Pompeo Hysterical that Plans for Great Power Conflict in Venezuela Are Failing

May 5, 2019 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his neocon cohorts within the Trump Administration have been working to ensure that the U.S. and Russia engage in geopolitical confrontation over Venezuela, to destroy any basis for cooperation between them.

But the May 3 “very productive” 90-minute phone call between Presidents Trump and Putin—Trump’s description—in which Trump said that Putin wants to “see something positive” in Venezuela, has thrown a monkey wrench into that scenario, and Pompeo is unhinged, as he evinced today in his interview with “Fox News Sunday.”

Pressed by host Chris Wallace to explain what happened on April 30 with the failed military uprising that “President” Juan Guaidó was supposed to pull off, and whether there had been an intelligence failure, Pompeo could only repeat ad nauseam, the boring line that the U.S., guided by the President (he hopes), will save Venezuela from the tyranny of the “usurper” Nicolas Maduro. But Maduro is still in power, Wallace observed. “He is,” Pompeo said, but “these things take time.”

Throughout the interview, Wallace repeatedly returned to the Trump-Putin phone call, wanting to know why Trump didn’t discuss Russia’s 2016 election “meddling,” which prompted Pompeo into ranting about how tough the administration has been on Russia, and that probably Trump just didn’t have time to mention the meddling on the phone call. When confronted with Trump’s remarks about Putin and Venezuela, Pompeo could only cite some of Trump’s tweets of several weeks ago, to insist that the President wants the Russians out, and throwing in that now there are Iranians on the ground there—who’s coming next?—not to mention the “couple thousands Cuban thugs essentially controlling the country today.”

Wallace again raised Trump’s remarks about Putin not wanting to “get involved” in Venezuela, and asked Pompeo what he would tell Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov when they met in Finland on May 6. Pompeo declared he would tell him the “same thing the President told the world, that every country must get out [of Venezuela], including the Russians. We don’t want anyone messing around with the Venezuelans.” Against all evidence in the real world, Pompeo also insists that President Trump will authorize a military intervention into Venezuela, should he deem it necessary.