Opinion: Why are progressives more focused on disagreeing with Trump than countering a dictator?
The blocked Simon Bolivar international bridge, as seen from Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela this week. By Max Boot Max Boot Columnist covering national security Email Bio Follow Columnist March 2 I get why President Trump’s political opponents are skeptical, to say the least, of his policies in Venezuela.
But who cares if Trump is doing the right thing for the wrong reasons? The proper response to Trump’s hypocrisy is not to castigate him for opposing the strongman in Caracas but to urge him to do more to oppose other despots. Instead, some on the far left seem to hate Trump more than they hate Maduro. They are de facto siding with a dictator who has turned a once prosperous and democratic country into an oppressive and impoverished hellhole.
Repeat after me, progressives: The enemy of your enemy is not necessarily your friend. You cannot wax indignant about human rights abuses committed by U.S.-backed regimes in Latin America and at the same time condone the human rights abuses committed by an anti-American regime supported by Cuba, China, Iran and Russia. At least not without revealing that you are as hypocritical as Trump is.
But my sense is that the Trump administration is aware of the difficulties and won’t take military action, despite pro forma rhetoric about “all options” being on the table. Trump’s isolationism is trumping his bellicosity: He is eager to pull troops out of Syria and Afghanistan, and he is unlikely to send them into Venezuela.
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