The Trump administration's pressure campaign against Venezuela is among the factors behind President Donald Trump's push to rebuild the U.S. military, former Under Secretary of Defense Robert Wilkie said Monday.
"President Trump inherited the smallest United States Navy since 1938. That is what he is addressing as we speak," Wilkie told Newsmax's "American Agenda."
The global picture involves the Chinese in particular, he said.
"The Chinese are expanding their fleet exponentially. They are challenging American supremacy in the Pacific."
Wilkie said Trump is moving rapidly toward rebuilding the War Department after serious lapses were allowed to happen under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
The Trump administration's moves against Venezuela, including the seizure of oil tankers, are also affecting another country in the region, Wilkie said.
"A couple of weeks ago, the Venezuelans gave 100,000 barrels of oil a day, almost free of charge, to Cuba because President Trump is now clamped down on that. It's now below 40,000," he said.
"Cubans aren't eating. They have no electricity."
Wilkie said communists in Cuba are in trouble.
"The Communist Party is experiencing its greatest crisis since Fidel [Castro] took power in 1959," he said.
"And I think that's really at the heart of what the president is doing to chase the communists, the Chinese, the Iranians out of our hemisphere."
It's an important development, Wilkie said, and one that needs more attention.
"And I think we need to talk a little bit more as a country about what that means because we're finally paying attention to our neighbors," he said.
Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has said the U.S. will pay a price for its actions, which Wilkie said is hollow rhetoric.
"They don't have a sophisticated armed force. They could launch terrorist attacks," he said.
"But he has to know that if something like that was traced back to him, that would be the definite end of his regime."
Wilkie added that if the situation escalated, Venezuela stands no chance of survival.
"I mean, if Donald Trump can destroy in less than 12 hours the entire Iranian nuclear apparatus, it's not going to take that much to take out Maduro," he said.
"So he has to play a very cautious game, but it's just typical dictator bombast, I think."
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Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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