Trump’s actions in Venezuela resembled a “corporate hostile takeover:” A firm acquires its rival and swaps out the chief executive. The new owners hold off on its destruction with stability being the chief priority.
New from me on the limits of replaying the approach in Cuba
qz.com/trump-takeov...
Personal news — this is my last week at The Washington Post.
My next destination is settled, and I’ll share more soon.
Until then, subscribe to the newsletter for the right amount of Bogage in your life. And please keep supporting The Post.
👀 What if I told you there was a hidden art gallery scattered across the country?
What if I told you some of its treasures had vanished?
What if I told you that I found them?
A project three years in the making (🎁 gift link):
Today, the Washington Post laid off more than 300 people.
If you think this is abt Jeff Bezos's concern that the paper losing money, you're wrong.
So wrong that you should be disqualified from expressing opinions in public.
Billionaires *like* losses. They *need* losses.
Republicans who have known Nancy Mace for years are increasingly worried about her. But why is she like this?
A number of scoops and new details here, including her recently departed campaign chief going on the record to call for her to leave electoral politics altogether: nymag.com/intelligence...
President Trump gathered with chief executives from U.S. and European oil companies on Friday to drum up private-sector cash for his plans to salvage Venezuela's devastated oil sector and exploit its reserves.
They're not buying what he's selling so far qz.com/trump-venezu...
Trump promised oil executives at Mar-a-Lago in 2024 that they would get a “deal” if they donated lavishly to his presidential campaign. They did. Almost 2 years later, it’s safe to say Venezuela wasn’t part of the deal they signed up for.
New for Quartz on a surreal week:
qz.com/trump-venezu...
This amounts to either a day or two of US oil consumption depending on the final amount.
What’s more significant is Trump will control up to $3 billion in oil revenue. Spoils of war. There’s nothing stopping him from shaking down the post-Maduro government for more
bsky.app/profile/apne...
OPINION by @josephzeballos.bsky.social:
“Already, Trump is making fresh threats that underscore the uncertainty of what’s next.”
READ MORE:
www.ms.now/opinion/vene...
Thanks for sharing Eric!
Bush strained to defend against accusations that the Iraq War was about oil. Today, President Donald Trump openly admits the U.S. is willing to carry out regime change in Venezuela to secure privileged access to the country’s oil reserves. Good @josephzeballos.bsky.social
www.ms.now/opinion/vene...
Venezuelan opposition leader Machado just over an hour ago: “Today we are prepared to assert our mandate and take power.”
Trump in news conference: “We’re going to run [Venezuela], essentially, until a proper transition can take place.”
It sounds like the most deranged Latin American caricature of yankee imperialism come to life. It would be comical if it weren’t serious.
New: Talked to Alex Bores, a NY assemblyman running for Congress in NY-12 and leading AI regulation effort in state.
On pro-AI spending against him: “I take that as a badge of honor"
On holding $250k fundraiser for Hochul while his AI bill is before her: "I'm a team player” qz.com/alex-bores-n...
"When journalism is treated as a crime, press freedom is no longer guaranteed."
Read NPC President @mikebalsamo.bsky.social's full statement on Jimmy Lai's conviction at the link:
www.press.org/newsroom/nat...
This is the last thing domestic toy makers want to hear. They’ve already been hit by $1 billion in tariffs and plenty are grappling with a drop in sales. Some are laying off workers too. Now Trump is pushing austerity before Christmas qz.com/toy-tariff-s...
bsky.app/profile/theb...
A web page for the White House with the subbed “Media Offenders: Eric Garcia.”
Thanks for reading, Mr. President
“Mafalda” was recently translated to English for the 1st time. Surprised it took this long, but I wrote the column to recommend the strip as an enjoyable holiday read.
The malfunctioning world in the 1960s and 70s that Argentina’s Mafalda ragged on is still the same in many ways. She’s timeless
“Perhaps Americans are a little more ready now to hear a young girl take apart politicians of all stripes at a moment when President Donald Trump is strong-arming private and public institutions into submission.. with little resistance.”
Me on the “Mafalda” comic strip:
qz.com/mafalda-arge...
For the past decade, conversations around autism shifted from focusing around curing #ActuallyAutistic people to accommodating and accepting autistic people. We now live in the RFK Jr. backlash, which shifts discussions around autism toward prevention
www.ms.now/opinion/rfk-...
from the former BLS commissioner whom Trump fired this summer:
NEW: As Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick drives billions of dollars in foreign payments to help build AI data centers in the US, his sons help run a company earning tens of millions in fees helping finance AI data centers. A NYT investigation. (Free link)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...
New: Reuters has tallied job losses, suspensions and investigations stemming from the reaction to Charlie Kirk's Sept. 10 assassination. Its findings: More than 600 Americans have been punished, and the figure is likely to be an under-count.
www.reuters.com/investigatio...
I can think of at least one other authoritarian leader who also threatened broadcast licenses of TV networks he deemed hostile. A troubling threshold to cross www.ms.now/opinion/msnb...
bsky.app/profile/atru...
It was a long dinner, with plenty of intense back-and-forth about everything from the bailout, to deregulation, to the foreclosure crisis. I also talked to Larry about an idea I’d been working on for a new consumer financial agency and he seemed interested. We didn’t agree on everything, but I give Larry full credit: I’ll take honest conversation and debate any day of the week over the duck-and-cover stuff I so often saw in Washington that spring. Late in the evening, Larry leaned back in his chair and offered me some advice. By now, I’d lost count of Larry’s Diet Cokes, and our table was strewn with bits of food and spilled sauces. Larry’s tone was in the friendly-advice category. He teed it up this way: I had a choice. I could be an insider or I could be an outsider. Outsiders can say whatever they want. But people on the inside don’t listen to them. Insiders, however, get lots of access and a chance to push their ideas. People — powerful people — listen to what they have to say. But insiders also understand one unbreakable rule: They don’t criticize other insiders. I had been warned.
FWIW, Elizabeth Warren and Larry Summers go back years. They had this interaction in 2009 after the 2008 financial crisis and the ensuing Great Recession.
billmoyers.com/2014/09/05/i...
White House unveils preliminary trade deal w/Argentina:
- Eases Arg beef imports to US
- Eliminates non-tariff barriers for US exports
- Tag-team for “stabilizing” global soybean trade (no soybean sales listed)
- Promise of future critical mineral trade/investment www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-st...
Trump on Truth Social this AM:
“A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone” from tariff funds
No idea how he pulls this off w/o going to Congress first. Trump once demanded $2k checks during pandemic. Rs swiftly rejected it
New: Checked in w/senators on Musk’s trillion dollar pay package, first of its kind
Dem Sen. Warren: “Time to start talking about Marie Antoinette”
Dem Sen. Kaine: “It’s gross”
Dem Sen. Warner: “Feels like a new Gilded Age”
GOP Sen. Lankford joked you can “go buy a country” qz.com/elon-musk-pa...
RIP Ed Cody, a quintessential old-school foreign correspondent who could parachute into anyplace in the world, find the story and file within hours. He was never happier than when he was in the field running toward the sound of the guns. www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...
