COMMENTARY The vicious election denialism in Venezuela warns us of a repeat of Jan. 6 here if Trump loses 鈥� and of the responsibility leaders like Miami's GOP Congress members have to prevent it.
I鈥檓 not shocked by the viciousness of the election theft that Venezuela鈥檚 dictatorial socialist regime is committing right now.
I鈥檝e seen that vicious face before 鈥� not just there but here. And seeing it this summer in Venezuela reminds me of the awful likelihood of seeing it this fall in the U.S.
This is hardly the first time Venezuela鈥檚 regime has lost out and lashed out. In 2007, its messianic founder, the late President Hugo Ch谩vez, couldn鈥檛 summon enough votes to change the Constitution to let him run for re-election in perpetuity. The night after his setback, I had drinks in Caracas with two of his top aides 鈥� and what I saw on their own faces was frightening.
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Up to then, these leftist but sensible young men had insisted Ch谩vez was no Fidel Castro-style autocrat looking to rule for life. Now, after eight years in the hyperbaric chamber of 鈥渞evolution,鈥� it was obvious they鈥檇 drunk the dictatorship-of-the-proletariat Kool Aid. Their opinion of Venezuelans who鈥檇 voted No on Ch谩vez鈥檚 eternal re-election bid was, well, vicious.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e fascists,鈥� one told me with a menacing look I鈥檇 never seen him flash before. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e 别蝉肠耻谩濒颈诲辞蝉,鈥� said the other 鈥� using Ch谩vez鈥檚 insult for what he labeled the filthy, evil nature of anyone who opposed him. And if those 别蝉肠耻谩濒颈诲辞蝉 wouldn鈥檛 submit, then the revolution would have to ram the re-election measure down their throats. Which is exactly what Ch谩vez did.
Ditto after the revolution lost the National Assembly to los 别蝉肠耻谩濒颈诲辞蝉 in 2015. Ch谩vez鈥檚 successor, current dictator Nicol谩s Maduro, simply shut down that legislature and created a new one. Anyone who cried foul got pounded by his security forces 鈥� viciously enough that the U.N. designated the crackdown a crime against humanity.
July 28 or Jan. 6 鈥� both reflect the sociopathic belief in a birthright to rule, a certainty that anyone outside that divine orbit is filthy, evil鈥�别蝉肠耻谩濒颈诲辞.
Ditto after Maduro lost to 别蝉肠耻谩濒颈诲辞 candidate Edmundo Gonz谩lez in the July 28 presidential election by the largest landslide in Venezuelan history. Maduro claimed 鈥渧ictory鈥� while his security forces performed a brutal encore, jailing 2,400 protesters and killing 27. So far.
Venezuela鈥檚 regime thinks holding elections makes it democratic, the way Vladimir Putin thinks going shirtless makes him sexy. But the vicious cycle in this case is to lose an election 鈥� then respond to voter rejection not by listening up but by doubling down.
Zero-sum zombies
It鈥檚 the sociopathic tic of people who鈥檝e been programmed to believe that they and they alone possess a birthright to rule, and anyone outside that divine orbit is filthy, evil 鈥� 别蝉肠耻谩濒颈诲辞.
We鈥檝e seen that denialism software short-circuit U.S. democracy鈥檚 hardware, too 鈥� especially on Jan. 6, 2021, when at the urging of then President Donald Trump, his insurrectionist followers violently stormed the U.S. Congress to prevent certification of his 2020 re-election loss.
One political scientist after another in this country that Trump and his hardcore MAGA base show every sign of erupting in a Jan. 6 redux if he loses this November's presidential election. The reason: their own zombie-like, zero-sum certainty that anyone who defies Trump is likewise filthy, evil, 别蝉肠耻谩濒颈诲辞.
They鈥檝e in fact laid it out this time in manifestos like Project 2025, a scheme of right-wing retribution that its Heritage Foundation drafters call a blueprint not just for a new Trump presidency, but for 鈥渢he second American Revolution 鈥� which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.鈥�
Bloodless if the left allows it to be. That鈥檚 not the mission statement of a candidacy or constituency willing to acknowledge 鈥渢he majesty of democracy,鈥� as the late Republican President George H.W. Bush put it when he lost re-election in 1992.
It鈥檚 a chilling advisory from the Ch谩vez-Maduro wing that rules the GOP in 2024.
As a denizen of Miami, with its large Venezuelan population, my question is: will my city鈥檚 Republican congressional delegation get the lesson staring at us from across the Caribbean and try to blunt that vicious impulse in their own 鈥渞evolution鈥� if Trump loses 鈥� instead of spinelessly pandering to it as most of them did on Jan. 6?
Will the likes of Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Miami Congressmen Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Gimenez 鈥� who voted to block certification of Electoral College votes for then President-elect Joe Biden that day 鈥� urge Trump鈥檚 legions to accept the majesty of democracy?
If not, I won鈥檛 be shocked. Again.
