White House vows to shed Obama-era policy of 'cowering' before North Korea ahead of second Trump-Kim summit

As President Trump prepares to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for their second one-on-one summit, in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday and Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News the administration will abandon what he called the Obama administration's policy of "praying" and "cowering" before the rogue regime.
At the same time, both Pompeo and Trump sought to tamp down expectations that the meeting would produce a breakthrough, or lead to major concessions by either party.
Trump has predicted a "continuation of the progress" made during his first meeting with Kim in Singapore last June. During the Singapore summit, Kim said he was committed to the "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," which previously has meant the North would denuclearize only when the United States withdraws all its troops from South Korea and stops military drills with the ally.
In December, though, North Korea's state media said it would never abandon its nuclear program unilaterally unless Washington first removes its nuclear threat.
Heading into this week's summit, Trump has said that North Korea has not tested any nuclear weapons in months and that as long as that testing has ceased, he's in no rush.

U.S. and South Korean fighter jets flying over the Korean Peninsula during joint drills. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP, File)

At a black-tie gathering of governors at the White House on Sunday evening, Trump said that he and Kim had "developed a very, very good relationship."
"We see eye-to-eye, I believe, but you’ll be seeing it more and more over the next couple of days," the president said. "I don’t want to rush anybody, I just don’t want testing. As long as there’s no testing, we’re happy."
Trump tweeted Sunday that he was leaving early the next day for the meeting in Hanoi, adding a tantalizing nod to "Denuclearization?" He also said Kim knew that "without nuclear weapons, his country could fast become one of the great economic powers anywhere in the World."
And, speaking to "Fox News Sunday," Pompeo said he was hoping for a "substantive step forward." He cautioned, "it may not happen, but I hope that it will."
The broader U.S.-South Korean alliance, sealed during the bloodshed of the 1950-53 Korean War, apparently won't be on the negotiating table during the summit in Hanoi on Feb. 27-28. But, some observers said its long-term future could be in doubt and Trump eventually may withdraw some of the 28,500 U.S. troops deployed in South Korea.

Marines of the U.S., left, and South Korea, wearing blue headbands on their helmets, taking positions after landing on a beach during a joint military exercise in 2016. (Kim Jun-bum/Yonhap via AP, File)

Trump repeated Friday that drawing down American forces was not on the table for his talks with Kim, but he previously had threatened to pull them from South Korea and Japan if those nations refused to pay more for their joint military activities. After the Singapore summit, Trump also told reporters, "I want to bring our soldiers [in South Korea] back home." While announcing the suspension of a major summertime military drill, Trump called the exercises "very provocative" and "tremendously expensive."
Pompeo said he hoped to put a "road map" in place but would not discuss the possibility of declaring a formal end to the Korean War or pulling some American troops from South Korea, in keeping with his stand against publicly discussing issues that could arise during the negotiations.
U.S. defense officials did not appear to be planning any troop reductions but some have indicated they would not be surprised if Trump puts reductions on the table as part of his negotiations with Kim.
"President Trump has also said this is going to take time. There may have to be another summit. We may not get everything done this week," Pompeo told "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waving from a train Saturday before leaving Pyongyang Station, North Korea, for Vietnam. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

Kim was on a train Sunday to Vietnam, according to state media, and it could take over two days for the train to travel through China to Vietnam.
"There’s been no change in U.S. policy since the time I’ve been secretary of state and, frankly, even before that when I was CIA Director," Pompeo, who was also set to depart for Hanoi, told Wallace. "Our objectives are clear, our mission is clear. President Trump’s also said this is going to take time. There may have to be another summit. We may not get everything done this week. We hope we’ll make a substantial step along the way."
Pompeo added: "I've spent a lot of time with Chairman Kim. My time is on the ground today, continuing to flesh out paths forward, developing a roadmap for a path forward between the two countries. We're determined to achieve that. It's important for the world's security."
Pompeo said the summit "might be one day, might be two days" or even longer.
Asked whether North Korea has given concrete indications that it's willing to provide an inventory of its nuclear arsenal or surrender its weapons, Pompeo acknowledged some progress has stalled.

U.S. Army and South Korean soldiers during an annual joint military exercise. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

"In June of last year, in Singapore, Chairman Kim unequivocally stated he would denuclearize his country. There were other pillars that we committed to as well. We've made progress on some, less so on others. This is a complicated process. I was CIA director at one point. The history is difficult. The previous administration's policy was to allow the North Koreans to test [nuclear weapons], pray they'd stop, and then cower when they threatened us. Test, pray, and cower. That's been upended by President Trump."
Former President Obama asked the military in 2010 to prepare with South Korea in order to be “ready” to deter any aggression from North Korea – after North Korea sank its southern neighbor’s naval ship. And, throughout much of his presidency, Obama warned and criticized North Korea for testing nuclear bombs and implored the Chinese government to help alleviate the aggression.

"This is a complicated process."
— Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

North Korean nuclear testing, which continued throughout the Obama administration, has dramatically slowed since Trump's inauguration. According to Pompeo, the White House effectively has forced Kim's hand.
"We've put real economic pressure on the North Koreans," Pompeo said. "We've built out ... the world's coalition to communicate to Chairman Kim that now is the time, now is the moment -- and I hope we'll make real progress on that this week."
Trump tweeted after the Singapore summit that there "no longer" was a nuclear threat with North Korea, and said repeatedly at rallies that "we fell in love" and "he wrote me beautiful letters." On Sunday, Pompeo suggested Trump's rhetoric was strategic.
"Relationships matter," Pompeo said. "They affect everything in our lives. Whether it's grand strategy and denuclearization, or simpler things. Relationships absolutely matter. It's important that the two leaders are able to effectively communicate."
On Twitter earlier Sunday, Trump wrote that he had a "great relationship with Chairman Kim," and added that "President Xi of China has been very helpful in his support of my meeting with Kim Jong Un. The last thing China wants are large scale nuclear weapons right next door. Sanctions placed on the border by China and Russia have been very helpful."
But, Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed concerns about Trump's negotiating efforts Sunday, saying the president must be "careful" with what he offers.
"Nothing is clear, and I think as a result we could run the risk that Kim is given concessions which are not accompanied by real concessions that the United States is receiving in return from Kim and his regime," Markey told CBS News' "Face the Nation."
Separately on Sunday, Pompeo told CNN's "State of the Union" that the commitment Kim made "had substantially taken down the risk to the American people."
He also said "verifiable denuclearization" remained the administration's goal, and he insisted the administration has not changed the conditions for sanctions relief.

Donald Trump impersonator Russell White and Kim Jong Un impersonator Howard X in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Friday. (AP Photo/Minh Hoang)

Meanwhile, in a bizarre episode that recalled similar antics from last year's Olympic Games, Vietnamese officials said they were not amused by the antics of two impersonators of Kim and Trump.
The duo has been making rounds of Hanoi, taking pictures with curious onlookers this weekend. However, on late Friday, a Kim lookalike, the Hong Kong-based impersonator who uses the name Howard X, posted on Facebook that about 15 police or immigration officers demanded a mandatory "interview" with them following a talk they gave at the state-run VTC station.
"They then said that this was a very sensitive time in the city due to the Trump/Kim summit and that our impersonation was causing a 'disturbance' and ... suggested that we do not do the impersonation in public for the duration of our stay as these presidents have many enemies and that it was for our own safety."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Venezuela Cartoons

Pentagon Plans to Send 1,000 More Troops to U.S.-Mexico Border

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, center, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, second from the right, looks across the horizon during a tour of the US-Mexico border at Santa Teresa Station in Sunland Park, N.M., Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. Top defense officials toured sections of the U.S.-Mexico border Saturday to see how the military could reinforce efforts to block drug smuggling and other illegal activity, as the Pentagon weighs diverting billions of dollars for President Donald Trump’s border wall. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

 

MS-13

In the Caravans.

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 12:00 PM PT — Sat. Feb. 23, 2019

The Pentagon plans to send an additional 1,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border.
In an announcement on Friday, the Pentagon said the move directs troops to install barbed wiring along existing border fences.
In a briefing, defense officials added the total number of troops would reach 6,000 by March 1st, with another 140 miles of wiring being installed.
Some will also be assigned to detection and monitoring between ports of entry.
The move comes after 5,000 U.S. troops were sent to the border last October in response to a migrant caravan working its way toward the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Officials ‘Optimistic’ on Reaching Trade Deal with China

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, attend a meeting of senior U.S. and Chinese officials to resume trade negotiations, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019, in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House complex, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 10:42 AM PT — Sat. Feb. 23, 2019

China and the U.S. are inching closer to a trade deal that could ease months of mounting tension between Washington and Beijing.
Trade officials confirmed they are set to continue talks throughout the weekend in an effort to meet the upcoming deadline on March 1st.
Both sides say they have made progress on a range of issues including agriculture, technology transfers and protecting intellectual property rights.
Following the success of the latest few rounds of negotiations, President Trump said he may be willing to push back the upcoming deadline in the interest of fine-tuning the deal.
President Trump is likely to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida next month to wrap up a finalized deal.

Where in the world does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez live?

Where am I ?

Maybe she thinks she's still working in a bar ?

She may be America’s most famous freshman congresswoman, but in New York, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a virtual ghost.
She has no district office and no local phone number, unlike the state’s three other freshman members.
And it’s unclear whether the 29-year-old lawmaker, who represents the Bronx and Queens, actually still lives in the Parkchester neighborhood that has been so closely tied to her rise — even though she won her upset victory over fellow Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley with accusations that his home in Virginia made him too Washington-focused to serve his district.
Ocasio-Cortez has used her deceased father’s Bronx condo on her voter registration since 2012, and even posed in the one-bedroom Bronx flat for celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz in a Vogue magazine profile after her stunning November election. But The Post could find little indication she continues to live there.
The Post e-mailed the Ocasio-Cortez’ spokesman, Corbin Trent, four times with specific questions — they were all ignored. On Saturday, The Post reached Corbin by phone.
“We will not be commenting,” he said. Among the queries he refused to answer: Where does the congresswoman live?
On Saturday night, a staffer promised a Post reporter that Ocasio-Cortez would talk to him after a speaking event in Corona.
During the event, two staffers were seen reading an early edition of this story on their phones.
“Come downstairs, I have to take a picture quick,” the congresswoman then told the reporter after the event, instructing him to wait for her. Twenty minutes later, she ducked out a back door, jumped into a chauffeured SUV, and zoomed off.
Ocasio-Cortez was in New York City last weekend and this weekend, with appearances in Queens on both Saturdays — yet she was not seen coming or going from her Parkchester pad either day.
Her apartment’s next-door neighbor said she had never seen Ocasio-Cortez. Another neighbor, who has lived down the hall from the congresswoman’s apartment for the last 40 years, said he’d never seen her or her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, who has claimed the address as his own since last spring.
“I would have remembered,” said the neighbor when shown a photograph of Ocasio-Cortez.
Workers at Jerry’s Pizzeria, less than a block from her building, and at the local grocery store said she had never patronized their businesses — and a server at a nearby taqueria said the congresswoman had only come in to be filmed by news crews.
A postal worker who delivers mail to the building said that in the last 10 years he has only seen Ocasio-Cortez intermittently and that several months’ worth of mail regularly accumulates in the mailbox before anyone bothers to collect it. The worker said that Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts were the only ones getting mail at the address.
“Just because their names are on the box doesn’t mean they live there,” he said.
And in 2017, when Ocasio-Cortez first filed paperwork to become a congressional candidate, she didn’t even know what district she lived in, mistakenly declaring plans to run for neighboring District 15 before correcting the error days later.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Ocasio-Cortez has rented a pad in a luxe building in the chic Navy Yard neighborhood, where studios start at $1,840 a month, according to the Washington Examiner.

Venezuela’s Maduro mocks Trump, opposition leader Guaido; vows to never surrender

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores attend a pro-government rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. Maduro has closed Venezuela's borders and calls humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela as part of a U.S.-led coup. (Associated Press)

Embattled Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro vowed to defend his nation’s independence with his life during a speech before thousands of cheering supporters Saturday, calling the opposition against him a “small group of dummies” who “can’t think for themselves.”
A defiant Maduro accused the United States of trying to colonize Venezuela and seeking ways to confiscate its oil. He said those opposed to him are letting President Trump call the shots, but the Venezuelan people don’t know it.
VENEZUELAN TROOPS ABANDON POSTS AMID VIOLENT CLASHES WITH PROTESTERS AT COLOMBIAN BORDER
“It’s time for our people to tell Donald Trump, ‘Donald Trump, Yankee, go home, Donald Trump,” Maduro said to throngs of supporters in Caracas wearing red shirts, the color of Venezuela’s socialist party.

“It’s time for our people to tell Donald Trump, ‘Donald Trump, Yankee, go home, Donald Trump!”
— Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro

Supporters of President Nicolas Maduro cheer during a pro-government rally in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019. Maduro has closed Venezuela's borders and calls humanitarian aid destained for Venezuela part of a U.S.-led coup. (Associated Press)

Maduro also mocked Juan Guaido -- the country's self-declared interim president -- and asked why Guaido hasn’t called for an election if he truly holds power. Maduro also called Guaido a puppet of the White House.
Guaido promised to overthrow Maduro a month ago and restore democracy to the embattled nation as it faces food and medicine shortages, hyperinflation and political unrest.
The U.S. and around 50 other countries recognize Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader.
Guaido has launched efforts to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela from neighboring Colombia. On Saturday, demonstrators and security forces clashed as tensions rise over the delivery of the aid. Maduro has denied there is a humanitarian crisis and has resisted calls to accept international aid, particularly from the U.S.
On Saturday, Maduro announced he will break ties with Colombia and ordered its diplomats to leave within 24 hours.

Snowflake Democrat Cartoons

5 House Democrats took $60,000 trip to South Africa for Beyoncé concert

Beyoncé Knowles performs during the 79th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Feb. 25, 2007. (Associated Press)

U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York

Barbara Lee of California

Bobby Rush of Illinois

Terri Sewell of Alabama

Hank Johnson of Georgia

Five members of the Congressional Black Caucus took a $60,000 trip to see Beyoncé and other stars perform in concert in South Africa late last year, according to congressional disclosure records.
The lawmakers were U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks of New York, Barbara Lee of California, Bobby Rush of Illinois, Terri Sewell of Alabama and Hank Johnson of Georgia, according to the data.
They attended the “Global Citizen Mandela 100” concert from Dec. 1-3 to celebrate the centenary birth of the late Nelson Mandela and raise awareness of global poverty. In addition to Beyoncé, other musical acts included her husband Jay Z, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams and Chris Martin.
DEMS FLY TO PUERTO RICO ON CHARTERED JET, MEET WITH LOBBYISTS, SEE 'HAMILTON' AS SHUTDOWN DRAGS ON
The lawmakers appeared in a photo that the Rev. Al Sharpton, who also attended the event, posted on his Twitter page.
The trip was paid for by Global Citizen, a nonprofit that lobbies for anti-poverty programs around the world, the Washington Examiner reported. The group said the presence of members of Congress at the concert would “showcase America’s ongoing commitment [to] health equality and global human rights.”
NEW FOOTAGE SHOWS DEMS AT SWANKY 'COCKTAIL RECEPTION' IN PUERTO RICO AMID GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
Other celebrities at the event included Oprah Winfrey and “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah.
“In the spirit of Nelson Mandela, we pledge to keep working with our colleagues in Congress, across the country and across the aisle, to make sure that every child in Africa and at home has the opportunity to thrive and grow in a safe and prosperous world,” Meeks said, according to the Examiner.
“As a Sr. member of the Foreign Affairs Comm[ittee] who understands the importance of both multilateral & bilateral relations on trade & foreign policy, developing that relationship is crucial,” Meeks said when asked how the trip was related to his congressional duties.
CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS TRAVELED TO HAWAII WITH UTILITY EXECUTIVES AS WILDFIRES RAGED
The National Legal and Policy Center, a watchdog group, called the trip a “mockery.”
"These members of Congress that were given an all-expense paid vacation to party with Oprah, Jay Z, and Beyoncé in South Africa are claiming with a straight face this was needed to help poor children around the world live better lives," Tom Anderson, president of the NLPC's Government Integrity Project, told Examiner. "This was in fact, a mockery of House ethics rules on gifts and travel, the truly poor, and all Americans that expect members of Congress to live not only by the letter of the law but by the spirit and intentions of the rules of the House of Representatives."

"These members of Congress that were given an all-expense paid vacation to party with Oprah, Jay Z, and Beyoncé in South Africa are claiming with a straight face this was needed to help poor children around the world live better lives."
— Tom Anderson, president, National Legal and Policy Center's Government Integrity Project

A representative for Sewell said her travel "was pre-approved by the House Ethics Committee and was not paid for at taxpayer expense" and that "Rep. Sewell and several other members attended the Global Citizen Mandela 100 Festival, a platform for world leaders to speak out against racial injustice and inequity, and voice their support for international assistance for underprivileged populations."
According to the travel itinerary, the congressional members were in South Africa for one full day and used two partial days for travel.
In January, a group of Democrats was criticized for flying to Puerto Rico for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC gathering in San Juan, where they also attended a special performance of the Broadway play "Hamilton."

Warren talks reparations, child care, early education during New Hampshire campaign stop

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks in Washington, Aug. 21, 2018. (Reuters)

The Democrats put this so called American Indian into office, but a lie will catch up with you sooner or later!

 

 

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks in Washington, Aug. 21, 2018. (Reuters)

MANCHESTER, N.H. – – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren highlighted her new universal child care plan and explained her support for reparations for black Americans affected by slavery as she campaigned Friday night in the state that holds the first primary in the race for the White House.
Taking questions from reporters after headlining the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club fundraising gala, Warren pointed to the country’s “ugly history of racism” as she explained her support for the proposal.
HARRIS, WARREN, EMBRACE REPARATIONS
“We need to confront it head-on and we need to talk about the right away to address it and make change,” Warren added.
The idea of reparations for black Americans affected by slavery is also backed by at least two other Democratic presidential candidates – Sen. Kamala Harris of California and former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, who served as housing secretary under President Barack Obama.
The push by some Democratic White House hopefuls points to the further importance of race and identity issues within the party. While supporters say reparations are needed to address slavery and other racist aspects of American history, some critics say such a move could cost several trillion dollars.
Asked whether she would include Native Americans in her support for reparations, Warren answered “I think it’s a part of the conversation. It’s an important part of the conversation.”
The senator has long faced criticism over her claims of Native American heritage, and recently apologized to the Cherokee Nation for last autumn’s release of DNA results in a bid to prove she had Native American ancestry dating back at least six generations.
Warren used her much of her address to more than 900 Democratic officials, federal, state and local lawmakers, rainmakers, and party activists in New Hampshire to showcase her new universal child care and early education proposal.
“We’re the richest country in the history of the planet. Access to high-quality care and education during the first five years of a child’s life shouldn’t be a privilege reserved for the rich,” she said to a standing ovation, one of around 10 that she received during her address.
Warren emphasized that “high-quality child care should be a right for every child in America.”
The senator touted that her plan “would provide high-quality care and education for free for millions of families and at low cost for everyone else.”
Warren claimed that she could pay for her plan “without raising taxes one thin dime for working families.”
She said revenues from the ultra-millioanires tax that she recently proposed would “cover the cost of this universal child care and early education plan.”
“Asking the 75,000 wealthiest families in this country to pay a little more would cover the cost of providing affordable and high-quality child care and early education options to every child in our country,” she added.
The Republican National Committee targeted Warren's proposal.
“Whether it’s government-run health care, taxpayer-funded jobs for all, or universal daycare, nothing is free and ultimately these proposals do nothing but raise taxes and expand big government. The financial burden always falls on the taxpayer,” RNC spokeswoman Mandi Merritt said.

"Ultimately these proposals do nothing but raise taxes and expand big government."
— Mandi Merritt, spokeswoman, Republican National Committee

But that kind of criticism doesn't fly with Manchester, N.H., Bergen Ambrose, who said as she waited in line after the speech to take a selfie with the senator that “I’m sold on Elizabeth Warren.”
Ambrose, who recently moved to the state from Massachusetts, said the controversy over Warren’s claims of Native American heritage didn’t trouble her.
“That is nothing in comparison to the scandals that we’ve seen on the Republican side” she explained. “I feel like she is the voice of the people.”
But Granite State native and Derry, N.H., resident Alyssa Wadlin is undecided at this early point in the campaign.
“I’m definitely excited about Elizabeth Warren. I’m excited about Kamala Harris, too. Those are my two front-runners,” she explained. “Elizabeth answered a lot of things that I wanted to hear from her tonight.”
Wadlin said beating President Trump in the general election was the most important factor in her decision.
“I wanted to see tonight that we have a candidate that can speak to all of America. It’s easy to be a Democrat from Massachusetts. I wanted to see that a Democrat from Massachusetts can speak to the rest of the country,” she said.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren campaigned Friday night in New Hampshire. (Paul Steinhauser / Fox News)

Friday night’s speech kicked off a two-day swing by Warren through the Granite State. It’s her fourth visit to New Hampshire since launching her campaign Dec. 31. Many political observers consider New Hampshire a "must win" state for a presidential candidate from neighboring Massachusetts. Bay State White House contenders have a long history of winning the first-in-the-nation primary. Think most recently of Democratic Sen. John Kerry in 2004 and former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney in 2012.
But the state is also a "must win" for Sen. Bernie Sanders, who hails from neighboring Vermont. On Tuesday, the independent senator and fellow populist firebrand launched his second straight bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The night before Warren returned to New Hampshire, Sanders held a conference call with many of his top Granite State supporters from his 2016 campaign.
A top Sanders supporter and adviser who was on the call told Fox News that the senator told them that “New Hampshire’s extremely important and he made that point very clearly, how important it is for all of us to work as hard if not harder than we did last time and win again.”
The supporter, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more broadly, said that most of the leading Sanders supporters in New Hampshire are “all with him again.”

Andy Puzder: As Venezuela is devastated by Maduro, Trump is forcefully confronting the evils of socialism

With his stirring repudiation of socialism, both at home and abroad, President Trump is proving himself to be the very champion of liberty and freedom the world needs.
While previous U.S. leaders have opposed totalitarian regimes, no American president since Ronald Reagan has confronted the evils of socialism as forcefully as Trump is doing today by supporting the people of Venezuela as they retake their country from the corrupt socialist dictatorship of disputed president Nicolas Maduro.
President Trump deserves more credit than he is getting for taking this stance against an economic system that throughout its history has created nothing but poverty, despair and want – all managed by totalitarian elites.
BERNIE SANDERS ONCE SAID BREADLINES ARE GOOD -- I GREW UP IN COMMUNIST CHINA AND I CAN TELL YOU THEY'RE NOT
“I ask every member of the Maduro regime: End this nightmare of poverty, hunger, and death,” President Trump wrote in a recent tweet. “LET YOUR PEOPLE GO. Set your country free!”
“Now is the time for all Venezuelan Patriots to act together, as one united people,” he continued. “Nothing could be better for the future of Venezuela!”
Indeed, socialism has crippled Venezuela’s once-thriving economy, impoverishing the populace to the point that people are literally starving in the streets. As recently as 2001, Venezuela was the richest country in South America. It sits on an ocean of oil, the world’s largest proven reserves.
Yet today, its people are eating their pets and feeding their children from garbage bins, all as Maduro blocks humanitarian aid shipments intended to alleviate his people’s suffering. On Friday, a woman was killed and a dozen were injured in a deadly clash near the Brazilian border that Maduro has ordered shut.
Young Americans should understand that, contrary to what they’re being told, that is the benevolence of socialism.
Despite this horrifying example of socialism’s destructive impact, socialist ideas are becoming increasingly popular among Democratic politicians right here in America.
Democratic lawmakers such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., are actively promoting the sort of policies – from punitive tax rates to government control of huge portions of the economy – that have inflicted immeasurable suffering and led to the downfall of socialist governments around the world for over a century.
The “Green New Deal” alone harkens back to the five-year plans of the totalitarian socialist regimes of the former Soviet Union. To achieve its ends would require a government of immense power, not unlike Venezuela’s, but very different from the limited government our Constitution contemplates. It actually proposes what amounts to a government takeover of massive sectors of our economy including health care, transportation and energy.
We can see the results of government elites rather than free markets controlling the economy in this manner 1,300 miles south of Miami – in Venezuela.
Of course, these radical Democrats in Washington are outraged by President Trump’s tough approach to the Maduro regime, fearing that voters will see the parallels between Venezuelan socialism and the homegrown variety being pushed by the far left. Some Democrats are even claiming that the White House is backing a “coup” in the country as a way to detract from the president’s powerful message of freedom.
“A U.S. backed coup in Venezuela is not a solution to the dire issues they face,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said in a recent tweet. “Trump’s efforts to install a far right opposition will only incite violence and further destabilize the region.”
Of course, the president has never actually suggested staging a coup to oust Maduro; in fact, he’s focused his diplomatic efforts on supporting Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who became the country’s legitimate leader after Maduro blatantly rigged his re-election.
Sadly, pro-socialist Democrats have to resort to such obfuscation because the tragedy in Venezuela offers a poignant preview of what they have in store for America if they gain control of the White House.
“Years of socialist rule have brought this once thriving nation to the brink of ruin,” President Trump said during a recent speech in Miami. “Socialism by its very nature does not respect borders. It does not respect the boundaries or the sovereign rights of its citizens or its neighbors. It’s always seeking to expand, to encroach and subjugate others to its will.” President Reagan could not have said it better.
It’s worth noting that standing up to the Maduro regime is not just a moral imperative – it’s also the most prudent geopolitical move that President Trump could make in South America.
Since it was first taken over by the socialist dictatorship of Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela has cultivated close ties with Russia, giving one of America’s foremost rivals a foothold right in our own backyard. Just two months ago, two nuclear-capable TU-160 supersonic Russian bombers flew all the way to Venezuela just to signal support for Maduro’s regime.
The longer Maduro stays in power with backing from the Kremlin, the longer Venezuela will remain an oppressive socialist country that starves and brutalizes its own citizens while seeking to undermine U.S. interests at every opportunity.
Thankfully, we now have a president who will not shy away from the vital task of defending America’s fundamental values. President Trump is reminding the world that those values are directly responsible for the prosperity and influence we enjoy today.
The cause of liberty once again has a worthy champion in Donald Trump, and future generations will owe him a debt of gratitude for stopping the resurgence of socialism in its tracks.