David Frum of The Atlantic has had a difficult time maintaining contact with reality over the last few days.
"Military action in Venezuela today without allies may prefigure action tomorrow against allies—for example, to invade and annex Greenland," Frum warns. I find it fascinating that observers like Frum never, ever believe anything Donald Trump says unless it's something extraordinarily outrageous. Then, it's the gospel truth.
Trump is not going to invade Greenland. Nor is he going to annex Venezuela's oil fields, seize the Panama Canal, or do any of the half dozen other things that the left's hair is on fire over. They believe that if they pretend hard enough and long enough, Trump will prove himself evil, and some people will actually believe their warnings. That would make them and their tiny readership feel good about themselves.
The left is casting desperately about, looking for a "hook" on which to base its critique of Trump's actions in Venezuela. It's a familiar strategy. Nicolás Maduro could be the devil incarnate, but as long as he opposed Trump and the U.S., he was good as gold.
He may have stolen a few elections, executed a few thousand political opponents, stolen billions of dollars, run the most profitable business on the planet (oil) into the ground, and led a criminal gang that brought tens of thousands of tons of drugs into the U.S., killing thousands of Americans and ruining hundreds of thousands of lives...
But really. He's not so bad. It's the democracy, don't ya know? At least he held elections.
Some former residents of Venezuela have a much clearer picture of Maduro than the benighted leftists in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Stephan Subero grew up in Venezuela, moved to Ontario, Canada, and started a new life. He has some choice words for those of a mind to defend Maduro or condemn Trump even more harshly.
I’m going to say this once, and I don’t care if it makes people uncomfortable.If you did not grow up thereIf you did not watch your country collapse in real timeIf you did not stand in food linesIf you did not watch your parents lose everything they builtIf you did not have to leave your home with nothingThen shut the f**k up.You do not have an opinion.Your opinion does not matter.And you don’t get to lecture anyone about what’s happening there.
"People didn’t suddenly become poor because of 'capitalism' or 'the U.S.' or whatever bulls**t slogan people like to repeat online," Subero said. "They became poor because socialism destroyed incentives, destroyed production, destroyed trust, and destroyed hope."
Another Venezuelan ex-pat, Manhattan Institute's Santiago Vidal Calvo, says that "Trump was right about Venezuela" and has the receipts.
There is still a chance that this whole Venezuelan enterprise could go sideways six ways from Sunday. In fact, the longer we're involved, the worse it's likely to get.Under Maduro, Venezuela became a failed narco-state that endangers regional stability and U.S. security. As detailed in the indictment, Maduro’s regime allegedly pumped deadly drugs into our communities and used the profits to entrench his dictatorship.
He has partnered with violent groups to do his bidding. His regime has co-opted gangs like Tren de Aragua—the country’s largest organized crime syndicate, which has wreaked havoc across the Americas—to attack pro-democracy protesters and assassinate his political opponents.
Maduro also gave American adversaries a foothold in the Americas. Russia and China have backed Maduro’s regime as a wedge against American influence and pledged solidarity with Maduro upon his arrest. Iran and Cuba also have deep ties to Caracas, from Iranian oil smugglers to Cuban security personnel embedded in Venezuela. Keeping Maduro in power would have allowed these hostile nations to establish a base of operations in the Americas, clearly violating the spirit of the Monroe Doctrine.
But the U.S. has given democratic forces in Venezuela a healthy push in the right direction. It will be up to the Venezuelan people to decide what to do with it.
