Democrats on the capture of Maduro
I was wondering whether any prominent Democrats had broken ranks and praised the Venezuela operation that netted Maduro.
And so of course I thought of John Fetterman, and he didn’t disappoint:
“I don’t know why we can’t just acknowledge it’s been a good thing what’s happened. I’ve seen the speeches from, whether it’s Leader Schumer or kinds of past tweets from President Biden,” he said, referring to recent criticism of the military operation by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and former President Biden’s tough talk about Maduro in the past.
“We all wanted this man gone, and now he is gone. I think we should really appreciate exactly what happened here,” Fetterman said. …
“I salute our military, what they’ve done,” he said on Fox News. “That was really surgical and precise and very efficient — so why we can’t celebrate these kinds of things?
The Pennsylvania senator said Maduro’s ouster opens up the possibility of a more prosperous future for Venezuelans.
Decades ago such comments might have been standard from the opposition. No more.
Fetterman was not entirely alone among Democrats, however. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of all people (who represents a district in Florida, however, which probably has plenty of voters in favor of Maduro’s capture), has spoken similarly, although her comments were mixed with some criticism:
“The capture of the brutal, illegitimate ruler of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who oppressed Venezuela’s people is welcome news for my friends and neighbors who fled his violent, lawless, and disastrous rule. However, cutting off the head of a snake is fruitless if it just regrows,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., wrote on X.
“Venezuelans deserve the promise of democracy and the rule of law, not a state of endless violence and spiraling disorder. My hope is it offers a passage to true democracy and liberation. This action offers beleaguered Venezuelans a chance to seat their true, democratically elected president, Edmundo González.”
She criticized the GOP administration for apparently failing to notify Congress beforehand, however.
Most – or perhaps all? – of the rest of the Democrats followed party orders, although not always happily:
Some Democrats are grumbling at their party’s largely oppositional stance to President Trump’s raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, saying privately that their colleagues should be celebrating.
Why it matters: These lawmakers argue it could be a major political miscalculation if the party fails to applaud the downfall of a brutal dictator with sufficient volume, even given grave concerns about the operation’s legality and longer-term ramifications.
Such independent thinkers.
And of course the Democrats say it’s an impeachable offense – but then again, that’s true of everything Trump does. They’ve managed to strip impeachment of all meaning, but if they win the House in 2026 (perish the thought) they’ll go for the hat trick of at least three impeachments for Trump.
ADDENDUM:
Once upon a time, Democrats demanded Maduro’s ouster.
An impeachment by the House is simply an indictment. The trial following the impeachment is conducted by the Senate. A trial leading to ouster is no slam dunk. Not with JD Vance as the tie-breaking presiding officer.
In case anyone was worried the WSJ had gone wobbly:
https://archive.fo/LVWZ8
Praising Trump is a definite no-no by a Democrat who wants to keep their seat.
Ana Navarro said on The View that while people could criticize how it was done, Maduro is a *!#! and it’s a good thing we removed him.
@James Sisco:Praising Trump is a definite no-no by a Democrat who wants to keep their seat.
Depends on if the people of Pennsylvania, and the Dem party machine in that area that did jack squat for Harris because they felt disrespected by her and didn’t get enough money, feel that way.
Fetterman’s party colleagues in the Senate have taken no adverse action against him; they’ve deprived him of no committees, have not moved his office into a mop closet, etc. He votes the right way on the stuff they actually care most about, which is directing taxpayer money to their cronies.
Schultz is doing a Chameleon imitation. She seems to imply that now that the ‘head of the snake’ has been severed, the United States is responsible for nation re-building in Venezuela. Does she mean like in Iraq and Afghanistan? Did she support the efforts there?
I trust that Trump will be true to his word, and leave Venezuela to Venezuelans. Hands off unless they revert to Chavez/Maduro like behavior.
Fetterman continues to surprise. Behind that bizarre physical appearance there is a rational, thinking person. Dare one say Statesman?
NO KINGS! Unless that king is taken out by Trump, then the king is a hero.
I’ve spent these last days rejoicing with Venezuelans for their hope reborn. It reminds me so much when the Iron Curtain fell down, a few hundred km from my house: it’s wonderful, and I hope the liberation will be complete in the near future.
If Trump ruins the positive vibe surrounding him, even here in Europe (except among leftists) with absurdities about Greenland, then he is really a narcissistic, compulsively disturbed idiot.
The Democrats are bigger enemies of this country than the Chinese, Russians, Norks, or Somalis.
as we know, the figurehead delcy rodriguez, is a dubious sort, with personal animosities against America, her father kidnapped American executive Owens exec william Niehaus, in 1976,
and ransomed him, after three years, he was subsequently detained and died in prison, ostensibly at the auspices of the DISIP secret police, this was how they paid for their education sources indicate,
a factotum of the possum national assembly, which is why the army retains loyalty to her,which makes us dubious that she would be responsive to our demands
of course, we don’t want to repeat the same error we had in afghanistan and iraq, so its a bit of a gordian knot we saw how Karzai was ruler in name only, and at the mercy of the warlords,
one assumes a flotilla off the coast, will focus her attention,
of course there is the eponymous ‘God Given’ Cabello, who really is the major linchpin, a sort of Noriega/Montesinos, who has fingers in many pies, or if you want to go noir any of Sydney Greenstreets criminal faciitators, from ferrara to Kaspar Guttman,
SYDNEY!!!
so I’m beginning to wonder what happens next in Venezuela with the rise of the Colectivos roaming the streets targeting pro-American citizens. These gangs obviously have government backing. Just because Maduro is gone doesn’t’ mean the rest of the corrupt government is gone. What will the new prez do? What will the US do? The situation is not good at the moment, and the initial celebrations may have been premature.
Paolo, similar to you, I lived and worked in East Germany shortly after the Iron Curtain fell down and I rejoice on the removal of Maduro. However, I do not think that Trump’s plan to annex Greenland is absurd. Russia and China are making moves in the Arctic. Denmark is not in a position to counter these moves that undermine US and European security. Only the US can counter these moves. A deal with Denmark should be struck for the US to take responsibility for the security of Greenland.
Canada, BTW, is also—intentionally—a leaky faucet (NORAD-wise) the way the Canadian Liberal Party has been running it over the past over-a-dozen years…as part and parcel of destroying the country entirely (it’s the WEF/WTF playbook, after all…); that is, if anyone is—still—interested in Trump’s “concerns” WRT that once-stalwart country.