Anything, anything at all, to divert attention from the Jeffrey Epstein files
Donald Trump takes on the entire western hemisphere
It looks like Donald Trump’s war on U.S. cities[1] is being extended throughout the western hemisphere—and along similar ideological lines.
Trump has made a show of overriding state and local authorities in U.S. cities when they are Democrats. In Latin America, he’s bailing out Argentina while provoking a number of other countries, but most significantly Venezuela, where it seems the only thing missing is the troop strength to actually launch a fully-fledged ground invasion.[2]
Trump claims he’s targeting Latin American countries whose leaders he calls “narco-terrorists” whom he dubiously alleges are shipping drugs to the U.S. Almost no one actually believes this pretense. While he certainly opposes many of the governments in Latin America, he also has authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to take actions that—though unlikely to succeed—could compel Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to leave office.[3]
Similarly, Trump has wrongly accused Canada of being a source of fentanyl being smuggled into the U.S.[4] More recently, he complained about an anti-tariff ad that correctly quoted Ronald Reagan opposing tariffs that was placed by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and cut off trade negotiations with Canada.[5]
It’s an awful lot all at once and I have to think that Trump is overextending himself and his administration, all possibly in a desperate attempt to divert attention from the Jeffrey Epstein files. Something will go wrong here.
[1] David Benfell, “Donald Trump goes to war with U.S. cities,” Not Housebroken, September 27, 2025, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/donald-trump-goes-to-war-with-us; David Benfell, “Donald Trump’s reign of terror,” Not Housebroken, September 30, 2025, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/donald-trumps-reign-of-terror; David Benfell, “What if this is all out war?” Not Housebroken, October 6, 2025, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/what-if-this-is-all-out-war
[2] Karen DeYoung et al., “Trump beats the drums of war for direct action in Venezuela,” Washington Post, October 22, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/22/venezuela-trump-maduro-war-narcotics/; Michael Froman to The World This Week list, “Much ado about Maduro,” Council on Foreign Relations, October 24, 2025, https://link.cfr.org/join/66n/signup; Dan Lamothe, “Pentagon orders aircraft carrier to Latin America as Trump signals escalation,” Washington Post, October 24, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/24/aircraft-carrier-trump-caribbean-latin-america/; Katie Bo Lillis, “US sending aircraft carrier towards Caribbean as Trump increases pressure campaign on Venezuela,” Cable News Network, October 24, 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/politics/aircraft-carrier-ford-headed-caribbean
[3] Karen DeYoung et al., “Trump beats the drums of war for direct action in Venezuela,” Washington Post, October 22, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/22/venezuela-trump-maduro-war-narcotics/; Michael Froman to The World This Week list, “Much ado about Maduro,” Council on Foreign Relations, October 24, 2025, https://link.cfr.org/join/66n/signup; Dan Lamothe, “Pentagon orders aircraft carrier to Latin America as Trump signals escalation,” Washington Post, October 24, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/24/aircraft-carrier-trump-caribbean-latin-america/; Katie Bo Lillis, “US sending aircraft carrier towards Caribbean as Trump increases pressure campaign on Venezuela,” Cable News Network, October 24, 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/politics/aircraft-carrier-ford-headed-caribbean
[4] Kayleen Devlin & Yi Ma, “How does fentanyl get into the US?” British Broadcasting Corporation, August 1, 2025, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg93nn1e6go
[5] David Goldman, “What the Ronald Reagan ad that got Trump so angry was really all about,” Cable News Network, October 24, 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/business/ronald-reagan-ad-trump-canada-ontario-tariffs