A president is kidnapped, the government remains, and we’re told it isn’t regime change. We pull back the curtain on what our guest calls “regime changeover,” a strategy that uses spectacle and lawfare to force leverage without admitting occupation. From sanctions that harden national unity to a reworked indictment against Nicolás Maduro that quietly retreats from early cartel claims, we dissect how narratives are built, sold, and then reshaped when facts don’t fit the script.

We get specific about why Venezuela resists the usual playbook. The Bolivarian civil-military structure blunts elite-driven coups, and a hybrid economy makes redistribution politics both urgent and volatile. When sanctions stall, pressure shifts to the shadows: covert action, destabilization, and the threat of a managed civil war. But force carries a heavy price. Without the will to occupy, Washington risks isolating itself across Latin America and the Global South while strengthening alternative alliances. That’s where heavy crude and strategic minerals enter the story—these aren’t just commodities; they’re logistical lifelines for militaries and power systems in a world edging toward multipolar confrontation.

The regional map matters. Cutting fuel flows to Cuba raises the stakes, inviting Russian or Iranian lifelines and reviving Cold War optics—tankers instead of missiles. Meanwhile, the financial track turns sanctions into profit centers, enabling distressed-asset deals and court-enabled seizures that move wealth under the veneer of legality. At home, executive overreach and headline diplomacy make lasting agreements harder, not easier. Durable deals rely on predictability and trust; tweets and tariffs deliver neither. We close with a clear takeaway: if the policy toolkit is limited to pressure and spectacle, the outcome is shrinking leverage, hardened resistance, and a region looking elsewhere for partners.

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CHAPTERS:

• 0:35 Meet Patrick Henningson
• 1:12 Defining Regime Change In Venezuela
• 2:36 Trump’s Rhetoric Versus Reality
• 3:11 Regime Changeover And U.S. Long Game
• 6:29 Why Venezuela Resists Coups
• 8:21 From Sanctions To Jackals
• 9:56 The Limits Of Force And Soft Power
• 12:24 DOJ’s Shifting Case Against Maduro
• 16:43 Media, Intelligence, And Fabricated Narratives
• 19:45 Oil, Minerals, And A Desperate Hegemon
• 24:27 Cuba As The Next Domino
• 26:06 Oligarchs, Lawfare, And Asset Seizures
• 30:20 Heavy Crude And War Planning
• 33:58 Provoking Russia And Global Risk
• 39:22 Donors, Lobbies, And Foreign Policy Control
• 44:04 Constitution, Power, And Creeping Authoritarianism