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Host/Narrator
Democrats are finally hitting back hard at Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And these Democrats I'm about to highlight are not mincing words. That Donald Trump engaged in an unlawful invasion of Venezuela. That Donald Trump has turned his back to the United States. People who Donald Trump has defrauded. Promising on making things more affordable on day one, but making things way less affordable, destroying the economy in the United States. And now engaged in this imperial, idealistic adventurism to try to show off to Vladimir Putin like the bootlicker that he is. Let's go through what went down here. Democratic Congressmember Eric Swalwell, who's running for governor of California, brutally mocked Donald Trump live on cnn. And he said, Donald Trump doesn't even know how to run a casino. He bankrupts company after company and now Donald Trump says that he wants to operate and occupy himself a country of 28 million. Donald Trump couldn't run freaking social media company. You think he's going to be able to run Venezuela? And we see Donald Trump screwing up over and over again already. He's already thrown the opposition leader Maria Corinna Machado under the bus. Take a look at what Democratic Congressmember Eric Swalwell had to say here. Play this clip.
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Agree with them?
Democratic Congressmember Eric Swalwell
Well, I do. And, you know, I talk to Californians all over the state and going into Venezuela and, quote, running that country ranks at about 200th on their priorities. They're not focused on Venezuela. They're focused on the cost in Ventura and Vallejo, the rent in Los Angeles and the grocery prices in Pasadena. And they have no faith that Donald Trump can run a country who couldn't run a casino. And now he's going to run a country in South America while we watch as he fails to run a country in North America. That doesn't add up. And neither does this whole concept that we're going to get the oil from Venezuela and that it will pay for itself. Essentially, we heard that over 20 years ago from George Bush that we get the oil from Iraq and that cost us $3 trillion.
Host/Narrator
And next up, I'll show you what Democratic Congress member my friend Ro Khanna had to say right here where he goes, we're not an empire. What the hell are you doing, Donald? Here, play this clip.
Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna
Venezuela. The other thing I think people misunderstand about the American people is there's a morality to our foreign policy and our values. And we don't like to just go take another country's oil. Like, that's not who we are as a people. And this is going to offend a lot of Americans. Like, that's not what America does. We're not an empire. We don't go marching into countries and just take their stuff. We're the country that fights for freedom. And I think people who are just looking at this from a legalistic perspective or saying he's not listening to Americans are missing the fundamental morality that most Americans have.
Host/Narrator
Next up, Democratic Congress member Dan Goldman said the following. Let's play it.
Democratic Congressmember Dan Goldman
But Donald Trump in his address today revealed what I think is the reason, and it is oil. And it is that Donald Trump promised oil executives that if they gave him a billion dollars for his campaign, that he would do right by them. And they gave about 500 million. And this is a massive gift that is in violation of international law and is essentially just co opting an entire country's natural resources for the benefit of US Companies when we have so many things that we need to deal with here at home. None of this affects grocery prices or health care or wages or prices of rent. None of this has anything to do with helping those issues which are central to the American people. We are now venturing Donald Trump is taking us into another amorphous, shapeless and unknown chart unchartered territory now with taking over another country.
Host/Narrator
Congressmember Seth Moulton, who's running for Senate in Massachusetts, had to say the following to Aaron Parnas from the Midas Touch Network, play this clip. Well, so then I have to ask you, I mean, what is the conversations like behind the scenes with Republicans today? Are any of them as frustrated as Democrats or all of them kind of just in lockstep with this administration? No, they're just cowards. They're just scared they'll do whatever Trump wants. And I've heard them say, I've heard them say explicitly, if Biden were doing this, we would be raising bloody hell. But they won't do anything to oppose Trump aside from one or two like, let's give credit where credit is due. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Air Force veteran, he's doing the right thing, but he's pretty much the only one. Back to Congressmember Swalwell for a moment. He talks about how Donald Trump bombed Nigeria, Syria and now Venezuela. This guy's the guy who claims he's going to lower costs on day one, but he's getting America into all of these wars and he claims he wants, or he thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. How pathetic can you get? Watch Congressmember Swalwell right here. Bring receipts and facts. Play this clip.
Democratic Congressmember Eric Swalwell
Of course, you know Donald Trump was always going to violate the constitution and invade Venezuela. He's done the exact opposite of what he's promised he'd do since he took office. And that is frankly, the biggest betrayal he's made as president. He promised he'd end all, all wars on day one. In two weeks, he's bombed Nigeria, Syria and now Venezuela. He said he'd lower costs on day one. And then he put a tariff tax in place that has raised everyone's costs. And he said he released the Epstein files. And of course, he has buried them. So politicians break promises all the time. That happens. But almost none of them do the exact opposite of what got them elected. And that's what Donald Trump just did with this action in Venezuela.
Narrator/Advertiser Voice
We heard the Secretary, Next up you.
Host/Narrator
Have Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna again saying, really, why is this guy, why is Trump spending all this time in Argentina, Venezuela, the Middle East? Why isn't he talking about Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin? What happened to manufacture, by the way? This is how it's done right here. Play this clip of Congressmember Ro Khanna. Let's play it.
Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna
Well, after the initial strikes, I saw some folks in MAGA, like Mike Lee, trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, saying this was just a strike and a capture of Madero. Now that's a violation of international law. It's going to have terrible consequences. But then I think Trump made it worse. He goes up to the press conference and he says, no, it wasn't just a limited strike. We may go back in there, we're going to run the place. And he's got no plan for how he's going to do that. And now the American people are thinking, well, how much is this going to cost us to be able to have troops there? What is the plan? Are we really going to be a police keeping force in Venezuela? And why is our president spending so much time talking about Argentina, Venezuela, the Middle east? And he's not spending time talking about Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin? What happened to the manufacturing jobs? What happened to lowering prices from day one? It just makes him look totally out of touch.
Host/Narrator
Next up, you have Democratic Congressmember Dan Goldman talking about how Donald Trump's pretext for invading Venezuela saying that Maduro was engaged in drug trafficking. Yeah, you think that makes sense when this is the same Donald Trump who pardoned one of the Big o, the biggest narco terrorists out there, Juan Orlando Hernandez, the dictator, the former narco terrorist dictator of Honduras, who said, get those drugs up the gringo's nose and let's kill Americans with that cocaine.
Democratic Congressmember Ryan
Yeah.
Host/Narrator
Donald Trump pardoned that guy who was El Chapo's right hand. So we think that Donald Trump cares about narco terrorists. No, Donald Trump wants to seize the oil. But by the way, I guess the one thing I'd push back on Congressmember Goldman here is that during Donald Trump's press conference, there was no pretext. He said, we want the oil for the American oil companies. That's why we did this. We're gonna occupy territories to seize their resources. What the hel are we doing here? Here, play this clip.
Democratic Congressmember Dan Goldman
Because what it reveals is that this pretext about trying to bring Nicolas Maduro to justice for his drug trafficking is total bogus because the Honduran president was just pardoned notwithstanding an actual conviction in U.S. court for the same thing. And not, not to mention that an MS.13 leader who was extradited to the Eastern District of New York, his case was actually just dism about 9 months ago so that he could be deported back to El Salvador and where Donald Trump has a budding bromance with President Bukele. So it can't be that only narco terrorism in Venezuela is worth battling, but narco terrorism in Honduras and El Salvador is perfectly fine. And that's why it gives the lie to this explanation.
Host/Narrator
Then I interviewed Democratic Congress member Ryan. Here's what he told me. And he's a veteran. He served tours of duty in Iraq. He's lost his close friends in war and combat zone. Here's what he had to tell me here. Play Congressmember Ryan. Let's play it.
Democratic Congressmember Ryan
Thanks for having me. Thanks for covering this. And I think you mentioned it in my bio as somebody that served 27 months in combat. This is not a good day for our country. Americans are now, we got to be very clear and strong about this. This does not make the American people safer. It does not make America stronger. It certainly tarnishes our reputation. And for those of us that served in Iraq and Afghanistan in particular, on a personal level, this is us starting, clearly starting another forever war which the American people do not support. It's very clear. This is not about drugs. Trump in, I mean the, the press conference was stunning in just straight up admitting this is a war for oil and he is willing to send our blood and treasure, our tax dollars and our precious young men and women to, quote, run Venezuela, whatever the hell that means, with no plan, clearly no coordination, as you just talked about, with any of the legitimate or illegitimate leaders on the ground there. So this is a really dark day for our country. And I think anybody that loves this country and the values we stand for has to be outraged. I mean, I am outraged right now. I was watching this press conference with my two young boys who are 4 and 6, and I had to hold back my rage as my 6 year old asked me, why are we bombing in another country? And that's just, it's also, by the way, sorry, it's the opposite of what Donald Trump ran on.
Host/Narrator
Blatantly play this clip right here of Democratic Congressmember Swalwell saying, guess what, guess who also has a warrant out for their arrest. Vladimir Putin. So Donald, you want to go and arrest Putin right now? Nah, it's you. Putin and Xi Jinping are doing spheres of influence. Trump Saying he's taking the Western Hemisphere, that he wants every other country in the Western Hemisphere to be a vassal state of the United States and be subservient. And he'll take your resources, whether you're Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, Caribbean, Greenland. Trump is. That's what Trump said. He says it's called the Don Row Doctrine. Literally, that's what Trump said. And Trump was posting images of himself stepping all over Canada and Mexico and Central America holding a bat or a club that says the Don Rowe Doctrine, because that's what Donald Trump's view is. He gets Western Hemisphere, Putin gets Europe, and Xi Jinping gets Asia. That's Trump's perspective of the world. Play this clip right here of what Swalwell said for your time.
Narrator/Advertiser Voice
We're glad to have you here. The it's good to see you. The president and his administration today going to great lengths to talk about how this is Department of Justice Operation Law Enforcement that was supported by the Department of Defense, by the military, legally speaking. Do you believe this is within the DOJ's purview?
Democratic Congressmember Eric Swalwell
Absolutely not. Vladimir Putin has an arrest warrant, you know, out for his conduct in Ukraine. And Donald Trump certainly is not going and arresting Vladimir Putin and invading that country and saying that we're going to run it without a plan.
Host/Narrator
And of course, now you have the mayor of New York, newly appointed, newly elected mayor of New York, Zoran Mamdani. During a speech that he gave today, he said that I called up Donald Trump and I voiced my extreme condemnation of his invasion of Venezuela and the capture of Maduro. Play this clip.
Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna
As well as other members of my team, I called the president and spoke with him directly to register my opposition to this act and to make clear that it was an opposition based on being opposed to a pursuit of regime change, to the violation of federal international law, and a desire to see that be consistent each and every day.
Narrator/Advertiser Voice
And what was his response to you in that conversation?
Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna
I registered my opposition. I made it clear, and we left it at that.
Host/Narrator
Then we heard from former Vice President Kamala Harris. She issued the following statement. Donald Trump's actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger and more affordable. That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We've seen this movie before. Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos and American families pay the price. The American people do not want this, and they are tired of being lied to. This is not about drugs or democracy. It's about oil and Donald Trump's desire to play the regional strongman. If he cared about either, he wouldn't pardon a convicted drug trafficker or sidelined Venezuela's legitimate opposition while pursuing deals with Maduro's cronies. That's the line right there that I think is important. Kamala Harris nails it. Donald Trump sidelined Machado. He said, I don't want her to be running Venezuela. She's weak and the people don't like her. Instead, Trump wants to try to cut deals with Maduro's people to give Donald Trump the oil. That's what Trump's saying. Let me finish reading what Trump former Vice President Kamala Harris said. She also says the president is putting troops at risk, spending billions, destabilizing a region and offering no legal authority, no exit plan, and no benefit at home. America needs leadership whose priorities are lowering costs for working families, enforcing the rule of law, strengthening alliances, and most importantly, putting the American people first. Nailed that statement. Wouldn't she make a great president? Wouldn't she have made a great president right now? Indeed. Indeed. Now contrast that to what what Anna Paulina Luna had to say. This Maga Republican extremist who goes after Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico and says, you know, she's not a legitimate leader, she's just a propped up person really going after Claudia Sheinbaum is one of the more popular leaders out there. Don't get me wrong. He criticized Claudia Sheinbaum for things. But really Anna Paulina Luna and this is what Maga was doing all day. Maga was saying Mexico were coming for you. They were saying Cuba were coming for you. Colombia were coming for you. Nigeria, we're coming for you. Greenland, we're coming for you. That's what this mag is about. Imperialistic. It's disgusting. Disgusting. Here, play this clip of Anna Paulina Luna. Let's play it. Congresswoman, I want to bring up Mexico here.
Democratic Congressmember Ro Khanna
The government there has criticized this. The president has suggested in the past that the US could go after cartels in Mexico unilaterally. Do you think that's a good idea?
Narrator/Advertiser Voice
You know what? If she had a backbone, she would be asking for help instead of doing it behind closed doors. The government of Mexico is one of the the most corrupt countries in the world. And it's a shame. They had one of the bloodiest election cycles this past cycle and they killed journalists that were covering it. They've killed their own elected officials that were actually trying to fight the cartel. So I really don't care what the president of Mexico has to say, because in my opinion, she's only in that position because she's been installed. And if they actually had a good president, you'd see Mexico not being run by cartels.
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There you have it, folks. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers. Thank you so much for watching. You love this video. Support independent media and unlock exclusive content ad free videos and custom emojis by becoming a paid member of our YouTube channel today. You can also gift memberships to others. Let's keep growing together.
Podcast: The MeidasTouch Podcast
Episode: Dems Finally Rip Trump To Shreds for Disaster Invasion
Date: January 4, 2026
Hosts: Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas
In this episode, the Meiselas brothers take aim at Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans following Trump’s controversial invasion and occupation of Venezuela. The show features sharp responses from leading Democratic lawmakers, analysis of Trump's motives, and frank discussions about the consequences for American democracy and global stability. The tone remains irreverent and critical, mixing sharp political critique with the brothers’ trademark banter and advocacy for democratic values.
Democrats unite in forceful opposition to Donald Trump’s unlawful military invasion and occupation of Venezuela, lambasting the move as imperialistic, illegal, and a betrayal of American values. The episode features a montage of Democratic leaders speaking out, highlighting the incoherence and dangers of Trump’s foreign policy, its real motivations (oil and personal gain), and the wider risks to democracy and global order.
This episode delivers a comprehensive and stinging Democratic rebuttal to Trump’s Venezuela actions, making clear that the opposition narrative frames Trump’s move as illegal, reckless, ego-driven, and damaging to both America’s interests and global stability. The MeidasTouch brothers collect sharp soundbites and statements from prominent lawmakers, exposing not just policy disagreements but what they see as the utter bankruptcy of Trump’s promises, the hypocrisy of MAGA Republicans, and the mounting risks of imperialistic adventurism. The show’s rapid-fire sound bites distill the outrage, the rationale, and the stakes, making this the episode for anyone seeking a catch-up on the current storm over US foreign policy—and a full-throated defense of democracy.