Rough Start to the New Year for Maduro

I’ll tell you who he’s not.

Maduro is not a beloved leader of the “Fatherland.”
He’s not a noble patriot or a sweet old grampa waving kindly at children.

Maduro is a dictator.

He is a socialist strongman who followed another socialist strongman—Hugo Chavez—after Chavez died in 2013.

And just for texture: Chavez himself ran for president in 1998 only after getting sprung from prison, where he’d been locked up for his part in an earlier coup attempt.

Real quality guys.

Chavez took a once-prosperous Venezuela and drove it straight into the dirt.
Maduro poured gasoline on the mess and lit a match.

How Bad Is It in Venezuela?

Really bad.

Like, “check your smoke detectors” bad.

Ninety percent of Venezuelans live at or below the poverty level.

GDP per capita is around $3,000 a year.
Yes—ANNUAL.

For comparison, the U.S. sits around $85,000 a year.

Other Latin American countries? Roughly $8,000–$12,000.
Haiti is around $2,000.

So Venezuela is flirting with Haiti-level poverty while sitting on massive natural resources.

Which tells you everything you need to know about socialism:
It’s the only system in the world that can make an oil-rich nation poor.

Can Trump Capture Maduro?

Is the capture of Nicolas Maduro constitutionally allowable?

Yes.

This falls within Trump’s Article II authority.
No congressional permission slip required.

Does it give Never Trumpers heartburn?
Absolutely.

Do some GOP folks wish it hadn’t happened?
Sure.

But “I don’t like it” and “it’s illegal” are not the same thing.

Has This Kind of Thing Happened Before?

Yep.

Historical precedent: the U.S. capture of Panamanian General Manuel Noriega in 1989–1990.

Noriega screamed about sovereignty and immunity, too.
The courts ultimately told him to take the L.

Important side note: the U.S. has never recognized Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president. So in America’s eyes, he’s not a head of state—he’s a criminal defendant with a fancy title.

Why Did the U.S. Do It?

Because Maduro isn’t just a bad politician.
He’s a bad actor running a criminal operation.

The U.S. indicted him back in 2020 for:

• narco-terrorism
• drug trafficking
• money laundering
• turning Venezuela into a literal “narco-state.”

And while Venezuela keeps cozying up to:

• Russia
• China
• Iran
• Cuba

Maduro’s comrades have been picnicking—more like tailgating—in our backyard.

Those are not treaties; those are red flags.

What Happens Next?

Look—captures are tidy in the movies.

Real life? Less tidy.

People may not love how it was done (even though the Left has demanded it be done for years), but you can’t deny it was very well done.

And the next chapter of Venezuela will not be speedy or simple either. This is what socialism does. It destroys and corrupts. And when walked all the way out, ends in a failed state.

America is reasserting order in its own hemisphere.
That’s not domination.
That’s overdue maintenance.