Trump is right about Venezuela

There are two main reasons why, blinded by its opposition to Trump, the left is getting the Venezuelan crisis all wrong.

First, American leftists clearly see Venezuela as a Cold War-style, left vs. right struggle in which they must support the left. But this is very much a 21st-century contest between populist authoritarianism and liberal democracy—and Maduro’s the authoritarian. Sure, he leads a “socialist” party, but his regime has obliterated Venezuela’s democracy since he came to power in 2013. The opposition overwhelmingly won legislative elections in 2015, taking control of the Assembly, Venezuela’s top legislative body. In response, Maduro’s acolytes in the Supreme Court first stripped the Assembly of all its powers, and then Maduro crafted a rubber-stamp constituent assembly of his backers to take over legislative duties. Maduro imprisoned opposition leaders and held a sham election in 2018 to give himself a second term. After Maduro took the oath of office, the opposition said it considered him an illegitimate president and launched the current campaign.

Second, the left wrongly assumes Trump is supporting his usual authoritarian allies on the right, and therefore is drawing the wrong conclusions about what’s at stake in Venezuela and whom the opposition there really represents. To call the opposition, as Omar did, “far right,” is absurd.