When the government resembles a shoddy cartoon

Among all the other mostly horrifying news of the Venezuela "adventure," I found myself thinking about the difference in the way Trump and the media are using "captured" rather than "kidnapped" as the active verb.

Captured connotes being tracked down while attempting to evade being apprehended. It is clearly a law enforcement term, and that is the party line, so to speak, on bombing within another country and then extracting two leaders against their will. They were not avoiding capture, as far as I can tell, beyond staying within the borders of Venezuela. 

Madura himself characterized his status as a "prisoner" in his initial court appearance, and that seems quite accurate.

I would go a bit further and term this a kidnapping, however, as Trump and his bloodthirsty enablers clearly want something from the country Madura formerly headed: oil. Would anyone be surprised to find that the justice system cannot convince a jury to convict Madura and his wife of the rather vague charges? In fact, does anyone really believe that decapitating (in a sense) the government will magically return Venezuela's economy and social structures to anything resembling normal?

A kidnapper always wants something from those wishing to save the victim(s). Trump is crystal clear on what he wants and it's not restoring democracy. It's not putting the democratically elected president in office. It's not elevating the most recent Nobel Prize winner, now shamelessly deferring to Trump in her zeal to "rescue" her country.

I am quite certain that many in the Trump Cult will simply respond to any criticism of this illegal action as well worthwhile, as long as it elicits howls of protests from the Libs. Any thought of the country healing or uniting is likely years away, but it's getting harder to constantly make excuses for Republican officials and the voters who keep them in power (for now). 

Most appalling is that we have three more years of bizarre actions by an increasingly unhinged, damaged, and confused man whose decline is accelerating. 

Wait, MOST appalling is that I find myself hoping that enough Republican senators and congressmen will stand up and save the Republic. Voters gave them the power and the midterms are unlikely to swing that power enough to restrain our mob boss in chief. 

I won't be holding my breath.