Good morning. The cease-fire between the United States and Iran continues to unravel.

There’s a lot more news below. But I’d like to start today with the question of who’s really running Venezuela.

The viceroy of Venezuela

In the early hours of Jan. 3, shortly after U.S. commandos snatched Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, from his bedroom in a daring nighttime raid, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s vice president. Speaking in Spanish, he told her she faced a choice: work with the United States or experience an escalating attack on her country’s infrastructure, military bases and senior officials. After some negotiation, Rodríguez bent the knee.

In the months since, my colleagues Tyler Pager and Anatoly Kurmanaev report, Rubio has emerged as Venezuela’s de facto viceroy, a kind of heir to the powerful governors who once ruled the domains of the Spanish Empire, including the territory that is now Venezuela.

Rubio has effective control of Venezuela’s finances, its natural resources and its government, Tyler and Anatoly discovered after speaking with a dozen officials in Washington and Caracas. He is closely involved in the day-to-day operations of the country, and he remains in close contact with Rodríguez, who now runs Venezuela on an acting basis with the blessing of the United States.

He has weighed in personally on her governmental appointments, such as the minister of defense. He asserts control over her public appearances and statements. He successfully encouraged her to remove Maduro’s family and business partners from positions of power, and inveighed upon her officials to provide intelligence that allowed the U.S. military to kill one of the leaders of the gang Tren de Aragua. They trade gossip and selfies over text message.

It’s no buddy movie, though. The relationship between Rubio and Rodríguez, the reporters write, “is a manifestation of Trump-era American power, in which the winner takes all regardless of sovereignty and international law.”

Then they illustrated that power in a single, amazing paragraph:

The U.S. Treasury receives the revenue from most of Venezuela’s exports, then disburses it to Venezuela through the country’s banking system, a relationship akin to parents handing out allowances to children. Mr. Rubio and his team set the conditions on what that money can be spent on, and by whom.

Seeking permission

Rubio has said that the Trump administration’s plan for Venezuela has three stages: Recover the economy, stabilize the country and transition it to democracy.

Before last month’s earthquakes, the administration said it was in the second stage, and trying to bring international investment into Venezuela. To move the effort along, senior Trump officials went to Venezuela to meet with Rodríguez’s administration and strike energy and mining deals.

Tyler and Anatoly have a great story about one of those visits. In March, Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, met with Rodríguez at the presidential palace in Caracas. Rubio texted her during the visit to ask how it was going. Very well, she responded.

I’ll let the reporters take it from there:

But the meeting was overshadowed by damaging news. Reuters reported that day that the Justice Department was quietly building a legal case against Ms. Rodríguez.

Ms. Rodríguez’s administration was shocked, and sought clarification from the White House. To allay Ms. Rodríguez’s concerns, Todd Blanche, then the deputy attorney general, called the report “completely FALSE.”

But the Venezuelan government sought further assurances. So the next day Mr. Rubio texted Mr. Rodríguez the link to a social media post from the U.S. president.

“Delcy Rodríguez, who is the President of Venezuela, is doing a great job, and working with U.S. Representatives very well,” Mr. Trump wrote. Ms. Rodríguez was pleased, and wanted to thank Mr. Trump with a post of her own. But first, she shared the draft with Mr. Rubio. She posted it after receiving his approval.

The whole article is here. It’s riveting.

Here are some other great stories that caught my eye today:

• How many books, do you suppose, is too many books? One guy’s landlord thought 10,000 was too many for a Manhattan studio apartment. Here’s the eviction tale from Alex Vadukul, whose job it is to find these sorts of situations.

• The American socialist movement has been better at critiquing the system than reshaping it. But it stormed the Democratic Party anyway, and it has attained a new kind of mainstream political power. How did that happen? Jia Lynn Yang, who writes about ideas, explored the question.

• One degree from Kevin Bacon.

• The art critic Jerry Saltz joined the podcast “Pablo Torre Finds Out” to talk about the best, worst and sexiest trophies in sports. He doesn’t hold back.

• Beekeepers in South Carolina’s Lowcountry are trying to save local honeybees from invasive hornets. One state official compared the struggle to “fighting Satan.”

THE LATEST NEWS

Congress

Will Democrats or Republicans win the midterms? Six pollsters and pundits, including Nate Silver and Lynn Vavreck, look into their crystal balls.

Ideological extremism in American politics has created a race to the bottom, David French writes.

TODAY’S NUMBER

800

— That is how many pounds of peanut butter workers troweled into a gigantic hexagon on a gallery floor in the Netherlands to honor the Dutch artist Wim T. Schippers, who died last month at 83. The total volume used for Schippers’s “Peanut Butter Floor” is equivalent to roughly 860 16-ounce jars.

Wimbledon: Jannik Sinner came back from a set down to beat Alexander Zverev for his second straight title and fifth Grand Slam championship. Zverev played nearly perfect tennis, but admitted afterward it would take actually perfect tennis to beat Sinner, whose serve was too mighty.

World Cup: FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, said he’s considering having 64 teams in the next tournament, in 2030. (This current World Cup had 48.) An expansion has pros and cons.

RECIPE OF THE DAY

The algorithm served me a video of some guy cooking steak Diane and suddenly that was all I wanted for dinner. You can make it yourself with any thin cut of beef, but I think a pounded-out filet mignon is best. Serve with those little potatoes that have come to dominate the produce aisle at the supermarket, roasted crisp so you can use them to mop up the sauce that naps the steak. And maybe a thatch of watercress?

Sam Neill, the versatile New Zealand screen actor who appeared in more than 150 productions over a five-decade career, died today in Sydney, Australia. He was 78.

Neill combined a credible Everyman quality with rugged good looks and a hard-to-place accent. He was perhaps best known as Dr. Alan Grant in the “Jurassic Park” series. Born Nigel, he changed his name to Sam at age 11, taking inspiration from characters in western movies. It was, he said, “probably the best decision I made in my life. Sam is easy to say, sounds friendly, sounds a bit blokey and has a touch of the Labrador about it.” Same!

More on culture

• Why, yes, I do want to see every inch of the inside of the novelist Elin Hilderbrand’s house on Nantucket. That kitchen!

• Wesley Morris, the host of the podcast “Cannonball,” and Caryn Ganz, who covers pop music, agree on this much: Olivia Rodrigo’s new release, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” could be the album of the year. Listen to and watch them talk about its excellence, and about the joys of heartbreak pop. They’re here.

THE MORNING RECOMMENDS

Lessen the dank, fusty, mildew-encouraging funkiness of your cellar (or home), with the best dehumidifier tested by the basement dwellers at Wirecutter.

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GAMES