Watching the clip of Rep. Jasmine Crockett on The View was a study in the modern left’s disconnect from reality, as she compared President Trump to Nicolás Maduro and suggested the operation in Venezuela somehow proved his domestic authoritarianism. Her comments landed like a bad skit — smug cable punditry wrapped in sloppy historical references, serving up outrage instead of facts for the cameras. The exchange made it painfully obvious that many on the liberal coasts cheer virtue-signaling over understanding the real threats America faces.
What actually happened in Venezuela was not a Hollywood fantasy but a precise, high-stakes operation that resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife, who were flown to New York to face federal narcoterrorism charges after a risky U.S. mission. This was the culmination of months of careful planning and coordination across the intelligence and military communities — the kind of decisive action Americans pay taxes for and expect when their leaders confront transnational threats. For those who pretend this was mere political theater, the military’s success and the legal process that followed are harsh reminders that standing down is not an option.
Crockett’s panicked comparison and her hypothetical about an American leader being seized in the night showed less legal insight than a late-night Twitter thread. She even managed to conflate legitimate questions about war powers into an all-purpose dismissal: everything the administration does is illegal. That kind of blanket indictment is not an argument, it’s a reflexive partisan talking point — the sort of lazy punditry that ignores indictments, court filings, and decades of documented narco-trafficking tied to the Maduro regime. Americans deserve better than cheap theatrics dressed up as constitutional concern.
Let’s be clear about the facts the media keeps trying to blur: U.S. prosecutors have long accused Maduro’s circle of running a vast narcotics enterprise targeting the American people, and the arraignments in New York are the legal follow-through of those allegations. This isn’t imperialist fantasyland; it’s law enforcement backed by military precision when necessary to secure suspects who’ve long evaded justice. Conservatives should celebrate the men and women in uniform and the prosecutors who risk everything to bring alleged narco-terrorists to account, not hand over the narrative to coastal elites who prefer moralizing to law and order.
Meanwhile, predictable celebrities on shows like The View gasped and preached about “kidnapping” and “piracy,” as if their moral outrage substitutes for evidence or strategy. The cable and daytime panels that wring their hands about checks and balances are the same people who cheered when bureaucrats used administrative fiat to circumvent voters’ choices — their selective sanctimony is obvious and intolerable. If criticizing a bold action is necessary, do so with nuance; reducing a complex international operation to a hot-take soundbite is both irresponsible and cowardly.
Not surprisingly, knee-jerk op-eds and a Senate push for a War Powers resolution followed, all aimed at punishing a president who acted where others dithered. This is politics masquerading as constitutional concern: members of both parties grandstanding because they’d rather score points than secure the country. Conservative readers should be skeptical of any move that ties the hands of commanders in the field and elevates Washington theater above the safety of Americans and our neighbors in the hemisphere.
Across the country and around the world, reactions have been mixed but telling — many Venezuelan exiles and ordinary Americans cheered the ouster of a brutal regime that fleeced its people and trafficked poison into U.S. communities. At the same time, lefty elites staged performances of outrage, ignoring the practical relief a change in leadership can bring to suffering millions. If the choice is between sanctimonious lectures from coastal panels and the messy business of restoring justice and stability, hardworking patriots know which side they’re on.
The White House response to the cable chorus was blistering and deserved: while elites wag their fingers, the administration answered with muscle and a legal process that will now play out in court. Conservatives should stand firm for a strong America that protects its citizens, holds foreign criminals accountable, and doesn’t apologize for using the tools necessary to get the job done. Let the politicians whine; let the courts do their work; and let the American people judge who is truly defending the republic.
