Journalist Glenn Greenwald on Tuesday on “Rising” claimed that the U.S. prefers tyranny in foreign countries, citing Washington’s relationship with countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
“The claim — which is the claim that the U.S. makes every time they want to change the government — is well, there’s this really bad tyrant, he’s oppressing his people,” Greenwald, co-founding editor at The Intercept, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton.
“The reality though, of course, is that the U.S. doesn’t dislike tyranny, the U.S. loves tyranny,” he continued. “Some of the most important allies of the U.S. are the world’s worst despots in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt, lots of other places throughout the world, and that’s always been the case.”
Greenwald’s comments come just before President Trump is slated to meet with controversial Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in Washington, where they will likely to discuss the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela.
The two leaders, who share much in common, have allied themselves in trying to force Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro out of office and supporting National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó as the interim president of Venezuela.
“Bolsonaro doesn’t hate tyranny either, he loves tyranny. He praised the Brazilian military regime. He recently met the president of Paraguay, and heaped praise on the dictator of that country, who ruled for 35 years,” Greenwald said.
“What I would like to see is the U.S. and Brazil stay out of Venezuela, and let the Venezuelan people work out who’s going to rule their country, and what kind of country they’re going to have,” he said. “Or at least be open about what their real motives are, and in interfering — which to his credit, John Bolton pretty much has. They’ve kind of been open about the fact that one of the things they’re most interested in, is having the leader in Venezuela be more hospitable to the U.S. because of the oil reserves that Venezuela has and how that will be beneficial to U.S. businesses.”
Bolton earlier this year told Fox Business that removing Maduro would be a “potential major step forward” on a “business level” in the Western Hemisphere, and separately spoke to the network about the benefits of American companies investing in and producing “the oil capabilities in Venezuela.”
— Julia Manchester
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