Cato Institute Senior Fellow Ted Galen Carpenter joins Scott to talk Venezuela, Russia, and the United States’ penchant for supporting brutal regimes. Though government officials like to talk a big game when it comes to freedom and democracy, they mostly only support those things when it’s in their political interest—otherwise they’re perfectly happy to put up with tyranny and hope Americans don’t notice. Carpenter fears that the growing turmoil in Venezuela may be yet another opportunity for military intervention by an American president.

Discussed on the show:

• “Will Trump Revert to Gunboat Diplomacy in Latin America?” (National Interest)
• Smedley Butler
• 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état
• 1973 Chilean coup d’état
• 1953 Iranian coup d’état
• Dominican Civil War
• United States invasion of Grenada
• Operation Uphold Democracy
• Chiang Kai-shek
• Mobutu Sese Seko
• Sandinistas
• “An Exclusive Interview with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega” (Gray Zone)
• “Russia is not the Soviet Union” (Cato)
• Azov Battalion
• “The Quiet Americans Behind the U.S.-Russia Imbroglio” (New York Times)
• Hillary Clinton Putin-Hitler comparison
• Perilous Partners: The Benefits and Pitfalls of America’s Alliances with Authoritarian RegimesPerilous Partners

Ted Galen Carpenter is a senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. Carpenter has written 10 books including “America’s Coming War with China: A Collision Course over Taiwan” and is a contributing editor at The American Conservative Magazine and the National Interest.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; Zen Cash; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and TheBumperSticker.com.

Check out Scott’s Patreon page.

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