The Greanville Post Topic: Bernie and the Dems Flunk Trump’s Test On Venezuela’s Coup
Sanders: the moral backbone of a wet noodle. He has repeatdely shown he is a willful
ignoramus on foreign policy or —worse—an intellectual coward. (Donkey Hotey)
hen Trump announced his support for the unfolding coup in hen Trump announced his support for the unfolding coup in Venezuela, Bernie Sanders remained silent for 24 hours. This matters because coups are made or broken in the first moments or hours; a day during a coup can feel like a month or more.
With each hour Bernie’s silence roared louder. So much was hanging in the balance with Trump at home and abroad, to the point where a finger could tip the scales— yet Bernie refused to lift his.
Among the many Democratic Party candidates running for President, only Tulsi Gabbard made an unequivocal statement condemning the coup, while leftist darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez limited her criticism to a retweet.
While U.S. politics grappled furiously over the government shutdown, Trump’s coup gifted the Democrats a dagger and an exposed flank, yet they refused to strike, returning the weapon so that it could be used against the democratically-elected government of Venezuela.
Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats went further and cheerled their Commander in Chief by using their platform to attack President Maduro. Trump’s position was consequently strengthened. Instead of being condemned for breaking international law he was made to look like a responsible statesman, leading a “coalition” of countries facing off against an ‘authoritarian dictator’. The virulently anti-Trump section of the U.S. media closed ranks in his favor— since it was difficult to find a dissenting opinion.
In this context Trump was put into an excellent position to win the war over the government shutdown, that is until the bold actions of airport workers swiftly ended the drama. But Trump certainly learned a valuable lesson: the Democratic Party “resistance” crumbles in critical moments when a foreign conflict erupts, which helps promote more such moments in the future.
Bernie Finally Tweets!
After an excruciating day of silence Bernie finally found his voice— by sending three tweets. But the content was revealing, reinforcing the weakness that kept him silent during the first critical day.
Tweet #1 was essentially a point-by-point plagiarism of Trump’s lies used to justify the coup. Bernie Tweeted:
“The Maduro government has waged a violent crackdown on Venezuelan civil society, violated the constitution by dissolving the National Assembly and was re-elected last year in an election many observers said was fraudulent. The economy is a disaster and millions are migrating.”
Instead of targeting Trump’s coup actions Bernie targets the victim. Bernie’s allegation of a fraudulent election is simply slander, since Venezuela’s elections are widely regarded as among the best in the world.
Every time the opposition in Venezuela believes they’ll lose an election they “boycott” it, though the opposition was fractured during the last election, to the point where some boycotted while others supported two separate anti-Maduro candidates. Thus, every semi-objective observer knew Maduro would easily and fairly cruise to victory. For Bernie to give Trump this ammo— the key rationale being used to justify the coup— simply makes the Senator an accomplice in a crime.
Furthermore, Bernie claiming that Maduro “dissolved the National Assembly” is also untrue. Although what happened is complicated, the Venezuelan Supreme Court (not Maduro) dissolved the National Assembly in 2017, in reaction to flagrant violations of law that made the pro-opposition Assembly a non-functioning institution that only passed laws which unconstitutionally attacked Maduro’s government.
Venezuela has been functioning in a state of dual power since 2017, when a unitary government was torn into two by the pressures of the class struggle and the non-stop shenanigans of a U.S. supported opposition hellbent on overthrowing the government.
Regarding Bernie’s mention of the economy being “a disaster”, he surely knows that U.S. economic sanctions, pro-opposition immigration policies and political threats have much to do with the situation, choosing to ignore these critical factors because doing so bolsters anti-Maduro sentiment.
Bernie’s 2nd Tweet was a reinforcement of the first, further buttressing Trump’s actions:
“The United States should support the rule of law, fair elections and self-determination for the Venezuelan people. We must condemn the use of violence against unarmed protesters and the suppression of dissent.”
The “unarmed protestors” that Bernie is referring to here are the shock troops of the wealthy opposition trying to overthrow the government, who in 2017 lead deadly, violent protests that resulted in over a 100 dead, which included the opposition burning alive at least four pro-Maduro supporters. Bernie certainly knows that the opposition in Venezuela is neither peaceful nor democratic.
The 3rd and final tweet is where Bernie finally expresses his half-hearted “opposition” to Trump’s coup:
“But we must learn the lessons of the past and not be in the business of regime change or supporting coups—as we have in Chile, Guatemala, Brazil & the DR. The US has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American nations; we must not go down that road again.”
Bernie says “we must not go down that road again”, while failing to condemn the fact that Trump is a 1,000 miles down the coup road already. Much planning and organization has gone into the coup, to the point where every pro-U.S. country in South America and key European allies have agreed to recognize a new President, Juan Guaido, who has zero actual legitimacy.
Also, critically, in his Tweets Bernie puts no demands on Trump, offering no solutions to the mushrooming crisis— he doesn’t insist that Trump withdraw his recognition of the coup leader as President, nor does he suggest any specific actions that would act to reverse the current course, allowing it to continue unbothered.
Such a passive position— that buttresses many of the key lies that Trump used to make his case— amounts to, at best, a neutral position, and as Desmond Tutu said “neutrality aids the oppressor”. In reality Bernie’s position is a signal to Trump that no organized opposition to the coup will occur, while Democrats will limit their reaction to the ensuing bloodshed by criticizing Maduro.
Why Imperialism Matters
The question of imperialism isn’t abstract, affecting only people in under-developed, ‘exotic’ countries like Venezuela. In reality U.S. foreign intervention government directly impacts U.S. residents every day, ruining their living standards while ensuring that their children have an even less opportune future.
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