Staff Reports
For months the national press treated Nicolás Maduro like a distant political curiosity rather than the criminal mastermind he was accused of being — and Secretary of State Marco Rubio didn’t hesitate to call them out for it. Rubio pointed out bluntly that Maduro’s alleged role in narcotics trafficking was not a contested claim before President Trump decided to go after him, and that hypocrisy from the media deserves exposure.
The administration made its stance unmistakable when it doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, a move that followed the 2020 federal indictment out of Manhattan accusing him and his cronies of narco-terrorism. Americans should pause and consider: this is not partisan theater, it is an enforcement action tied to a real criminal case that has been on the books for years.
Rubio reminded the country that the indictment was returned by a grand jury and that prosecutors presented evidence pointing to a network that allegedly used state instruments to facilitate drug trafficking into the United States. The Justice Department has been aggressive in seizing assets linked to Maduro, and the administration is treating his case as a national security threat — exactly the kind of threat the mainstream media conveniently ignored until it became politically useful to attack the man taking action.
Meanwhile, elites and pundits who spent years minimizing Venezuela’s corruption suddenly awaken to alarm over every move the White House makes in response, denouncing bold tactics as reckless while having shrugged off the underlying crimes for years. That double standard is obvious: criticize the strong enforcement and call it dangerous, but remain silent or sympathetic when the accused hold power in Caracas. The American people deserve reporters who apply the same standards to criminals regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat is confronting them.
Conservatives aren’t celebrating brinkmanship; we’re celebrating the restoration of deterrence and the unapologetic defense of our borders and communities from the poison cartels that ship death to our towns. The Trump administration and Secretary Rubio are finally treating narco-trafficking as the national-security crisis it is, and the public should demand the media stop giving cover to tyrants and cartels and start reporting facts.
Hardworking Americans know what matters: secure streets, fewer overdoses, and leaders who will use every lawful tool to protect our country. If the press wants credibility, it should stop reflexively defending regimes that traffic in misery and start holding them to account — the rest of us will hold our leaders to account too, and we’ll applaud the ones who actually act.
