Bravo to America’s armed forces, who — with such precision and effectiveness — plucked Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from his compound to have him face criminal drug charges in New York.
It was a bold, awe-inspiring move ordered by President Trump. It came with great risk of failure and embarrassment, so the Trump team deserves accolades for pulling off this venture.
Millions of Venezuelans within the nation’s borders and those taking refuge outside the country are ecstatic that the dictator Maduro has been defrocked.
Trump can be seen as a great liberator in that sense, but only if he follows up correctly and uses the appropriate rhetoric.
The comments that should come in the aftermath of this successful operation is that America stands for morality and what is good in the world. We should be declaring that Maduro was toppled because he’s a Marxist dictator who destroyed his country and stole an election from his opposition that clearly won it. Those words would show that America is the beacon of hope for democracy around the world.
Trump did not use that soaring rhetoric. Instead, he concentrated on harvesting the oil from the country. This only served to embolden the leftists who will try to criticize his actions as being an imperialistic ploy and nothing more.
Of course, there is so much more involved here.
America is so much better off having removed this socialist who was harboring our mortal enemies of Iran, China and Russia being able to set up base in our hemisphere.
And there is no doubt that he is a narcotics trafficker.
So why not harp on the fact that we just got rid of a dictator and want to help the Venezuelan’s reestablish democracy?
It would make perfect sense for the U.S. to be supporting Maria Corina Machado, the Nobel Prize winner, whose coalition actually defeated Maduro in the last election.
Reports surfaced that the CIA felt it would be too logistically difficult to bring that faction into power. So instead, they decided to seek to work with Maduro’s second-in-command, Delcy Rodriguez.
But she is as awful as Maduro. She’s an American-hating radical Marxist who was part of the cabal that destroyed the Venezuelan economy and snuffed out freedom of expression.
Just when we were giving hope to the Venezuelans that Maduro was gone, we are turning around and telling them you still have to live with his henchmen. What kind of victory is that for the Venezuelan people?
Now, it may be that the CIA is correct that we will need to transition to a democratic election. Trump feels confident that he could use the threat of the sword and oil embargoes to pressure the new leader into working with us. Time will tell.
But Trump must stop harping on oil, oil, oil. He has a point that Maduro and Maduro stole from American companies when they shut them down and cratered the oil-producing infrastructure after we made all those investments via contracts with the Venezuelans. They indeed owe us some type of restitution for that.
And it was also wise to get the oil pumping again because that was the key to having made Venezuela the richest country in South America for the era before Chavez destroyed it.
But it should be clear that the revitalization of the oil fields is for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.
America will indeed benefit by cutting off the spigot from Venezuela to the axis of evil of Russia and China. But we have to go about it in a better way.
Making matters worse was Trump simultaneously calling for the takeover of Greenland because, once again, he wants their minerals and natural resources
The irony is that Trump is absolutely right that Greenland is of strategic value. But we have a fine working relationship with our ally Denmark, which has controlled Greenland for ages. We have military bases there, and there’s no reason to think we wouldn’t be able to use Greenland as a strategic springboard in the future.
If we want mineral contracts, we can negotiate it with the people of Greenland.
And actually, there’s nothing wrong with seeking to buy the island outright if Greenland and Denmark agree. But Trump is making us look like the Ugly Americans by threatening force against a NATO ally.
Now, of course, it’s hysterical to hear the other NATO members saying that they will kick America out of NATO if we proceed with force. It’s so laughable because NATO needs us way more than we need them. We are the only thing standing in the way of the axis of evil encroaching further into European soil.
But the Europeans are correct that there is something morally reprehensible about an ally threatening to march its army onto the land of a fellow ally simply to enrich itself with more natural resources.
All of this extraneous nonsense is distracting from the amazing military victory that was carried out by our own forces. Trump is stepping on his own tail by going rogue.
Take a bow for having the guts to order this raid and having had it emerge as such a success.
Be a moral beacon by calling for democracy in Venezuela and a rebuilding of their economy after it was wrecked by the Marxist. Work to bring to power the coalition that actually won the last election, have them re-establish basic freedoms and set a new slate of elections within the next six months.
So glow in the victory, President Trump, but stop obsessing over oil and seeking to expand American territory for the sake of your legacy.
Your legacy will be much better built by being a champion for democracy.