The Left‘s reaction to Venezuela revealed far more than foreign policy confusion; it exposed a dangerous ideological decay at home.
Former Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro did not merely mismanage a country; he weaponized its collapse. His regime turned Venezuela into a narco-terrorist state and allowed criminal organizations such as Tren de Aragua to inject hard drugs, unspeakable violence, and instability straight to the main artery of our nation. American communities have suffered soaring overdoses, crime, and death. In fact, the No. 1 cause of death in adults aged 18-44 in the United States is opioid overdose. There was a multimillion-dollar bounty on Maduro’s head for good reason, which increased by $10 million under the Biden administration.
As Venezuelans pour into the streets to celebrate freedom, elite liberal foot soldiers have taken to America’s streets in decadent displays of faux outrage at President Donald Trump daring to confront a murderous enemy of the U.S. The same coalition that claims to be relentlessly opposed to authoritarianism has suddenly found reasons to equivocate when faced with an actual illegitimate dictator. Whatever happened to the “No Kings” crowd?
That hypocrisy does not stop at foreign policy — it follows the same pattern at home. Last month, one of the largest fraud scandals in American history came to light. Billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen through fraudulent childcare and healthcare schemes operating in plain sight. Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) found time to change the state flag to one with an uncanny resemblance to Somalia’s, but he somehow “missed” the fraud, bleeding his state dry.
Make no mistake: illegal immigrants, including the Venezuelan criminals who surged in during the Biden open-border days, are accessing public benefits. Dangerous sanctuary cities such as Minneapolis encourage a mass influx of illegal immigrants, and American taxpayers are footing the bill. Nothing about Minneapolis makes it especially vulnerable to fraud — it’s just another Democrat-run city in a blue state. This fraud is widespread because consequences are absent.
That brings us to the real problem: power.
The Left’s sanctuary policies and lax immigration enforcement are not about compassion. They are about population. Blue states harbor illegal immigrants because doing so increases their population totals and, in turn, their political influence. Humanitarian rhetoric makes a nice cover story, but it has never been the point. The point is power.
In a democracy, power is gained through votes, and votes are shaped by the population. That structural reality explains why illegal immigration plays such a central role in left-wing strategy. The Census does not ask who is here legally because of the decision, starting with the 2010 Census, to sunset its long-form questionnaire that contained a citizenship question. Why? Because political representation in the U.S. is determined by headcount, not citizenship.
One of the biggest lies told to the American public in modern history is that communism is a relic of the past rather than an active, ever-present threat. The Left has been carrying the torch of Marxism into classrooms, boardrooms, and American living rooms since the Gilded Age. Where communists once spoke openly about class struggle and state control, the Left now speaks in soliloquies on diversity, equity, and inclusion. They changed the branding and kept the manifesto.
Power remains the goal. Ideology is simply the vehicle.
The Left has abandoned governance and replaced it with political theater. Protests and outrage cycles dominate the public conversation, while groups that claim to fight oppression merely distract — fixating on performative conflicts to conceal deep structural decay. Law enforcement, especially Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is attacked because enforcement threatens the Left’s power strategy. The Left does not genuinely care about social justice, equality, or helping the less fortunate; those are slogans of the moment. From the communist revolutions of the 20th century to today’s virtue signaling, the consistent throughline is power — how to accumulate it, protect it, and keep it out of reach of Americans.
WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH MINNESOTA
Once that is understood, the pattern becomes unmistakable. Americans must stop confusing rhetoric with reality. We should demand accountability, defend the rule of law, and reject an ideology that disguises its hunger for power behind the language of compassion.
Tiffany Justice is the executive vice president of Heritage Action.
