Issue: Foreign Affairs

Will Dancing Dictator Nicolas Maduro be—uh—persuaded to dance off stage and into exile? The feisty New York Post front page screams “Madur-GO.” President Trump has given “an ultimatum to the Venezuelan thug”: “Step down or else!” More on the ultimatum. And here.

A more sober take on the impending crisis with our neighbor to the south is put forward in this editorial in the Wall Street Journal—it is headlined “The High Stakes in Venezuela”:   

President Trump is in a high-stakes showdown with Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and the dictator’s backers in Havana and Moscow. One of the two presidents is going to lose, and it will be Mr. Trump if Mr. Maduro isn’t ousted one way or another. …

[Maduro]may not be entirely master of his own fate. Cuba’s intelligence service is solidly behind him and no doubt is urging him to stay. Our sources believe Cuban intelligence is working closely with Mr. Maduro’s military counterintelligence network, the DGCIM. They work together to spy on the country’s officer corps to disrupt a potential coup attempt.

Venezuela matters to Cuba as a force for revolution on the Latin American continent. Leaders in Havana also know that if Mr. Maduro falls to a pro-American government, Mr. Trump may next turn his attention to them. They know Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s history as an enemy of the Castros and the Latin left. …

The editors also consider that Moscow has an interest in keeping Maduro in power, but conclude:

We think deposing Mr. Maduro is in the U.S. national interest given how he has spread refugees and mayhem in the region. No one should think this would be an American “coup.” Venezuelans voted overwhelmingly to elect the opposition in the 2024 presidential race, but Mr. Maduro refused to cede power. Deposing him in favor of the elected president would restore democracy….

But if Mr. Maduro refuses to leave, and Mr. Trump shrinks from acting to depose him, Mr. Trump and the credibility of the U.S. will be the losers. Mr. Trump chose this showdown, and it will cost America and the region dearly if Mr. Maduro emerges triumphant.

Miranda Devine’s piece on the troubles of FBI Director Kash Patel is grim—Devine reports on the “withering criticism” Patel is receiving, but (and here’s why this may be so bad for Patel) doesn’t refute it:

The Patel-led FBI is described in the 115-page report as a “rudderless ship” and “all f–ked up.” …

A troubling new report card on the first six months of Patel’s leadership concludes he is “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, is “something of a clown,” according to the alliance, which in two previous reports warned about crippling DEI and politicization of the FBI during the Biden administration.

There’s a special election for a seat in Congress tomorrow in Tennessee, and if Republicans don’t win, they should panic—it’s not just that it’s a ruby red district that Trump carried by 20 points. It’s that Dem candidate Aftyn Behn has professed her dislike for the cultural norms of the district:

“Some of your past tweets have gotten attention, including in 2020 when you posted to — and then deleted — a post that said, ‘Good morning, especially to the 54% of Americans that believe burning down a police station is justified,’” Raju said. “Another you appear to support a demand to ‘defund the police.’ Do you regret posting those comments?”…

Raju then pressed Behn about comments from a 2020 podcast in which she sharply criticized Nashville, the largest city in the district she hopes to represent. The clip resurfaced during the campaign.

“I hate the city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music, I hate all of the things that make Nashville apparently an ‘it’ city to the rest of the country. But I hate it,” she said in the recording.

Despite Behn’s reservations about the District she aspires to represent, it appears to be a close race. The Republican candidate is Matt Van Epps, a West Point graduate, combat veteran, and advocate for families. Go figure.

We’re all reeling from the Thanksgiving-eve ambush of two members of the National Guard blocks from the White House by an Afghan refugee. Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died; her father announced her death on Thanksgiving Day. Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains in critical condition. The reactions to the shootings, focusing on President Trump rather than the shooter, were infuriating. Rafael Mangual writes in City Journal:

Jane Mayer, a vocal Trump critic, took to X to blame the president for the tragedy. Mayer wrote that the Guard members “had virtually nothing to do but pick up trash,” that the Guard’s presence in D.C. was “for political show,” and that Beckstrom and Wolfe “should never have been deployed.”

Echoing Mayer on PBS, former Obama administration official Juliette Kayyem criticized the president’s decision to deploy Guardsmen in D.C., which she said left them with an unclear mission that “made them vulnerable.” In its coverage of the shooting, the New York Times ended a reported piece with a quote from a West Virginia resident who blamed the president, stating that the Guardsmen “shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” Some might make that same claim about Lakanwal [the suspect], but the Times apparently could not find anyone saying so for its coverage.

The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, came to the U.S. under the auspices of the Biden resettlement plan after the botched Afghanistan withdrawal and was recently granted asylum. Townhall notes that 5,000 Afghanis settled in the U.S. have been flagged as security threats. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said Lakanwal was “radicalized” after he came to the United States.

In disputes over property, an axiom is that “possession is nine-tenths of the law.” Being here already is maybe not nine-tenths of the law, but it makes addressing the issue traumatic and violence-prone, as open-border advocates knew all along that it would be.

The Washington Post published a story on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s alleged command to leave no survivors in the first sinking of an apparent narco boat in the Caribbean. Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy writes at National Review that, if what the newspaper alleges is true, it was “at best, a war crime under federal law.” Townhall’s Kurt Schlichter counters that there is a “Democrat/Regime Media Plot Against Pete Hegseth“:

It’s almost painfully obvious what a scam and a setup this whole “Pete Hegseth is killing innocent drug dealers!” thing is. Mysterious anonymous sources just happened to say exactly what the Democrats needed said following their illegal orders nonsense of last week, and exactly when they needed to change the subject from the murder of a soldier that was arguably contributed to by their illegal orders nonsense of last week. 

Must Be Mentioned: “I grew up in public housing, and I know how to fix Obamacare,” avers Senator Rick Scott. Because Obamacare is a failure that cannot survive without massive subsidies, the Senate will have another chance to debate it. … Legendary playwright Tom Stoppard has died. David Mamet and John Podhoretz take note. … Oxford University Press has named “rage bait” and word of the year for 2025. Isn’t that two words?

In the crush of last week, Ms. Must unforgivably forgot to mention a Wall Street Journal article on the conservative women who “Flip the Script: Kids First, Then Career.” Our own Carrie Lukas was quoted as saying, “If you decide to not work or not lean in in the first 10 years of being a mom and you do that in your 20s, there’s still plenty of time to start working in your 30s and have a meaningful career.”

While Trump haters are positively giddy over yesterday’s congressional votes to release the Epstein files (here and here), cooler heads realize that the Jeffrey Epstein scandal is never going away, no matter what great volume of material is released. That’s because it is essentially a chimera.

Arguably more crucial to the world, controversial Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited the White House yesterday, where President Trump designated the Kingdom a major, non-NATO ally:

Trump said the partnership reached a new level after a day of meetings and signings with bin Salman. He praised Saudi Arabia’s modernization, calling it “an economic engine and a modern-day miracle,” and said new agreements in energy, minerals and artificial intelligence were “unprecedented.”

He added that Saudi Arabia had agreed to boost its investment in the U.S. from $600 billion to $1 trillion, a move he said would create American jobs and further strengthen the growing alliance.

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal headlined “The Art of a Deal with Saudi Arabia” concluded:

What will the U.S. get from MBS’s trip? So far, the answer is cash money. The Crown Prince said his May pledge of $600 billion in investments in the U.S. will be raised to $1 trillion. Wait to see how much of it materializes. But a strengthened U.S.-Saudi relationship is good news. From China and Israel to Yemen and Iran, there’s much the Saudis can do for America. For what Mr. Trump is offering them, though, he ought to make sure he isn’t asking too little.

“Trump Lauds Saudi Prince in Lavish Visit, Brushing Off Journalist’s Killing” is a New York Times headline. The killing was the gruesome 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi, an activist and Washington Post columnist. The president glided right over it (“things happen” but “he knew nothing about it”), but the Washington Post today publishes an editorial about Khashoggi’s death, with the headline “Things Happen“:

The United States government often advances its national interests by working with nasty people, and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is one of the nastiest. It’s one thing, however regrettable, to deal reluctantly with him. President Donald Trump’s performance at the White House Tuesday was something else entirely: weak, crass and of no strategic benefit to America.

You’ve got to admit—it is a social conundrum never once addressed by Emily Post. Former President Joe Biden called MBS “a pariah” in response to the—ah—Khashoggi matter and came to bitterly regret it when the U.S. badly needed MBS. The New York Times has a partial guest list for the black tie dinner for MBS. Instead of suffering poor Mr. Khashoggi’s fate, Elon Musk was invited to dinner last night. Lee Smith takes a dim view of the effect of the Saudi Prince’s visit in The Tablet.

MBS got the royal treatment last night, partly because he is important to President Trump’s plans for the Middle East. With regard to that plan, New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin spots a miracle—“Trump Miraculously Receives Praise from New York Times after UN Backs Gaza Peace Plan.”  

Remarkably, there was another rare instance of decency at the UN yesterday. Rap superstar Nicki Minaj stood up for Nigeria’s persecuted Christians, shaming the callous “human rights’ elite,” which prefers to dismiss Islamic attacks on Christians. The BBC is doing all it can to deny persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

“Trump Serves a McDonald’s Happy Meal” is the headline on a Wall Street Journal editorial on the former fry chef’s return to the fast food giant. This time, the editors note, Trump was trying to kill the joint-employer rule, beloved of former President Barack Obama, and pushed by unions to make organizing easier:

Mr. Trump vowed on Monday night that “as long as I’m President, I’ll always defend your right to run your own small business, and do it well.” If he means it, he’d also reduce his tariffs and stop his Administration’s mass deportation raids at law-abiding workplaces. Deregulation and tax reform were the secret sauce to his first-term’s economic success that helped him win re-election.

Please, sir, can we have another order of that—and hold the rest?

I have a hunch this headline at the lefty Salon wasn’t intended to be good news: “The GOP Is on the Cusp of Destroying Obamacare.” (Hat tip to RCP for spotting the story.) “This time Republicans are taking a death-by-increments approach to the ACA — and it just might work,” columnist Heather Digby opines.

I have another hunch this PJ Media subhead was written to gladden hearts: “Watching the Left Eat Its Own Never Gets Old.” PJ’s David Manney writes that Senator Corey Booker signals that it’s time for the feast to begin. They will chow down first on Minority Leader Chuck Schumer:

With ambitions to be the anti-Schumer, being younger, louder, and more camera-ready, [Booker is] beginning a snowball fight over succession politics, something that’s not complicated and also lacking subtlety.

King of New York. “Zohran Mamdani Just Declared NYC a City of…What?” is the headline on a Townhall article. Of course, you guessed—the Mayor-elect has declared that the Big Apple is a “city of international law.” Townhall observes:

 It’s not, of course, but take two guesses why Mamdani is making such a claim.

Did you guess “to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”? Of course you did. On the other hand, Mamdani has asked respected Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on, and she has accepted.

Please Don’t Keep on Trucking: “ICE Arrests Uzbek Illegal Immigrant with Terrorist Connections Working as a Truck Driver in Kansas” is the headline on another troubling Townhall story. Dmitri Bolt writes:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Monday the arrest of 31-year-old Akhror Bozorov, an illegal immigrant from Uzbekistan wanted in his home country for involvement with a terrorist organization. Bozorov was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers while operating an 18-wheeler in Kansas. He had been issued a commercial driver’s license by the state of Pennsylvania and was working as a truck driver.

Not Getting the Royal Treatment: That would be unelected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The president has signed off on possible operations inside Venezuela but has also reopened back-channel communications with the government of President Nicolás Maduro,” according to the New York Times.

On Second Thought: Our friends on the left, who used the FCC to censor conservatives, have experienced an epiphany. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal begins:

Well, well. The left’s media censors are suddenly discovering the dangers of letting the government regulate speech when their political opponents are in charge. The Trump era is concentrating minds in this way, and last week progressives asked the Federal Communications Commission to repeal its decades-old “news distortion” rule for broadcasters. It’s overdue.

Much-admired intellectual Robert George has resigned from the board of the Heritage Foundation in response to Heritage President Kevin Roberts’ remarks on Tucker Carlson. An editorial in the Wall Street Journal praises the “unfailingly civil” Mr. George. Righteous indignation is the hallmark of Commentary editor John Podhoretz’s piece headlined “Kevin Mamdani and Zohran Roberts.”

“How Do You Spell ‘Harvard’? With an Endless Supply of A’s,” is the headline on Jason Riley’s WSJ column. It is about grade inflation, proliferating at Ivy League colleges and beyond:

Because colleges have lowered admissions standards to take advantage of tuition subsidies and admit as many students as possible, they have a strong incentive to lower standards for grading and for graduation. The better way to address grade inflation would be to privatize student lending and require colleges to pay some portion of student loans for borrowers who default.

If we want schools to exercise more discretion in admitting students and maintain high academic standards, give them more skin in the game.

So Much for Title IX: One hundred and thirty Democrat congressional representatives are urging the Supreme Court to side with a “trans” athlete to allow men to compete with women in women’s sports. The coalition includes nine Senators and 121 House members.