The Trump administration’s recognition of Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president has provoked criticism from independent journalists but cheers from an unexpected quarter: his domestic foes.
“Donald Trump, Mike Pence and Marco Rubio got to decide who is president of Venezuela. That’s democracy you guys,” tweeted journalist Rania Khalek, who also predicted that the same media outlets hating on Trump all day would applaud the move.
Trump’s declaration of who should lead Venezuela is “totally not meddling” in another country’s internal affairs, was the sarcastic take from commentator Mark Sleboda, referring to accusations by the US establishment that Russia “meddled” in the 2016 presidential election.
Journalist Sarah Lazare pointed out that Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, “both on the far right,” have teamed up against Venezuela’s socialist president Nicolas Maduro.
Glenn Greenwald, a journalist who lives in Brazil and has criticized Bolsonaro, argued along the same lines – and quoted a colleague to add that disagreeing with US policy doesn’t mean sympathy for Maduro.
A Fusion journalist agreed that US meddling will not end well.
The only thing Wednesday’s declaration will accomplish is to make the life “really miserable” for the people of Venezuela, argued commentator George Szamuely.
TV producer Mike Prysner had the same sentiment, graphically illustrating the character of Venezuela’s opposition.
Even some of Trump’s supporters were unhappy with the move. Journalist Jack Posobiec reacted by quoting Trump’s own disavowal of regime change from 2016.
But while one would expect that the anti-Trump #Resistance would jump at the opportunity to condemn an actual meddling the president got himself into, journalist Aaron Mate and media critics from OffGuardian pointed out it appears to be the other way round.
Ana Navarro – an outspoken Trump-hating pundit for CNN – cheered on the intervention, while carefully making sure she did not give president any credit.
One can’t help but wonder if the “rules-based world order” exempts the US.
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