Subject: Re: Trump butt-hurt about Canada

Steve, this is a good article on Politico on Venezuela and Colombia.

My first take is, the guy interviewed was a Trump appointee, so does not want to speak ill of his nibs. No, I don't believe his nibs is concerned about "democracy", or "human rights", as much as he is about making a big pile of money. It isn't just Venezuela. As commented before, making profits for US oil companies is a vector of many of his foreign policy "arty deals".

What I found particularly interesting, toward the bottom of the article, was the talk about how Venezuela has been "de-institutionalized", where all government departments have been filled with Maduro yes-men. Sounds much like the operation his nibs is working in the US.

Notable is the diplomat seems to think T may have concerns about democracy, but that's 5th in his priorities. I would think there is no concern, but possibly I'm cynical. :)

His nibs's life experience has been as CEO of a closely held company. He is used to being a dictator. That is his default management mode.

Steve