Illustrating
that the exception only proves the rule, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard stood
virtually alone, tweeting: “The United States needs to stay out of
Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people determine their future. We don’t
want other countries to choose our leaders — so we have to stop
trying to choose theirs.”
by
Alexander Rubinstein
Nothing
unites the D.C. blob like a good old coup d’état. The only other
times, it seems, that Donald Trump is given a break by “the
resistance” is when he acts “presidential” — i.e., orders
military aggression, as we saw with Syria.
As
veteran journalist Dan Rather put it at the time: “The number of
members of the press who have lauded the actions last night as
‘presidential’ is concerning. War must never be considered a
public relations operation. It is not a way for an Administration to
gain a narrative. It is a step into a dangerous unknown and its full
impact is impossible to predict, especially in the immediate wake of
the first strike.”
Now, it
has been more than a month since the Trump administration worked with
Juan Guaido to orchestrate a declaration of his presidency in
Venezuela, and the coup attempt has received the endorsement of a
likely backer: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. While
Clinton’s warmongering surprises no one, it is worth examining the
statements of others in her political orbit.
MintPress
News previously covered the remarks of the “socialists” in
Congress — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — about Venezuela, in which the former called
on Venezuela to accept alleged humanitarian aid from the United
States and the latter called out the “failure of democracy” in
the country.
On
Saturday, Clinton tweeted “I urge Nicolás Maduro to allow
humanitarian aid inside Venezuela’s borders peacefully.”
Hours later, Sen. Sanders tweeted that the “Maduro government
must … allow humanitarian aid into the country, and refrain from
violence against protesters.”
As
Lawrence Korb put it: “We all think the dictator must go; the
question is what’s the best way to do it.” Korb is a senior
fellow at the pro-Clinton, UAE-funded comms shop Center for
American Progress (CAP). Kelly Magsamen, CAP’s Vice President,
National Security and International Policy, recently deleted a tweet
in which she defended Elliott Abrams as a civil servant who is a
“fierce advocate for human rights and democracy.”
Abrams,
as MintPress News continues to note, was recently appointed as
United States Special Representative for Venezuela and was previously
involved in a $27 million plot to arm right-wing South American
contras.
Magsamen
claimed Abrams made “professional mistakes.” She added
that “we all have a lot of work to do together in Venezuela. We
share goals.”
While
Clinton’s camp is firmly
Never-Trump-Except-in-Cases-of-Regime-Change, she — God help us —
is not running for president, currently. The Democrats who have
declared their candidacies, however, do not differ much in their
rhetoric on Venezuela, with rare exception.
Since
there is only one Democratic candidate who has made a forceful
statement against the coup, let’s start with Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
(D-HI), who was among the first to respond, tweeting “The United
States needs to stay out of Venezuela. Let the Venezuelan people
determine their future. We don’t want other countries to choose our
leaders — so we have to stop trying to choose theirs.”
Sen.
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who has thrown her hat in the ring for
2020, condemned Maduro’s “corrupt reign” and repeated
the bald-faced lie that Juan Guaido “was legitimately elected,”
via a statement through her spokeswoman, Meredith Kelly, to the
Huffington Post.
Former
Rep. John Delaney (D-MD), who is running for president in 2020,
condemned Venezuela’s “corrupt and failed authoritarian
regimes.”
Sen.
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said, “The Venezuelan people deserve
free and fair elections, an economy that works, and the ability to
live without fear of violence from their own government.”
Pete
Buttigieg — a little-known contender who is the mayor of South
Bend, Indiana — also called for “free and fair elections.”
Bernie
Sanders has done the same and, as MintPress News recently
reported, thrown his weight behind demands that Maduro bend to U.S.
demands that he accept “humanitarian aid,” which the
government of Venezuela believes to be a trojan horse.
In
response to a request for comment from the Huffington Post,
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), who is yet another 2020 Democrat contender,
merely said: “Maduro is alarming to me on many levels.”
Sen. Amy
Klobuchar (D-MN) told the outlet “I support the people of
Venezuela standing up against Maduro, installing a new leader, and
restoring democracy in Venezuela.”
Sen.
Kamala Harris (D-CA) and former Obama official and San Antonio Mayor
Julián Castro, both of whom are running, did not respond to the
Huffington Post’s request for comment, though clues exist as
to their positions.
Harris
condemned “Maduro’s dictatorial regime” in a tweet on
Saturday. While Castro has remained seemingly silent on the
U.S.-backed coup attempt in Venezuela, his brother, Rep. Joaquin
Castro (D-TX) last year said “We’ve seen Nicolás Maduro
undermine Venezuelan democracy and create a regional economic and
humanitarian catastrophe.”
“President
Maduro consistently violates the basic human rights of the people he
governs and must be held accountable,” he added.
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