Radio War Nerd EP #609 — Max Blumenthal on Venezuela, US Empire & Oligarchy
Guest: Max Blumenthal, The Grayzone
Recorded: May 27, 2026
Max Blumenthal returns to RWN to discuss his latest exposé on Trump's corrupt viceroy for Venezuela and the fine line between Delcy Rodriguez as hostage or collaborator. We also discuss Cuba, US politics and the Zionist-Techlord oligarchy in the age of Trump.
Read Max's latest article in The Grayzone: Delcy’s ‘gatekeeper’: sources say ex-Trump official Claver-Carone holds keys to Caracas
Follow Max on Twitter. Read/subscribe to The Grayzone.
More episodes with Max:
-EP #556
-EP #281
-EP #179
-EP #54
Total time: 1:47:57
Direct link to this episode's mp3 here
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Sound production by Telescope Audio
Comments (21)
Can someone explain the driving force for the hesitance at 7:45? Just for sake of time or is there some other reason? Thanks
it really does suck to see Al Green get voted out in the primary. One of the few Democrats that I actually really liked and respected, growing up in the Houston area as a young Muslim budding Marxist after 9/11, he was one of the very first politicians who made it a point to be seen embracing the Muslim community. Maybe that’s Lib coded but it meant a lot back then.
Max Blumenthal, lol... Sounds like a real ALLSTAR TANKIE SPECIAL 😂
Christ that was a depressing episode
My favourite guest by far !
I really appreciate Max's journalistic work and his analysis of the American empire, but some of his takes on domestic politics are bizarre. Thomas Massie is mostly correct on foreign policy, but you can say that without glazing him to the point where you're calling him some sort of architectural genius or whatever, when in fact the guy believes in chemtrails, and would eliminate every federal program that alleviates poverty in a second if given the choice. He sucks!
Thomas “mountaintop mining lover” Massie deserved to get burned. Maybe if he helped his district meaningfully, they’d have rallied to him in the face of AIPAC influence. Someone can be great on Israel and Epstein stuff and still be a complete dullard.
The only way forward is a 3rd party with a decades long strategy of losing until you can win, or a Platner style takeover of the Democratic Party. I'm coming around to the idea that if you can knock out the leadership of the Democratic Party, then the donor class will go with it
From inside the belly of the beast, all you can hope to do is give it indigestion. But that's not nothing. The future belongs to those who have been exiled from the system and so are forced to build viable alternatives, which will (hopefully) outlast the inevitable collapse of the imperial apparatus. But those of us trapped within the system can still do good by taking action to alleviate poverty and protest against war and injustice. That's my outlook, anyway.
For me, the hit on Maduro was out of the godfather movie: remove the Don, force the family to deal drugs. Unlike Sollozzo and Tattaglia, it seems that Trump did managed to get his way.
“NO WAR! JUST PEACE!”
Great episode. With so many of these events it is possible to kind of make out what is happening in broad details, but Max does a great job filling in the details. BTW, in keeping with the theme of decline and decay, one potential guest idea is Katya Hoyer, who just published a book on Weimar Germany. I haven't had a chance to read her newest book yet, but her previous two books regarding the Rise and Fall of the German Empire in 1871-1918 and East Germany, were both exceptional. I've heard some interviews for the new book too and it sounds like a really compelling story.
I first learned about Max through this podcast 10 years ago or so. Thank you all for being great and please do keep up the great work.
Amazing interview, wretched times
has anyone ever explained what Max’s deal is? are the listeners of RWN seriously supposed to take at face value the idea that Sidney Blumenthal’s son is one of the US’s preeminent anti-imperialist journalists? not only that but one apparently with sources that would get him on all kinds of lists, and which kind of genuinely irksome coverage people like Michael Hastings and Gary Webb paid dearly for? He’s clearly singing many of our tunes on a lot of issues, seems like a fun hang and is clearly dagger sharp and whip smart, but … so is the RWN audience, aren’t we? So what’s the real deal?
maybe they're on bad terms, who knows
If we are stupid and evil enough to invade Cuba I'll be learning how to edit videos so I can string together montages of American soldiers screaming at the camera of an FPV drone
I needed a laugh and max claiming the democrats would punish the Republicans was pretty good, thanks
Love hearing from Max but god DAMN this shit is a bummer
All my GOATS in one place ?!
Blirst