In a bold move Wednesday, the United States seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a development President Trump announced as part of a broader campaign to punish the regime and choke off illicit cash flows. This decisive action shows what happens when leadership stops apologizing and starts acting in America’s interest.
The vessel identified by officials as the Skipper was reportedly carrying roughly one to two million barrels of heavy Venezuelan crude and had been sanctioned for its role in shadowy shipments tied to Iran and other malign actors. Coast Guard, FBI, and special operations forces executed the operation, and the administration’s footage made plain that this was a carefully planned interdiction, not a headline-seeking stunt. The move strikes at the heart of the networks that have kept Maduro afloat and funded regional instability.
As expected, Caracas howled about “piracy” and left-leaning outlets and a few nervous lawmakers warned about escalation, but Washington’s priority should be American security, not pleasing dictators. Maduro has long used oil to line the pockets of kleptocrats and bankroll proxies, and anyone defending that trade is defending the very systems that produce humanitarian disaster. Conservatives should be clear-eyed: severing these lifelines is moral and strategic.
U.S. officials have repeatedly said the tanker had been under sanctions for years for involvement in illicit oil shipping networks that benefited Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and other bad actors, which makes the seizure both lawful and necessary from a national-security standpoint. If legal challenges come, let them be resolved in court — but we should not shrink from enforcing sanctions that protect American interests.
Meanwhile, on Fox’s Hannity, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said CNN banned him despite allegedly promising the administration could appear “any topic, any host, any time.” Miller’s revelation is more than a personal gripe — it’s a window into how the so-called objective press treats conservative policymakers differently, refusing to engage when inconvenient truths are on the table. That kind of selective silencing corrodes public discourse and hands the narrative to those who want to undermine patriotic policy.
CNN claims administration officials are welcome, but patterns of canceled appearances and political gatekeeping tell a different story: networks picking winners and losers based on ideology, not journalistic standards. Ordinary Americans see through this; they know the media has become an echo chamber for the elite left. If networks want credibility, they should stop operating like political shops and start booking voices from across the spectrum without bias.
The contrast could not be clearer: the administration takes hard action to disrupt the illicit oil trade propping up a brutal regime, while mainstream outlets reflexively paint such moves as reckless and simultaneously bar conservative defenders from the conversation. That hypocrisy is telling — their outrage is performative, aimed at blocking a policy debate they cannot win on the merits. Patriots should call out that double standard and demand fair access for conservative voices.
This is a moment for Americans who love their country to stand behind strong enforcement of sanctions and push back against a media establishment that prefers suppression to scrutiny. Insist on real debate, support outlets that present the truth, and make clear that putting America first is not a partisan slogan but a national imperative.
