Venturing down the rabbit hole to plumb Trump’s motivations is a doomed task with Venezuela the most immediate mystery. Damaging the fentanyl trade is a worthy cause except that would mean targeting Mexico not further south; and even cocaine mainly sourced out of Colombia comes into the USA from other places. Oil is a possibility since Venezuela has almost a fifth of all known global reserves – but it accounts for less than 1% of world production. Most of Venezuela’s reserves are “heavy sour” crude, which is expensive to extract.
Regime change appeals to Trump since the main allies of Venezuela are China, Russia and Iran. Immigration is another excuse since millions of Venezuelans have fled the economic crisis and political repression there with hundreds of thousands going to the US.
But none of the above really explain why Trump is so intent on Maduro’s capture or why US warships are within striking distance of Venezuela, with dozens already killed in attacks on boats alleged to have been transporting drugs.
[My own tuppence worth is he is play acting what he thinks a president ought to be. In typically contrary fashion he wants a Nobel Peace Prize for Gaza, Ukraine etc etc to even up with Obama; and at the same time he wants to bestride the globe like a latter day Alexander the Great.]His dutiful bagman Pete Hegseth, the hapless Defence Secretary, loyally following his whims has been accused of war crimes in killing survivors of bombed ships. Democrats called him “incompetent, reckless, and a threat to the lives of the men and women who serve in the armed forces”. “He has lied, dodged, deflected, and shockingly scapegoated his subordinates.” He also violated Pentagon policies by sharing sensitive details via the Signal messaging app hours before airstrikes in Yemen.
Maduro is looking highly unsettled with tr Uranus opposition his Sun Mercury, more so after July with Uranus square his Uranus and a discouraging Solar Arc Sun conjunct his Saturn in 2026 as well.
His relationship chart with Trump is implicitly hostile with a composite power-struggling Mars Pluto conjunction just below the horizon. Which may be another reason for the attacks – Trump always needs someone on whom to vent his spleen. Maduro just happens to be handy. On the relationship chart it looks to be rumbling on certainly throughout 2026.
Pete Hegseth, 6 June 1980 8.28pm Forest Lake Minnesota, shows no signs of budging immediately though tr Saturn in late March and then tr Neptune opposition his Midheaven in July onwards may take the ground out from under his feet. He does have his Solar Arc Pluto square his Jupiter at the moment which can either mean he is brass-necking it out or running into conflicts with authorities – in Congress maybe. He is in calamity territory this month and again mid March to mid April and will have a few down moments in late January 2026 as tr Saturn squares his Venus and opposes his Moon.
Where his relationship with Trump may blow up is July/August 2026 and on when tr Uranus squares their composite Mars Jupiter. Hegseth’s relationship chart with Maduro is exceedingly stressed from now right through 2026 and beyond.
For details, charts etc see previous post September 17 2025 Venezuela
Reasons unknown? The whole Venezuela thing is about deflecting from the Epstein files, which are getting more exposure by the day.
It seems so apt that Hegseth’s Moon is conjunct Scheat and is being hammered right now by the retrograde Saturn/Neptune conjunction. You just have to look at Astrology King on the nature of the star and the constellation of Pegasus in general:
‘The constellation portends events concerning ships and the ocean and also changes in the weather. In medieval times, it was said to indicate vain individuals with a great deal of ambition but very poor judgment.’
Conjunct the Moon: ‘The native makes enemies known and unknown, and the native may become controversial. There is the possibility of a tendency towards fantasizing by some of these natives. Possibility of illness. Self-destructive tendencies.’ And: ‘danger of accidents and by water.’
Consider exploring the recently released 2025 National Security Strategy (NSS) of the USA.
– Spheres of influence by dominant countries
– USA to dominate Western Hemisphere
– Discouraging Latin American nations from working with other nations (China/Russia)
Complete shift from post WWII model.
Indeed. This has taken place under a Water/Earth Grand Kite, focal point Uranus at 28 Taurus. It’s an important moment.
It is stunning to me that other nations have said barely a peep about this let alone imposed sanctions.
Monroe Doctrine?
Maybe it’s not the oil per se but Venezuela’s membership of OPEC that Trump is after.
Could it be because a woman from Venezuela won the Nobel Peace Prize?
It may be that if Trump can say he is at war with Venezuela it gives him legal cover for his removal of people from the US to offshore sites.
@Marjorie, I think your instincts on Trump are right, but I would add that Trump is so fixated on the past, as with William McKinley’s tariffs of the 1890s. This attack on Venezuela harks back to American gunboat diplomacy focused on a broader period, mid-19th to early to mid-20th century. Maduro, so unpopular in his own country and propped up by Russia (an oddity to be sure considering Trump’s infatuation with Putin), is low-hanging fruit. He’s weak politically and militarily, an easy target to elevate Trump’s self-view as master of diplomacy and architect of regime change, a la Teddy Roosevelt (late 19th century) whose motto was “Walk softly and carry a big stick.” Except that Trump attempts to tromp loudly over everyone with his gunboats and weapons of war.
One more thing — Trump also is attempting to return to the Gilded Age of the 1890s and early 1900s, with his vulgar ostentation, gilding of the White House and construction of an obscene ballroom, accompanied by retrograde monetary, social and foreign policy and promotion of income inequality. I think he sees himself as a robber baron. Maduro is a fly to be crushed under his underlings’ jackboots.