America Is the Colonizer (Again): Venezuela, Power, and Empire

Quick summary: This episode examines U.S. intervention in Venezuela as an example of empire — not “surprising” news. We talk about how power grabs get disguised as morality, how capitalism and extraction keep showing up as the through-line, and what it looks like to stay honest without pretending we’re experts on another country’s lived reality.

This episode is for you if you were shocked to hear about the U.S. government’s actions regarding Venezuela and want to explore why arresting a foreign leader looks less like justice and more like a return to the “Donroe Doctrine” vibe of imperial power grabs.

What we’re unpacking

Becky Mollenkamp and Taina Brown dig into the U.S. military action in Venezuela, and why calling it “surprising” misses the point. What’s happening in Venezuela isn’t new. What’s new is how little the U.S. is pretending anymore.

We wrestle in real time with fear, grief, learning out loud, and the possibility that America’s increasing global isolation may be both terrifying and inevitable. This conversation isn’t tidy. It’s not optimistic. But it is honest — and rooted in the belief that refusing empire starts with telling the truth about it.

Listen / watch

Discussed in this episode

• Why the U.S. arrest and removal of Venezuela’s leader is colonialism, not “law enforcement”
• How oil, capitalism, and empire are always the through-line
• The danger of pretending America is a neutral or moral global authority
• Why “how you do anything is how you do everything” applies to geopolitics
• The connection between capitalism, rape culture, and power grabs
• Why nuance matters — and why refusing false binaries isn’t the same as defending dictators
• How white discomfort gets mislabeled as “lack of safety”
• Why joking about colonization isn’t harmless (and what listening actually looks like)
• How to critique U.S. actions without claiming expertise over other nations

Resource mentioned

Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing

Next episode preview

Becky and Taina shift gears (a little) to talk about Sinners and One Battle After Another during awards season — with opinions they already know won’t be universally loved.