Tim Talks Politics - The Weekly Brief, February 1, 2019

The Weekly Brief - February 1, 2019

Venezuela: It Takes Two to Merengue

Earlier in January I shared that the Council on Foreign Relations was listing Venezuela as one of the world's hot spots to watch and boy it did not disappoint this week. In a dizzying turn of events, the United States continued to place pressure on the Maduro regime in an effort to support the opposition challenge coming from National Assembly leader Juan Guaido.

Early signals from the Venezuelan government were they were defiant and looking for a fight as the Maduro-stacked Supreme Court quickly barred Guaido from leaving the country. Talk is swirling of possible military intervention in Venezuela, not the least reason being the humanitarian disaster the country has become. However the American Conservative is very skeptical of military intervention given the American track record in recent years on such missions. Unlike many other humanitarian interventions in the last 25 years, any kind of military intervention in Venezuela would be occurring in the face of a military still loyal to the regime.

Given this, Der Spiegel notes that this will most likely be the deciding factor on the ongoing survival of the Maduro regime.

Mr. Schultz Goes to Washington

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz made huge waves this week as he indicated on (where else) Twitter this week that he would be considering running for the presidency as a third-party candidate. Someone new running for president is hardly news, but someone like Schultz running as a third-party independent is news and it wasn't long before the knives came out from the Left.

Attacks came from all over the media space as the Atlantic noted that Howard Schultz could split the independent left vote and give Trump another term in office. Name calling emerged from Crooked Media. And, the Daily Kos jeeringly noted Schultz was beginning to look as roasted as one of his coffee beans after a week of being shellacked for his apparent selfishness.

Schultz seems to be taking it all in stride and doesn’t seem to be too bothered by the attacks from Democrats, and has opened his media blitz with some pretty strong attacks on major policy proposals being advocated by the existing candidates.

The bigger question, however, is not should Howard Schultz run, but the role of third parties in a dominantly two party system. Oddly enough (not really), Democrats seem to be very upset by the idea of more than one party in the mix while many Republicans don't really seem to care… at the moment. All that being said, it's difficult to imagine Howard Schultz succeeding at any level although AEI notes that the American system isn't really built for a third party and that what’s really needed is major party reform.

“Who’s Driving This Flying Umbrella?”

If you’re wondering where the headline comes from, here you go: