It didn’t take long. But after getting his ass kicked on the world stage, guess who wanted to talk to President Trump?
No, not a legacy media anchor looking for redemption. Not a Hollywood celebrity trying to crawl back into relevance. Not even a European bureaucrat clutching a briefing binder and a therapy animal.
It’s Venezuelan narco-terrorists, Nicolás Maduro. The former president of Venezuela has been captured.
Yes, that Maduro. The Venezuelan strongman and heir to Hugo Chávez’s socialist wreckage. The man who turned one of the richest oil nations on Earth into a humanitarian crisis with a national anthem. Maduro wanted a sit-down with Donald J. Trump, the same president Democrats once swore would start World War III by accident, possibly via tweet, while eating a Big Mac.
Well he must have finished his meal, because he started and finished his war. And the Democrats are panicked. More on that in a bit…
Funny how fast the tone changes when the pressure works.
I’ve commented before on President Trump’s war on drugs, and not in the “Just Say No” Nancy Reagan museum exhibit way. Trump didn’t recycle slogans. He didn’t commission a pastel-colored awareness campaign. Nor did he fund a $40 million study concluding that drugs are, in fact, bad. Instead, he did something radical in modern Washington: he changed behavior by changing incentives.
Two reasons I applaud him.
First, he tried something different.
Second, it worked.
America’s appetite for drugs is monumental.
Monumental in the same way our appetite for bad leadership was monumental enough to elect Barack Obama twice and then follow it up with four years of Joe Biden, a man who could forget his own vices while confessing them. Frankly, it’s a miracle the entire country didn’t rob their nearest Walgreens and self-medicate into a coma.
Trump understood something that eluded every social worker, bureaucrat, and progressive philosopher with a grant proposal. You don’t end drug abuse by pretending it’s a misunderstood lifestyle choice. You don’t reduce overdoses by hosting drum circles. And you certainly don’t fix cartel violence by sending strongly worded letters.
You disrupt the supply. You target the people who profit. You make the cost unbearable.
Will this stop everyone determined to use drugs? Of course not. Humanity has been inventing ways to ruin itself since the first caveman fermented berries and called it a good idea. But you can change attitudes, particularly among young people, when drugs stop looking glamorous and start looking fatal, expensive, and pointless.
And here’s the part Democrats never want to talk about: the proof isn’t just in domestic numbers. It’s in foreign panic. Because when Trump started squeezing the narco-state ecosystem, the tremors traveled south. Way south. All the way to Caracas.
That’s how we arrived at the moment when Nicolás Maduro suddenly discovered the value of dialogue.
Only days ago, the Associated Press announced that Venezuela is now open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking, as Maduro announced his new stance in a prerecorded interview aired on state television. He declined to comment on a CIA-led strike at a Venezuelan docking area believed by the Trump administration to be used by drug cartels, but he did something far more revealing: he blinked.
Maduro complained, as autocrats always do, that the U.S. wants regime change and access to Venezuela’s oil. He accused America of intimidation and force, then immediately asked for talks “with data in hand.”
That’s dictator-speak for: We’ve run the numbers, and this hurts.
Let’s dispense with the oil myth quickly. America doesn’t need Venezuela’s oil.
We didn’t need it before Biden sabotaged domestic energy, and we certainly don’t need it now that Trump restored sanity to American production. Maduro knows this. Which is why oil was mentioned not as leverage, but as a consolation prize, like a failing restaurant offering free dessert after the health inspector arrives.
But regime change? Now that’s interesting.
President Trump’s pressure on the narco-terrorist has resulted in regime change without a single American troop slogging through a jungle, that’s not just foreign policy. That’s a masterclass.
Consider what America has traditionally done in places like Venezuela. We’ve spent billions through the CIA and other alphabet agencies, funding “influence,” “capacity building,” and “democracy promotion.” Translation: expensive experiments that usually produce resentment, instability, and awkward congressional hearings ten years later.
Trump skipped the overhead. He didn’t try to nation-build. He didn’t install a puppet. He didn’t lecture. He applied pressure where it hurt the most and let the consequences do the talking.
Clearly, Maduro heard the message.
“The U.S. government knows, because we’ve told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we’re ready,” Maduro said. “If they want oil, Venezuela is ready for U.S. investment, like with Chevron, whenever they want it, wherever they want it and however they want it.”
That statement was submission dressed up as diplomacy. If only he had gotten the message sooner.
And it’s worth remembering how differently Democrats handled Venezuela when they had the wheel.
In March 2015, Barack Obama labeled Venezuela a national security threat and sanctioned seven officials. Maduro responded with his usual theatrics, calling it “the most aggressive, unjust and harmful step” ever taken by the U.S.
For those upset that Trump calls Maduro the leader of a drug cartel, understand that Obama refused to recognize Maduro as president after his razor-thin election victory. At the time, Obama cited violence, protests, and irregularities in the election. He told Univision that the U.S. approach wasn’t ideological, but based on human rights and democracy.
Which sounds noble until you remember two things.
First, Obama knew Maduro cheated. Everyone knew.
Second, Obama had no problem preaching about democracy abroad while his own party was quietly perfecting the art of election manipulation at home, laying groundwork that would later bloom like mold in the 2020 election and beyond.
Fast forward to Biden, and the mask came off entirely.
Maduro remained in power after yet another blatantly fraudulent election, even as evidence mounted that he lost to Edmundo González. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner, refused to release detailed data, and dared the world to object.
Sound familiar?
Under Obama and Biden, America didn’t pressure Venezuela. It mirrored it. We lectured about democracy while practicing procedural gymnastics. We scolded corruption while laundering billions through NGOs. We condemned autocracy while flirting with it domestically.
Foreign Policy even admitted as much in a 2024 piece bluntly titled with accidental comedy: “Washington’s Ability to Pressure Maduro is Limited.” How could the pot call the kettle black?
Maduro had signs
As The Washington Examiner wrote:
The Russian Foreign Ministry has reportedly begun evacuating the families of its diplomats from Venezuela as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s hold on power grows increasingly fragile.
Russia is one of Maduro’s most important allies and has continually shown solidarity with the Latin American nation during the increasing pressure campaign directed against it by President Donald Trump. Outside of its public rhetoric, however, Moscow seems to be growing increasingly concerned with the situation. A European intelligence source told the Associated Press that Russia’s Foreign Ministry began evacuating the wives and children of its diplomats working in Venezuela, presumably in preparation for the situation deteriorating further.
The official revealed that Russian Foreign Ministry officials assess the situation in Venezuela in “very grim tones.”
No longer under Russian protection, Maduro saw the walls closing in.
But here who suffers the most
Democrats are the real sufferers in this international saga. Because what President Trump signaled is IDGAF. That’s I Don’t Give a F*ck.
If Trump doesn’t care about the optics of decapitating Maduro (metaphorically), what do you think 2026 will bring for Democrats?
And they couldn’t be in a worse predicament, given their Somali situation, and everything Trump had done leading up to this latest revelation. Trump called out Maduro a few months ago. And he did the same for Ilhan Omar, Tim Walz, and many others who will soon feel his wrath.
Trump doesn’t wait for reality to get bored. He corners it.
In just a few months of targeting Venezuelan drug operations, Trump achieved what years of diplomatic mumbling could not. He declared a real war on drugs, and called Maduro what he is: a narco-terrorist leader. Then Trump acted in the best interest of America, Venezuela, and the world.
Maduro didn’t call for a meeting because he was reformed. He called because he did the math changed. His drug-running routes are disrupted, which threatened his income. His illusion of immunity cracked.
And once dictators realize they’re no longer untouchable, they start looking for exits disguised as negotiations. His problem? Trump is three chess moves ahead.
President Trump demonstrates yet again what real leadership looks like.
No speeches about shared values or multilateral hugging sessions. And no apology tours. Just pressure, results, and silence from the cartels.
Democrats hate this approach because it exposes their entire worldview as decorative. All the panels, summits, and position papers collapse when one man proves you can get more done by being direct, unapologetic, and relentless.
So yes, Maduro wanted to talk. Now that he’s in U.S. custody, he will get that meeting.
Welcome to 2026.
