Delivering independent news and analysis that champions progressive values, empowers communities, and holds power accountable for a stronger democracy.
President Donald Trump’s recent White House meeting with oil executives revealed more than a plan for Venezuelan energy.
It exposed a doctrine that treats international law as optional, constrained only by his personal “morality.” Continue reading “Trump’s Petro-Presidency and the Death of Legal Restraint”
Jared Kushner’s renewed role in Trump-world diplomacy has not come through a formal appointment or Senate confirmation. Instead, it has emerged through Jared Kushner shadow diplomacy—an informal but powerful arrangement that places him at the center of foreign negotiations while avoiding public accountability.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly described Kushner as a key dealmaker, particularly in Middle East affairs, despite Kushner holding no official government position. That choice bypasses established diplomatic channels and raises serious concerns about transparency, oversight, and conflicts of interest. Continue reading “Jared Kushner’s Shadow Diplomacy: Foreign Money, Unofficial Power, and Trump’s Backchannel Statecraft”
Trump’s Venezuela strike triggered an immediate constitutional crisis, beginning with his early morning Truth Social post declaring “we got him” and continuing through a chest-thumping Mar-a-Lago monologue that followed. The announcement did not read like a national security briefing. It read like a president auditioning for the role of Caesar with a cable-news highlight reel, except the Constitution was not a suggestion box and “details to follow” was not a legal theory. By Trump’s own account, the United States launched a large-scale military assault on Venezuela, captured its sitting president, and declared it would now “run the country.”
If Trump’s description was taken at face value—air, land, and sea attacks; disabled defenses; boots on the ground; a seized head of state; and plans for U.S. oil companies to “go in” and “start making money”—the operation was not a narrow, time-limited response to an imminent threat. It was unilateral war-making paired with regime change and occupation talk, announced like a luxury resort press event. Continue reading “Trump’s Venezuela Strike and the Constitutional Crisis of Unilateral War”
