The transnationalists in the Democratic Party and at the United Nations and EU may be mad as hornets that Donald Trump ordered the arrest of Nicholas Maduro, but it turns out that Latin Americans, including Venezuelans, are thrilled that he did.
That, according to Atlas Intel, the most accurate pollster in recent years.
Net approval for the U.S. military operation to arrest Nicolás Maduro by AtlasIntel (A+)
• Carribean (+67)
• Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia (+57)
• Paraguay and Uruguay (+55)
• Colombia (+39)
• Argentina (+27)
• Central America (+35)
• Venezuela (+22)
• Brazil (+17)
•… pic.twitter.com/T5VGs495iV— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) January 14, 2026
Net approval for the U.S. military operation to arrest Nicolás Maduro by AtlasIntel (A+)
• Carribean (+67)
• Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia (+57)
• Paraguay and Uruguay (+55)
• Colombia (+39)
• Argentina (+27)
• Central America (+35)
• Venezuela (+22)
• Brazil (+17)
• Latinos in US and Canada (+18)
• Chilie (+17)
• Mexico (+12)
1/5-11 | 11,285 Latin American Adults
http://t.co/mlxC4S4Ecs
If you were to only listen to political elites around the world, you might get the impression that Trump acted as a bully, trampling all over the rights of Venezuelans and Latin Americans in general by kidnapping a democratically elected leader who was legitimately representing his people.
The reality on the ground, outside elite circles, is that Venezuelans in particular and Latin Americans in general are happy to be rid of this tyrant, and are looking forward to seeing him spend the rest of his life in a Supermax prison.
Trump’s move is popular across Latin America, with Mexico, not Venezuela, the least inclined to approve. This is mildly surprising because one would expect that even Venezuelans who dislike Maduro might disapprove of a military action within their country. Yet, even so, the raid has a net positive approval of +22 in Venezuela and only +12 in Mexico.
Still, Trump doesn’t get +12 on any issue in the United States, which tells you something about how polarized politics are here.
Even within Venezuela proper, excluding Venezuelans who have fled (which is about 25% of the country!), only 25% disapprove of the military operation. About half the people there outright approve of the capture or are indifferent enough to have no opinion.
Let that sink in. Only 25% say that Maduro should have been left alone. One really has to doubt that he won the election, huh?
Now look at those other numbers. The popularity of Trump’s move is off the charts in the Caribbean and in neighboring countries of Venezuela. All of these countries have been dealing with a refugee crisis, and have seen China, Russia, and Iran building up on their borders. Terrorist training camps have been springing up in Venezuela, and sane people do not want Hezbollah training in their backyards.
As usual, elite opinion is wildly divorced from popular opinion on such matters because elites do not have to suffer the consequences of their decisions.
Which is a shame. In a well-functioning country, elite opinion serves as a positive corrective to moderate the more volatile swings of popular opinion, which is why the Founders created a system that balanced the more democratic House with the more aristocratic Senate. But over the years, elites have come to see their interests as so fundamentally at odds with the hoi polloi that they seem indifferent to the needs and desires of ordinary folks.
Cases like this one are perfect examples. The reality on the ground is that Venezuela has been dragged down from being one of the wealthiest countries in the hemisphere to a desperately poor narco-state that has driven 25% of its population abroad. My wife has relatives in Venezuela who almost died of starvation after seeing their pensions and life savings inflated away. All her younger relatives escaped to Europe.
Yet when push comes to shove, Democrats and Western elites sided with the man most responsible for causing this crisis and for importing terrorists into his country.
When there is such a large disconnect between elite opinion and that of the man on the street, elites have lost all their legitimacy. For all the discomfort people rightly have with populism, and I share some of that discomfort, because public opinion tends to be volatile and short-sighted, the reason why populist movements flourish is that elites stopped paying attention to the reality that people live.
When the man on the street knows that his “betters” disdain him and his opinion, the favor is returned. As it should be. In democratic societies, elites gain legitimacy by being trustworthy and apparently wiser than the average person.
Look at what we have instead.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, the Left’s attempted radicalization of American culture has stalled – for now.
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