The Democrats’ support is Juan Guaidó’s most valuable endorsement, not a Trump invite | Opinion
On this one, you don’t need to choose sides.
You can cheer for Nancy Pelosi, for Donald Trump, and for Juan Guaidó, the courageous Venezuelan lawmaker most Americans outside of Miami probably didn’t know until he became a last-minute guest at the president’s State of the Union address this week.
On her end, Speaker Pelosi stole the SOTU show when she tore up her copy of what was mostly an untruthful campaign stump speech packed with gratuitous anti-immigrant rhetoric, exaggerations, and self-praise.
Same old Donald Trump, only now impeached and acquitted while guilty.
The Democrat, who led impeachment proceedings in the House, didn’t even wait until President Trump had finished delivering the traditional “God Bless America” finale to start stoically ripping a few pages at a time.
Brava.
But earlier in the night, Pelosi had done something even more politically savvy.
Pelosi stood up and heartily clapped when President Trump introduced Guaidó, recognized by the United States and 58 other countries as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and interim president.
Dem support matters
Her support is the kind of move that gets Pelosi in trouble with the younger left wing of the party, no matter how much she warns them that their “socialist” antics cost the Democrats statewide office and electoral votes in Florida.
Her support is a big deal because even though Trump invited Guaidó to score votes in purple Florida, the beleaguered people of Venezuela needed the impressive show of American solidarity.
And, they got it.
Except for those Democrats who didn’t get the memo, most followed Pelosi’s lead and welcomed Guaidó, throwing a bipartisan curveball to Trump’s nod to his Miami-Dade fans.
“Mr. President,” Trump said to Guaidó, “please take this message ... that all Americans are united with the Venezuelan people in their rightful struggle for freedom.”
Keywords: “All Americans.”
It was the only real bipartisan moment of the divisive night — and it was important on several fronts.
Too many people equate the fight to restore democracy in Venezuela with Trump when the more powerful truth is that the issue has bipartisan support in Congress.
For Guaidó, especially back home in Venezuela, the Democrats’ support is a most valuable endorsement. More so, I would say, than a symbolic appearance at a State of the Union speech.
After all, the people Guaidó most needs to impress are in the Venezuelan military, which despite high-profile defections, remains faithful to dictator Nicolás Maduro.
It’s his country’s left Guaidó needs to win over, and on that endeavor, a unilateral alliance with right-wing Trump would hurt him, make it easy for his enemies to portray him as another far-right leader like Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Bipartisanship shows the armed forces — and the people of Venezuela — that U.S. support isn’t contingent on the viability of one presidency.
Guaidó needs to be assured that the United States will not abandon Venezuela, no matter who becomes president for the next four years, or whether he (or she, by way of a miracle) is a Republican or a Democrat.
Pelosi welcomed him to Congress on Thursday and addressed the media alongside him. That should send Maduro the message he needs to know. The Democrats won’t play softball with him, either.
For the most part, Trump gets all the credit for tough sanctions on Maduro and members of his regime, but they began during the Obama administration, even as the United States renewed relations with Cuba.
That combination, in fact, was strategy, not accident or coincidence. Maduro used to call Obama all sorts of names.
TPS for Venezuelans
There is one thing Venezuelans, however, can only seem to get from Democrats: protection in this country.
Trump talks tough, but his immigration enforcement arm deports Venezuelans seeking safety in exile back to Maduro’s “regime of terror.” By doing so, he chips at his own foreign policy credibility.
On the other hand, Democrats like Congresswomen Donna Shalala and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell of Miami have fought hard to give Venezuelans some solid ground to stand on at this critical time.
Unlike the president who puts fleeing Venezuelans in deportation proceedings, Democrats in the House passed a bill giving them Temporary Protected Status. But their TPS was blocked in the Republican-dominated Senate, with no-votes coming from Florida Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio.
As for the Democrats left vying for the presidency, not one supports Maduro.
Even Bernie Sanders, infamous for his sympathy toward Latin American socialism, said at a debate last year when pressed on the subject by Univision anchor Jorge Ramos: “Let me be very clear: Anybody who does what Maduro does is a vicious tyrant.”
And early in his campaign, Pete Buttigieg issued a policy statement supporting sanctions (but not military intervention, as some hardliners want) after visiting Miami and meeting with Venezuelans, so becoming the first candidate for the Democratic Party’s nomination to do so.
If all of the presidential candidates and most of swing state Florida’s Democrats support Guaidó and his quest to restore democracy, the Venezuela issue becomes a moot point in Florida elections.
Or, better yet, a winning point for all, and most importantly, democracy.
The pro-Trump and anti-Trump optics may be all consuming.
Yet, Pelosi and the Democrats’ unequivocal show of support for Venezuela shouldn’t stay under the radar.
