Posted on 05/09/2019 6:51:24 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
President Trump is questioning his administration’s aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a U.S.-backed effort to oust President Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist strongman with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers.
The president’s dissatisfaction has crystallized around national security adviser John Bolton and what Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires.
Trump has said in recent days that Bolton wants to get him “into a war” — a comment that he has made in jest in the past but that now betrays his more serious concerns, one senior administration official said.
The administration’s policy is officially unchanged in the wake of a fizzled power play last week by U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó. But U.S. officials have since been more cautious in their predictions of Maduro’s swift exit, while reassessing what one official described as the likelihood of a diplomatic “long haul.”
U.S. officials point to the president’s sustained commitment to the Venezuela issue, from the first weeks of his presidency as evidence that he holds a realistic view of the challenges there and does not think there is a quick fix.
But Trump has nonetheless complained over the past week that Bolton and others underestimated Maduro, according to three senior administration officials who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
Trump has said that Maduro is a “tough cookie” and that aides should not have led him to believe that the Venezuelan leader could be ousted last week, when Guaidó led mass street protests that turned deadly.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Oh my, I probably get more reliable info from the supermarket tabloids as opposed to the Daily Bezos.
You know it’s hogwash propaganda when they have to use more than one person to write it.
It takes four people to write this article? The only thing to know for sure is that the Washington Post hates Bolton and will do anything to end his career.
If the CIA, the Pentagon and NSA were not still controlled by Obama acolytes, that coup would have been successful. Trump still does not control the levers of power. Comey, Brennan, McCabe, Clapper and Lynch tried to rig a Presidential election and prevent a duly elected man from taking office. Yet they remain free. No surprise that Maduro still rules.
Smells like BS to me.
Unless this is fiction. Trump should figure out who can’t keep their mouths shut and fire them. Firing squad would be more to the point!
Notice the MSM is whining about NK and Iran again?
All on cue.
Trump is fighting the deep state which is deeply embedded in the government. CIA is rogue and do not do what is good for We the People.
Well they let the time pass to do anything and now the Ruskies and PRCs and Islamists are in for good.
I'm going to assume this is fake news.
After Trump's well-documented criticism of the idiocy known as the Iraq War, I find it hard to believe he'd be dumb enough to believe anything he's told by anyone claiming to be a "foreign policy advisor" or "national security expert."
It’s not Trump’s fault that Guaido couldn’t muster the support to boot Maduro.
*It’s not the Trump administration’s fault...
The WP wants to present this as some kind of failure that Trump hasn’t gone to war against Venezuela. If he had gone to war in Venezuela it would also have touted that as a failure of Trump’s policies.
Post again, eh?
Lose Bolton quickly, Mr President.
I say somebody in the State Department promised the Venezuelans help that never came.
Run 4 B-52s nap of the earth over Caracas at full military power around noon to simulate an Arclight strike.
Change will come very quickly.
Right now the regime feels safe and trusts its own meager defenses.
Bolton seems a bit trigger-happy.
We need more Boltons.
Maduro needs to be treated like old Pineapple Head in Panama. And while we’re at it Raul Castro in Cuba and Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.
In fact, if the only way we can stop the Central Americans from coming north is to take over the countries I’m all for it. There was nothing wrong with Dole and United Fruit running those governments.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.