Illegitimate occupier of the Venezuelan presidency Nicolas Maduro likes to tweet almost as much as President Trump. But on Friday, Maduro's Twitter feed went peak Maduro — which is to say, one tweet short of a full mental breakdown.

Maduro's particular gripe was the breakdown of his nation's electricity network. The immediate cause of the collapse is a mechanical failure at a major hydroelectric plant which supplies Caracas. The ultimate cause of the power failure is the fact that, like any good socialist, Maduro's idiotic government has spent the past 10 years blowing its oil wealth on corruption and Cuban intelligence officers, rather than investing in basic utilities. Now, Maduro is reaping the whirlwind.

Of course, Maduro can't admit that. To do so would be to prove his failing to the population in a way that might provoke a final uprising against him. Instead, Maduro has been declaring his brave resistance to the latest act of Yankee aggression: an "electric war." First up, the mad Venezuelan leader declared that:



The electric war announced and directed by American imperialism against our people will be defeated. Nothing and no one can beat the people of Bolivar and Chavez. Maximum unity of the Patriots!

La guerra eléctrica anunciada y dirigida por el imperialismo estadounidense en contra de nuestro pueblo será derrotada. Nada ni nadie podrá vencer al pueblo de Bolívar y Chávez. ¡Máxima unidad de los patriotas! — Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) March 8, 2019



Then came the call for continued loyalty in face of failure.



My total support to all the personnel of the national electrical system that maintain an intense work to recover the service. I admire the Venezuelan people who resist with gallantry this new attack of the enemies of the fatherland. Venceremos!

Mi total respaldo a todo el personal del Sistema Eléctrico Nacional que mantienen un intenso trabajo para recuperar el servicio. Admiro al pueblo venezolano que resiste con gallardía este nuevo ataque de los enemigos de la Patria. ¡Venceremos! — Nicolás Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) March 8, 2019



It's quite pathetic.

Still, the real takeaway here is the binding of physical failure to psychological fear. In the darkness born of his misgovernance, Maduro knows the ides of March are beckoning. Aside from the usual suspects of Cuba, China, and Russia, and an appeasing Germany, Maduro is isolated and under escalating pressure.

This darkness thus has two deeper meanings.

For Venezuela's people, it's the old adage, "It's always darkest before the dawn." For Maduro, it's the motto of the 160th Nighstalkers: " Death waits in the darkness."