Now, a number of people
within the sound of my voice are cringing right now
because people in the oil and gas industry are not well.
Most people in the oil and gas industry are not
(25:47):
making money under Trump the way they did under Biden.
And that is because when you open up production and
you flood to market with more product, gasoline at the pump,
as you and I see see it. There are other uses,
but that's how we primarily see it. When you drive
gas prices down into the two dollars two to three
(26:09):
dollars range fifty seven dollars a barrel as opposed to
seventy where they'd like to see it, that's really good
for you and me.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
That's really good.
Speaker 6 (26:21):
If you took a driving trip over the Christmas holidays
to see Grandma, or Niagara Falls, or West Coast or
the East Coast, or wherever you went, you noticed that
you had more money to spend on food and fun
that would have previously been spent on fuel. And that
makes a world a difference in an election year. That
(26:42):
is a back pocket issue that is easy for people
to understand, even easier than a carton of eggs ramon.
Everybody feels their tank. Ford just announcing a couple of
weeks ago that the F one P fifty electric will
no longer be preduce for all intents and purposes. The
(27:02):
major American auto manufacturers, save and except Tesla or exiting
the electric vehicle experiment. But as we've said all along,
that was never a market based decision to get into
that business. It was always given by government herrot instead.
(27:24):
The market for the electric vehicle was primarily in California,
and you'll remember California announced that by twenty thirty they
would be electric vehicle only. They just drove Valero out
of that state at a cost of over a billion dollars.
We've never seen anything like that in the modern era,
where a company willingly chooses to exit a state in
(27:44):
the Union, relocate to another, shutdown operations there now in
what they're referring to as the gas desert now or
the energy desert, and that's when to take offline. I
believe the number, don't quote me. It was five percent
of production in California. There are still people driving gasoline
powered automobiles there and they have the highest gas prices
(28:08):
in the country, and that's only going to get worse.
You don't overnight replace that. The last standing EV maker
will be Tesla, but you have some others. I think
Rivian makes a pretty vehicle. I think they're styling and
design is very nice. Lucid, some of the others fisk
(28:29):
that went away or on the verge of going away,
have fallen to a lack of demand. A lot of
people bought electric vehicles as their second vehicle, not their primary.
It's a fun thing and they are fun there, are
fun to drive. They're far more responsive than an internal
combustion engine. They're quicker off the line. They got some
(28:52):
neat aspects to them, and no doubt about it, but
they're simply not practical. They're like a second home if
you can afford it, a second at home on the beach,
a second home at the lake, a second home in
the mountains. But you can't make a living there. It's
not sustainable, not practical. And eventually you ran through the
number of people who wanted an electric vehicle as their
(29:16):
primary driver, and that number is very, very small. And
you call Mike Batches said lone star Chevy. You find
out that chevyes are back. You find out that American vehicles,
traditional gas powered vehicles are back.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
What does that mean?
Speaker 6 (29:34):
Lower cost of gas at the at the pump no
longer a seventy five subsidy as of September of twenty
twenty four that phased out you're not going to be
producing all these electrical electric vehicles. You're not going to
get the tax benefits, you're not getting the regulatory requirements.
(29:55):
All of that adds up to we need more gasoline,
and the the more gasoline you flood to market with,
the cheaper it is for you and me, for the
consumer who is also a voter. Venezuela holds more oil
reserves than any other country in the world. Reportedly I
(30:17):
read earlier this morning, if they hold more than twenty
percent twenty sorry, they hold twenty percent more oil reserves
than Saudi Arabia. Now that is amazing. You think about that.
That is a fact that does not get discussed very often.
President Trump said after the raid quote, We're going to
have our very large US oil companies go in, spend
(30:41):
billions of dollars, fix the broken oil infrastructure, and start
making money. He also says the US will sell large
amounts of oil pumped from Venezuela. He also said that
some of that will go to China, who is dependent
on Venezuela and oil.
Speaker 1 (30:58):
People are mad at him for that, but.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
I think this is not the time to be threatening
China til we get a better hold on that country.
I think that was meant to a sage any Chinese concerns. Hey,
look guys, you're gonna get your Venezuelan oil. I will
make sure of that, So let me do what I'm
doing Inezuela. In Venezuela, the Chinese envoy was on Venezuelan
(31:22):
and soil when Maduro was taken out. It's supposed to
be over one hundred thousand chinamen in Venezuela today.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
That's a lot. They got a lot going on here
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