On January 3, the United States undertook a military initiative named “Operation Absolute Resolve” in Venezuela. Air strikes aimed at military installations in and near Caracas facilitated the capture of President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro has faced significant accusations of stealing the 2024 election from rival Edmund González Urrutia and is currently dealing with federal indictments related to narcoterrorism and drug trafficking.
Jason Butrill, who formerly worked as an intelligence analyst at the Pentagon and now writes for Glenn Beck, expressed enthusiasm regarding this significant operation, noting that it astonishingly took under three hours to complete.
Most analysts have focused on the apparent reasons for the strikes—like retaliation for Maduro’s alleged narcotics involvement, election fraud, and his administration’s contribution to mass immigration towards the U.S.—alongside Venezuela’s connections with Russia and China. But, there are deeper, more clever strategies at play that the establishment would likely prefer to remain unacknowledged.
On “The Liz Wheeler Show,” Liz and Jason examined three key impacts of Operation Absolute Resolve.
1. No more excuses for endless wars
Liz, identifying as an “anti-neocon,” argues that this military operation illustrates that perpetual wars—long military engagements that consume resources and troop lives—are choices, not necessities.
“We should be grateful to Trump for this operation in Venezuela. It highlights that the American populace now realizes these endless wars were intentional and avoidable,” she contends.
Trump has previously neutralized Iran’s nuclear potential in just 12 days with “Operation Midnight Hammer” in June 2025. Venezuela serves as a second case study of expedited military success.
“There will be no justification for endless warfare again,” Liz insists.
2. Cyber warnings issued to adversaries
Liz reflected on Trump’s statements post-strike, where he noted, “It was pitch black. Thanks to our unique capabilities, we turned off most lights in Caracas. It was dark and deadly.”
This presumably referred to the U.S. military orchestrating a large power outage in Caracas to enable a surprise operation against Maduro.
Various nations have been developing cyber-attack strategies, often kept under wraps. Jason suggested that the U.S. might have purposefully showcased its cyber abilities as a means of intimidation.
“I think it signaled to the world that we can completely incapacitate your nation before even arriving. We can just shut it down and still come in,” he shared with Liz.
He speculated that this was a direct message to China and Russia, who assist Venezuela with its defense systems.
“Now, those systems seem to be foreign-operated. I mean, it really looks like all of them were purchased from our adversaries,” he joked.
“The Chinese run the air defense system, the Russians maintain the missiles, and Cuban intelligence is all over the place, supposed to keep tabs, and yet we just walked in,” he added.
3. Disrupting China’s oil access
While many reports have portrayed Operation Absolute Resolve as a means for the U.S. to seize Venezuela’s wealth of oil, Jason argues that this perspective is overly simplistic.
“Sure, oil is part of it. But it’s less about us wanting it and more about preventing our adversaries from accessing it,” he explained.
He elaborated that, with heavy sanctions against Russian supplies, the U.S. is diminishing China’s fuel procurements by restricting access to Venezuelan oil, complicating China’s military operations, particularly an invasion of Taiwan due to potential energy shortages.
“What you’re suggesting is like playing 3D chess,” Liz remarked.
If you want to delve deeper into the discussion, watch the episode linked above.
