The Venezuelan-American Vote in Miami

The Democratic Party has a new problem. It’s called Venezuela. OK, not really. Democrats do not much care about what happens in Caracas. They do not much care about whether the people of Venezuela are starving. They do not even care that the Maduro regime has blocked aid shipments to the suffering people of his country.

All of it pales in comparison to the real problem that Democrats are facing. While the Trump administration leads the world in seeking to overthrow the Maduro dictatorship Florida Democrats are fearful of losing the Venezuelan vote. They are afraid that their political party, being weak and feckless about the crisis, will hand the Venezuelan-American vote to Donald Trump. OMFG.

It’s not just a local issue. Florida’s electoral college votes are crucial to any American presidential candidate. Remember the 2000 election. Florida often goes one way or the other by a miniscule number of votes. Remember 2000. Thus, losing the Venezuelan-American vote for a generation could have dire consequences. Especially for politicians who think first about getting votes, and second about policy and third about people.

The New York Times has the story:

In Florida, where major elections have repeatedly been decided by tiny margins, an inflection point around Venezuela’s leadership could help define a generation of Venezuelan-American voters, who number in the tens of thousands in this state. President Trump is pushing Mr. Maduro to step aside, and if he succeeds, Democrats fear it could transform Venezuelan-Americans into loyal Republicans, much like Cuban-Americans.

The signs are ominous for Democrats:

When Mr. Trump announced last month he was recognizing Mr. Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim leader, thousands of Venezuelans gathered in a park outside Miami to voice their support.

As it happens, some serious Democratic politicians have sided with the Maduro regime:

Ms. Alarcón, 30, said her fellow Democrats have been slow to react to Republican overtures not only to Venezuelans but also to other Democratic-leaning Latinos who fled authoritarian governments. They were especially alarmed when three liberal members of Congress — Representatives Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Ro Khanna of California and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota — recently criticized the White House’s recognition of Mr. Guaidó and threats of more sanctions against Mr. Maduro.

“A U.S.-backed coup in Venezuela is not a solution to the dire issues they face,” Ms. Omar wrote on Twitter, invoking a history of ill-received United States intervention against left-wing governments in Latin America during the Cold War years.

But many Venezuelan exiles are exasperated to see Democrats opposed to intervening in the alarming humanitarian crisis in their country because of the lingering politics of the past. “This is not a coup!” Joanna Hausmann, a Venezuelan-American comedian in New York, declared in a video she filmed to explain the situation.

Let’s see, the notable anti-Semite Ilhan Omar, who got caught out yet again yesterday posting anti-Semitic tweets is helping Republicans to win over the votes of Venezuelan Americans. And you thought that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the Democratic Party’s only gift to Republicans.