How the US sells war with words

When the US goes to war, it doesn't just fight on the battlefield. It fights inside your head.

We break down 10 narrative tricks the US has used in its aggression against Venezuela. These tactics follow a clear formula built on three core logics — disguise, redirection, and erasure. Once you recognize the pattern, you'll start to see how the same tricks are used again and again in US interventions over the decades.

Trick 1｜Turn international aggression into domestic law enforcement
Cross-border military action is framed as "arrest", "capture", or "extradition". These are policing terms, not war terms. The effect is immediate: the UN Charter drops out of frame, replaced by the US domestic legal logic.

Trick 2｜Rebrand military violence as technical management
Bombing becomes "precision strikes". Invasion becomes an "operation". Civilian harm becomes "collateral damage". This language doesn't just soften violence — it normalizes it as administrative work.

Trick 3｜Personalize a state to delegitimize sovereignty
A country is reduced to one leader. Once sovereignty is stripped from the state and attached to an individual, regime change can be sold as law enforcement against a criminal — not aggression against a nation.

Trick 4｜Heroize special forces to obscure illegality
Command-room footage. Elite units. Night-vision raids. The audience is invited to admire competence, not question authority. The more impressive the operation looks, the less people ask whether it was legal.

Trick 5｜Use tactical "cleanliness" to hide strategic brutality
A fast, casualty-light strike is framed as proof of restraint. But tactical success says nothing about strategic consequences: regional instability, civilian suffering, sanctions, long-term chaos. The scene looks clean; the system is violent.

Trick 6｜Shift debate from substance to procedure
Media fixates on questions like congressional authorization or timing. These debates absorb attention while dodging the core issue: Who gave the US the right to use force across borders at all?

Trick 7｜Reverse cause and effect
They intervene first. Chaos follows. Then the US points to the chaos and say, "See? We had to intervene."

Trick 8｜Use "breaking news" to bury historical patterns
Each intervention is framed as unique. Past invasions, coups, and regime-change operations vanish. Without historical continuity, accountability becomes impossible.

Trick 9｜Introduce new crises before judgment arrives
Before people can judge one war, a new threat is pushed into the spotlight. Attention moves on. Accountability disappears.

Trick 10｜Show humiliation, hide violence
You see humiliation and handcuffs. You don't see the dead guards, civilians, or destroyed homes. Power is shown. The cost is hidden.