U.S. Soccer Agrees to Pay Men and Women Equally. Americans Agree Not To Watch Either One.

(How John Kerry won Afghanistan)


	In groundbreaking news, Soccer players, a game usually played by toddlers and angry America-hating leftists with purple

U.S. Soccer Agrees to Pay Men and Women Equally. Americans Agree Not To Watch Either One.

The pro-crime party <a href="https://pitchfork.com/news/new-york-state-senate-passes-bill-limiting-use-of-song-lyrics-in-court/">keeps on pro-criming</a>.

<blockquote>
	
		New York’s State Senate approved a bill Tuesday (May 17) that would limit prosecutors’ use of song lyrics and other forms of “creative expression” as evidence in criminal cases.&nbsp;Senate Bill S7527&nbsp;would not ban prosecutors from presenting lyrics or other material to a jury, but would require them to show that the work is “literal, rather than figurative or fictional.”

	
		The bill, which was sponsored by Senators Jamaal Bailey and Brad Hoylman, received&nbsp;public support&nbsp;from Jay-Z, Meek Mill, Killer Mike, Fat Joe, and Robin Thicke, among others. Before the bill can become a law, it must pass the New York State Assembly; a&nbsp;companion bill&nbsp;sponsored by Assembly member Catalina Cruz is pending before a committee and awaiting a vote.

	
		The bill, while in the works for months, comes as Atlanta rappers Young Thug and Gunna&nbsp;face RICO charges&nbsp;in Georgia in a case where their lyrics and music videos make up the bulk of the state’s evidence of criminal conspiracy. In the 2013 case&nbsp;Dawson v. Delaware, the Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to use protected speech as evidence, provided that speech is irrelevant to the case.

	
		The court&nbsp;declined&nbsp;to hear the case of Jamal Knox, a Pittsburgh rapper known as Mayhem Mal who was&nbsp;convicted&nbsp;on charges of terroristic threats and witness intimidation over lyrics in a 2012 song called “Fuck the Police.”&nbsp;
</blockquote>


	It is awkward when an entire genre based on violence whose members routinely engaged in violence toward each other and innocent people start pretending that they're engaging in fictional threats, not real ones.


	I usually err on the side of free speech, but a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/rap_song_that_threatened_police_officers_is_not_protected_speech_pennsylvan">recap&nbsp;the Mayhem Mal </a>case in a way that virtually no media outlet, which focuses on celeb rapper support, shows why it happened.

<blockquote>
	
		The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has rejected a free speech claim by a rapper who threatened to kill two Pittsburgh police officers he identified by name in a video titled “F— the Police.”

	
		Using the name Mayhem Mal, Knox and another rapper threatened the officers who were scheduled to testify against them after arresting the pair on drug charges. The other rapper’s case was not before the court.

	
		One of the officers said the video was one of the reasons he left the force and relocated.

	
		Both officers are named, and Knox states in the song that the lyrics are for them. In one part of the rap song, Knox said, “I’ma jam this rusty knife all in his guts and chop his feet,” and, “Well your shift over at 3 and I’m gonna f— up where you sleep.” The song also suggests the rappers know the identity of a confidential informant and a have a plan to murder an informant with a Glock handgun.
</blockquote>


	This is what New York Senate Dems seem to driven to protect.


	Would such a law, clearly preferencing criminals of a certain culture, survive a Supreme Court test?

<blockquote>
	
		If the court found First Amendment protection for the video, Saylor said, “we would in effect be interpreting the Constitution to provide blanket protection for threats, however severe, so long as they are expressed within that musical style.”
</blockquote>


	It's a good question.


	If a criminal writes a death threat in words cut out from a newspaper, isn't that also an art project?


	The New York Senate Dem "F___ the Police" bill, "Establishes an assumption of the inadmissibility of evidence of a defendant's creative or artistic expression against such defendant in a criminal proceeding; requires the proffering party to affirmatively prove that the evidence is admissible by clear and convincing evidence."


	How are prosecutors going to prove that a criminal's communications aren't part of a creative project in an era where anything, from mutilated horses to a golden toilet to Banksy and rap can be considered art?


	There's no metric for art, which means anything is art.


	Drug dealers can freely send text messages brokering drug deals as long as they do it in rap form.


	I'm sure that this won't make New York an even worse hellhole.

NY Senate Dems Pass "F___ the Police" Bill Protecting Violent Rap Threats

The pro-crime party keeps on pro-criming.


	
		New York’s State Senate approved a bill Tuesday (May 17) that would limit prosecutors’ use of song lyrics

NY Senate Dems Pass "F___ the Police" Bill Protecting Violent Rap Threats

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio shouldn't have had a political career. Radicalism is not a problem in NYC, but even most radicals hate his guts. Bill de Blasio's combination of arrogance, incompetence, laziness and corruption contrived to make him widely hated across the spectrum.


	So of course he ran for president.


	After that fizzled, thought was given to running for governor and <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/05/17/bill-de-blasio-eyeing-run-at-newly-drawn-ny-seat-nadler-has-left-behind/">now the House</a>.

<blockquote>
	
		Ex-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told a state lawmaker he plans to run for New York’s&nbsp;newly drawn 10th Congressional district&nbsp;— the seat entrenched Rep. Jerrold Nadler is vacating to fight it out with former longtime ally Rep. Carolyn Maloney in the rejigged 12th.

	
		De Blasio&nbsp;considered a run&nbsp;for the NY-11 district – before the&nbsp;state’s redistricting maps&nbsp;were thrown out the first time – but then&nbsp;dropped his bid in February before it started.&nbsp;
</blockquote>


	As the Post notes,&nbsp;Bill de&nbsp;Blasio&nbsp;blew a presidential and gubernatorial campaign. If he abandons a House run, what's left? City Council? Assemblyman? Dogcatcher?


	De Blasio's own Twitter feed is a mishmash of attacks and virtue signaling at the state and the federal level, barking about state gun laws and federal social media regulation as if his own online persona can't figure out which office he wants to run for and is just keeping all of his possible options open.


	It seems as if it might be kinder to take him off the street and give him some kind of job where a complete incompetent would be allowed to mismanage billion-dollar budgets and just misplace $800 million.


	Maybe Burger King or Starbucks?

Won't Someone Hire Bill de Blasio To Do Something?

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio shouldn't have had a political career. Radicalism is not a problem in NYC, but even most radicals hate his guts. Bill de Blasio's

Won't Someone Hire Bill de Blasio To Do Something?

Give Chesa Boudin some credit, the Soros DA is responsible for the deaths of a lot more Americans than his Weather Underground&nbsp;parents. This is why the counterculture lefties decided to <a href="https://sfstandard.com/criminal-justice/da-chesa-boudin-fentanyl-court-data-drug-dealing-immigration/">destroy the system from within</a>.

<blockquote>
	
		Despite a surging fentanyl crisis that&nbsp;killed nearly 500&nbsp;people last year in San Francisco, the office of District Attorney Chesa Boudin did not secure a single conviction for dealing the deadly opioid for cases filed during 2021, according to a review of court data.
</blockquote>


	No drug dealer is illegal apparently.

<blockquote>
	
		Another big factor is the DA’s attention to offenders’ immigration status, which by law they are required to consider. Prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys point out that drug dealing convictions are grounds for deportation, and a substantial number of drug dealers in the city are Honduran nationals who could face deadly consequences if deported. The accessory charge still gives them and their families a path toward eventual citizenship.
</blockquote>


	So Americans have to die so that Honduran drug dealers can become citizens.

<blockquote>
	
		The DA’s approach is not winning many fans in the most-affected neighborhoods. “I know the horrors of being undocumented and selling drugs, but we can’t let our people continue to die,” said Rene Colorado, executive director of the Tenderloin Merchants Association.&nbsp;

	
		“My best friend died of a heroin overdose here in San Francisco, because I couldn’t help him. There have to be limits,” he said. “If you’re undocumented and selling fentanyl, guess what, you have to face the consequences. You have to do your time here in the States and you’re probably going to be deported.”&nbsp;
</blockquote>


	Not on Chesa Boudin's watch. Or on any Soros DAs watch.

<blockquote>
	
		In one example of using the “accessory after the fact” conviction for fentanyl dealing, a defendant was arrested and charged five different times from July 2020 through December 2021 for dealing fentanyl, heroin, meth and crack cocaine. According to court documents, evidence included a backpack with cash and “numerous” colorful plastic baggies of drugs. All five cases were consolidated for a January 2022 sentencing where he received two “accessory after the fact” felonies and served several months in jail.

	
		Another example in San Francisco involved a man with four separate drug dealing arrests last year between June and December. He was charged with selling fentanyl, crack, more than an ounce of meth and over 14 grams of heroin. His ultimate conviction was for two misdemeanors for&nbsp; “accessory after the fact,” and his sentence was two days in county jail, which he had already served.
</blockquote>


	Remember when lefties complained about California's "draconian" drug laws. Then go look at the bodies on the street. That's what the alternative looks like.

Americans Die of Fentanyl Overdoses as Soros DA Protects Foreign Drug Dealers From Deportation

Give Chesa Boudin some credit, the Soros DA is responsible for the deaths of a lot more Americans than his Weather Underground&nbsp;parents. This is why the

Americans Die of Fentanyl Overdoses as Soros DA Protects Foreign Drug Dealers From Deportation

It's official. Women don't exist and neither does "<a href="https://www.mediaite.com/weird/democratic-pro-choice-caucus-releases-language-guide-saying-choice-is-harmful-language/">choice</a>".

<blockquote>
	
		The House Pro-Choice Caucus has released a language guide with suggestions about what to say and not to say on the issue of abortion, including an admonition on the harmfulness of the word “choice.”

	
		In addition to “choice,” words deemed “harmful language” include “reduce abortion,” “safe, legal and rare,” “unwanted pregnancy,” “conscience clause/protections” and “back-alley abortions/coat hangers.”

	
		“Helpful language,” on the other hand, includes words like “decision,” “safe, legal and accessible,” “unexpected pregnancy,” “refusal of care/denial of care laws” and “criminalizing healthcare.”
</blockquote>


	This reeks of a focus group being convened on how to best market abortion to millennials.&nbsp;


	Why is the&nbsp;House Pro-Choice Caucus dumping "choice"?


	Choice, a key element in pro-abortion branding, is 'freedom' language. It's likely been concluded that freedom language is out of sync with an illiberal Left. And thus "choice" has been replaced with the illiberal "decision" which was probably determined to be far more empowering.


	The implication is that abortion is not a choice, that there aren't two sides or options, but an absolute decision. Abortion, the message goes, is not optional.


	But nothing under the Left is. Just ask China's One Child Policy.

The End of "Choice"

It's official. Women don't exist and neither does "choice".


	
		The House Pro-Choice Caucus has released a language guide with suggestions about what to

The End of "Choice"

<div>
	
		Madeleine Albright's life and death were the subject of myriad obituaries and remembrances, much of it overwhelmingly positive. Yet one appalling fact about the prominent Democrat's colorful and sometimes controversial diplomatic career was missing – how Albright helped pave the way for the 9/11 terror attacks as secretary of state in the Clinton administration. This fact was missing from <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/us/madeleine-albright-dead.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1648800394262000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2mFNEtdOnB2Ni6dBgKNIsi" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/us/madeleine-albright-dead.html" target="_blank">The New York Times' obituary</a>, which called Albright “a brilliant analyst of world affairs.” CNN's Christiane Amanpour called Albright a “strong diplomat” who stood up to tyrants -- though Amanpour mentioned nothing about Albright's failure to head off&nbsp; 9/11 when she had a chance to do so.

	
		&nbsp;

	
		The Biden administration, for its part, ordered American flags lowered to half staff. This included at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – site of the prison holding 9/11 participants and other Islamic terrorists. Honoring Albright in this way, at Gitmo, was in one sense ironic. Gitmo's prison, after all, might never have been needed if Albright and fellow diplomats hadn't allowed Afghanistan's Taliban to play them for fools as they vainly sought to persuade the Islamofacist rulers to give up or rein in their honored guest, Osama bin Laden, who operated terror-training camps while planning 9/11 from his Afghan hideout.

	
		Albright's dealings with the Taliban is an incredible story, one replete with incompetence and wishful thinking – all revealed in Albright's own words: secret diplomatic cables that should never have seen the light of day...but that were released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

	
		None of this is to suggest that Albright was a bad person. On the contrary: she was a decent person in her own way, but in her dealings with the Taliban she nevertheless possessed the same deeply flawed world view as Britain's Neville Chamberlain: specifically, that it was possible to make deals with evil men as Chamberlain did with Adolf Hitler. In short, she projected her own sense of decency on to the Taliban, believing they could be convinced, through diplomatic initiatives appealing to decency and international law, to fall in line with the Western world's norms of behavior. Put another way, Albright thought it possible to find common ground with the Taliban – a view also shared by George W. Bush's administration, to be sure, though the Clinton administration and Albright were arguably the worst exemplars of this naiveté. Indeed, diplomatic cables from both administrations give the sense that State Department officials viewed Taliban leaders as people who would listen to reason; or who could be shamed or pressured into doing the right thing in respect to Osama bin Laden. Instead, the Taliban lied, stonewalled, and lied to U.S. diplomats about bin Laden and his whereabouts.

	
		Consider some of Albright's secret cables that were first <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/bagging-bin-laden-wasted-years-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1648800394262000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1CUQx6ql6OzoZI2rk7zUEu" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/bagging-bin-laden-wasted-years-david-paulin/" target="_blank">published by FrontPage</a> in September, 2011. Responding to a statement of bin Laden's “calling for all Muslims to engage in a holy war against Americans,” Albright <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/98STATE34310_a.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1648800394262000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0QdVFPn3UIuA-CuRznK-X-" href="https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/98STATE34310_a.html" target="_blank">sent a cable</a> dated February 26, 1998, to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Its subject line: “Usama bin Laden’s statement about jihad against the U.S.”

	
		The cable contained helpful “talking points” for embassy officials. Per Albright’s instructions, they were to convey the following to the Taliban:

	
		* “We find statements of this kind, open invitations to carry out terrorist attacks against innocent people to be outrageous and totally unacceptable.” 
		 
		* “We have discussed our concerns about Usama bin Laden’s inflamatory (sic) remarks and anti-American rhetoric before. We were given assurances that negative actions like this would be curbed.” 
		 
		* “You should convey to bin Laden and his supporters in Afghanistan that this advocacy of violence is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.” 
		 
		* “These kinds of statements by Bin Laden also reflect poorly on the Taliban, as he enjoys your hospitality.”

	
		How might the Taliban and bin Laden have reacted to Albright’s diplomatic efforts? In all likelihood, her talking points achieved the opposite of what she'd intended – providing evidence to bin Laden and the Taliban that America was a “weak horse”; or as bin Laden had famously declared: “When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature they will like the strong horse.” Interestingly, just six months after Albright’s first “talking points” cable, she got an answer of sorts – the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1648800394262000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3wvxG_bGNxfyH4lMs6AYJN" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings" target="_blank">suicide bombings</a> of U.S. Embassy in East Africa in which bin Laden had a hand. Hundreds died and thousands were wounded; 12 Americans were among the dead. In retaliation, President Clinton thereupon established his own credentials as a “weak horse” – ineffectual cruise missile strikes against targets in Afghanistan and Sudan. In the minds of the Taliban and bin Laden (and their many cheerleaders in the Middle East), the cruise missile strikes offered more evidence that they had nothing to fear from the pitiful American giant.&nbsp;&nbsp;

	
		Albright was flummoxed that her talking points failed to persuade the Taliban to crack down on bin Laden. And so she ratcheted up the diplomatic pressure by enlisting the help of what she considered a formidable ally: the Europe Union. In a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/98STATE55357_a.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1648800394263000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0Ee7mCTFBQ4dViufA5JPxU" href="https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/98STATE55357_a.html" target="_blank">secret cable</a> dated March 27, 1998, Albright contacted U.S. embassies in the European Union – and in her “action message” directed U.S. envoys to invite E.U. states to join Washington in condemning the Taliban; she hoped the diplomatic pile on would persuade the Taliban to close its terror camps and withdraw support for bin Laden. The cable’s subject line: “Approach to EU on Taleban support for Usama bin Laden” (“Taleban” is an alternative spelling to the more commonly used “Taliban.”)

	
		Albright wrote: “The U.S. is concerned by the so-called fatwa recently issued by terrorist patron Usama bin Laden that calls on all Muslims to kill Americans. We have raised this issue with the Taleban both in Kabul and in New York. We are confident that EU member states share this concern. We believe that there is merit in the Taleban realizing that this concern is not limited to the U.S.”

	
		Albright added: “The Taleban must share responsibility for Usama bin Laden’s terrorist actions and inflammatory statements as long as he remains a guest in Qandahar.” (Qandahar is the Persian spelling of “Kandahar,” the more commonly seen Pashto version.)

	
		At this point, however, it should have should have been obvious to Albright that diplomacy was unlikely to convince the Taliban to change their behavior. In Kabul, for instance, they had demonstrated their Islamofacist credentials in February, 1998 – just like Germany’s Nazis had demonstrated their thug credentials in November 1938 with Kristallnacht, the nationwide attacks on Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues. The Taliban’s religious police were clearing women from Kabul’s streets and beating them up for failing to wear head-to-toe chadors, a violation of Sharia law. Months later, the Taliban turned Kabul soccer stadium into an execution ground, shooting untold numbers of men and women in the heads or stoning them to death for petty crimes and adultery. And despite international protests, they later destroyed colossal Buddhist statues carved into a mountain, considering them idolatrous and offensive to Islam.

	
		Albright's legacy is a complex one that cannot be easily second guessed: NATO's bombings of Serb-led Yugoslavia; the human impact of economic sanctions on Iraq; expansion of NATO into Eastern Europe; and the Clinton administration's inaction regarding genocide and mass rapes in Rwanda. However, her dealings with the Taliban are not filled with shades of gray. The 9/11 attacks represented a colossal failure to protect America's interests and American lives, and Albright's failure to head them off was undeniably her biggest failure as it was for the Bush administration.

	
		David Paulin, an Austin, TX-based freelance journalist, covered Hugo Chávez’s rise to power while based in Caracas as a foreign correspondent. He also reported from the Caribbean while based in Kingston, Jamaica.
</div>

Did Madeleine Albright Help Pave the Way for 9/11?

Madeleine Albright's life and death were the subject of myriad obituaries and remembrances, much of it overwhelmingly positive. Yet one appalling fact about

What's wrong with some of those Hollywood elites?


	They neither hear nor see any evil when it comes to liberal fascism – the sort found in the socialist hell hole of Venezuela. Now comes Steven Seagal: the tough guy actor famous for his action films is the latest liberal from La La land to visit Venezuela to support its autocratic president, Nicolás Maduro. The 69-year-old actor's visit follows actor Danny Glover's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/danny-glover-hollywoods-biggest-useful-idiot-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFdabv9AoAtbXW7cksEmSP-5MTwlw" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/danny-glover-hollywoods-biggest-useful-idiot-david-paulin/" target="_blank">fawning visit</a> with Maduro two years ago.


	Seagal, now overweight and sporting his trademark ponytail, visited Caracas last week as a good will <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-seagal-idUSKBN1KP0NP&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHraGRKkvuJoXXaQzjbd7YXIOxV1A" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-seagal-idUSKBN1KP0NP" target="_blank">ambassador</a> of sorts representing Russia's foreign ministry. Say again?


	Well, in case you haven't heard: Russia's strongman Vladimir Putin bestowed the position upon Seagal in 2018 after granting him <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37858513%23:~:text%3DSteven%2520Seagal%2520has%2520become%2520the%2520latest%2520international%2520actor,starred%2520in%2520Hollywood%2520action%2520thrillers%2520during%2520the%25201990s.&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHVIiPDWnFDsF5eOqWSYBm5byt4JQ" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-37858513#:~:text=Steven%20Seagal%20has%20become%20the%20latest%20international%20actor,starred%20in%20Hollywood%20action%20thrillers%20during%20the%201990s." target="_blank">Russian citizenship</a> two years earlier. Originally, the position was intended to deepen cultural and youth-related ties with the U.S., but since then it has apparently been expanded to also deepen Russia's ties with <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/chavezs-successor-obama-yankee-go-home-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH0hSNmog6H1jwrcQ36VL70-kczjw" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/chavezs-successor-obama-yankee-go-home-david-paulin/" target="_blank">anti-American allies</a> like Venezuela. Putin and Seagal are good friends and share a love for the martial arts which figure prominently in Seagal's movies.


	Seagal, to be sure, isn't the first creature of Tinseltown to make a fool of himself by hobnobbing with tyrants. Oliver Stone and Sean Penn were among other <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/hollywood-actors-hobnob-maduro-venezuelans-starve-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHy-0uxlk2adOzokVKZR68Mzy4WBQ" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/hollywood-actors-hobnob-maduro-venezuelans-starve-david-paulin/" target="_blank">Hollywood denizens</a> who were big fans of Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chávez, though they apparently decided to <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/danny-glover-hollywoods-biggest-useful-idiot-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFdabv9AoAtbXW7cksEmSP-5MTwlw" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/danny-glover-hollywoods-biggest-useful-idiot-david-paulin/" target="_blank">steer clear</a> of Maduro's Venezuela as the oil-rich yet improvised South American nation suffered <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/socialist-run-venezuela-descends-chaos-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFSepVhMUag_n3K1hS4LmMYZsVAJg" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/socialist-run-venezuela-descends-chaos-david-paulin/" target="_blank">massive protests</a>, food shortages, and an exodus of<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/collapse-saudi-venezuela-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEUpURPnFoxJ-9hY7Ed1DuFbZFRqQ" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/collapse-saudi-venezuela-david-paulin/" target="_blank"> refugees</a>. It's no surprise that some now call socialist-run Venezuela the sick man of Latin America: a humanitarian disaster, kleptocracy, and narco-state. Its leftist elites nevertheless <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/rich-venezuelan-socialists-live-high-life-florida-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEMT0Jaw_sO_yhBqE_FV3GXIUcX8w" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/rich-venezuelan-socialists-live-high-life-florida-david-paulin/" target="_blank">live in luxury</a> while ordinary Venezuelans starve.


	Maduro is clearly to blame for the deepening<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/socialist-run-venezuela-descends-chaos-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFSepVhMUag_n3K1hS4LmMYZsVAJg" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/socialist-run-venezuela-descends-chaos-david-paulin/" target="_blank"> humanitarian catastrophe</a>, even if Seagal fails to acknowledge this. A Cuban and Russian puppet, Maduro doubled down on the leftist policies of his predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chávez; and according to the U.S. and dozens of other <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://share.america.gov/support-for-venezuelas-juan-guaido-grows-infographic/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEw7OKLiewG0WLxc8BGb9f5pArnoA" href="https://share.america.gov/support-for-venezuelas-juan-guaido-grows-infographic/" target="_blank">Western countries</a>, Maduro rigged his 2018 re-election. They reject his claim to being Venezuela's legitimate president.


	Seagal is obviously part of the problem or, to be more precise, its depravity. Visiting the presidential palace on Tuesday, May 4, he presented Maduro with an odd gift: a samurai sword. It was a propaganda victory for Maduro: the ceremony was dutifully broadcast on the state's television channel. Clearly delighted with the sword, Maduro waved it like a samurai warrior. Later, he <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/NicolasMaduro/status/1389765010189135872&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFZq-3WVHfQKgKp-hL9qfGWWUswdg" href="https://twitter.com/NicolasMaduro/status/1389765010189135872" target="_blank">tweeted</a> his appreciation to Seagal, writing:


	"My thanks to our brother and friend Steven Seagal, who has surprised me with a nice gift, a Samurai Sword, symbol of leadership. I received it with great emotion from a great teacher and expert in martial arts. What a great honor!” 
	 
	<img height="1132" width="1223" style="width: 460px; height: 425px; float: left;" class="media-element file-default" data-delta="2" src="https://cms.frontpagemag.com/sites/default/files/uploads/2021/05/st_1.jpg" alt="" />Maduro, for his part, presented Seagal with a guitar in behalf of the Venezuelan people. In addition, children and young adults from Venezuela's national Judo team went through their moves for Seagal and Maduro.


	One apparently pro-Maduro <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://orinocotribune.com/this-is-how-president-maduro-welcomed-steven-seagal-in-miraflores/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFJI6QSEd7xQoP0sIKzvbwNNqSURA" href="https://orinocotribune.com/this-is-how-president-maduro-welcomed-steven-seagal-in-miraflores/" target="_blank">media outlet</a> in Venezuela described the meeting as being "full of symbolism about values such as international friendship, culture, cooperation, and fighting spirit."


	But a prominent newspaper in Peru, a country now flooded with Venezuelan refugees, was not as upbeat. Poking fun of Seagal, El Comercio <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://elcomercio.pe/luces/cine/steven-seagal-entre-la-accion-y-la-decadencia-de-su-reunion-con-maduro-a-las-acusaciones-por-violencia-sexual-noticia/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH32gABYp946Qe3WaHJ_RwcIWLKrw" href="https://elcomercio.pe/luces/cine/steven-seagal-entre-la-accion-y-la-decadencia-de-su-reunion-con-maduro-a-las-acusaciones-por-violencia-sexual-noticia/" target="_blank">portrayed him</a> as a buffoonish actor with more than his share of scandal, making him a perfect pal for Maduro. The paper's headline read: "Steven Seagal between action and decadence: from his meeting with Maduro to accusations of sexual violence." Venezuela's El Nacional, an opposition news outlet, republished the opinion piece.


	"Seagal is a strange guy," wrote El Comercio's Juan Carlos Fangacio Arakaki, who described him as "a decadent movie star, a troubled behind-the-scenes actor, and a self-confessed admirer of Vladimir Putin. In addition, he is accused by many women of having violated them psychologically and sexually, without taking charge of their accusations so far."


	And then came the kicker: "That is why it should not be surprising that last Tuesday he appeared at the presidential palace of Miraflores, in Caracas, to give a samurai sword to Nicolás Maduro."


	Maduro, speaking on state television a day after the event, remarked that Seagal had gone to Canaima, a national park in the country's southern Bolivar state, with Venezuela's minister of indigenous peoples.


	He added that he was going to star in a movie that Seagal planned to make. Reuters quoted Maduro as saying: "We are going to shoot a movie together that will be called 'Nico Ma Duro de tumbar.'" The title is a wordplay on Maduro's name meaning: “Nico Ma is hard to knock down,” Reuters explained.


	Maduro remarked: "It is the new Steven Seagal film. We are going to fight the demons, the bad guys. I am Nico.”


	Maduro and Seagal's movie project recalls Danny Glover's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/danny-glover-hollywoods-biggest-useful-idiot-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFdabv9AoAtbXW7cksEmSP-5MTwlw" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/danny-glover-hollywoods-biggest-useful-idiot-david-paulin/" target="_blank">ill-fated plans</a> to make a movie funded by Hugo Chavez's government. Glover, in 2007, reportedly took millions of U.S. dollars from Chávez to make “Toussaint," a biographical movie about Haiti’s 1791 slave uprising and man who led it: Toussaint Louverture. However, the movie was never made. At the time, news of Chávez’s revolutionary largess irked some Venezuelan filmmakers who complained that “Toussaint” had nothing to do with Venezuela. But no matter: Chávez was then flush with a windfall of petrodollars as oil prices soared, and as oil-producing Venezuela's long tradition of corruption soared to epic levels under socialist rule. Maduro, Chávez's protegee, was vice president at the time.


	Besides financing movies with an anti-Western message, Chávez used his oil windfall to fund bread-and-circuses social programs and promote Venezuela’s leftist ideology abroad – from dolling out<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/kennedy-chavez-oil-subversion-campaign-lives-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkOkP___TlOQh-IYxM0m3UXgmMvw" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/kennedy-chavez-oil-subversion-campaign-lives-david-paulin/" target="_blank"> subsidized fuel oil</a> to low-income residents in New England (a program overseen by former Democratic U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy II) to financing movies that were never made. Chávez became a darling of the international left, not to mention liberal <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/venezuelans-bleed-under-socialist-oppression-david-paulin/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHceTJlCkf9DuaIv6Hz6vM2caFYAQ" href="https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/venezuelans-bleed-under-socialist-oppression-david-paulin/" target="_blank">Hollywood elites</a>.


	Seagal reportedly has a net worth of<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/steven-seagal-net-worth/%23:~:text%3DSteven%2520Seagal%2520Net%2520Worth%253A%2520%252416%2520Million%2520Steven%2520Seagal,action%2520movie%2520stars%2520of%2520the%25201980s%2520and%25201990s.&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1620688871974000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEQOM5CUQ5PwZf9OmTC6rdfAia1JA" href="https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/steven-seagal-net-worth/#:~:text=Steven%20Seagal%20Net%20Worth%3A%20%2416%20Million%20Steven%20Seagal,action%20movie%20stars%20of%20the%201980s%20and%201990s." target="_blank"> $16 million</a>. Somebody should tell him to finance his movie about Maduro with private funds, including his own, and not those from Venezuela's coffers: Venezuela's government should use that money to feed its own people.


	David Paulin, an Austin, TX-based freelance journalist, covered Hugo Chávez’s rise to power while based in Caracas as a foreign correspondent. He also reported from the Caribbean while based in Kingston, Jamaica.

Steven Seagal's Maduro Odyssey

What's wrong with some of those Hollywood elites?


	They neither hear nor see any evil when it comes to liberal fascism – the sort found in the socialist

The Trump administration has implicitly acknowledged that its Venezuela policy has a major problem:&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Guaid%25C3%25B3&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGFYewto4XnTzXDC0vZngKhu7NnPA" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Guaid%C3%B3" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Juan Guaidó</a>. Venezuela's beleaguered president-in-waiting, a leftist at heart, has received considerable support from the Trump administration to achieve a major U.S. policy goal: ease out Venezuela's socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro, a stooge of Cuba and Russia. Guaidó would then serve as interim president in a democratic Venezuela.


	The 36-year-old Guaidó, a professional politician backed by Venezuela's democratically elected National Assembly, has nevertheless let down the Trump administration, and he may even be playing the president for a chump if recent comments by his ad hoc adviser are anything to go by. Maduro, meanwhile, has doubled down on the late President Hugo Chávez's socialist policies, ensuring that oil-rich yet impoverished Venezuela remains an economic basket case and authoritarian hell-hole.


	Political allies, of course, are expected to behave in a certain way: friendship is a two-way street. Trump, for his part, has bent over backwards to support Guaidó, a self-declared political independent who previously was a member of&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Will&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHP14X6wW1hN8h8HKqlqW6kvTybNg" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Will" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Popular Will</a>, a left-wing political party with socialist ties. Guaidó's fruitless quest to assume Venezuela's presidency also has gotten steadfast support from some 60 countries. But Maduro hasn't budged.


	Now that the Trump administration has wised up to Guaidó, it has asked him to renounce his claim to Venezuela's presidency while nevertheless continuing to support him. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/us-proposes-election-bout-between-juan-guaido-and-maduro-regime-loyalists&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEHriYLnQM88UDl3Hf-S4qRSws85g" href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/us-proposes-election-bout-between-juan-guaido-and-maduro-regime-loyalists" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Under this plan</a>, Maduro and Guaidó would establish an interim government and agree to elections in six to 12 months. In exchange, Washington would ease up on sanctions against Maduro's regime. Guaidó is seen as a shoo-in over Maduro in a general election. Not surprisingly, Maduro has rejected the plan, for now, while using the cornonavirus pandemic as an excuse to crack down on political opponents.


	Though Guaidó has proven ineffectual, the U.S. nevertheless sees him as the best hope for Venezuela – a perhaps risky strategy, to be sure, because it's impossible to know if Guaidó would (or could) govern in line with the Trump administration's expectations and interests – and that's despite President Trump having been a true friend to Guaidó. Indeed, Trump honored Guaidó as a special guest at last February's State of the Union Address, and he has warned the Maduro regime that it would pay a heavy price for harming Guaidó, who has waged a sometimes precarious battle against Maduro's unconstitutional rule. Indeed, during one rally not long ago, a pro-government thug <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8060523/Socialist-hardliners-aim-guns-Guaid-march-Venezuela.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFg3HQbNu7qv5wkmgcqxatqNvnoUg" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8060523/Socialist-hardliners-aim-guns-Guaid-march-Venezuela.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">aimed a handgun</a>&nbsp;at Guaidó.


	Trump, on another front, has aided Guaidó by ratcheting up pressure on Maduro. Recently, the U.S. Justice Department&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nicol-s-maduro-moros-and-14-current-and-former-venezuelan-officials-charged-narco-terrorism&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFKL6ZWS9UIgM8owdolzMyvFPjPiA" href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nicol-s-maduro-moros-and-14-current-and-former-venezuelan-officials-charged-narco-terrorism" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">indicted Maduro</a> and other high-ranking officials for drug trafficking, charging that for 20 years they had facilitated the shipment of tons of cocaine into the U.S. The State Department offered $15 million for Maduro’s arrest and conviction and put bounties of $5 to $10 million on other co-conspirators. Over the years, numerous&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article240482546.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEARTromGOBbdOjFN7AfwcIR014Uw" href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article240482546.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">corrupt Venezuelans&nbsp;</a>have gotten rich from Venezuelan-style socialism, and many have subsequently moved to South Florida to live the good life – until falling into the Trump administration's crosshairs.


	Leftist Political Culture


	Clearly, Guaidó owes much to Trump. Yet you have to wonder whether Guaidó is a true friend of the U.S. or merely an opportunist who neither respects Trump nor shares any ideological kinship with him. No, it's not about anything Guaidó has said or done. Rather, it's the company he keeps. For one thing, there's Guaidó's one-time membership in the left-wing political party Popular Will, which he left to become an independent. Founded by Guaidó's mentor and presidential wannabe <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_L%25C3%25B3pez&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHH7B5EC2NLTEl4Ex7AUyDNBfztlQ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopoldo_L%C3%B3pez" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Leopoldo López</a>, Popular Will is a member of <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_International&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGiWBEs0zD0Vbho5-9NMzTtXmAJhQ" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_International" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Socialist International</a>, an organization of political parties promoting “democratic socialism.” In other words: democratic socialism versus the Stalinist variety embraced by Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela, to be sure, is a country whose political parties and culture are infected with leftist DNA – so membership in Popular Will would not raise eyebrows among the vast majority of Venezuelans.


	Equally troubling is the man whom Guaidó has for an <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Hausmann&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH0lQa5qkwD0NwH3oqiPy86FLyj4w" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Hausmann" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">ad hoc adviser</a> – a Trump-hating Venezuelan economist named <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/ricardo-hausmann&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFFzaO7at4KuSk-t895jEEHCU3AXw" href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/ricardo-hausmann" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Ricardo Hausmann</a> who teaches at Harvard University. No long ago, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Hausmann&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH0lQa5qkwD0NwH3oqiPy86FLyj4w" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_Hausmann" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Hausmann</a>&nbsp;wrote an essay for Project Syndicate, a media site featuring opinion pieces, that advised Democrats on how to defeat Trump. In "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/venezuela-in-american-presidential-election-by-ricardo-hausmann-2020-03&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGEJLwuIX0tbIPc8hmcWdcllUFy2A" href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/venezuela-in-american-presidential-election-by-ricardo-hausmann-2020-03" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">The Venezuelan Card in the U.S. Election</a>," Hausmann likened Trump to Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro. Pontificating like a guest on MSNBC, he claimed that Trump had "politicized law enforcement and the judiciary, trampled on the free press, treated political opponents as traitors and mortal enemies, and meddled with the fairness of elections."


	Well, how ironic that Hausmann is a Trump hater despite Trump's considerable efforts to save Venezuela; and while "<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-30/harvard-guru-advising-guaido-has-harsh-message-for-bondholders&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHJM4MNO7AgxjsaG2cTVeK5KMg_vg" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-30/harvard-guru-advising-guaido-has-harsh-message-for-bondholders" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">informally advising</a>" Guaidó, Hausmann's political sympathies have apparently been with the Democratic Party's far-left presidential candidates, which include&nbsp;one who recently dropped out of the race, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who calls himself a socialist. Hausmann, incidentally, is a frequent contributor to Prague-based <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Syndicate&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE8q9hgsDXEwedZyNSQmuHtF1npzw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Syndicate" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Project Syndicate</a>, which receives funding from the Open Society Foundation whose founder and chairman is billionaire and leftist globalist George Soros.


	There are lots of lefty Venezuelans like Hausmann now crawling around the U.S. But despite suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, Hausmann at least understands what Venezuela needs – a market-oriented economy to replace a socialist one. Unfortunately, that has been tried before in Venezuela, including when Hausmann was a planning minister in Venezuela under President Carlos Andrés Pérez, a leftist, in the early 1990s. Venezuelans, however, overwhelmingly rejected various market-oriented prescriptions for economic progress over the years, preferring paternalistic left-leaning policies that, not surprisingly, ended with Hugo Chávez. Hausmann himself chronicles the slippery slope Venezuela was on in his book <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amazon.com/Venezuela-Before-Ch%25C3%25A1vez-Economic-Collapse-ebook/dp/B00MX7X2FS&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkBihyZ45aeW1HfTz5RA8-qkGxrg" href="https://www.amazon.com/Venezuela-Before-Ch%C3%A1vez-Economic-Collapse-ebook/dp/B00MX7X2FS" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Venezuela before Chávez: Anatomy of an Economic Collapse.</a>


	Interestingly, another prominent Venezuelan Trump hater in the U.S. is&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mois%25C3%25A9s_Na%25C3%25ADm&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGLhG-xOa-0dRtojebp177smA_oYw" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mois%C3%A9s_Na%C3%ADm" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Moisés Naím</a>, a political pundit and former editor at Foreign Policy magazine, who regularly publishes rabidly anti-Trump tweets and essays and is a&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/MoisesNaim/status/956944509908250625&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkePGZPeMqMg5idSECyizWpV5jMg" href="https://twitter.com/MoisesNaim/status/956944509908250625" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">fan of George Soros</a>. He has called Trump a <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/01/09/the_global_observer/1547030862_215361.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH0phP_DosqLPulAGPQBaGZqrwZGg" href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/01/09/the_global_observer/1547030862_215361.html" target="_blank">charlatan</a> and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/01/09/the_global_observer/1547030862_215361.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH0phP_DosqLPulAGPQBaGZqrwZGg" href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/01/09/the_global_observer/1547030862_215361.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">Russian stooge</a>, and even implied he is a&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://twitter.com/MoisesNaim/status/1211038408132452352&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFgO-7ismbkrmpKOQgbdCW1UL5IiQ" href="https://twitter.com/MoisesNaim/status/1211038408132452352" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">gangster</a>. The charge of gangsterism is particularly interesting given that Naím, as Venezuela's development minister during the early part of President Pérez's administration, was behind austerity measures and market-oriented reforms that Venezuela badly needed – but that were clumsily implemented. They took ordinary Venezuelans by surprise, setting off bloody&nbsp;<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracazo&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGcRWaPsjDPShyAClA5pCrrsdUpHA" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracazo" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">price riots&nbsp;</a>on February 27, 1989, during which security forces killed 2,000 or more Venezuelans according to some estimates. Now, Naím enjoys the good life in Washington, D.C. while taking potshots at President Trump.


	Interestingly, the news media and political pundits together with many Venezuela expatriates in the U.S. have portrayed Venezuela's downfall as being all about Nicolás Maduro. To them, the Guaidó-versus-Maduro battle is a case of liberty-versus-tyranny. In fact, Venezuela's downfall has been a long process, happening over decades of left-leaning political culture and rampant corruption, putting Venezuela on a slippery slope to Hugo Chávez. He took Venezuela's many pathologies to shocking new lows, and his early popular support was financed by high oil-prices. This allowed him to shower the country with petrodollars, bolstering his popularity while masking his economic illiteracy and misrule.&nbsp;


	The exodus to the U.S. of left-leaning Venezuelans like Hausmann and Naím (who are among some<a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article235250772.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1586475564991000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH7YCwuVV40-qk19KgiV_df1mOTWA" href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article235250772.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank">&nbsp;400,000 Venezuelans</a>&nbsp;now here) is yet another example of the left eating its own. The best the Trump administration can hope for in Venezuela is to see the worst of its leftist political leaders defanged and to see their sponsors, Cuba and Russia, expelled. Guaidó is the best hope for now.


	Closer to home, the Trump administration has another vexing Venezuela problem: Venezuelan expatriates who are ready-made Democrats – and who can vote. Unfortunately, Venezuela's mess won't end anytime soon – not with the amount of leftist DNA running through Venezuela's political culture.


	David Paulin, an Austin, TX-based freelance journalist, covered Hugo Chávez’s rise to power while based in Caracas as a foreign correspondent. He also reported from the Caribbean while based in Kingston, Jamaica.

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