In today’s edition, Katherine Doyle explores how President Donald Trump’s base is sticking with him as he ramps up pressure on Venezuela — and what the breaking point could be. Plus, Ben Kamisar and Stephen Pettigrew dig into the district-level results in last month’s Virginia gubernatorial election for clues about next year’s midterms.

Trump this week imposed a "total and complete" blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

Trump orders total blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers as the South American nation controls world's largest oil reserves with over 300 billion barrels.

The president has a long record of making false or misleading statements. But the sheer density of them in his administration’s boat attacks and Venezuela pressure campaign is exceptional.

For months, legal experts and members of Congress have questioned the legality of President Donald Trump’s military campaign against alleged narco-terrorists off Venezuela and Colombia. A new blockade on oil tankers compounded those concerns.

As U.S.-Venezuela tensions rise, sociologist and historian Emmanuel Guerisoli wrote in Spanish in Latinoamerica21 that a civil war is "very likely" if the United States tries to unilaterally oust President Nicolás Maduro.