If Americans want to see what their country’s future might look like under a second Donald Trump administration, look no further than Venezuela under President Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro is the 48th president of Venezuela. He has held the office since 2013 and has no plans to step down. Yes, elections are still held in Venezuela, but Maduro controls the media, all levels of government, the courts, and, most importantly, the electoral system.
There are no checks and balances within Venezuela’s government anymore. If an opposition leader becomes too popular, Maduro has the Supreme Court, which he controls with his hand-picked judges, declare the candidate ineligible to hold office.
This happened to María Corina Machado, Venezuela’s most-popular opposition leader, who was supposed to run against him this election cycle. After Maduro had the courts remove her name from the ballot, the opposition parties unified under one candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, a retired diplomat.
González was expected to win in a landslide. Exit polling found he won by more than 60% of the vote. Independent researchers in Venezuela estimated Gonzalez won with about 66% of the vote.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized González as the winner and said, “Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes.”
While many Republicans in Congress agreed with Blinken, Trump has been unusually silent on Maduro’s election denialism. Wonder why.
Maduro’s government has taken total control of Venezuela’s electoral system. His people count the votes and declare the winners. An independent electoral system like we have in the U.S., where observers from all political parties view the counting and tabulation of votes, is no longer operational there.
This is what many Republicans in the states they control wish to accomplish and threaten to do this November.
Maduro’s people blocked international observers from entering Venezuela during the election to monitor the counting and tabulation of votes. Thus, no matter how many people voted for the opposition party — and we might never know — Maduro was guaranteed to be the winner.
This is what Trump envisions for America if he wins in November. This is what I believe Trump meant when, during a recent campaign speech, he said, “Christians, get out and vote! Just this time! You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It will be fixed; it will be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore …”
If we put Trump back into the White House in November, many people believe he doesn’t plan on leaving. By refusing to respect the outcome of elections — unless he wins — and by trying to change the outcome of the 2020 election, Trump is a threat to America’s democracy.
Trump is fascinated with foreign dictators, many of whom he has invited into his Florida home. He is fascinated with their power, as he talks about them being “strong.” Ruth Ben-Ghiat of CNN said Trump praises these dictators “because of their absolute power, not in spite of it.”
Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping is “strong like granite. He runs 1.4 billion people with an iron hand.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Trump, is a “genius” for invading Ukraine and taking “over a country — really a vast, vast location, a great piece of land with a lot of people, and just walking in.”
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a recent visitor to Trump’s home, governs “very, very strongly” and is “a friend of mine,” Trump declared. When Trump made this statement, Erdogan’s government had arrested more than 47,000 Turks in a government crackdown. While the world condemned Erdogan’s human rights violations and continued attack on democracy, Trump was singing his praises.
Who can forget the “love letters” between President Kim Jong Un of North Korea and Trump? “We fell in love,” said Trump, ignoring the fact that, under Kim, the people of North Korea have no freedom, and many are starving as Kim lives an opulent life. Kim is, by all accounts, one of the most brutal dictators in the world. Yet, Trump brags about exchanging love letters with him.
“Americans,” writes Ben-Ghiat, “are the most important audience for the stream of praise Trump directs to autocrats. Trump’s repeated elevation of dictators as models of leadership should be understood as part of a re-education strategy — conditioning Americans to see authoritarianism as a superior form of government to democracy.”
Seven million people have moved out of Venezuela since Maduro came to power in 2013 and began systematically removing their freedoms. As a result, the country’s economy is in shambles. Most people who remain are poor, while Maduro enriches the wealthy who remain. In return, they finance Maduro’s wealth and his position of power.
This should sound familiar to Americans who might be asking themselves why Elon Musk and other billionaires want to finance Trump’s return to the White House. Could it be the billions of dollars they will save in tax cuts during a second Trump presidency?
For Trump and Maduro, everything is transactional. For Maduro, it is not about what is best for Venezuelans; just as for Trump, it is not about what is best for Americans.
It is especially not about high school-educated Americans who form the backbone of Trump’s support. He doesn’t care how Musk or other businessmen treat them as employees, whether they receive a living wage or health care benefits. In fact, Trump promises to end the Affordable Care Act that provides healthcare benefits to millions of Americans.
In November, Americans get to decide if we will continue to be the United States of America, for the people and by the people, or become more like Venezuela, where a strong man ignores the votes of the people and wipes out freedom and democracy for an entire nation.
It might be our last chance to decide. I hope we make the most of it.
Tom Zirpoli is the Laurence J. Adams Distinguished Chair in Special Education Emeritus at McDaniel College. He writes from Westminster. His column appears on Wednesdays. Email him at tziripoli@mcdaniel.edu.
