Trump Throws Venezuela Main Opposition Leader Under the Bus

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0:23Ben Meiselas:Donald Trump threw the main Venezuelan opposition leader under the bus viciously. He humiliated her. Maria Corrino Machado, the main Venezuelan opposition leader who many expected would take over after Maduro was captured. Donald Trump during that press conference yesterday said, no way. He said the people of Venezuela do not respect her. He said she's a nice lady, but she's not capable of leading Venezuela. Notably, whatever your thoughts are about Machado, like let's just deal with some of the facts. While Maduro declared her ineligible to run in the July 2024 election, the person who she backed for that election, Edmundo Gonzalez, was widely believed to have actually beat Maduro by a significant margin and actually won that election by about 70 % of the vote.

1:23Ben Meiselas:So when Donald Trump says that she doesn't have any support in Venezuela and she can't lead Venezuela, she's a nice lady, but she doesn't know what she's doing. I mean, Donald Trump has no clue what he's talking about, but he's really throwing her under the bus. I want to get into why in a moment, but it should be noted that she did everything to get under Donald Trump's good graces. I mean, she kissed the ring. She bent the knee. She did the Mar-a-Lago humiliation ritual. When she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, she goes, I dedicate this Nobel Peace Prize to the brave and courageous Donald Trump.

2:00Ben Meiselas:And this is for you, Donald, and for all you promise to do for the people of Venezuela. Remember, she did that. She went on this humiliation ritual tour. She went on State Regime Media Fox. She went on Don Jr.'s podcast. And, you know, she believed that she was positioned to be the leader of Venezuela when Maduro would be taken out. But Trump said, uh-uh, no way, no how. Let's explain why and let me walk you through the humiliation ritual. Donald Trump doesn't want a democracy in Venezuela. He doesn't want an opposition leader who's going to open up the markets of Venezuela to other countries and have a free market and a democracy.

2:39Ben Meiselas:That's not what Donald Trump wants. What Donald Trump wants is an authoritarian regime in there, but one that he controls. Trump doesn't want other nations trading with Venezuela. Trump wants the oil for himself, and then he wants to use it as a tool in this game that he believes he's playing with Putin and Xi Jinping, where they cut up the globe and they give each other the resources that they steal from other countries in their spheres of influence. Trump's not looking for a democracy in Venezuela. So for all of the people saying, oh, Donald Trump supports democracy, he doesn't support democracy.

3:16Ben Meiselas:And he had an opportunity to show if he did, but he was actually trying to cut a deal with Venezuela's VP, who was Maduro's number two, who's now the interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez. And Delcy Rodriguez rebuked Trump. Trump was saying, I'm trying to do a deal with Delcy, the VP. And Delcy Rodriguez says there's only one true leader of Venezuela, and that's Maduro. And she said that what Trump did was not legitimate, and she's not supporting Trump. So Trump threw Machado under the bus. He tried to prop up Delcy Rodriguez. She rejected him, and others in Venezuela rejected him as well. That's the status of things as they stand right now.

3:56Ben Meiselas:So let's go through this humiliation ritual, though, of Machado. So here's when Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize, being Venezuela's main opposition leader. And here she dedicates her Nobel Peace Prize to Donald Trump. Here, let's play this clip. They decided to dedicate it to President Trump because he deserves it, because not only has he been involved in only a few months in solving eight wars, but his actions have been decisive to have Venezuela now at a threshold of freedom after 26 years of tyranny that have destroyed the lives of millions of Venezuela, destabilized the region, and undermined institutions in the United States because having Venezuela as a safe heaven of the enemies of the United States And using our territory and our resources to hurt the American people and American institutions is certainly a threat to the national security of the United States and the security of the hemisphere.

5:03President Trump has been very clear, courageous in terms of dismantling this criminal structure. And on behalf of the Venezuelan people, I reaffirmed our gratitude and our commitment to this cause for the whole America. So I insist he deserves it.

5:21Ben Meiselas:Then she goes on the Don Jr. podcast. And here she talks about how, you know, we need to open Venezuela up for other countries to invest. Watch Don Jr. look at her, because you can see right here, Don Jr. gives her the stare like, uh-uh, that's not what we want. We want you to give it all to us. Here, play this clip right here. Forget about Saudi Arabia. Forget about the Saudis. I mean, we have more oil. I mean, infinite potential. And we're going to open markets. We're going to kick off the government from the oil sector. We are going to privatize all our industries. Venezuela has huge resources, oil, gas, minerals, land, technology.

6:07And as you said before, we have a strategic location, you know, ours from the United States. So we're going to do this right. We know what we have to do. And American companies are, you know, super strategic position to invest. This country, Venezuela, is going to be the brightest opportunity for investment of American companies, of good people that are going to make a lot of money.

6:35Ben Meiselas:And then you had Machado again, promise that if Trump puts her in power, this is what she previously said, that she was going to sell Venezuela's oil and gas and gold infrastructure, you know, to open up the markets. I mean, you know, she believes she was saying all the right things that she thought Trump wanted to hear from her, but not so from Donald Trump. Here, play this clip right here. And this is amazing, super exciting for me. We will open Venezuela for foreign investment. I am talking about a$1.7 trillion opportunity, not only in oil and gas, which is huge. And you know that the opportunities because we will open all upstream, middle stream, downstream to all companies, but also in mining, in gold, in infrastructure, power.

7:30We have our dream right now has a 17 gigawatt opportunity of energy potential that needs to be rehabbed. Certainly for technology and AI and tourism, you know, Venezuela has 2 ,800 kilometers of pristine Caribbean coastline ready to be developed. So this is going to be huge. We will bring rule of law. We will open markets. We will have security for foreign investment and a transparent massive privatization program that is waiting for you.

8:12Ben Meiselas:Now, this is when Donald Trump said, I think it will be very tough for her to be the leader. She does not have the support or respect from the country. Here's what Trump said. Play this clip. Are you aware of the location of opposition leader Machado and have you been in contact with her? No, we haven't. Mr. President, on Monday. I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn't have the support within or the respect within the country. She's a very nice woman, but she doesn't have the respect to be Now, I think former Vice President Kamala Harris, in her statement, just nailed it.

8:49Ben Meiselas:Here's what she said in the statement that she just issued. She goes, Donald, this is what Kamala Harris says. And she sees exactly what just went down. And she describes it the same way I do. She goes, Donald Trump's actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger and more affordable. That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We've seen this movie before. Wars for regime change are oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos and American families pay the price. The American people don't want this and they are tired of being lied to.

9:22Ben Meiselas:This is not about drugs or democracy. It's about oil and Donald Trump's desire to play the regional strongman. If he cared about either, he would in pardon a convicted drug trafficker, Juan Orlando Hernandez, or this is the key part, or sidelined Venezuela's legitimate opposition while pursuing deals with Maduro's cronies. That's what I want everybody to pay attention to. And Kamala Harris nails it because that's what's going on. I'll read that in a moment. Let me finish her statement. The president is putting troops at risk, spending billions, destabilizing a region and offering no legal authority, no exit plan, and no benefit at home.

9:59Ben Meiselas:America needs leadership whose priorities are lowering costs for working families, enforcing the rule of law, strengthening alliances, and most importantly, putting the American people first. Kamala Harris. The partner statement I want you to focus on is where she goes, sidelined Venezuela's legitimate opposition while pursuing deals with Maduro's cronies. That's what Trump's been trying to do. He just wanted Maduro out to do deals with Maduro's people keep an authoritarian regime in place, give Donald Trump the oil and not open up the markets to anybody else. Now, Jim Scudo reports the following.

10:35Ben Meiselas:Sources in Venezuela's opposition tell me that the opposition has been in touch with governments across the world following the arrest of Nicolas Maduro. Those countries include France, Argentina, Ecuador, Panama, and Paraguay, who the opposition says expressed their support for restoring the will of the people in Venezuela. Note the country not on the list. The opposition isn't even speaking to Trump and the United States anymore. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said that he spoke with Maria Karina Machado. He goes, I fully support her call for the liberation and the protection of the political prisoners of Nicolas Maduro's regime.

11:14Ben Meiselas:Like all Venezuelans, she can count on France's support to raise her voice in favor of peaceful democratic transition that fully respects the sovereign will of the Venezuelan people, to which Maria Karina Machado responded to Macron. Thank you very much, President Macron. The freedom of all political prisoners is our immediate priority. I ask the heads of states and government and all the Democrats of the world to support us in this decisive hour. Venezuela will be free. But again, from her statement, what's missing is anything about Donald Trump. Now, let me just share this with you as This is from Elliott Abrams, special counsel on Venezuela in Trump's first term.

11:56Ben Meiselas:And he goes, a lot of Venezuelans are going to be pretty unhappy if Trump realizes his plan to run the country. And he doesn't understand why Trump thinks Nobel Prize winner Machado is not respected enough to run Venezuela. Watch what Trump's own former envoy in the region had to say about Donald Trump. Here, play this clip. Trump administration, Elliott, good to have you. What did you make of the news conference? A lot of surprises, not about the removal of Maduro, but the idea that the Secretary of State was speaking with Maduro's vice president, and they hand talked to Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition.

12:39Then the president went on to say that Maria Corina Machado, the Nobel Prize winner, lacked the respect to run Venezuela. In fact, she and Edmundo Gonzalez got 70 percent in last year's election. So I don't know where that information is coming to the president from. And we're all, I think, completely up in the air about this question of running Venezuela. What does that mean? does it mean troops? I don't think so. Does it mean opening the U.S. embassy? Sure. Does it mean cooperating? Sure. But he left it in a situation where I think a lot of Venezuelans are going to be pretty unhappy.

13:24Ben Meiselas:So that's what's going down. Just think about it, though. Machado kisses the ring, goes to Mar-a-Lago, goes through the humiliation rituals, goes on Don Jr.'s podcast, does everything that she thinks Trump wants. And boom, Trump says, you're weak. You're pathetic. I don't want you running it. I'm going to run it, not you. This is why you can never kiss the gangster ring. You have to stand up to him. And I think she's seeing what happens when you, he views that as weakness, what she did. And that you have to stand up to the gangster. You have to stand up to the criminal. You have to stand up to the felon.

14:02Ben Meiselas:You have to stand up to the sexual abuser. You have to. You have to. There's no other choice. It's the right thing to do, and there's no other choice. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million, and thanks for watching. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, ad-free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

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