Trump Calls Maduro, Mainstream Media Just Noticed 'Dictator'
According to The New York Times, Donald Trump reportedly spoke last week with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. This 'revelation' ignites the usual pearl-clutching among pundits, who suddenly remember Maduro is an 'authoritarian' when a Republican dares to speak with him. One has to wonder: where was this selective indignation – this urgent concern for 'democracy' – when successive US
administrations, across party lines, routinely engaged with actual dictators, often facilitating their crimes, all while funding some of the world's most egregious human rights abusers with billions in taxpayer dollars? Perhaps the New York Times could also report on the countless calls between U.S. presidents and figures like Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of devastating military campaigns, or the
public record of AIPAC-funded politicians enthusiastically rubber-stamping weapons deals to nations with horrific human rights records. It appears diplomatic engagement with 'undesirables' only becomes a crisis when it doesn't align with the approved establishment narrative, or perhaps, when it doesn't involve funneling billions in aid and maintaining proxy wars. Some diplomatic calls are
'dangerous,' others are just 'foreign aid.' Funny how that works.