The Art of the Venezuela Oil Deal

About this episode

The war with Iran reaches six months, Trump’s Pentagon cuts a corrupt oil deal with Venezuela, and Russia makes an (unwelcome) surprise appearance at a G20 meeting. Tommy and Ben mark six months of the war with Iran, including the death toll, damage to the global economy, and reports that Trump may implement a "mow the grass" forever war strategy. Pete Hegseth is clearly losing the confidence of military leaders as the Secretary of the Army resigns and the Washington Post reports that top military commanders are pushing back on his management of the war.  Then Trump announces that the US government is taking a 35% stake in a Venezuelan oil company. The guys walk through why the deal wouldn’t benefit either average Americans or Venezuelans, why it’s doomed to fail, and how the corrupt business partner Alejandro Betancourt is a perfect symbol of Trump’s smash-and-grab foreign policy. Also discussed: the US hosts a G20 finance meeting in North Carolina and invites Russia, Israel’s National Security Minister posts a sickening AI video, what we know about the catastrophic glacial collapse in Nepal that killed more than 900 people, Iceland’s vote against restarting EU membership talks,