Venezuela is the throes of an economic, political, and humanitarian crisis, where a multitude of factors like an economy based on a single commodity, hyperinflation, shortages of food and medicine, corruption and mismanagement, and a violent dictator have brought the country to the brink. For the people of Venezuela (who haven’t yet fled the scene), this is a terrifying, deadly situation. But for Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans, it’s a catchy (if entirely baseless) scare tactic!

Swapping out George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and universal health care, the G.O.P. and the president have turned the South American country into their boogeyman of the moment, claiming that any proposals by—or support for—Democrats will result in the United States experiencing the very same societal collapse—just like that! Last year, in the run-up to the midterm elections, the Republican National Committee literally likened Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, as Trump warned his followers:

As Paul Waldman noted in The Washington Post late last month, “If you know even the first thing about Democrats or Venezuela, you’d have to find that comparison ludicrous.” But ludicrous comparisons are pretty much the G.O.P.’s thing, and so on Friday, in the wake of various proposals by Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and the aforementioned A.O.C. to increase taxes on the über-wealthy, White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow was given no choice: