For years, the political class pretended Venezuela was just another abstract “foreign policy problem.” The media warned about “layered air defenses.” The Left romanticized socialism. And this very weekend, protesters gathered outside the White House and in New York City, waving signs in support of Nicolás Maduro.
I told the truth instead. Venezuela is a narco-state, and Nicolás Maduro is a cartel boss in a presidential sash.
Now that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been captured by U.S. forces and transported to New York to face justice, the narrative has collapsed. And with it, the lie that this was ever about “regime change” or “nation-building.” This is about narcoterrorism, border security, and whether the United States still has the will to enforce its laws without sliding into another globalist disaster.
President Trump has now declared that the United States is in control of Venezuela and will begin monetizing its oil reserves. That raises an obvious question I’ve been asking publicly: why are sanctions still in place?
The Venezuela sanctions, including the oil embargo and penalties on shadow fleet tankers, were imposed because of Maduro’s criminal behavior. Maduro is gone. So the justification is gone. It makes zero sense to keep sanctions on a country the United States itself now controls, especially when China is still siphoning off nearly one million barrels of Venezuelan oil per day.
That oil should not be going to Beijing. It should be going to the United States.
If the Trump administration is serious about energy dominance, sanctions must be lifted immediately and oil licenses must be reissued to American energy companies, especially those with existing infrastructure inside Venezuela. Every day those licenses remain frozen is a gift to China, Russia, and Iran.
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, along with massive deposits of rare earth minerals and gold. Neutralizing adversarial access to those resources in the Western Hemisphere is not imperialism. It’s national security.
Maduro didn’t “go rogue.” He didn’t “lose control.” He ran Venezuela like a cartel, turning the country into a cocaine corridor feeding the same transnational networks poisoning American cities. The U.S. government indicted him years ago on narcoterrorism charges. I’ve been pointing that out long before the media stopped pretending he was a misunderstood strongman.
You don’t negotiate with narco-terrorists. You dismantle their networks. That’s exactly what happened.
Maduro was blindfolded, extracted by U.S. Special Forces, flown to New York, and delivered to the DEA in Manhattan. Justice was served, and I’m proud to be an American today.
This moment has exposed a real divide inside MAGA, and it’s not about being pro-war or anti-war. It’s about whether America enforces its laws or makes excuses for criminals because they operate outside our borders. If Maduro were operating inside the United States, he’d be arrested. Geography doesn’t sanitize drug trafficking.
Some voices on the right tried to downplay Maduro’s crimes by pointing to his so-called socially conservative policies. That argument is absurd. Socialism wrapped in cartel money is still socialism, and narcoterrorism doesn’t become acceptable because it bans abortion.
The global reaction has been just as revealing. Qatar immediately attacked the Trump administration for capturing Maduro, calling it imperialism. That outrage tells you everything you need to know. Qatar shares deep ties with Iran, and Venezuela was one of Tehran’s key allies. When America takes down a dictator aligned with Iran, Qatar feels exposed.
Once again, Doha has proven it is not a reliable ally of the United States, but don’t tell Tucker Qatarlson.
Domestically, the threat hasn’t disappeared either. NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has defended Colombian narco-ally Gustavo Petro and Nicolás Maduro, yet he is still poised to receive a federal security clearance. That is unacceptable. Anyone aiding or defending enemies of the United States should never be given access to sensitive intelligence. The Trump administration and the FBI must ensure Mamdani is denied clearance.
Maduro is out. The media is panicking. The globalists are exposed. And the opportunity in front of us is enormous. Lift the sanctions. Reissue the oil licenses. Cut China out of Venezuela’s energy supply. Assert American energy dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
Let’s make 2026 the year America controls the largest oil, rare earth mineral, and gold reserves in the world. That’s not an empire.
That’s America First.
