Total Wackos Try To Overthrow Maduro

Five years ago I reviewed Stephen Dando-Collin's book Tycoon's War about William Walker, which I recommend. It's all about a moronic shyster who thought he could invade Latin American countries with a ragtag group of losers. Everyone in the book is an asshole.

Fast forward to today. Joshua Goodman has a scoop about a moronic shyster from the U.S. who tried to help invade Venezuela and overthrow Nicolás Maduro with a ragtag group of losers. Everyone in the narrative is an asshole, and the Venezuelan leader is in federal prison on a narcotics charge. A bunch of dumbshits hung around a Bogotá hotel and cooked up a testosterone-fueled plan. Training with sawed-off broomsticks as guns, what could go wrong? Easy to see one of the re-open pseudo-soldier types (the "good people") deciding he could easily overthrow what he figured was a bunch of dumb Venezuelans. They all thought they'd get some cash from a wealthy member of a famous cheese-making family. Of course.

Goodman and the AP has found no evidence of Trump administration involvement. One of the dopes organizing the fiasco claimed to have administration support, but even those around him doubted it. Hard to imagine someone like John Bolton disliking such a scheme, though, and there's no way the administration didn't know it was happening. The Venezuelan ambassador to the UN criticized Goodman's article, saying it failed to give proper responsibility to the U.S. and Colombian governments.

Bozos like this have been around as long as men with weapons have been around.