Trump’s Venezuela “Blockade” Is an Escalation
A rare, legally murky “terrorism” label, armed enforcement at sea, and why this should alarm anyone watching democratic norms.
Tuesday delivered two major escalations that deserve your full attention and they’re connected in ways that should concern every American who values democratic institutions.
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The Federal Employee Purge Gets a New Weapon
The Trump administration is instructing managers across multiple federal agencies to limit how many employees can receive top performance ratings regardless of how well employees actually perform their jobs.
According to The Washington Post, which spoke to almost two dozen federal employees, agencies including Commerce, Justice, Energy, Interior, the General Services Administration, and the Small Business Administration have received directives to restrict performance ratings.
Here’s how it works: Managers were told on conference calls that roughly 80% of staff should receive a rating of 3 out of 5, while only 1–5% should receive top marks. Critics and employment experts warn that forced limits like this can be used to justify firings or layoffs later.
“Managers were told… 80% should receive a 3 out of 5.”
What These Scores Decide
Performance ratings determine three critical things for federal employees:
Annual performance bonuses
Eligibility for promotion
Ability to find new jobs within government
Here’s the real purpose, according to experts interviewed by The Washington Post: Lower ratings could make it easier to fire people.
Professor Donald Moynihan from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy explains: “Low ratings could also provide justification for additional layoffs, which take into account performance evaluations in determining who is fired.”
One Commerce Department employee said it plainly: “It seems like part of the larger effort to make us fairly miserable.”
Step One: Document “Underperformers”
Back in February, the Office of Personnel Management ordered agencies to submit lists of employees who received less than “fully successful” ratings over the past three years including names, job titles, pay plans, and duty stations.
The memo explicitly asked whether agencies had barriers to “the ability to swiftly terminate poor performing employees who cannot or will not improve.”
OPM Director Scott Kupor defended the push in September, writing a post titled “Sorry, Not Everyone Gets an A” and comparing federal performance ratings to grade inflation at universities.
Critics argue this has less to do with improving performance and more to do with creating a paper trail that can justify purging the civil service.
Then They Purge
The Trump administration has already seen hundreds of thousands of federal workers leave government this year through programs like deferred resignation and other separations; OPM leadership has publicly cited roughly 317,000 departures since January, the vast majority described as voluntary.
Now agencies are restricting top ratings and experts warn forced limits can be used later to justify layoffs or firings.
This is installing loyalty over competence across the federal workforce.
When the people who run our national parks, process Social Security benefits, inspect our food supply, and respond to disasters can be pushed out through manipulated “performance” systems, we all lose.
Trump Declares “Complete Blockade” on Venezuela (And Calls It Terrorism)
While that federal employee story was quietly unfolding, Trump announced something that should have dominated every news cycle: He’s ordering a “total and complete blockade” of oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela and designated the Venezuelan government a “foreign terrorist organization.”
Under U.S. law, the Foreign Terrorist Organization framework is written to apply to foreign organizations, not sovereign governments making this legally murky and ripe for challenge.
According to Colombia One: “US law on FTOs is focused on fighting non-state organizations. Applying the label to a country and its government is a legal gray area, which will raise new legal and diplomatic issues that could be contested inside the United States.”
When you start calling governments ‘terrorists,’ you’re widening the permission structure for war.
The Blockade Details
Trump posted on Truth Social: “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
He’s claiming Venezuela “stole” U.S. oil, land, and assets though Axios reports Trump “incorrectly suggested” in his statement that Venezuela stole these assets from the U.S. government. (They didn’t.)
The U.S. Navy currently has 11 ships in the region, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships, and the Navy has been operating P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.
About 18 tankers under U.S. sanctions that are fully loaded with oil currently sit in Venezuelan waters. Eight are classified by Axios as “Very Large Cargo Container” ships these are VLCC-sized crude carriers like the tanker called the Skipper that the U.S. seized last week.
The administration seized one tanker called the Skipper last week, carrying about 1.85 million barrels of Venezuelan crude; Axios puts the cargo value at about $95 million.
What They’re Quietly Saying
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said in a Vanity Fair interview, per Reuters/AP reporting, that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”
All over regime change, which makes the administration’s framing of this as “counterterrorism” even more concerning.
Venezuela’s government accused Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation” and called it an “utterly irrational” blockade attempt; Reuters separately reports Venezuela rejected Trump’s “grotesque threat.”
Keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.
-Susie Wiles regarding Trump’s ‘wants’
The Oil Market Check
Reuters reports that, for now, the oil market is well supplied, but if an effective embargo/blockade persists, losing nearly a million barrels/day of crude supply could push prices higher. One former State Department energy diplomat told Reuters the price impact could be $5 to $8 per barrel if affected exports aren’t replaced by spare capacity.
So this blockade threatens Venezuela’s already fragile economy while turning “economic warfare” into something much closer to military enforcement.
More Current Events
Travel Ban Expands Again
The administration expanded its travel ban from 19 to 39 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria, and others and it also applies to people holding Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents.
Healthcare Subsidies Still Hanging
The House won’t vote this week on extending the ACA’s enhanced premium subsidies that expire December 31, after the House Rules Committee blocked last-minute amendment efforts.
Boat Strike Controversy Continues
Reuters reports the administration still won’t release the full video of the Sept. 2 “double-tap” strike; lawmakers left a classified briefing frustrated, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer saying they were left “empty-handed.”
Connections
Systematic weakening of checks and balances.
Federal employees who might question illegal orders?
Stack the deck through forced performance-rating limits and “low performer” data requests that can make it easier to remove people later.
Congressional oversight of military operations?
Withhold key evidence from the public and leave lawmakers frustrated and demanding clarity.
International law and norms?
Declare a “blockade” and label a foreign government a “foreign terrorist organization,” even as reporting notes legal and diplomatic questions.
Judicial review of executive actions?
Expect the same tactics: pressure, delay, procedural fights, and treating constraints as obstacles to be worked around.
This strategy is working because most Americans are too overwhelmed by the pace of news to see the big picture.
Q: Isn’t this just normal performance management?
A: Normal performance management is about improving outcomes. What’s different here is the forced distribution, managers are being told in advance how many people can get top ratings, regardless of actual performance. Experts warn caps like this can create a paper trail that later makes removals and layoffs easier to justify.
Q: How do lower ratings translate into people getting fired?
A: Ratings affect bonuses, promotions, and internal mobility and they can also matter in reduction-in-force decisions. If more people are pushed into “average” or below, it builds documentation that can be cited later to justify layoffs or terminations.
Q: Why connect federal worker ratings to Venezuela?
A: Weaken internal guardrails, sidestep oversight, and normalize escalation. A hollowed-out civil service and a Congress kept in the dark both make it easier to act first and explain later.
Q: What’s the checks-and-balances problem here, specifically?
A: It’s three layers at once: internal accountability (career officials) gets weakened, congressional oversight gets delayed or stonewalled, and legal/norm constraints get tested by pushing aggressive interpretations and enforcement.
Q: Couldn’t the administration argue this is about efficiency and security?
A: They can, and they do. The concern is whether these policies are structured to reduce independent resistance inside agencies, reduce transparency to Congress and the public, and increase coercive leverage at home and abroad.
Q: Is the “regime change” angle speculative?
A: The rhetoric from senior officials reads like pressure until capitulation, not narrowly targeted enforcement. Even if supporters frame it as counterterrorism, the public messaging points to a broader objective.
Q: Why should people care about federal workers’ ratings?
A: Because the people being squeezed aren’t abstract… they process Social Security, inspect food, staff disaster response, run parks, and keep critical systems working. If expertise is pushed out or politicized, services degrade for everyone.
Q: What’s one practical thing we can do that isn’t performative?
A: Track one agency or one oversight fight. Save links, screenshots, and timelines. Shared memory is how you stop history from being rewritten later.
Q: How do we avoid doom-scrolling and still stay informed?
A: Use “one deep source, one action.” Read one solid report, then do one concrete thing like call 202-224-3121, send one email, show up to a town hall, or share one sourced explainer.
How to Help
Stay informed Not just about individual headlines, but about the patterns they create.
Document everything Screenshots, archives, saved articles.
Speak up Call your representatives: 202-224-3121. Write letters. Show up to town halls. Make our voices impossible to ignore.
Support accountability journalism Tracking patterns, verifying facts, and connecting dots takes resources.
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Discussion Question:
We’re watching the administration simultaneously target federal workers’ job security, escalate toward potential military conflict, and restrict congressional oversight of military operations. When you step back and look at all three happening at once, what do you see? And what historical parallels, if any, come to mind?
Share your thoughts. This community consistently offers insights we hadn’t considered, and we learn something from almost every discussion.
We know this is a lot. Some mornings we write and we’re occasionally, genuinely exhausted by how much unprecedented chaos we need to cover. But that exhaustion is what they’re hoping for.
They want all of us too tired to pay attention and too discouraged to fight back. Don’t give them the satisfaction.
Stay informed and stay engaged.
-Blue
The 50501 Movement • Democracy Requires Witnesses
The US Military is now a terrorist organization, with Hegseth about to remove most 4-Star generals. I’m ashamed of our military for allowing this and participating in this. It’s a disgrace and treasonous.
By most definitions of a terrorist it fits Mr. Trump as he continues his dismantling of our government. Add his latest ignorant "blockade" of Venezuela over oil which they rightfully own but he claims belongs to America and there's no longer any doubt he's the danger we face. He needs to be removed from office. Republicans should not be intimidated by him but be concerned about their constituents. Exactly how degraded must this country become before we take back our honor and integrity?