Kamala Harris decided over the weekend that the hill she wanted to die on was defending process complaints about the arrest of a narco dictator, and it went about as well as you would expect. After President Trump ordered the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, Harris rushed to X to condemn the move as “unlawful and unwise.” Within minutes, the replies turned into a digital dogpile.
“Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable,” Harris declared, before accusing the President of lying, risking troops, destabilizing a region, and having no legal authority or exit plan. It was a familiar script, heavy on vague outrage and light on facts. The problem is that reality immediately made a mess of her narrative.
Maduro was captured in a nighttime operation with zero U.S. troop deaths. He was flown to New York and indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges including narco terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and weapons offenses involving machine guns and destructive devices against the United States. That is not regime change for oil. That is law enforcement with teeth.
What made Harris’s meltdown especially rich is her own recent history. In 2020, Joe Biden attacked President Trump by claiming he “admires thugs and dictators like Nicolas Maduro.” Then the Biden Harris administration proceeded to do absolutely nothing about Maduro while Venezuela collapsed further into a criminal narco state. They talked tough, issued statements, and even put a bounty on Maduro’s head, then somehow managed to never collect it.
That is why Harris’s post detonated in her replies. As Article III Project senior counsel Will Chamberlain pointed out, the Biden administration itself offered a 25 million dollar reward for Maduro’s arrest. Now Harris is attacking President Trump for doing the thing her own administration publicly claimed to want done. That takes a special level of political amnesia.
Harris also accused Trump of sidelining Venezuela’s “legitimate opposition” and pursuing deals with Maduro’s cronies. Meanwhile, Maduro is now sitting in U.S. custody, facing American judges and prosecutors. If this was a secret oil grab or dictator love affair, it is the strangest one in recorded history.
President Trump even posted video footage of the strikes that supported the operation, showing precision attacks around Caracas. No American troops were killed. No drawn out occupation followed. No endless nation building lecture ensued. Maduro arrived in New York Saturday evening and is expected to face his first court hearing as soon as Monday.
Harris closed her statement by insisting America needs leadership that enforces the rule of law and puts Americans first. The irony was not lost on anyone watching a narco dictator finally get hauled into a U.S. courtroom.
This episode perfectly captures the modern Democratic Party problem. When President Trump acts decisively and successfully, they call it dangerous. When they talk endlessly and do nothing, they call it responsible. The voters in Harris’s replies were not buying it, and judging by the reaction, neither is anyone else anymore.
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