Back at the end of October, 60 Minutes reported that Venezuela had essentially collapsed under the weight of socialism. As I wrote at the time, the nation — once one of the richest in the world — now had a 70+ percent poverty rate, a scarcity of food and medicines, and chronic blackouts.
It only took two decades from electing its first socialist leaders to reach those catastrophic economic realities because, despite what the Left will tell us — that "real socialism" has never been tried — the truth is this: "real socialism" has been tried. Multiple times. And it always, invariably, fails.
Or as Garry Kasparov said, "Venezuela isn't what happens when socialism fails, it's what happens when socialism succeeds. Thuggery and poverty."
In some ways, Venezuela is lucky. In other places where socialism has been tried (and I include communism in this, because they're two sides of the same totalitarian coin), the body count climbs exponentially. But if you look at videos of Venezuelans celebrating in the streets of Caracas, one thing is clear: they will not miss their socialist overlords.
For right now, America is running the nation, until, according to President Trump, a "safe, proper, and judicious transition" can take place and while Venezuela is being freed from the shackles of socialism, parts of America are openly embracing the same ideology that pushed Venezuela from the world's fourth-richest nation into a poverty-stricken hellhole.
The face of that movement right now is New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who just condemned the ouster of his commie buddy as a violation of "international law." It's not, of course, but Mamdani loves the idea of international law (so much so, he says New York is now a city of "international law"). Before the election, I wrote how the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are using Mamdani's campaign as a springboard for the socialist takeover of America, both at the local level and in the Senate.
They are making the same promises the socialists made in Venezuela: they'll punish the rich, make things like education, healthcare, and housing "free," and everyone will live in the "warmth of collectivism."
Venezuela did that for two decades, and — as I mentioned above — everyone in that country is now collectively poor. The Left looks
When voters decided they were unhappy with Maduro's rule and voted him out of office, the so-called defenders of democracy only issued strongly-worded letters while Maduro actually stole the election and remained a dictator. Then again, Democrats really aren't big on democracy. Look at how they installed Kamala Harris as their nominee without a single vote last year.
Look who is squawking the loudest about Maduro's ouster — it's the same group of people who are tripping over themselves to install the same brand of socialism here, knowing full well it'll have the same outcome. And what happens when voters decide they're fed up with socialism? Those so-called "defenders of democracy" will prove they're not a fan of free and fair elections after all.
The lesson from what happened in Venezuela today is this: it's very easy to vote in the socialists who promise you bread and roses, but it takes a military strike to get them out of office. There will be no nation willing to do what President Trump did in Venezuela for America, however.
It's up to us, therefore, to make sure we never go down that path in the first place.
