John,

For years, major media outlets helped sell the idea that Donald Trump was “anti-war” and supposedly reluctant to use force. 

The New York Times said he “shuns war” in 2019. CNN analysts called him “instinctively isolationist.” And Trump, always the marketer, branded himself as the president who “ended wars.”

That absurd storyline collapses the moment you look at Venezuela.

U.S. warships are already deployed in the Caribbean. The administration keeps authorizing lethal strikes on small wooden boats — actions human-rights experts warn violate international law. And Trump refuses to rule out sending troops, even saying he may need to handle Venezuela “the hard way.”

And just like in the buildup to the war in Iraq, the right-wing media is lying to justify escalation. And the legacy media isn’t doing nearly enough to push back. 

Will you chip in $25 or whatever you can to support COURIER’s courageous reporting before the media repeats the failures that helped lead us into Iraq?

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Here are the disturbing parallels between Venezuela today and the buildup to the Iraq War:

• Inflating the threat: Fox News, OANN, and MAGA influencers call Venezuela a “narco-terror state.” Some claim fishing boats threaten “the homeland.”
• Rebranding offensive strikes as self-defense: MAGA commentators describe U.S. boat attacks as “counter-terror missions,” echoing preemptive-war language — despite no public evidence.
• Treating escalation and regime change as inevitable: On Meet the Press, Sen. Tom Cotton warned that Venezuela poses a “growing threat,” urged the U.S. to be prepared for “stronger measures,” and — in a Freudian slip — even called Trump “President Bush.” 
• Uncovering the oil reality: Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, yet much legacy coverage treats this as a story only about “drug cartels.”

If we don’t fund courageous, independent journalism right now, MAGA’s lies and the legacy media’s silence will go unchallenged and our country could be mired in another tragic costly war. COURIER exists to call out the truth in moments like this — but we can’t do it without you. Chip in today to keep this reporting alive.

Chip inIn solidarity, 
COURIER Newsroom