I’m a Democrat. My party is botching the reaction to Maduro’s capture in Miami | Opinion

With Venezuela now liberated from Nicolás Maduro’s iron grip, there is a paradox at play for South Florida.

On one hand, we are overjoyed for our Venezuelan American neighbors. It was deeply affecting to see them singing, dancing and crying in the streets, waving the Venezuelan flag and chanting “libertad.”

On the other hand, it is bittersweet, because many are already talking about heading home. Failed socialist states like Venezuela have long been Miami’s gift that keeps giving, sending us extraordinary talent, entrepreneurial energy and cultural vibrancy. It would be sad to say goodbye.

That bittersweet tug of emotions is how normal and rational Floridians feel. But not so for the state’s Democratic Party.

Instead, many of my fellow Democrats rushed to condemn the ouster of Maduro, nitpicking that the operation was illegal since President Donald Trump didn’t consult Congress. That response perfectly captures what’s gone wrong with today’s Democratic Party. It cares more about process than people, and more about opposing Trump than standing with the oppressed.

Everyone should know by now that Trump is the “just do it” president. That comes with good and bad. But you lose credibility as a party if you only ever acknowledge the bad, even as voters you want to win over are literally singing and dancing in the streets because Trump “just did it.” Not only did he offer relief for Venezuelans, but he took a stab at slowing narcoterrorism and combatting Chinese influence in our hemisphere.

Should he have consulted Congress? Maybe. But the Constitution gives considerable leeway to presidents when acting to defend America’s national security interests. Many past presidents have not consulted Congress for similar military operations, such as George H.W. Bush’s capture of Panama’s dictator in 1989. And Trump’s action against Maduro was far more justified by American interests than the capture of Manuel Noriega was.

So what is this really about for my fellow Democrats?

I believe there are two reasons for the party’s reaction. The first is obvious: It can’t bring itself to give Trump one iota of credit on anything.

The second is more troubling. The party is increasingly finding common cause with democratic socialists — and they can’t stand to look in the mirror and see the ugly end result that socialism brings, like in Venezuela and Cuba. They want to avert their gaze from those pesky manifestations of their new ideology.

The Floridians who escaped Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela don’t have that luxury. And they didn’t flee here for democratic socialism. They came for democratic capitalism: the freedom to work, to build, to succeed and to fail in that uniquely American way, with a social safety net and a respect for diversity. That’s the political lane my fellow Florida Democrats should inhabit — at least, if we want to win again.

But that doesn’t seem to be where the party is headed. Case in point: Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York City, an avowed democratic socialist hailed by many as the future of the party.

Like other Democrats, Mamdani condemned Trump’s actions in Venezuela on procedural grounds, calling it a “blatant act of regime change.” But he knows that isn’t the point. To understand how he really feels, look at his comrades in the Democratic Socialists of America. They released a statement demanding Maduro’s release, bashing “US imperialism,” and expressing “solidarity with the sovereign people of Venezuela.”

If this is where the Democratic Party is headed nationally, it can kiss Florida goodbye. Instead of “¡viva la revolución!” Democrats should be saying “¡viva el capitalismo!”

Meanwhile, Florida will have to say goodbye to some Venezuelans returning home, and maybe one day some Cubans. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Socialism emptied these countries of talent, capitalism turned their refugees into success stories, and now America is giving them the choice of where to build their future.

In the meantime, there is one point of comfort for us grieving Floridians: At least we’ll be welcoming a new wave of refugees from New York City.

Philip Levine, a cruise industry entrepreneur, is a former two-term mayor of Miami Beach and onetime Democratic candidate for governor of Florida.