Senator Rick Scott didn’t mince words on Newsmax’s The Record when he told President Trump exactly what a leader should say to Nicolás Maduro: make it crystal clear that the tyrant has no place ruling Venezuela and must leave.
Maduro’s chokehold on Venezuela has produced famine, corruption, and a refugee crisis that weak-kneed politicians pretend they can ignore while families suffer. The Record has been a forum for blunt, honest assessment of the Maduro regime’s brutality, and voices on that show rightly argue this rotten regime cannot be normalized.
Americans who love liberty should cheer Scott’s unapologetic diplomacy: talk tough, mean it, and back words with actions that restore freedom in our hemisphere. We need a President who speaks plainly to dictators — not placating speeches but firm ultimatums that protect American interests and support freedom-loving Venezuelans.
The feckless rhetoric from the left has cost lives and allowed foreign adversaries to entrench themselves in our backyard; conservatives must demand strategy, leverage, and consequences. Tough sanctions, targeted diplomatic pressure, and cutting off safe havens for Maduro’s kleptocrats are the tools of smart power, and they must be used without apology.
This is not warmongering; this is defense of liberty and regional stability — the kind of common-sense, America-first policy that keeps our citizens safe and our values intact. If we do not stand up now, we signal weakness to Moscow, Beijing, and Havana, and we betray the Venezuelan people who yearn for a future free from tyranny.
President Trump should take Senator Scott’s advice and tell Maduro — plainly and publicly — to get out of Venezuela, or face the consequences from a revived, resolute America. Hardworking patriots in this country expect our leaders to act like winners; it’s time to restore American leadership where it matters most.
