Vanity Scare

While the U.S. debates the merits of close-up photography in Vanity Fair's piece on Donald Trump's circle, we noticed something else in Vanity Fair's coverage. They've teased a curious conversation with Susie Wiles, the White House Chief of Staff, on Venezuela. The timing is interesting because of this week's U.S. military strikes against alleged narco-terrorists and Donald Trump's decision to designate Venezuela's government as a foreign terrorist organization. What is the "dark fleet" of oil tankers Trump is targeting? Will this alter the global oil market? How are Russia, Iran, and China involved? We cover all of this in under 8 minutes. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome
• 0:16 Vanity Scare
• 0:56 Susie Wiles on Venezuela
• 2:08 Fighting narcoterrorism or pushing for regime change?
• 3:10 New U.S. policies on Venezuela
• 4:59 China's oil supply
• 7:20 Until next time!

Transcript

Welcome to The Friday Brief, a news podcast by Girl Friday. I’m Phoenix Ricks, the CEO of Girl Friday and your host. This is your brief for December 19, 2025. 

Vanity Fair has given everyone something to talk about, and most people seem to be laser-focused on the composition of the photographs of Donald Trump’s innermost political circle. If you’d like an analysis of those photographs, especially the close-up portraits, I recommend following Seema R on social media. On Instagram, you can find her at art_lust_. She does an excellent job explaining nuances within art and photography. 

Today, I’d like to focus on a different part of that Vanity Fair article that has been teased throughout the week. I zeroed in on Chris Whipple’s comments about his conversations with Susie Wiles on Venezuela. He is the writer of the piece, and he’s repeated this interaction a few times, including with NPR and in a video on Vanity Fair’s Instagram, which I highly recommend checking out. Here’s what he said on NPR’s Fresh Air about that conversation with Susie: “She insists that these boats - because the CIA can do remarkable things, she insists that these are drug dealers on these boats. I asked her - I went to see her. I think - I'm pretty sure it was on November 4, just last month. And on that day, she'd just come out of a meeting with the president, talking about the Venezuela policy and the lethal strikes on boats, and she said, words to this effect. He wants to keep blowing up boats until Maduro cries uncle. Which of course, really contradicts the official administration policy that this is all about stopping illegal drugs from reaching U.S. shores and not about regime change.” 

Now, you may recall my previous episodes about Venezuela and narcoterrorism. Like Chris told Fresh Air, the Trump administration insists it is tackling narcoterrorism, so Susie’s on-the-record statement with Vanity Fair completely shatters the facade of the agenda and validates foreign speculation about the U.S.’s true intentions in the region. I do not doubt that our allies are quietly concerned about these revelations from Trump’s chief of staff. Just this week, the U.S. military carried out another strike in international waters. According to Agence France-Presse, the U.S. military has now killed 104 people in the maritime campaign against alleged drug traffickers. 

But something else happened this week. While much of the U.S. was aghast, for one reason or another, about Vanity Fair’s photos, Donald Trump quietly announced a major policy change on Venezuela. The Hill reported that on Tuesday, Trump ordered “a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and exiting Venezuela.” This, of course, escalates tensions with Nicolás Maduro. On Truth Social, Trump wrote that Maduro’s regime is “illegitimate” and is using the oil to “finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping.” As The Hill points out, this move will impact Venezuela’s economy and the “dark fleet” of oil tankers that travel under deceptive methods to keep oil and money flowing between countries like Russia and Iran under the radar of other governments’ surveillance. 

But Donald Trump didn’t stop there. He took it a step further. The U.S. government has now designated the Venezuelan government as a foreign terrorist organization. I imagined this might be a possible next step, and I know it has far-reaching implications beyond the “dark fleet.” As CNBC noted, “According to the U.S. State Department, designating an entity as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’ makes it illegal for any U.S. citizen to knowingly provide ‘material support or resources’ to such an organization, among other measures.” So, any American company doing business or even humanitarian work in Venezuela should be very aware of the consequences of this designation. But, going back to the oil implications, how will this impact the global supply? An oil expert told CNBC that “a full embargo of Venezuelan oil would affect 800,000 to 900,000 barrels of oil per day, which could increase prices by about $2 to $3 per barrel.” 

The expert added this may not have a global impact, but there’s one country in particular that might be rattled by this move: China. “The oil market will be watching the Chinese reaction as they are the largest buyer of Venezuelan oil, benefiting from discounted prices and, they may be reluctant to observe USA sanctions, keeping Venezuelan oil flowing into the market.” U.S.-China trade relations are up and down, and China’s reaction to our overall trade policies has, thus far, directly affected what it chooses to purchase from American farmers. According to Bloomberg this week, in accordance with the latest trade talk, China is stepping up its U.S. soybean purchases again. 

But will that change if they have to find a new source of oil or are in any way penalized for keeping their current oil deals with Venezuela? I’ll keep tracking the implications of this U.S. foreign policy change within the global oil market and within ongoing U.S.-China trade talks. One of the main goals of this podcast is to make sure that American listeners understand that our foreign policies have domestic impacts. Geopolitics is often viewed as something that happens abroad. But we’re all connected, which means U.S. foreign policies also create local opportunities or consequences. 

Thank you for listening to The Friday Brief. We are almost on our 50th episode! Thank you for supporting this podcast through two seasons. I’m getting ready for the third season, which, thanks to your feedback, will be daily. Check out thefridaybrief.com, and follow The Friday Brief on Instagram. Until next time, I’m Phoenix Ricks, signing off from Washington, DC. Let’s work together for a world of good.