Are we headed in to Venezuela? Jon Decker has concerns.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The weekend here. You know, there's some pretty good movies
opening up this weekend. We'll talk about it now. You
see me now you don't remember that movie before. It
was really good. And there's another one out now and
we'll find out is it the prequel, the sequel, or
is it a redo completely on that That is a
new one opening up this weekend as well. So Kevin
Flannag will be here. There's another big one opening up
and he'll tell us more about that. And a nice

(00:21):
streaming series right now, it's on Peacock so we started watching.
It's actually pretty good. So we'll get more on that
coming up in just a bit as well. As I mentioned,
Kevin Cirilli will be along in about seven to ten. Yeah,
we'll talk more about what's going on with AI and
where it's going to.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Joining us now.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
John Decker, our White House correspondent on what's going on
with the president this morning. John, welcome in, Thanks for
being here.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Hey, thanks JT. Thanks for having me on today. I appreciate.
Happy Friday to you.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
By the way, let's go buddy into the weekend.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
We roll here and yeah, it's gonna be sunny and
seventy five here today, tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
And Sunday, so excellent weather. Jet.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
We know Venezuela is a trouble spot in this globe
where they've been a problem for the United States for
a long time. They are a dictatorship. Things don't run
well there, the front and center definition and example of
how socialism does not work that country back in the
day solid as far as economy and growth and everything

(01:21):
like that, now disastrous. So the President now is being
presented with some military options for Venezuela.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Why are they talking about it? Yeah? What's going on here? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:31):
He is. You know, just the other day, I'm at
the White House and I see entering into the West
wing the President's war Cabinet, his war council is National
Security Team Pete Hegseith heading into the National Security Room
as well as Mark Rubio. And Mark Rubio is really
leading the way in terms of urging the President to

(01:52):
take action against the regime of Nicholas Maduro. It's one
of the reasons why that aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford,
it's the largest aircraft carrier in the US fleet. It
has been moved into the region and JT that sends
a very strong message to Nicholas Meduro. Beyond what we're

(02:12):
seeing taking place right now, which is the US military
taking out those alleged drug boats in international waters, the
President wants to remove Maduro clearly from power. And the
big question is how do you do it? How do
you do it without having boots on the ground, American
boots on the ground. And I think that's what the
War Council meeting was all about, you know, presenting options

(02:34):
to the President that he can take against Maduro.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Look, I understand that, you know, this guy's a horrible guy,
but and you know, is the reason we want to
take this big action. And you see the whole team
walking down the White House hallways going in to discuss this.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Is it the drug situation?

Speaker 3 (02:53):
Well that's the pretext for sure, But beyond that, it's
what you mentioned at the very top of our second.
You know, Maduro is someone who is a socialist, communist
dictator who was not duly elected. There was an election
in Venezuela and he defied the results in which he

(03:16):
was essentially removed from power by the people and there
at that election. So I think that that is the
reason why the President is contemplating taking military action. You
don't move an aircraft carrier into the region. You don't
have this meeting of the War Council unless you're thinking
of an option to somehow remove Maduro from power. And
I realized quite well as does the President, that that

(03:39):
could be at odds with what you know, his base
really wants. You know, the President has always run in
every time he's run on no more wars, and this
would be certainly a military conflict. But it's a military
conflict that you know, because of the huge firepower that
the US has compared with Venezuela, the President believes could
be over relatively quickly. But there's no doubt about it. JT.

(04:02):
You would need an American troop presence on the ground
to achieve your objectives.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
You know, there are a lot of bad leaders globally
that are horrible to the people and execute them in
the streets, and our dictators and you know, keep them,
you know, under wraps, and control the economies that are
just as bad as Maduro.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Why him? Why now?

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Well, the President has already cited as that reason the
drugs that flow into our country. He believes that the
direction of Nicholas Maduro, that's the primary reason, and it's
in our hemisphere. You know, You're right, there are dictators
all around the world, but this, you know, is not
far relatively from the United States of America. And you

(04:45):
have Mark Rubio, Mark Rubio for him, you know, it's
it's a real important issue. Mark Rubio whose family emigrated
from Cuba, and he understands the effects of dictatorships on
a population. And so I think that's one of the
reasons why the President is weighing this as a possibility.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, taking military action versus sending a CIA op like
Jason Bourne in there to poison his food. Is it
better to do it militarily? So the world sees this
as opposed to US secret ops.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
Well the president, as you know, you just referenced something
that the President has acknowledged taking, and that is a
CIA officials essentially on the ground in Venezuela. You know
what you suggest. I don't know how easy it is
or difficult it is to get to Maduro himself, right,
but you know, clearly the President would very much like

(05:40):
to see Nicholas Maduro no longer the leader of Venezuela.
How you do that? That's the difficult answer to supply
by the.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
President I'm just envisioning that Osama bin Laden movie where
they got in there and you know, nobody knew they
were going, nobody knew when they were going, and they
had like, you know, eight or ten guys go in.
Of course, one of the helicopters crashed, but you know,
I see that more than you know boots on the ground,
full on troops, like World War two or something like that.
All right, John, thanks buddy, have a great weekend. I

(06:09):
appreciate you, and don't forget John Decker. Check them out
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