I notice that Crumb the 1st announced that those

[moniss]

billions of dollars of oil money from Venezuela will not be deposited with the US Treasury but instead will be in banks around the world in accounts under his control. Reaction to this being characterized as muted would be an understatement. So this is where we are. The use of taxpayer funds to use the military to bomb and kill civilians and depose and kidnap a duly elected leader of another country not in armed conflict with us, rape their natural resources under threat of further military attacks and killing of civilians, announce that they money is going into a personal slush fund and pretty much the media and government go on about their day.

None of them ask how much money has already been placed into these accounts and from what sources? None of them make the connection that Crumb The 1st is talking about attacks on other countries and using the "drug cartel" excuse? None of them think that the guy who used tariffs for extortion for things he wanted will extort one cartel against another? None of them see the scenario where a slice of the cartel pie gets deposited into the private slush fund accounts as "protection money" and an "unwilling" cartel would be the target of military attack?

None of them put 2 and 2 together and realize that money deposited into the US Treasury has to be explained and is under the control of the budgeting process of the Congress and that the private accounts won't have to explain anything? None of them put 2 and 2 together and realize that this is all being done by the guy with shady financials and long suspected ties to money laundering?

So on we go as though we have some normal functioning apparatus of a Constitution, Courts and elected officials who will see to it that bad things don't happen. On we go under the assumption that when we win the Mid-Terms that the winners will be sworn in. We believe that they will because it would be unthinkable for Johnson and the rest not to do so. Right? After all we could get a court order and then "somehow", "somebody" would enforce it. Right? Because if they didn't it would be unthinkable. Right? It would be as unthinkable as a President supporting murder of civilians so he could take billions of dollars from them and put it into private bank accounts under his sole control. Right?

So let's all just go on with our day and surely next week will be OK. Right? I know CBS News will assure me it will be.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-'Slush fund': Democrats push back against Trump's plan to control Venezuelan oil sales

The president said he’d create a pool of money from Venezuelan oil sales. Democrats said that can’t legally happen.

Legal: Congress has what’s known as “the power of the purse.”

Illegal: When Trump says, “I’ve decided to create my own purse.”
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-01-08T14:45:48.486Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/slush-fund-democrats-push-back-against-trumps-plan-to-control-venezuelan-oil-sales

Late Tuesday, Donald Trump announced his intention to sell Venezuelan oil to create a massive pool of money that he can distribute at his own discretion. On Wednesday morning, the pushback began in earnest. The New York Times reported:

President Trump’s declaration that he would personally control the proceeds from oil produced in Venezuela drew instant condemnation on Wednesday from Democrats in Congress who noted that the president had no constitutional authority for such an undertaking.

‘The president cannot grab Venezuela’s oil for his own slush fund. Period,’ Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland and a member of the Appropriations Committee, said on Wednesday.

As constitutional debates go, this one’s easy. The sitting American president announced a plan in which Venezuela would “turn over” roughly $3 billion in oil to the United States. The Republican administration would then sell the foreign country’s resources and, according to Trump’s written statement, the resulting money would be “controlled by” him.

In the U.S., the president can’t create his own pile of money that Congress never approved and then start allocating those funds as he pleases. The Appropriations Clause of the Constitution gives lawmakers what’s known as the power of the purse. When Trump effectively responds, “I’m going to have my own purse,” there’s a problem.....

In other words, the American president is seizing control of a foreign country’s resources, selling those resources and generating a pool of money. Now he’s planning to give the foreign country (of which he claims to be in charge) some undetermined amount of the proceeds, to be spent on American products.

It sounds less like a “deal” and more like a “shakedown.”

[moniss]

3. I'm expecting that he will create some sort of

"Commission" of which he is the head, in his personal capacity, or one of his spawn or Kushner. Bottom line is the courts can issue an order and the fascists will ignore or wiggle around it as they please. The weakness in our system is that our Federal Courts have no real enforcement mechanism spelled out for taking actions against a President. The Constitution obviously defers to impeachment as the means to rid ourselves of a crook but the weakness there is the assumption that you won't have crooks in control of those votes to impeach or not.

[Dave Bowman]

2. It's never enough, greedy parasite. 🤬

[SergeStorms]

11. Why do you think he entered into politics in the first place?

He was an abject failure in business. He saw how other republicans got extremely wealthy in "the game," so politics it was!
He used to be a Democrat earlier in life, but when they refused to allow him anywhere near the reins of power he became a republican.
The republican brand of hate and greed suited him perfectly, and they were more than happy to let him spread his nationalistic, anti-immigrant message. And look at the following he gained! One-time republicans who grew disenchanted, America's wealthy oligarchs, white supremacists, libertarians, and anti-democratic malcontents flocked to support him.

And here we are. 😱

[canetoad]

4. Have you heard

Of the artist Robert Crumb, usually known just as Crumb? He's very old now, but he spent his life as an underground comic artist, creating many counterculture icons. There's an excellent movie about his life and work, just called 'Crumb'.

This is the person I think of whenever I see the handle 'Crumb' used for trump and I don't really think it does Robert Crumb any justice.

[moniss]

7. Yes I know of R. Crumb but when I began

using Crumb The 1st I went into an explanation of why the word applies and why it is something the target would find insulting. Back in the day to have someone call you a crumb was one of the most insulting things anybody could call you.

[Solly Mack]

5. He's stealing it.

[Botany]

6. Trump using the U.S. Military to take Venezuela's oil should be called what it is, "Armed Robbery."

And selling that oil and putting the money from the sales of that VENEZUELAN OIL into
private and most likely foreign bank accounts under Trump’s control violates so many
U.S. and International laws is ridiculous.

Trump is a criminal.

[moniss]

8. Indeed and as always the

question is who will stop him. So far they purged DOJ/FBI/Military of anybody that wasn't deemed "loyal". Now he has stood up his private army of ICE-American Gestapo and I think he will use someone like Erik Prince to grow a large "security force" to be given a contract for "election security" etc. There is nothing beyond what they will do. The threats about bombing other countries have to be taken seriously given what he just did to Venezuela. My concern has been, as always, a toothless UN and a European Union that may be too dependent on the US military for it's security against Russia to be able to provide a military defense for other countries quickly enough.

So a crook like Crumb the 1st with a compliant military can wreak havoc for a long period until their funding/supplies run out. Even if Congress overrides vetoes of restraints on his military use it doesn't mean the fascists won't just ignore those curbs on their activities. The Boland Amendment and Iran/Contra showed us how they set up situations to evade compliance. By the time any measure at all of accountability takes place it is months and years down the road and in the meantime the fascists get the benefits of their desired actions.

[clevergrrrl]

10. I think we are already there

I think the ICE force is entirely made up of private military contractors.

[Botany]

12. How many of the new ICE Agents were pardoned J-6th shits, Proud Boys, or bad cops that Trump expunged

…. their federal records?

[clevergrrrl]

9. The corruption and theft

has gone from "out in the open" to "in your face"